Boxed

Did you know that Babsy Boxer is the chairm'am of the Senate Ethics Committee?  I sure didn't.  Heck, with the "blue" tide in the upper chamber reaching sixty seats this cycle, I figured they'd abolished it.

I betcha that crazy old cunt wishes they had:

Critics charge that Boxer has actively aided and abetted this scheme, both in the context of her 2004 and 2010 re-election campaigns.

In 2004, Boxer paid $25,000 for Waters’ endorsement.  But ahead of this year’s California primary—in which Boxer faced no serious competition– and when it was well-known that Waters was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, Boxer paid Waters $5,000 for her backing.  It is this later payment that those monitoring Waters’ ethical woes say could act as an anchor tied to Boxer’s ankle, as she heads towards November.

“The amount is lower than what Boxer paid in 2004, yes,” said one Republican operative with whom we spoke.  “But the Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee paying for an endorsement of an official under investigation for ethics infractions connected to her using her standing to benefit her family when that fact has been widely reported presents a major optics problem, to say the least.  Ethics are already something of a surprise Achilles Heel for Boxer.  Her committee let Chris Dodd off the hook, and she’s been criticized for using her repeat candidacies for the financial benefit of her family, too.”  Added that operative,  “This is an attack ad waiting to happen.”

Indeed, Boxer has been called out for steering about $500,000 in contributions made to her political action committee to her son’s consulting firm between 2001 and 2009.  Like Waters’ scheme, this arrangement has attracted the attention of CREW, which focused on Boxer in a 2007 exposé entitled “Family Affair.”  “Waters’ problems run far deeper, of course,” said the same operative.  “But there are some interesting parallels here, to be sure.”

You will recall that the centerpiece of the Democrat midterm onslaught against the GOP majorities in 2006 was terminating "the Republican culture of corruption".  "Draining the swamp" was another of their catch-phrases.  Also "open, honest government".  Sure, there were individual Pachyderms who had their peccadillos (Mark Foley, Bob Nye, Larry Craig, Duke Cunningham), enough for attack ad fodder, but it was hardly a "culture," and George Voinovich sure as hell wasn't a frickin' customer.  "Attack ad waiting to happen," indeed.  Says all you need to know about Barbie Boxer and the entire Democrat Party.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, Rasmussen has corroborated SurveyUSA (both using likely voter screens) in showing Carly Fiorina taking a slight lead in the California Senate race, moving that seat on my Senate scoreboard from "Leans Donk" to "Leans GOP," and moving projected Republican gains from eight to nine, which would knot the upper chamber at 50-50.

Pleasure doing business with ya, "M'am".