Congress Members Invested In Defense Contracting Companies
According to IPS News, "In all, 151 current members of Congress -- more than one-fourth of the total -- have invested between 78.7 million dollars and 195.5 million dollars in companies that received defence contracts of at least 5.0 million dollars, according to CRP [Center for Responsive Politics]."
Until January, 2007, an unethical, Republican controlled, Bush rubber stamp Congress gave the American electorate plenty of reasons not to trust the integrity of members of Congress given the list of scandals, corruption, and crime attributed to Republican members of that body.
And Democrats like Senator Jay Rockefeller and Rep. Jane Harman, whose egregious records on carrying water for Bush's surveillance state, anti-privacy and civil rights, warrantless wiretapping debacle and Harman's knee jerk support for the defense industry, calling herself "the best Republican in the Democratic Party," don't deserve our trust either.
IPS News continues, "Members of Congress invested nearly 196 million dollars of their own money in companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars a day from Pentagon contracts to provide goods and services to U.S. armed forces, say nonpartisan watchdog groups.
"Senator John Kerry, the Democrat from Massachusetts who staked his 2004 presidential bid in part on his opposition to the war, tops the list of investors. His holdings in firms with Pentagon contracts of at least five million dollars stood at between 28.9 million dollars and 38.2 million dollars as of Dec. 31, 2006. Kerry sits on the Senate foreign relations panel.
"Members of Congress are required to report their personal finances every year but only need to state their assets in broad ranges.
"Other top investors include Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, a New Jersey Republican with holdings of 12.1 million - 49.1 million dollars; Rep. Robin Hayes, a North Carolina Republican (9.2 million - 37.1 million dollars); Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin (5.2 million - 7.6 million dollars); and Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat (2.7 million - 6.3 million dollars).
"Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Democrat and former governor of West Virginia who chairs the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, invested some 2.0 million dollars in Pentagon contractors, CRP says.
"If some of the stocks appear innocent, aides say legislators also are. Some did not buy the stocks in question but inherited them. Many hold them in blind trusts, so called because the investments are handled by independent entities, at least theoretically without the politicians' knowledge of how their assets are being managed.
"Even so, according to CRP, owning stock in companies under contract with the Pentagon could prove "problematic for members of Congress who sit on committees that oversee defence policy and budgeting." (Underline added.)
"Members of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees held 3.0 million - 5.1 million dollars in companies specialising in weapons and other exclusively military goods and services, it added."
Too bad so many members of Congress have given the American electorate so many reasons not to trust them including their investments in defense contracting companies.
Until January, 2007, an unethical, Republican controlled, Bush rubber stamp Congress gave the American electorate plenty of reasons not to trust the integrity of members of Congress given the list of scandals, corruption, and crime attributed to Republican members of that body.
And Democrats like Senator Jay Rockefeller and Rep. Jane Harman, whose egregious records on carrying water for Bush's surveillance state, anti-privacy and civil rights, warrantless wiretapping debacle and Harman's knee jerk support for the defense industry, calling herself "the best Republican in the Democratic Party," don't deserve our trust either.
IPS News continues, "Members of Congress invested nearly 196 million dollars of their own money in companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars a day from Pentagon contracts to provide goods and services to U.S. armed forces, say nonpartisan watchdog groups.
"Senator John Kerry, the Democrat from Massachusetts who staked his 2004 presidential bid in part on his opposition to the war, tops the list of investors. His holdings in firms with Pentagon contracts of at least five million dollars stood at between 28.9 million dollars and 38.2 million dollars as of Dec. 31, 2006. Kerry sits on the Senate foreign relations panel.
"Members of Congress are required to report their personal finances every year but only need to state their assets in broad ranges.
"Other top investors include Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, a New Jersey Republican with holdings of 12.1 million - 49.1 million dollars; Rep. Robin Hayes, a North Carolina Republican (9.2 million - 37.1 million dollars); Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. of Wisconsin (5.2 million - 7.6 million dollars); and Rep. Jane Harman, a California Democrat (2.7 million - 6.3 million dollars).
"Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Democrat and former governor of West Virginia who chairs the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, invested some 2.0 million dollars in Pentagon contractors, CRP says.
"If some of the stocks appear innocent, aides say legislators also are. Some did not buy the stocks in question but inherited them. Many hold them in blind trusts, so called because the investments are handled by independent entities, at least theoretically without the politicians' knowledge of how their assets are being managed.
"Even so, according to CRP, owning stock in companies under contract with the Pentagon could prove "problematic for members of Congress who sit on committees that oversee defence policy and budgeting." (Underline added.)
"Members of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees held 3.0 million - 5.1 million dollars in companies specialising in weapons and other exclusively military goods and services, it added."
Too bad so many members of Congress have given the American electorate so many reasons not to trust them including their investments in defense contracting companies.
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