I agree with Ross, it is “Gotcha” politics. He fucked up and we Gotcha!

heh heh heh

“outside groups” trying to “taint a completely legal and respected small business.”

yo, Mike, you f*ckstick:

“taint, necessarily so!”

About time somebody filed something.

Ooooh, who is the USA there in AR? Is Tim Griffin still infesting the place?

I should add IANAL and don’t know how these cases work…

how about a metal file in the cake for Mike when he’s behind bars?

ding ding ding

ross is gonna regret selling himself to big pharma

Make that a very dull file.

Have you had any reaction to the ad campaign from the targets or their Washington defenders?

I hate CREW. Their 8 most corrupt democrats are total lies and total slander. CREW is also racist, 5 of the 8 are African Americans and they are all anti-Iraq War. CREW needs to retract their LIES.
“Improper use of Stationary”, “Talking about possible political fund raisers”, “Trash in the driveway.”

Just look at their lying website and the lying charges. They bring legal complaints against Democrats and then criticize them because they have to spend money on legal fees.
http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/
Why did it take them so long to find out about Ross? HE is white. Where is Max Baucus, Joe Lieberman and I could list 8 other pro war white Democrats who are genuinely corrupt.

Guess who totally conceals their finances? CREW! I got lots more. Do not believe anything CREW says.

It’s good to see this sort of investigation because it highlights the sort of people who are currently in government generally. Their main intention is to profit by pursuing the interest of the most rapacious in the society.

It is important that his type of office holder be investigated and opposed by candidates with a different set of goals. We should search out viable alternative candidates to run against incumbents that take a compromised stand against health reform. And we should fund these alternatives as best we can.

The need for a PO is just the place to take a stand. It represents a clear dividing line among those who will undertake meaningful reform and those who will not. And on this basis alone should candidates be judged.

I wanna, I wanna contribute…but the prevailing political climate has rendered me broke! Maybe I’ll get some moolah by the end of the month and this will be first on my list!
Now, it seems my state is gonna cut Medicaid again and it’s making me VERY nervous

Do not believe anything CREW says.

Back from the field trip to the Creation Museum I see. Hey, your mom says if you don’t pickup your room you can’t watch InsHannity tonight.

You’ve got nothing but a bad attitude, a head full of disinformation and you still write like Glenn Beck in drag.

Save the time and pixels….

Beat it.

(I see you had your last HateCrew post pulled from The Seminal. ;-)

Just because you’re black doesn’t mean your not corruptible, though you may have a point on percentages. If my memory serves, and it generally doesn’t, CREW started as an anti Democratic/Clinton outfit. Over the course of Bushco the hand writing on the wall suggested a broader scope to include the GOP and more even handedness. It would be interesting for a deeper look, since, I believe, they’re the most active in DC on calling corruption.

I read the Politico story. Based simply on the facts stated there, I am not sure there was anything necessarily corrupt about the sale. Although, there certainly could have been.

It appears that this was the sale of an on going enterprise. As such, the sale of the real estate would be just one aspect of the sale. Given this, without more information, such as the profitability of the enterprise, it is very difficult to reach any hard and fast conclusions about the propriety of this sale.

So do you live in DC? Perhaps you work for that pro Iraq War company SAIC or maybe ChoicePoint? Melanie Sloan’s husband works for SAIC. He also supports assassinations.

Quite frankly, this country needs a well-run assassination program. Yes, I realize Executive Order 12333 explicitly prohibits assassination by any “person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States government.” I also realize Executive Order 12333 explicitly states “no element of the Intelligence Community shall participate in or request any person to undertake activities forbidden by this order.” Seems clear enough. But, the lawyers have yet to weigh in.

meanwhile, blanche lincoln is on a roll:

During the mark-up of the Senate Finance Committee’s health-care bill this morning, Senate Democrats were successful in defeating a GOP-sponsored amendment that would have delayed the bill’s passage.

The vote on the measure was 11-12. All the Democrats except Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas voted against the amendment. Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine voted for it.

I agree, which is why an investigation is being requested, rather than prosecution. If it is clean, then fine.

I believe CREW was helpful in complaints against the great white hope from the North…Ms. Palin. Say, she’s out helping AlassKa and spending more time with the family by traveling to Hong Kong to talk about what else? Money!!!

It’s an odd transition in the commercial from the ugly crowds and shout of “you lie” to Ross and Lincoln. The goal should be to link Ross and Lincoln to the obstructionists. Instead, something about the intonation, language, imagery and music creates a different expectation. It takes a little while for the commercial to recover. It’s a bump in the middle that could still be ironed out.

Sooooooeyyyy!

Actually, I thought Rachel Maddow was quite fetching in her Razorbacks hat last night when she highlighted Ross’s rather curious financial transactions ;-))

Ross, OTOH, seems to be a whole other species of ‘hog at the trough.’ Thanks for the chance to ‘toss a dime’ into the kitty and thereby help raise a little consciousness in D.C.

Goooooo Razorbacks!

You sure did get here quickly MaggieBoy. Are you a FireDog wannabe or do you just monitor this site for fun and profit.
By the way stop insulting my family and do not tell me what to do.
Have you contributed to FDL ACTION. I am guessing NO.

Don’t know enough to comment on these two, they seem slimy. But …

Great idea running it during the football game – Bama’s ranked #3 nationally * (although they don’t deserve it. Just looking at their division, Ole Miss is a better team, and LSU will give them a run for their money)

* Alabama’s ranked #3, which means eyeballs = ratings

this thing doesn’t look worth $1.67 million in a town which has two blocks of buildings and nothing else.
http://www.dailykos.com/commen…..022/90#c90

all I can say is go Cal Bears.

Well, sorta o/t, sorta not. I googled for USAtty’s and AR and I found a blog about the good senators’ choices:

http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/…..mmend.aspx

Read the comments…enlightening. I’m sure Marcy would know more than I do, but here ya go.

Go Bears! ;)

Oh, they had a little party down in Newport…

I have shirttail cousins in Arkansas. According to the Maddow report, the sale price of Ross’s property raised eyebrows in the local office that reports and records land use transactions.

I don’t know whether you’ve ever had a chance to swing by your local assessor’s office, but it’s been my limited experience that people tend to know local properties and prices (some of them as well as they know the birthdates of their own family members – which always amazes me).

If the locals think the price was suspiciously high, and the ‘locals’ work in the assessors office, then that’s pretty good evidence in my book.

(Not meaning any insult toward you; simply pointing out that in my experience, people in assessor’s offices see prices and land parcels all day long, 5 days a week. So they kind of get a ’sixth sense’ that I have come to respect mightily.)

Mostly meant this as an observation.

And they had to carry Harry (Reid) from the place….

And the reason that they had to carry Harry from the ferry
was that Harry couldn’t carry votes anymore.

Federal bribery law prohibits public officials from directly or indirectly demanding, seeking, receiving, accepting, or agreeing to receive or accept anything of value in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act. Honest services fraud prohibits members of Congress from depriving their constituents, the House of Representatives, and the United States of the right of honest service.

I wonder how long before we’ll be seeing Mikey Ross bawling like a baby in front of the cameras?

…more

Hey oldgold, read the crew link. The RE price is just number tied to the sale of the property. The Ross’ were paid much more for the assets of the business, and Mrs. Ross was also paid for a non-compete agreement. It’s quite a handsome deal. I wonder how many small businesses not run by a US Rep. get that kind of deal?

Knock on wood

It’s all up to them. They have top 10 talent, arguably a top 5 Def secondary, and the Best RB, who also deserves the Heisman. They’re better than the Ducks, and they’re at least as good as SC. And if they don’t stumble against somebody like Stanford, well …

Here is the what makes it foggy, they sold the business, not just the real estate. For example, if someone sells a privately held bank, you couldn’t judge the appropriateness of the price based solely on the value of the bank building and lot. The same is true with a pharmacy.

I am not saying this was a not a suspect sale. I am just cautioning folks not to leap to conclusions based on what we know at this point.

Well! Rachel Maddow invited this dick to come on her show and discuss this and he refused but, released a bullshit statement. Perhaps he’d like to go on sometime soon BEFORE HE GOES TO PRISON! Jane and Rachel….KICK ASS! These ladies dont’ take crap from anyone! I’m in awe!

There’s no small business in Arkansas, or anywhere else in the south, worth what Ross got. It was a gift, or bribery, if you prefer.

Yes, I know that. But, because of tax laws often the sale price of going enterprises gets allocated in ways that stretch the definition of reasonable.

How do you know that?

Maxine Waters is corrupt? shit.

Reconciliation, across the nation
The bill’s sent back the cry,
We’re out to do or die,
Reconciliation, no more health care ration,
We’ll win the game or know the reason why.

I’m originally from a small town in the south and prices there are very low – especially in this economic climate. I talk to people back there often and there’s no money. The Ross business was in what appears to be a fairly small town and things just don’t sell for that kind of price.

plenty of businesses overpay for intangible “good will” when buying another business. the dot.com graveyard is littered with examples.

tough stretch of three games coming up: Oregon, USC, UCLA

What irks me the most is when they make the sanctimonious statement whatever they did was totally above board.

I hope this is the deal that collapses the porch and puts all the Blue Dogs out of their misery.

For example, if someone sells a privately held bank, you couldn’t judge the appropriateness of the price based solely on the value of the bank building and lot. The same is true with a pharmacy.

Okay, I follow you now.
What made me raise my eyebrows was the fact that the locals seemed to be raising theirs. As much as Wall Street didn’t have a clue what they were actually packaging and selling, it’s been my experience that ‘locals’ have an absolutely astonishing capacity for knowing how much their neighbor’s homes would fetch on the market, along with their businesses, etc.

I follow you with respect to separating the real estate from the business. However, it does sound as if it merits looking into — but if Ross is smart, he’d welcome an investigation if for no other reason than to clear his name. Because it doesn’t smell right, even if he’s done it all correctly.

But you make a valid point.

However, given some of the good-ol’-boy dynamics that I have seen in some of my shirttail relatives, I regret to say that I come down on the side of suspicion.

FWIW, I have the highest regard for ‘good ol’ boys’, so my comment is certainly not intended as an insult. (But sainthood is not generally their strongest suit, in my experience.)

Maxine Waters tried to help a minority owned bank get Tarp money. It is OK to help Goldman Sachs get TARP money, though.

By using her position as a member of Congress to assist a bank to which she has financial ties, Rep. Waters violated House conflict-of-interest rules and engaged in conduct that does not reflect creditably upon the House.

Yes, they do overpay for ‘goodwill’ at times.
And sometimes, they price things because they get a percentage, so the higher the sale, the bigger the cut for those involved in the deal.
I’ve sometimes wondered how much coke was being snorted off a hooker’s ass when some of those dot.com prices were agreed upon.

In other instances, the prices reflected more ego and vanity than sober judgement.

But I digress…

LOL. I knew you were working on it! :]

Reconciliation. Our abusers will never forgive us if we fight back! /s

but in gooper land (i count ross) an indictment is all you need to declare guilt. No need for due process!

where’s carol lam???

Hey Pun, o/t but are you or any of your neighbors going to take in the scene tomorrow at UC? That’s the boots on ground day for protesting the regents’ fine governance of higher education in our state.

what. an. outrage.

Oh, calm yourself. After all, it’s not like Ross got a blow job in the Oval Office.

;-))

wasn’t aware of the protest – at UC regents HQ in Oakland?

as a parent paying for college (UC Santa Cruz) I’m certainly aware of the coming 30% tuition increase, on top of many previous hikes (for a product of decreasing value thanks to budget cuts)… it basically adds a fifth year of cost to a four year degree.

UC campuses brace for faculty-student walkout

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/…..19QLBQ.DTL

thanks

if punaise jr. weren’t trapped in Honduras he’d be there…

Mary Landrieu enjoys a well-deserved position as the lone Dem Senator on their list of the most corrupt politicians in America. I’d add Lieberman to that list and probably one or two others. I’m not sure if I’d put Baucus on it (Landrieu and Lieberman are still kinda of a class of their own, there, IMO), but MaxTax definitely deserves to be on a list of the most clueless.

Of course, all these ratings are relative. I’m firmly convinced that corruption is ubiquitously in the air in WDC. It pervades every aspect of political life in that city – the great Black Hole at the heart of America. Nobody is immune from it, and its stench attracts the venal and the craven to political office.

Well said, Landrieu is not on the list of Corrupt D’s but she does not seem to be much of a D. Again I will repeat most of those anti-war D’s are my peeps and voted against the 2002 Iraq War Fraud.

CREW needs to release their IRS 990 to see who is paying them and how much. CREW needs to retract their claims at least for most of the D’s because they are falsehoods.

Why is Mark Penn a CREW founder?

If this seems obsessive, it is because there is more here than meets the eye.

But as part of the deal the pharmacist/co-owner got hired on as a salaried employee. Imagine that. I suspect Ross made a cool million from an unprofitable business, and arranged a sweetheart deal for the partner (who may have been working for less than nothing before).

With the Walmart down the road in Hope the value of a Mom&Pop would be way down. Many are being picked up at bankruptcy auction.

As I have said repeatedly, this deal might stink.

I would note that retaining a pharmacist/co-owner is common and actually sweetens the deal from the purchaser’s perspective.

What you “imagine” and “suspect” may well be true, but not necessarily.

late again, oh well

what a shame we don’t have an operative in Tuscaloosa – you can bet Ross will be at the game, and this little dfh would like to know with whom and who’s pickin up the tab

anecdotal as it seems, I’m betting Marcus Stern did not publish a story with no there there – there will be more, um, disclosures

I’m sorry, but the mofo looks guilty with those shifty eyes……….if for no other reason………..

If it was illegal for Duke Cunningham, it’s illegal for Mr. Ross to do the same thing and then vote in favor of big Pharma and against the interests of the citizens of Arkansas. I know Arkansas is a very rural state, but it doesn’t mean the voters there are more like the characters in “Deliverance” than the characters in “Norma Rae”.

along with the non compete for an active employee, this has me scratching my head:

He sold the business in 2007, but according to his 2008 financial disclosure form (here — pdf), he and wife Holly still “own 100% of stock” in the company, which pays dividends over $100,000 a year. Holly Ross is also listed as employed by Super D Drug Acquisition Co.

Link

the linked piece was published (and linked at fdl)2 months ago, right around the time, Pro Publica says it’s reporter(s) started investigating