I guess it is now a legal strategy to refuse to resign your congressional seat when indicted on 35 counts.
Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi (R) said late Monday that he would not resign from the House, despite being indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Tucson on 35 counts of money laundering, wire fraud, extortion and other charges related to a land-swap scheme and his alleged embezzlement of money from his own company to fund his first House campaign.
“I will not resign and take on the cloak of guilt because I am innocent. My legal team of Reid Weingarten and Kelly Kramer will handle these legal issues while I continue to serve my constituents,” Renzi said in a statement, referring to the two attorneys handling his defense.
What I’d really like to know is how many Republicans would have been indicted by a ‘fair and balanced’ Justice Department as opposed to one led by John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales?
Probably he hasn’t resigned because he hasn’t yet been offered a lucrative K street job.
Doesn’t he have like 10 kids or something? He needs the money. And he can try to raise campaign funds to pay the lawyers. Constituents be damned. Do you know if he’s running for re-election? Of course he wouldn’t get it. But are the Republicans running anyone against him or is his district guaranteed a new Democratic Representative?
He has 12 children, and he’s not running for reelection. He will be “stepping down” as McCain’s co-chair for Arizona.
senators and congressmen who’ve been indicted/convicted, but refused to step down…pshaw! it’s the RATpublican way
he’s got a lot of company: lets see, delay, cunningham, craig, stevens…l’m sure there’s more, feel free to add to the list.
For the sake of sceen space it’s nice to see some of these Rep sandals meeting at the AZ corral. Last night the 60 min Siegalmann piece; on cue MSM perks up its ears about McCain’s lobbyist roommates, DNC files its complaint on the FEC debaucle and then lo and behold Huffington Post puts a nice bow on top of this pile of crap to tie it together. HuffPo gets a copy of an email from dear old lobbyist supreme Abramoff that brings Abramoff right into the Siegelmann deal and demonstrates the integral part McCain played.
Renzi may end up looking sqeeky clean in comparison.
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Were Renzi to leave early, the date of his resignation would be critical to whether the district’s residents would be represented for the duration of his two-year congressional term.
Under Arizona law, if Renzi resigns before May 4, Gov. Janet Napolitano would be required to call a special primary and then a special election to fill the vacancy. A special primary would be held within 75 to 105 days of the resignation, followed by the special general election 35 to 45 days later.
Not so, however, if Renzi were to resign after May 4. In that instance, his seat would remain vacant until a new representative is sworn in after the Sept. 2 regular primary and the Nov. 4 general election.
The Renzi investigation began during the tenure of then-U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, a Bush administration appointee who was forced from office as part of a Justice Department purge of U.S. attorneys around the country.
The Hill: Concrete legislative favors unclear in Rep. Renzi case
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."He needs his government check. His legal bills won’t come cheap. He won’t go until forced.
Completely shameless.
I have looked several times to find a list of congresspersons who have been jailed. Thus far, the 109th has had 2 (Ney and Cunningham). Renzi was just indicted. Doolittle, Lewis, Miller and Delay are possibly on the indictment list.
Is there a list anywhere that lists the congressmen who have gone to prison?
TPM was running a R-corruption list, don’t have the link but you may try there. For me, once they lose their rank on the committees because of corruption it’s a jail card.
Every time I see Boehner cry at the mike I’m sure he’s really enticing the tears forward by actual thoughts of his dwindling honest membership.