The Avenging Angel, smiter of conservative evil doers, has had a very busy week. From the White House to the Kentucky State House, from Langley to K Street, the latest batch of Banana Republicans was exposed, indicted or jailed.
Let's start with Robert Ray, Kenneth Starr's successor as Bill Clinton Grand Inquisitor, who got his just desserts this week in New York. Ray, who famously said of Clinton, "no person is above the law," surrendered to the NYPD on charges of stalking his former girlfriend. Then again, the Angel muses, it all depends of what the meaning of "stalking" is.
Meanwhile, just days after his boss Porter Goss stepped down, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the CIA's #3 man, resigned amid allegations arising from the HookerGate scandal. On Friday, federal agents raided Foggo's home and CIA office. With jail time likely over his role in lobbyist-funded poker and prostitution parties, the Angel notes, Foggo will learn that it is better to give than receive.
In the heartland, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher is just the latest to join the ranks of the Banana Republicans. Fletcher was indicted last week on conspiracy charges involving a scheme to award state jobs to his political supporters. The upside for Fletcher? Apparently he doesn't know Jack Abramoff or Duke Cunningham.
Back in Washington, HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson found himself in hot water this week over his claims in a May speech that he withheld contracts from critics of President Bush. Jackson's defense for his apparent law-breaking was that he was a liar. The claim, he says, was something he simply made up. Par for the course for the Bush administration.
And on the Jack Abramoff front, Neil Volz, the former chief of staff for Ohio Congressman Bob Ney, pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy charges in the Abramoff case. Volz faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for trying to bribe his former boss. Republican Ney, also known as "Representative #1" in court papers, may yet become his cell mate.
Fair and Balanced Note: These haven't exactly been banner days for ethics on the Democratic side of the aisle, either. West Virginia Congressman Alan Mollohan is under the microscope for apparently siphoning contributions to a network of supposed non-profit organizations. Meanwhile, down in the Big Easy, eight-term Congressman William Jefferson is up to his neck in a growing federal bribery probe.