A-Town Ethics Board to Rule on Mike Donovan Ethics Debacle Today

I spoke w/ Allentown Ethics Board Attorney Charles J. Fonzone yesterday at 5:48pm.

Attorney Fonzone admitted to me that he had no intention of returning my several phone messages (and emails) and that I had reached him via the dumb luck of him answering his own phone after hours.

We both chuckled when I said, "Attorney Fonzone, if I were you, I wouldn't have called me back either."

Attorney Fonzone then answered all my questions in what I thought was about as straight-forward a manner as was possible, considering that this Allentown Ethics Board is a tad shall we say rusty on its practices, procedures, formats, agendas, etc., which Fonzone readily admitted.

Attorney Fonzone volunteered that he doesn't know Michael Donovan and that he has no existing relationship w/ him. I told Fonzone that I appreciated his sensitivity to my cronyism sensitivity, but that I hadn't asked him anything about a connection w/ Donovan.

My Excellent Questions and Attorney Fonzone's (Paraphrased) Answers

Q. Is Wednesday's meeting open to the public and will attendees be able to speak? A. It is open to the public and the Ethics Board is still considering allowing some limited input from the public. However, it wouldn't be for the purpose of evidence gathering, as the only relevant evidence here is Mr. Villa's complaint and Mr. Donovan's response, both of which have already been submitted and considered.

Q. What's the format and agenda for Wednesday's meeting. Will someone be leading/moderating the meeting? A. The Ethics Board will be delivering (reading aloud) its Written Advisory Opinion on this matter. Format, moderator, etc., has yet to be determined.

Q. Donovan was quoted on 69 News as saying he would "appeal and request a hearing if the Ethics Board ruled against him." Is there an appeal mechanism in the City's Ethics Board procedures? A. I don't see one there myself, but another lawyer may have a different interpretation. Once the Ethics Board renders its opinion, its work is done. So the question would be to whom would Mr. Donovan appeal?

Q. Has time expired for Donovan to request a hearing? I hope it hasn't because I've wanted to go one-on-one against Donovan in front of the Ethics Board all along, and if there's anything you can do to facilitate a hearing still happening I'd really appreciate that. A. I don't know the answer to this question.

A-Town Ethics Board to Rule on Mike Donovan Ethics Debacle Today

I spoke w/ Allentown Ethics Board Attorney Charles J. Fonzone yesterday at 5:48pm.

Attorney Fonzone admitted to me that he had no intention of returning my several phone messages (and emails) and that I had reached him via the dumb luck of him answering his own phone after hours.

We both chuckled when I said, "Attorney Fonzone, if I were you, I wouldn't have called me back either."

Attorney Fonzone then answered all my questions in what I thought was about as straight-forward a manner as was possible, considering that this Allentown Ethics Board is a tad shall we say rusty on its practices, procedures, formats, agendas, etc., which Fonzone readily admitted.

Attorney Fonzone volunteered that he doesn't know Michael Donovan and that he has no existing relationship w/ him. I told Fonzone that I appreciated his sensitivity to my cronyism sensitivity, but that I hadn't asked him anything about a connection w/ Donovan.

My Excellent Questions and Attorney Fonzone's (Paraphrased) Answers

Q. Is Wednesday's meeting open to the public and will attendees be able to speak? A. It is open to the public and the Ethics Board is still considering allowing some limited input from the public. However, it wouldn't be for the purpose of evidence gathering, as the only relevant evidence here is Mr. Villa's complaint and Mr. Donovan's response, both of which have already been submitted and considered.

Q. What's the format and agenda for Wednesday's meeting. Will someone be leading/moderating the meeting? A. The Ethics Board will be delivering (reading aloud) its Written Advisory Opinion on this matter. Format, moderator, etc., has yet to be determined.

Q. Donovan was quoted on 69 News as saying he would "appeal and request a hearing if the Ethics Board ruled against him." Is there an appeal mechanism in the City's Ethics Board procedures? A. I don't see one there myself, but another lawyer may have a different interpretation. Once the Ethics Board renders its opinion, its work is done. So the question would be to whom would Mr. Donovan appeal?

Q. Has time expired for Donovan to request a hearing? I hope it hasn't because I've wanted to go one-on-one against Donovan in front of the Ethics Board all along, and if there's anything you can do to facilitate a hearing still happening I'd really appreciate that. A. I don't know the answer to this question.

Impeaching Bybee Would Be a Start

Federal Judge Jay Bybee, who serves on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, should be impeached for authoring the Bush torture memos
which were written to provide legal immunity for illegal, immoral, and sadistic acts of torture, i.e., waterboarding.

Impeaching Bybee would be a good start in bringing all the Bush administration war criminals to justice. People at the top, and that means former Attorney General

Alberto Gonzales, President Bush, and Hissing Viper VP Dick Cheney should be prosecuted and held accountable for their war crimes.

The New York Times is calling for Bybee's impeachment.

According to the torture memos, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in a month, which is 6 times a day. Now I'm no fan of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but if this waterboarding method of torture is so effective, then why did it need to be administered almost 200 times in a one month period? And what was its yield regarding actionable anti-terrorism information? Zero (gulp), Zip (gulp), Nothing (gasp).

To guarantee that these immoral (and ineffective) criminal acts are never repeated, and to restore our reputation in the world, we need to act on this now. It's not "looking back" because this issue is very front and center to who we are right now as a nation, and what we stand for.

It is a mockery of our "justice system" that someone with judgement skills as awful as Jay Bybee's be allowed to hold a lifetime seat as a Federal Judge! Judge Jay Bybee should be impeached and disbarred, ASAP.

By releasing the memos, President Obama has shown his commitment to transparency in government. I understand that he has to focus on the economy right now and that the Justice Department should handle this. But I also must register my disappointment with our new President that he, a constitutional law professor, has not yet come out and said there must be prosecutions for violating the law-- no matter how high up the previous administration the long arm of the law reaches. I also see this as a failure of Congressional oversight by the Democrats and the Republicans over the last 8 years, because they were both afraid to stand up to the bully Cheney/Bush administration. They can reassert their authority now by initiating impeachment proceedings starting with Jay Bybee and proceeding upward from there.

Don't worry Rs, you know Dick Cheney has a suicide capsule in his jacket pocket :) we'll never take him alive.

W? He won't even see it coming.

Impeaching Bybee Would Be a Start

Federal Judge Jay Bybee, who serves on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, should be impeached for authoring the Bush torture memos
which were written to provide legal immunity for illegal, immoral, and sadistic acts of torture, i.e., waterboarding.

Impeaching Bybee would be a good start in bringing all the Bush administration war criminals to justice. People at the top, and that means former Attorney General

Alberto Gonzales, President Bush, and Hissing Viper VP Dick Cheney should be prosecuted and held accountable for their war crimes.

The New York Times is calling for Bybee's impeachment.

According to the torture memos, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in a month, which is 6 times a day. Now I'm no fan of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but if this waterboarding method of torture is so effective, then why did it need to be administered almost 200 times in a one month period? And what was its yield regarding actionable anti-terrorism information? Zero (gulp), Zip (gulp), Nothing (gasp).

To guarantee that these immoral (and ineffective) criminal acts are never repeated, and to restore our reputation in the world, we need to act on this now. It's not "looking back" because this issue is very front and center to who we are right now as a nation, and what we stand for.

It is a mockery of our "justice system" that someone with judgement skills as awful as Jay Bybee's be allowed to hold a lifetime seat as a Federal Judge! Judge Jay Bybee should be impeached and disbarred, ASAP.

By releasing the memos, President Obama has shown his commitment to transparency in government. I understand that he has to focus on the economy right now and that the Justice Department should handle this. But I also must register my disappointment with our new President that he, a constitutional law professor, has not yet come out and said there must be prosecutions for violating the law-- no matter how high up the previous administration the long arm of the law reaches. I also see this as a failure of Congressional oversight by the Democrats and the Republicans over the last 8 years, because they were both afraid to stand up to the bully Cheney/Bush administration. They can reassert their authority now by initiating impeachment proceedings starting with Jay Bybee and proceeding upward from there.

Don't worry Rs, you know Dick Cheney has a suicide capsule in his jacket pocket :) we'll never take him alive.

W? He won't even see it coming.

Giving "Credibility" to Snakes

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) is a disgraced ex-member of Congress. In 2005, a Texas Grand Jury indicted DeLay on criminal charges that he conspired to violate campaign finance laws. Republican Conference Rules forced him to resign temporarily as House Majority Leader.

In Jan 2006, he announced he would not return to his position, but in March 2006 he ran and won the Republican primary election, but in April 2006 he withdrew from the race and resigned his seat in Congress. DeLay is currently facing charges of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money. He has connections to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Two of his former aides were convicted in the Abramoff scandal. You may remember DeLay as being outspoken and w/ out shame in the Terri Schiavo case. He has adopted Rush Limbaugh's stance of wanting President Obama to fail and has called Obama a "Marxist."

Q. Why would Chris Matthews have Tom DeLay on Hardball or give any credibility to DeLay? He didn't challenge DeLay much, and let him rattle on. Do you think Matthews did this to make the R's look like fools? Have the whacky extremists become the mainstream in the Republican Party?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#30252790

Giving "Credibility" to Snakes

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) is a disgraced ex-member of Congress. In 2005, a Texas Grand Jury indicted DeLay on criminal charges that he conspired to violate campaign finance laws. Republican Conference Rules forced him to resign temporarily as House Majority Leader.

In Jan 2006, he announced he would not return to his position, but in March 2006 he ran and won the Republican primary election, but in April 2006 he withdrew from the race and resigned his seat in Congress. DeLay is currently facing charges of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money. He has connections to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Two of his former aides were convicted in the Abramoff scandal. You may remember DeLay as being outspoken and w/ out shame in the Terri Schiavo case. He has adopted Rush Limbaugh's stance of wanting President Obama to fail and has called Obama a "Marxist."

Q. Why would Chris Matthews have Tom DeLay on Hardball or give any credibility to DeLay? He didn't challenge DeLay much, and let him rattle on. Do you think Matthews did this to make the R's look like fools? Have the whacky extremists become the mainstream in the Republican Party?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#30252790