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Thursday, April 1, 2010

Conservative 'C Street House' Residents Face Ethics Complaints For Below-Market Rent

First Posted: 04- 1-10 11:39 AM | Updated: 04- 1-10 12:29 PM

The group of conservative members of Congress who've resided at the notorious "C Street House" may have violated Congressional gift rules by accepting steeply-discounted lodging, new ethics complaints allege.

The watchdog organization CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) filed complaints Thursday charging Republican Sens. Sam Brownback (Kan.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Jim DeMint (S.C.) and John Ensign (Nev.), as well as Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Penn.), Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), with accepting "improper gifts" from C Street in the form of way-below-market rent.

Other residents past and present did not make the list -- most notably trail-hiking Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), who lived in the C Street House while in Congress and helped make the place famous by seeking counseling there in the wake of his affair.

According to reports cited in the CREW complaints, the members of Congress residing at C Street pay $950 per month for rent and housekeeping, versus a minimum of $1,700 per month for nearby one-bedroom apartments, $2,400 per month for adjacent hotels or $4,000 for corporate housing.

The CREW data piggybacks in part on similar charges filed earlier this week against the house itself by a clergy group, which complained to the IRS that C Street was improperly using its privileged tax status.

Rightardia has written about C Street which is funded by The Family, a shady right wing Christian group headed by Doug Coe. Coe preaches that the leaders in Washington are not resrticted  by normal socil norms that may expalin why Republicans ignore the US Constitition and have corrupted the National Intelligence Community.

The Iraq War is a good example of this. The intelligence used to justify the war was based on a single source report that intelligence professionals should never provide to policy makers. The basis of good intelligence has always been multiple sources. Americans now know there were no WMDs in Iraq. 

Likewise, the Patriot Act authorized the government to wiretap the Internet. A federal judge ruled Wednesday that government investigators illegally wiretapped the phone conversations of an Islamic charity and two American lawyers without a search warrant.

This group was originally founded by an Scandinavian minister named Abraham Vereide, who was sympathetic to European fascists during World War 2. Vereide started the National Prayer Breakfasts in the US. 

source: Huffington Post



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