The Water Carrier
Just good reporting on some quality give and take ...
However, Nixon's communication director, Jim McGrath, calls the attention to the settlement dirty politics and said his client has already been cleared of criminal behavior."Ronnie Earle, who is not shy about investigating Republicans, issued a letter exonerating Nixon, saying he didn't do anything wrong," McGrath said. "They are trying to create problems for us. This is a desperate political attack."
McGrath referred to a letter authored by Travis County District Attorney Earle's office clearing the representative of any wrong doing after his public integrity unit looked into the Farmers settlement.
"It's remarkable, particularly in light of current events [i.e. the indictment of Rep. Tom Delay], for Ronnie Earle, one, to issue such a letter, and, two, to express his hope that Joe can put this matter behind him," McGrath said. "If Ronnie can drop this - indeed, wants to drop it - why can't you?"
McGrath followed up in a telephone interview last week, saying California law does not require the verification of allegations on the stand, just that the whistle blower was fired for whistle blowing.
The Los Angeles jurists were asked to decide whether Arnold's discharge was motivated by e-mails and conversations with Farmers executives regarding "the Evans case, the reserves, or the payment to Joseph Nixon."
McGrath said while the jurists did decide in Arnold's favor, conclusions as to which issue was chosen as the reasoning behind Arnold's discharge could not be made legally.
Citing Nixon's representation of an insurance company against a Spring area church, in addition to support of the industry through recent legislation, Begala chalked up "Mr. Tort-Reform himself" and the issue as another reason why voters are fed up with the state of politics.
"The way our campaign looks at this is people are tired of the hypocrisy," Begala said. "Joe Nixon is just another average politician-and there is nothing wrong with that, but you can be sure he'll certainly pick up checks from his special interest friends."
According to The Institute on Money in State Politics, Nixon collected contributions in the amount of $77,250 grouped in the finance, insurance and real estate sectors during his 2004 re-election campaign.
That year, Farmers Employees & Agents of Texas (FEAPAC) contributed $2,000 to Nixon's campaign coffers.
From claims of special interest favoritism to the candidate's strengths on issues of homeland security, critics also point out that Sandler-Innocenzi, Inc., the producers of the Nixon campaign's advertising, is a company of special interest by opponents and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Registered as a foreign agent of Saudi Arabia with the department, Sandler-Innocenzi, Inc. has produced campaign advertisements for many Republican candidates on the national, state and local stage.
Additionally, the Alexandria, Va.-based PR firm was tapped, along with Qorvis Communications, to create a series of ads designed to counter anti-Saudi sentiment in the U.S. after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Polling of public opinion found favorability to Saudi Arabia dropped after the New York City and Washington D.C. attacks, in which 15 of 19 hijackers were Saudis.
As a result of the hiring, opponents, like the Patrick campaign, now call into question the representative's commitment to homeland security.
Isn't it just amazing how close Joe Nixon's paid professional defender (McGrath) sounds an awful lot like certain local rightwing bloggers? Amazing because, if there were anything close to the truth at play here, they'd both know that Joe Nixon was never "cleared of criminal charges." He's never been investigated of criminal charges to be cleared of them. Ronnie Earle wouldn't have a case, given his jurisdiction, unless there WAS a criminal charge. So it didn't make sense for him to press a case when there was nothing to substantiate a charge that WAS within his jurisdiction.
Why no criminal charge? Chalk it up to moral hazard if you will. Who in the transaction is so aggreived that they might file criminal charges? The insurance company that wanted to keep Joe "friendly?" Joe himself, with a newly refurbed house, kick-ass driveway, and a tip on top of his settlement that would have made a Ruth Christie's waiter proud? No, the only aggreived parties here are the premium-paying Farmer's customers, who are likely paying something less than a penny/month. Since that's not likely to garner class-action attention, that means the only person likely to file criminal charges against a Republican State Rep for this would be ... the Republican Attorney General. Not surprisingly, AG Greg Abbott shares an affliction with Joe Nixon. That being the proclivity to cash in on something for themselves that they'd deny anyone else the same right. Go figure.
As for the issue of Joe Nixon's Saudi-friendly mailing company, I can only chuckle heartily at the other side going at it.
Oh, and for good measure, one more reason to run everywhere - even in SD7 - is that it might be a good idea to have a Democrat pass around clippings such as this one to non-primary voters between the March primaries and the November elections.
(hat tip to Rob for furling this one.)