Nick Smith Recants: Did the pressure get to him?

Nick Smith now says he was never offered money for his son's campaign in exchange for supporting the Bush Medicare prescription bill. Chatterbox doesn't believe him.

Earlier this week, Chatterbox urged Rep. Nick Smith, R-Mich., to reveal who attempted to bribe him into voting for the Bush Medicare prescription bill, which he opposed on the grounds that it was too expensive. After the Nov. 22 vote, Smith had complained to the Associated Press that somebody—the AP report, in a paraphrase, said it was "House GOP leaders"—had exerted "the most intense and strongest pressure to change my vote that I've ever experienced." Subsequently, Robert Novak had reported in his column that "On the House floor, Nick Smith was told"—by whom, Novak didn't say—that "business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father's vote." Smith is retiring at the end of this term, and his son Brad is seeking the Republican nomination to succeed him.

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During the last few days, Smith's story has received heightened (and clearly unwanted) attention. The Campaign Legal Center and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, two watchdog groups, filed complaints with the Justice Department. So, inevitably, did Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. The Detroit Free Press today has an editorial urging Smith to tell what he knows. Yesterday, the Justice Department said it would look into the matter, as it does with all such complaints.

This was the context in which Smith yesterday issued a statement that said, "No specific reference was made to money." Smith continued: "I want to make clear that no member of Congress made an offer of financial assistance for my son's campaign in exchange for my vote on the Medicare bill." Rather, Smith said, "I was told that my vote could result in interested groups giving substantial and aggressive campaign 'support' and 'endorsements.' Some members said they would work against Brad if I voted no."

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http://slate.msn.com/id/2092054/

this is not something you just "blurt out" inadvertently

http://www.lsj.com/opinions/editorials/p_031205_ed1_(bribe).html
Published December 05, 2003

Smith's vote: Using cash as lever is common; detrimental to public interests

Reports that Medicare bill proponents tried to buy or coerce a vote from Rep. Nick Smith, R-Addison, should trouble citizens.


Criminal, possibly. Typical, indubitably.


What might make the Smith situation distinctive is the lack of subtlety to the strong-arming, and the fact a member of Congress went public.

"(This situation) is just appalling; the kind of financial leverage that's applied in a case like this," said Rich Robinson, director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. "You have to admire (Smith) for standing with his conscience, but this is a revealing look at the political process."

http://www.lsj.com/news/capitol/031205_smith_1b-2b.html

Published December 05, 2003
Rep. Smith backpedals on claims of vote bribery
'No specific reference was made to money,' he says

By Katherine Hutt Scott
State Journal Correspondent


In a letter dated Thursday, a watchdog group called upon Smith to name the individuals he says tried to bribe him.

The letter was written by Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which describes itself as nonpartisan. Sloan said she once worked for Democratic members of Congress.

Thursday's letter also said "it appears likely" that House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois or Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, or both, "attempted to bribe and extort you." The letter said that was based on accounts in the publication Congress Daily about which members clustered around Smith on the House floor as the Medicare vote neared completion.

Spokesmen for Hastert and Thompson denied that the two directed promises or threats at Smith.

Sloan's group, the Democratic National Committee and The Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog group on campaign and election law issues, have called for federal investigations of the alleged bribe.

That guy is in serious danger...no small planes, no cars, etc.

Too bad we can't set up a Democratic Party Witness Protection Program; plus, it would give us another seat to take over...heh heh heh - I am SO bad.