Minnesota Democrat criminal list grows
Try as they might, the Red Star could not bury the story of yet another DFL criminal conviction. The did manage to relegate it to the "Metro/State" section (of course we know that if it had been a Republican, say Michelle Bachman, it would have been on the front page, above the fold). Even with the weasely placement, the Strib made sure to keep "DFL" or "liberal" out of the big print. In the paper version of the story, the newly minted liberal felon is not identified as a DFLer until paragraph 3.
The title of the paper version of the report is "Jennings found guilty of fraud". The online version is "Former Rep. Jennings convicted of fraud". Does anyone not believe that had this been a Republican, the online title would read "Former GOP Rep. Jennings convicted of fraud"?
HAT TIP to Anti-Strib (although if you visit his page, you may go blind by viewing the picture immediately south of the Jennings post).
By the way, Rambix really likes Tom Heffelfinger, the U.S Attorney (this was a federal case). He is a practical, common sense guy:
BONUS!
Here's a Minnesota DFL/liberal criminals list that Rambix has been accumulating, and has posted in the past:
To no one's surprise, various liberals are cheating, stealing, lying, and, thankfully, going to prison where they belong.
From various sources:
1) Former state DFL Sen. Winston "Win" Borden was sentenced today to serve 27 months in prison for failing to pay federal income taxes for the past six years. (10/27/04 Pioneer Press) CONVICTED!
2) State DFL Rep. Phyllis Kahn pleaded guilty to theft on Thursday for stealing campaign literature. Hennepin County District Judge Stephen Aldrich ordered Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, to pay $200 in prosecution costs but agreed to defer any additional sentence for a year and dismiss the misdemeanor charge then if she has no similar violations. (9/24/04 Star Tribune) PLED GUILTY, FINED!
3) A federal grand jury indicted former state DFL Rep. Loren Jennings on Tuesday on charges of mail fraud and money laundering and accused him of using the power of his legislative office to steer $650,000 in state grant money to a telephone-pole recycling business in which he had a financial interest.
(10/20/04 Star Tribune) CONVICTED!
4)A Minnesota sports entrepreneur who was awaiting sentencing for a fraud conviction is in jail after allegedly lying to try to borrow more money. Pat Forciea [Former DFL operative], 46, had pleaded guilty in July to fraud charges involving more than $5.6 million in bank loans he used to buy minor league hockey teams. [snip] In July Forciea admitted engineering a spree of wire fraud, forgeries and unauthorized cash transfers in an attempt to build a minor league hockey and baseball empire. His plan collapsed after one of his employees uncovered falsified business documents that inflated the worth of one of his hockey teams. (11/6/04 Pioneer Press) CONVICTED!
5) Brian Herron, Minneapolis City Council member served prison time for corruption. CONVICTED!
6) Joe Biernat, Minneapolis City Council member is presently serving prison time for corruption.
CONVICTED!
7) The Federal Elections Commission has fined the Minnesota House Democratic-Farmer-Labor Caucus $45,000 for campaign finance violations. The FEC ruled the House DFL caucus illegally transferred $69,200 between its state and federal campaign accounts between January and October 2002. FINED!
8. Twenty-first Century Democrats, a national political action committee that was active in Minnesota this year, has received a record fine for failing to disclose its donors to state regulators. Two fines, totaling $317,950, were announced Tuesday by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. (12/22/04 Pioneer Press) FINED!
Whew! That's it for now. The list was dormant for awhile, so if we missed some, let us know the story and the source, and we'll update the post.
***UPDATE***
MORE, thanks to GOP Newsline:
~Rep. Allan Welle misused the state's phone card and started a scandal known as "phonegate."
~Sen. Joe Bertram shoplifted a leather vest from a store in his district.
~Rep. Jeff Bertram was brought before the House Ethics Committee for bullying his constituents.
~Rep. Bob Johnson accumulated three drunk driving charges in three different counties in less than one year.
~Sen. Florian Chmielewski and Sen. Sam Solon pleaded guilty to misdemeanor telecommunications fraud.
~Sen. Skip Finn was convicted of twelve felony counts of misapplying funds from the Leech Lake Reservation.
The title of the paper version of the report is "Jennings found guilty of fraud". The online version is "Former Rep. Jennings convicted of fraud". Does anyone not believe that had this been a Republican, the online title would read "Former GOP Rep. Jennings convicted of fraud"?
HAT TIP to Anti-Strib (although if you visit his page, you may go blind by viewing the picture immediately south of the Jennings post).
By the way, Rambix really likes Tom Heffelfinger, the U.S Attorney (this was a federal case). He is a practical, common sense guy:
U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger called the verdicts "a just decision under the law. Any public official who violates a public trust is subject to consideration by us for possible prosecution," he said.Heffelfinger has some better quotes in other cases, but you get the idea. He seems to get the job done, and done well.
BONUS!
Here's a Minnesota DFL/liberal criminals list that Rambix has been accumulating, and has posted in the past:
To no one's surprise, various liberals are cheating, stealing, lying, and, thankfully, going to prison where they belong.
From various sources:
1) Former state DFL Sen. Winston "Win" Borden was sentenced today to serve 27 months in prison for failing to pay federal income taxes for the past six years. (10/27/04 Pioneer Press) CONVICTED!
2) State DFL Rep. Phyllis Kahn pleaded guilty to theft on Thursday for stealing campaign literature. Hennepin County District Judge Stephen Aldrich ordered Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, to pay $200 in prosecution costs but agreed to defer any additional sentence for a year and dismiss the misdemeanor charge then if she has no similar violations. (9/24/04 Star Tribune) PLED GUILTY, FINED!
3) A federal grand jury indicted former state DFL Rep. Loren Jennings on Tuesday on charges of mail fraud and money laundering and accused him of using the power of his legislative office to steer $650,000 in state grant money to a telephone-pole recycling business in which he had a financial interest.
(10/20/04 Star Tribune) CONVICTED!
4)A Minnesota sports entrepreneur who was awaiting sentencing for a fraud conviction is in jail after allegedly lying to try to borrow more money. Pat Forciea [Former DFL operative], 46, had pleaded guilty in July to fraud charges involving more than $5.6 million in bank loans he used to buy minor league hockey teams. [snip] In July Forciea admitted engineering a spree of wire fraud, forgeries and unauthorized cash transfers in an attempt to build a minor league hockey and baseball empire. His plan collapsed after one of his employees uncovered falsified business documents that inflated the worth of one of his hockey teams. (11/6/04 Pioneer Press) CONVICTED!
5) Brian Herron, Minneapolis City Council member served prison time for corruption. CONVICTED!
6) Joe Biernat, Minneapolis City Council member is presently serving prison time for corruption.
CONVICTED!
7) The Federal Elections Commission has fined the Minnesota House Democratic-Farmer-Labor Caucus $45,000 for campaign finance violations. The FEC ruled the House DFL caucus illegally transferred $69,200 between its state and federal campaign accounts between January and October 2002. FINED!
8. Twenty-first Century Democrats, a national political action committee that was active in Minnesota this year, has received a record fine for failing to disclose its donors to state regulators. Two fines, totaling $317,950, were announced Tuesday by the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. (12/22/04 Pioneer Press) FINED!
Whew! That's it for now. The list was dormant for awhile, so if we missed some, let us know the story and the source, and we'll update the post.
***UPDATE***
MORE, thanks to GOP Newsline:
~Rep. Allan Welle misused the state's phone card and started a scandal known as "phonegate."
~Sen. Joe Bertram shoplifted a leather vest from a store in his district.
~Rep. Jeff Bertram was brought before the House Ethics Committee for bullying his constituents.
~Rep. Bob Johnson accumulated three drunk driving charges in three different counties in less than one year.
~Sen. Florian Chmielewski and Sen. Sam Solon pleaded guilty to misdemeanor telecommunications fraud.
~Sen. Skip Finn was convicted of twelve felony counts of misapplying funds from the Leech Lake Reservation.
posted by Rambix at 9:40 PM
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