The Briefing Room
General Category => Politics/Government => Topic started by: Olivia on February 04, 2014, 07:38:30 pm
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Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) announced on Tuesday he will resign from Congress in the wake of an explosive CBS 60 Minutes joint investigation by Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President and Breitbart News Senior Editor-At-Large Peter Schweizer and veteran reporter Steve Kroft.
The joint investigation, which was based on Schweizer's book, Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets, revealed how Andrews, a 24-year House veteran and leading Democratic voice for Obamacare, turned his leadership PAC into a private slush fund to bankroll lavish trips and gifts.
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Andrews tapped his wife, Camille Andrews--a lawyer and an associate law dean at Rutgers School of Law--Camden--to serve as a compliance officer for his leadership PAC. Leadership PACs are a special type of political action committee with few restrictions that are ostensibly created to help elect fellow party members. Mrs. Andrews approved the use of funds to fly her, Rep. Andrews, and their two daughters to Edinburgh, Scotland for a wedding at a luxury resort. Andrews’s leadership PAC also picked up the tab for $16,575 in airfare. His campaign committee picked up the rest of the tab, which was slightly under $14,000.
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The Andrews resignation is not the first time a Kroft-Schweizer investigation has exposed cronyism and corruption by members of Congress. In 2011, Kroft and Schweizer teamed up for a 60 Minutes investigation based on Schweizer’s last New York Times bestseller, Throw Them All Out. The report sent shockwaves through Washington when Schweizer and Kroft revealed that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was given insider access to the Visa credit card IPO that scored her a 50% profit in just two days.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/02/04/Schweizer-Book-Extortion-Sparks-Rob-Andrews-Resignation
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Boehner was called out in the book, too. Odds he will retire - zilch.