Mike Johanns: Pill Popping-Gate

Mike Johanns: A Pattern of Deceit and Corruption (Part I)

We've been focusing heavily on Mike Johanns' time as Secretary of Agriculture (Unethical spending and violating the Hatch Act), but this is the first of many posts about past scandals involving his time as Governor of Nebraska.

Meet State Senator Ray Mossey

Ray Mossey was tapped by Mike Johanns to replace incoming Attorney General Jon Bruning as State Senator. Just two years later Mossey was arrested for attempting to fraudulently obtain a prescription of Vicodin.

Mossey was arrested Friday in Omaha after police officers were called to the pharmacy at the Nebraska Medical Center…During a search of Mossey’s vehicle, parker at the hospital, police found a .380 caliber semiautomatic handgun in the center console under other items.
[Omaha World Herald, Jun. 29th, 2004]

While prominent state politicians called Mossey to resign and drop out of his re-election bid, Mike Johanns waited days to speak out and condemn Mossey’s actions.
[Associated Press, Aug. 4th, 2004]

You can learn a lot about someone by looking at the company they keep so what does Ray Mossey say about Mike Johanns? It shows a pattern of bad judgement and out right corruption.

More tomorrow...

Video: Mike Johanns on Travelgate

Big thanks to Lisa Hannah who captured this video:

Another big thanks to Lisa for posting this testimony from former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman refuting what Johanns said above:

QUESTIONER: To what extent did the Offce of Political Affairs, during your tenure, get involved with the travel of the Cabìnet Secretaries?

MEHLMAN: We would certainly advise places they mìght consider going. And if they were doing purely partisan, a fund raiser, for instance, we would try to encourage them to think about doing them in certain places.

QUESTIONER: And is it fair to say that when a Cabinet Secretary makes a public appearance, the publìc appearance could be the result of the Cabinet Secretary and the agency on its own determinìng that?

MEHLMAN: Absolutely.

So -- Mike Johanns, Marilyn Musgrave, and the Ku Klux Klan walk into a bar...

"Travelgate" just gets worse and worse.

Yesterday, we reported that Mike Johanns campaigned (w/ taxpayer dollars of course) for some of the most corrupt members of Congress in 2006 including anti-gay Colorado Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave.

However, it turns out that Mike Johanns wasn't her only fan.

"The Raw Story" reported in 2006:

Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) has apparently "become a darling of the Ku Klux Klan," according to today's Roll Call.

(snip)

As of Friday afternoon, the Colorado Republican was featured prominently on a Web site representing the Harrison, Ark.-based Knights Party, described as "America’s Largest, Oldest and Most Professional White Rights Organization — We Love You."

It's nice to see Republicans bringing people together.

Laughable New Ad from Mike Johanns

The day after Mike Johanns was found using taxpayer dollars to campaign on behalf of corrupt politicians across the country he is now running this ad:

This ad is pathetic and disrespectful to Nebraskans.

Mike Johanns talks about "making the hard decisions" but when Karl Rove asked him to waste tax payer dollars to campaign for Republicans he refused to "make the hard decisions." He even admitted to it during last night's debate with Scott Kleeb.

Mike Johanns didn't "set priorities" when he sent a USDA employee to Australia to study Mississippi Crayfish at the Surfers Paradise Resort. He certainly wasn't promoting "Nebraska values" when he sent USDA employees to Las Vegas, Orlando, and Hawaii to study nothing of value while wasting millions of taxpayer dollars.

The bottom line, Washington changed Mike Johanns and Nebraskans can't afford his brand of fiscal responsibility. In fact, the way he spends, we might have to raise taxes so Johanns can vacation to the Bahamas with George Bush and Karl Rove.

More on Johanns Scandal: "Travelgate 2"

From last night's debate via the Lincoln Journal Star (h/t NNN):

...Johanns said he believes it would be "a great idea" to ban the use of taxpayer funds by the White House for such activities.

Oh boy! A great idea? I bet when Karl Rove was handing Mike Johanns his marching orders he was voicing his concern for these unethical practices.

But Mike Johanns has already broken the law. I'm going to let him in on a secret about something called, "The Hatch Act."

The Hatch Act of 1939 is a United States federal law whose main provision is to prohibit federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity. Named after Senator Carl Hatch of New Mexico, the law was officially known as An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities.

It can be as insignificant as placing a Scott Kleeb yard sign in their yard or, for example, traveling across the country to campaign for various Republican candidates at taxpayer expense.

So we know Johanns is corrupt, but just who was Mike Johanns campaigning for:

Marilyn Musgrave

John Doolittle

Richard Pombo

Heather Wilson

Rick Renzi

As mcjoan over at DailyKos found, Musgrave, Doolittle, Pombo, and Renzi are four of most corrupt Congressman in 2006.

To recap, corrupt politician Mike Johanns spent taxpayer dollars to campaign for corrupt Congressmen. Sounds like a guy I want as my U.S. Senator.

The only question now is whether the media will actually inform Nebraskans about this scandal. As Kyle Michaelis at NNN said yesterday:

...this still-erupting scandal has the potential to remake Nebraska's 2008 Senate race.

Did Mike Johanns Violate the Hatch Act?

Sure looks like it:

The White House directed officials including cabinet secretaries to appear at more than 300 events to help elect Republican candidates in 2006, according to a draft Congressional report.

The appearances were coordinated by the White House Office of Political Affairs, often at taxpayer expense, said the report by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

(snip)

“In some instances,” the draft report stated, “the White House specifically requested that travel be billed to the taxpayers to save Republican campaigns money.”

The report states that over 80% of these trips were outside Washington D.C. then names then-Secretary of Agriculture and now Nebraska Senate candidate Mike Johanns as one of the primary culprits. Johanns topped the list at second by attending 38 campaign events.

Not only is unethical and a disgusting waste of taxpayers dollars but this appears to be in violation of the U.S. Hatch Act which states that federal employees can not (amongst other things):

Campaign for or against a candidate or slate of candidates in partisan elections

Make campaign speeches

Organize or manage political rallies or meetings

---

This builds off another government report from Republican Senator Tom Coburn that unveiled alarming misuse of spending at the USDA under Mike Johanns.

In 2006 (according to CBS), 20,959 USDA employees attended 6,719 conferences worldwide including 94 in Las Vegas ($254,755), 59 in Orlando ($282,656), and 28 in Hawaii which came out to $2,000 person.

They went to the Virgin Islands to study preventing pollution in the Caribbean.

And one lucky USDA employee went halfway around the world to attend a conference in Australia at the Surfers Paradise Resort. The subject matter: Mississippi crayfish. They could’ve been studied closer to home … but the waves aren’t as good in the bayou.

Senator Coburn was quoted as saying:

"Would you ever spend that money on yourself, if, in fact, you had a tight budget and you were borrowing what money you didn’t have from your grandkids? Nobody in their right mind would do that."

What we're seeing here is a pattern of abuse. Mike Johanns has no problem wasting our tax dollars on trips to Hawaii and Mike Johanns has no problem violating a Federal law.

We can not afford to send corrupt politicians back to Washington. We can not afford to send Mike Johanns back to Washington.

Nebraska deserves a better class of Senator.

The Only Thing Mike Johanns Can't Quit 2

Quitting.