Congressman Burgess INSULTED me!
I just got out of a two-hour interview with my Congressman, Republican Michael Burgess. Readers of this blog and The News Connection may remember that I criticized him in my column last week. I told his constituents that he had accepted a large sum of money from indicted Houston Congressman Tom DeLay, and that Dr. Burgess had donated to Mr. DeLay's legal defense fund. I also commented on his voting record, saying that he has voted lock-step with the Neo-Con agenda, and has been nothing but another Zombie Republican, blindly following the Bush agenda of death, destruction, and unprecedented spending.
When Burgess arrived, I walked into my editor's office and said, "Congressman, it is a pleasure to meet you." I shook his hand, trying to be cordial and polite as I am with all of my interview subjects. Bob introduced me to him, saying "this is Stephen Webster, our Investigative Reporter."
Burgess paused and shook his head then quipped, "to use the term lightly."
My smile dropped in a half-second. How very unbecoming of a public official! I've had nothing but positive feedback from this community on my investigation of the Denton Central Appraisal District and the Flower Mound High School hazing incident. And this guy ... this Congressman, of all things ... comes right out of the gate and insults me? I do not think the readers of this newspaper would appreciate that. I still get letters thanking me for my efforts to expose the corruption in our appraisal system, and I don't even own a house!
I should note that, during our interview, Dr. Burgess lied several times. He stated that Congressional Republicans have been "very successful" in "restraining federal spending." But the Bush administration has borrowed more money than every previous administration in American history, combined. He calls that "restrained"? The only restraining I've seen is the nasty cuts to food stamps, college aid, medicare and planned parenthood. Social programs. Necessary spending. That's restraint? That's nasty. That's flat-out wrong.
He also claimed that he voted against changing the house ethics rules in support of his friend, Mr. DeLay. Well ... that too is an "untruth," to use nice terminology. He voted to change it early in 2005. Then, when the new rules came under so much fire (they would have allowed indicted representatives to remain in leadership positions), nearly all house Republicans voted to change them back to the previous rule-set that kept shady figures like DeLay out of such powerful seats. Only 20 Republican representatives voted against this measure. Burgess was one of those 20 - and only one of seven from Texas.
I suppose he thought I wasn't boned up on my "facts." On the topic of ethics rules and Burgess' painful support of corruption, the Ft. Worth Star Telegram had this to say ...
I think I'll wear it like a badge of honor. Today, I won a freakin' medal - a congressional insult.
Mahalo.
**Update**
I just remembered the details of another of Burgess' comments. He said that Congressman Murtha was an "unindicted co-conspirator" in an ethics scrape years ago, and that he had taken a bribe. I assume he was talking about this story from Republican propaganda outlet CyberCast News Service. But even in the story, Murtha is exonnerated of all illegal dealings.
When Burgess arrived, I walked into my editor's office and said, "Congressman, it is a pleasure to meet you." I shook his hand, trying to be cordial and polite as I am with all of my interview subjects. Bob introduced me to him, saying "this is Stephen Webster, our Investigative Reporter."
Burgess paused and shook his head then quipped, "to use the term lightly."
My smile dropped in a half-second. How very unbecoming of a public official! I've had nothing but positive feedback from this community on my investigation of the Denton Central Appraisal District and the Flower Mound High School hazing incident. And this guy ... this Congressman, of all things ... comes right out of the gate and insults me? I do not think the readers of this newspaper would appreciate that. I still get letters thanking me for my efforts to expose the corruption in our appraisal system, and I don't even own a house!
I should note that, during our interview, Dr. Burgess lied several times. He stated that Congressional Republicans have been "very successful" in "restraining federal spending." But the Bush administration has borrowed more money than every previous administration in American history, combined. He calls that "restrained"? The only restraining I've seen is the nasty cuts to food stamps, college aid, medicare and planned parenthood. Social programs. Necessary spending. That's restraint? That's nasty. That's flat-out wrong.
He also claimed that he voted against changing the house ethics rules in support of his friend, Mr. DeLay. Well ... that too is an "untruth," to use nice terminology. He voted to change it early in 2005. Then, when the new rules came under so much fire (they would have allowed indicted representatives to remain in leadership positions), nearly all house Republicans voted to change them back to the previous rule-set that kept shady figures like DeLay out of such powerful seats. Only 20 Republican representatives voted against this measure. Burgess was one of those 20 - and only one of seven from Texas.
I suppose he thought I wasn't boned up on my "facts." On the topic of ethics rules and Burgess' painful support of corruption, the Ft. Worth Star Telegram had this to say ...
"Sadly, this Congress is so infected with the disease of partisanship that even the actions of the only totally bipartisan House committee -- with its equal number of Republicans and Democrats -- will be viewed through a lens of cynicism.I could go on and on. There were so many statements that Burgess made in my presence that contained holes so big I could have driven a Hummer through them without even clipping the mirrors. But I digress. I'm just exceedingly pleased that I got to him. He was annoyed, and he insulted me.And by the way: It is disheartening to note that local Reps. Joe Barton and Michael Burgess did not join the overwhelming majority of their Republican colleagues in voting to re-adopt the former rules -- a move that broke the logjam that barred the Ethics Committee from convening to discuss any issue, not just that of DeLay."
I think I'll wear it like a badge of honor. Today, I won a freakin' medal - a congressional insult.
Mahalo.
**Update**
I just remembered the details of another of Burgess' comments. He said that Congressman Murtha was an "unindicted co-conspirator" in an ethics scrape years ago, and that he had taken a bribe. I assume he was talking about this story from Republican propaganda outlet CyberCast News Service. But even in the story, Murtha is exonnerated of all illegal dealings.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Murtha was one of eight members of Congress lured to a Washington, D.C., townhouse by a team of FBI agents posing as representatives of a fictitious Arab sheik. They handed out briefcases filled with $50,000 in return for helping the sheik gain residency in the United States."His longings for times past when Democrats were more corrupt than Republicans are clear. Burgess, Burgess, Burgess ... The times, they have a-changed. Your peers are the ones with blood on their hands. No distortion you could possibly present will change that.
Noting that Murtha "is not squeaky clean," the Brattleboro, Vt., Reformer reported that the congressman "did not take the cash" offered by the agents. Instead, "he asked the fake sheik to consider investing some money in his struggling home town, Johnstown."
