What Goes Around Comes Around

Joe Bruno indicted. It seems like only yesterday Joe Bruno was doing his best to stick the shiv in Eliot Spitzer. And his clown of hatchet man Roger Stone was stirring the pot, shopping around any dirt he could dig up on Spitzer to anyone who would listen.

When you think about the shifts in political grounds in 2008, it really was a year of breathtaking change. Bruno out, now indicted. Democratic state senate control for the first time since 1964. Barack Obama elected President. And wide Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.

Outside of the fact that we're teetering on the edge of a depression, I feel pretty damn good. Because now we at least have a chance. Good leadership means a world of difference.

Gov. Siegelman Freed!

This is fantastic news. Don Siegelman, former governor of Alabama, was railroaded in a political prosecution orchestrated by the Bush administration. See my previous posts on this subject.

But first, see the full story at Harper's, TPM, and Emptywheel's digs. You'll see some concern trolls out there, who will warn you under their breath not to get to excited defending Siegelman, he's dirty. At first, I was wary myself. But after a lot of reading on the subject let me tell you: that's a crock.

This is the most clear case of political prosecution I've seen, and it is absolutely shocking that the GOP was so brazen. There's a lot of fireworks to come on this, and I suspect some of the prosecution team and/or the trial court judge will see the inside of a prison before we're through.

Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James Indicted

I went to school in Newark for three years, and this is truly heartening news from the Star Ledger:

The 86-page indictment said James, 71, arranged for the city to sell municipal real estate at a steep discount to a Newark businesswoman, Tamika Riley, then secretly shared in the profits when Riley sold the parcels to developers.

Prosecutors also accused James of using city-issued credit cards to pay for lavish trips he took with eight women, including Riley, to places including Martha's Vineyard, Rio de Janeiro, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The credit card charges - hundreds between 2001 and 2006 totaling more than $58,000 - covered hotel rooms and luxury suites, meals and fine dining, airfare, car rentals, tickets to sporting events and other expenses, prosecutors said.

Check out the picture of the young entrepreneur that James was funneling cash to, and taking purely professional trips with.

Thomas Kontogiannis: Queens Sleaziest Businessman?

I've been reading about this character ever since the Duke Cunningham scandal broke, and for the life of me, I can't figure out what role this shadowy figure plays that he's constantly getting get-out-of-jail-free cards from the Feds.

Something stinks here, badly. It's time to eliminate covert operations from our governments toolbox altogether.

Troll the archives at WarandPiece and TPMmuckraker for more on this slippery fellow. How does he manage to stay out of the headlines of every New York paper? Not one investigative journalist for a NY paper or news program, as far as I know, has done an expose on this guy.

Photo from the Queens Press, from an unrelated story where Kontogiannis plead guilty in a local bribery case . . . which involved nearly $5 million swindled from the city . . . and NO ONE went to jail. What gives?

ADDED:
This April 2006 article from the San Diego Union-Tribune is an excellent source of reporting on Kontogiannis' checkered past.