Word: coelho
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...ethics becoming a tool for character assassination? Pennsylvania Congressman William Gray, the leading candidate to replace Coelho, had to ask Attorney General Dick Thornburgh to investigate the source of an apparently unfounded rumor that the FBI was looking into whether he had a no-show employee on his payroll. Majority leader Tom Foley, the likely successor to Wright, was asked to assure a group of conservative Democrats that nothing in his background would embarrass them...
While tattletales are no more appealing on Capitol Hill than in grammar school and scattered enforcement always seems unfair, it would be a mistake to conclude that Wright and Coelho are victims of a deranged political environment dominated by vengeful Republicans and gooey do-gooders. Although Coelho characterized himself as a martyr, resigning to save his family and Congress, he was actually getting out to save his neck. The $100,000 deal involving one of Michael Milken's junk bonds promised to be every bit as serious as Wright's transgressions. And the investigations have the same salutary effect...
...member in on a lucrative investment, treat him to a luxurious vacation and supply him with cash, not because he has an interest in a one-line amendment to a bill that will save his industry millions of dollars, but because he is, well, a friend. Perhaps Tony Coelho really believed it when he said that junk-bond wizard Michael Milken "is constantly thinking about what can be done to make this a better world." Now under indictment, Milken faces the prospect of doing his thinking in prison...
...understand the plight of the constituent-friend who would be hurt by a bill cracking down on reckless savings and loan executives than the plight of a constituent he does not know -- Joe Sixpack faithfully depositing his weekly savings into a 5% passbook account. When friends of Wright and Coelho who were heading up failing S & Ls came under investigation for fraud, the Democratic leaders were not only willing to take their calls and visits but to stall legislation and a federal investigation that would have cracked down on these people...
With Wright's downfall and Tony Coelho's resignation, Gingrich is at his zenith. A year after he first sent the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct sniffing along a well-laid trail of charges against Wright, the Georgia conservative can proudly say he has had a hand in throwing the Democratic leadership of Congress into turmoil. Characteristically, he is not satisfied. "Let's have an honest House, and not one corrupted by the arrogance of power," he says. "I'm out to break the Democratic machine...