RATS SMELL...this one stinks

[Raya @ REAL CONSERVATIVES]

....what smells?

.

.

"I SHOWERED"

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White House says top Obama aide will not testify before House panel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Tuesday that political adviser David Simas would not answer a subpoena to appear on Wednesday before a congressional oversight committee, saying he was immune from being compelled to testify.

Republican Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the House of Representatives' Oversight and Government Reform Committee, subpoenaed Simas last week to testify about how his office complies with the Hatch Act, a law that forbids most federal government employees from engaging in partisan political activity.

Simas is director of the White House Office of Political Strategy and Outreach. Recent presidents, both Democratic and Republican, have all had at least one top political adviser in a position similar to that of Simas.

The Obama administration had contested the subpoena, with White House counsel Neil Eggleston writing to Issa on Monday that it was "precipitate and surprising in light of our clear willingness to work with you to meet your informational needs."

In a follow-up letter to Issa on Tuesday, Eggleston wrote that the committee's effort to compel Simas's testimony threatened the executive branch's long-standing interest in preserving the president's independence and autonomy "as well as his ability to obtain candid advice and counsel to aid him in the discharge of his constitutional duties."

"In light of those principles ... Mr. Simas is immune from congressional compulsion to testify on matters relating to his official duties and will not appear at the July 16, 2014, hearing," the letter added.

Eggleston also said that Issa had made no effort to justify his "extraordinary demand that one of the president's immediate advisers testify at a committee hearing."

Issa rejected the White House's arguments, saying a previous court ruling had found that senior advisers to the president were not immune from congressional procedures such as Issa's.

“This hearing seeks to examine a political office embedded within the White House which, under Democratic and Republican administrations, has had a controversial role of coordinating political campaign activity for the president at taxpayer expense," Issa said in a statement.

"Assertions that this administration’s taxpayer-funded political efforts should be above congressional oversight are absurd," he said, adding that the hearing would go forward as planned.

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Issa subpoena storm intensifies-

JUST IN:

The director of the White House's political office defied a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, setting up a new high-profile fight between the White House and House Republicans.

Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said administration claims that White House political director David Simas was immune from testimony were “absurd” and “deeply disturbing.”

“The American people have a right to know if their tax dollars are being used for political activity,” Issa said, adding that Simas's testimony was “critically important” to his investigation into whether the political office had violated the Hatch Act, a law prohibiting executive branch employees from engaging in partisan campaign activity.

Issa has not produced evidence of a specific instance of the White House violating the law and has pointed to abuses in the office that occurred under the Bush Administration to justify the subpoena.

“Mr. Simas’ testimony is critically important and we are going to attempt to clarify whether or not President Obama intends to invoke Executive Privilege before considering our next course of action,” Issa said.

White House counsel Neil Eggleston said in a letter Tuesday night that Simas was “immune from congressional compulsion to testify on matters relating to his official duties” because doing so would threaten “longstanding interests of the Executive Branch in preserving the president's independence and autonomy.”

Eggleston also noted that the White House had tried to accommodate the committee by providing a briefing between administration officials and committee staff on Tuesday. During the 75-minute gathering, White House staffers fielded more than 40 questions from Issa's staff, and, according to Eggleston, “stayed until the Committee staff determined they had completed their questioning.”

“Your hasty decision to subpoena Mr. Simas is all the more unfounded because the Committee has been unable to point to any indication” the White House broke the law, Eggleston wrote.

Issa said Wednesday that Congress does “not and should not need a smoking gun” to investigate the administration. He said the committee was justified in demanding testimony from a senior presidential adviser, pointing to when Democrats compelled Harriet Miers, the White House counsel to former President George W. Bush, to testify about allegations of the politically motivated firings of U.S. attorneys.

He also played a voicemail in which former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis solicits a campaign contribution while on the job to demonstrate that the Obama administration had previously run afoul of the Hatch Act. Solis was not in any way connected to the political office under investigation.

Issa also objected to the White House not consulting with the United States Office of Special Counsel before reopening the political office earlier this year. The OSC investigates Hatch Act violations within the federal government.

In written testimony, OSC head Carolyn Lerner said that based on a review of correspondence between Issa and the White House, “it appears that the White House adhered to OSC guidance in determining the scope of activity for the office” and were “consistent with Hatch Act restrictions.”

Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) blasted the exercise as “political theater” in his opening statement.

“I strongly support the authority to issue subpoenas when necessary, to require people to provide information to fulfill their constitutional responsibility. But I cannot and will not support the abuse of this very powerful authority when it serves no legitimate purpose and there is no evidence a witness did anything wrong,” Cummings said.

The Maryland Democrat said that, in the Miers case, there was evidence wrongdoing had occurred and noted she no longer worked in the White House at the time of the subpoena.

“We do not simply haul in one of the president's top advisers at will. There must be a reason,” Cummings said.

Issa provided little insight into whether he would take legal action against the White House in an attempt to further compel testimony from Simas, saying only, “we are going to attempt to clarify whether or not President Obama intends to invoke executive privilege before considering our next course of action.”

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COMMENTS:

" Put the shoe on the other foot. Can you imagine the outcry from the media and Democrats if members of a Republican Administration plead the 5th Amendment, "lost" 2 years of emails, had a tax cheat for a treasury Secretary, raised the debt to $17 trillion, defied a subpoena, etc.? It would be deafening 24/7. It would be even louder if it was the Bush Administration. Democrats are definitely held to a different standard, and a very low one at that. Yet 41% of the people still support who is arguably the worst President in history. I pity whoever has to pick up the pieces after this crowd leaves Washington."

" The idea that the entity that represents America and it's citizens are "immune" from accountability and culpability of their actions while "employed" by the taxpayer is absurd. Having difficulty finding any logical justification for that position regardless of "politically devised rules" permitting the system gaming posture that this administration is so adept at. If there is any "citizen driven" representation left in this joke we call political representation, stepping up and disallowing this shield of system gaming to continue is long overdue. Functional, tangible and attainable criminal personal liability need be aligned with all "public service" jobs top to bottom."

"Does this mean that if Obama himself is subpoenaed he doesn't have to show up? What if it's for an impeachment hearing? How can anyone just outright defy a subpoena? This guy should be sought out, arrested and brought before the hearing. If he chooses to plead the fifth, that's his right but he has no right to act as if he's above the law and doesn't have to show up. 
What kind of an example does this set for the rest of Americans?"

"This is the most corrupt, most anti-American government this country has ever had. Look at how much damage had to be done to our country before people began to wake up. This never would have happened (and continue to happen) if we had a watchdog media that did its job. The progressives (both parties) have a death grip on this country and will do whatever it takes to keep the truth from coming out about anything happening in Washington. It's all about power and control. The American people, somehow, lost control of their country. Keep this in mind in 2014 and 2016.

"Dear Mr. President,
First of All, You are NOT a KING, RULER or a DICTATOR! There is a reason that we have Three (yes, I said "THREE") branches of government. Just because you do not like how fast/slow Congress is taking on something DOES NOT give you the Authority to make YOUR OWN LAWS that fit Your Agenda. You claim that the American people want immigration reform. BUT WE DO NOT!!! We want our laws that are already on the books ENFORCED!! We are tired of You and Your Cronies trying to get more "bought voters" into this country by changing the laws to make this happen. FIRST OF ALL, We do not have jobs or the welfare money to support all of these people. Do you not realize that the money you give these people does not stay in this country? They send them back to the country that they are "running" from and it is spent there instead of here, where we need it! So, "YOU WERE NOT ELECTED NOT a KING, RULER or a DICTATOR" and it is time you followed the UNITED STATES Constitution... it's the LAW!!! "

Yes even blacks are getting smart when it comes to the LIAR In Chief...

"In October 2008, she made an emotional statement that quickly became iconic in the presidential race — both to Obama’s swooning fans and his lambasting critics.

Peggy Joseph said this, minutes after an Obama speech in Sarasota, Florida, just days before the election 
I never thought this day would ever happen. I won’t have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage. You know. If I help [Obama], he’s gonna help me.”

Yep, you remember that. It quickly went viral, amassing 3 million views in just 48 hours.


For those who saw Obama as a snake oil salesman then as now, this clip was part and parcel of the inexplicable and disturbing Obama mania, right up there with Will .I. Am’s Yes We Can music video, and Obama’s bizarre speech to an hysterical crowd declaring he would end the “rise of the oceans.”

So where is Peggy Joseph now, and does she still adore Obama?

Not exactly.

Filmmaker Joel Gilbert, whose documentary ‘There’s No Place Like Utopia‘ premieres this Friday, caught up with Joseph to discuss how she feels about the man she once thought would solve all of her problems. And in this clip he brings her a hilarious “gift” which shows that his upcoming film should be an entertaining one.

Joseph explained that as she educated herself on politics and learned who Obama was. She realized that he’s a fraud and there’s no merit to anything he says.

“Truth and honesty are important,” she said. “He lied about everything.”

According to Gilbert, his documentary shows similar experiences with other one-time Obama supporters who bought into his hope and change rhetoric but quickly discovered he’s not what he says.

“In my journey through America in ‘There’s No Place Like Utopia,’ I met a lot of people living in horrible conditions, particularly African Americans, who I was surprised to learn were now staunch conservatives as a result of living in progressive-controlled cities like Detroit, Chicago and Newark,” Gilbert said.

“After 60 years of progressive politics in their cities, they understood very clearly that they had not been progressing but rather regressing all this time, and they were mad. They felt they had been used and tricked by Obama for their votes and that he never intended to keep any of his promises, just like the Wizard of Oz.”

"If someone is being protected from testifying such as this man, it makes it pretty obvious they have something to hide. Under no circumstances should anyone be able to let off the hook from testifying. Since when did people get exempt from a subpoena to testify? I have never seen a President think he is so above the law as this man. He has abused his power more than any other President, and that word Transparency was just another lie from the weak leader."

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[Kathryn Ball]

And this 'president' ignores all of it....he denies any wrongdoing and tells us "there is not one SCINTILLA" of scandal........................I suppose he is correct.......there are almost too many to count, with new ones popping up so we can't pay attention and really FOCUS on any one thing because his lawlessness is rampant...................

and the once vigilant media continues its sychophantic love fest to all things Marxist..............'useful idiots'...................................ALL of them!

[Chris Horne]

This happened under Bush too.