Corrine Brown, FL *Congressional Rep*

[tinatark]

I've posted about this elected official before - now she's concerned with the Federal Government response to the hurricane.

(from the article) When she arrives in the capital, Brown said she would contact the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Leave them alone!! Let them do their jobs!

HELLO? As a 12+ (I think) year member of Congress - you're PART of the problem!

For those of you who know Corrine - maybe if it were coming from a more credible source, these statements would be okay. But from her...

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/090605/met_19690029.shtml

 

[bsnyder]

I've posted about this elected official before - now she's concerned with the Federal Government response to the hurricane.

(from the article) When she arrives in the capital, Brown said she would contact the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Leave them alone!! Let them do their jobs!

HELLO? As a 12+ (I think) year member of Congress - you're PART of the problem!

For those of you who know Corrine - maybe if it were coming from a more credible source, these statements would be okay. But from her...

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/090605/met_19690029.shtml

Maybe someone should tell her there's a tropical storm brewing that could affect her city by the weekend. Instead of grandstanding for the national media, maybe she should be reviewing her area's disaster preparedness plan....

 

[Miss Jasmine]

She's a nitwit, she has always been a nitwit and continues to be a nitwit. This is nothing compared to some other things she has said in the past.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I often wonder "how" she gets reelected. In the few times I've seen her--she doesn't look like she could speak a coherent sentence let alone convince people to vote for her.

 

[peachgirl]

I often wonder "how" she gets reelected. In the few times I've seen her--she doesn't look like she could speak a coherent sentence let alone convince people to vote for her.

How funny! That's exactly what I say about Bush!

 

[Charade]

How funny! That's exactly what I say about Bush!

Get out!!! Really???? Would have never guessed!!

 

[Magickndm]

I often wonder "how" she gets reelected. In the few times I've seen her--she doesn't look like she could speak a coherent sentence let alone convince people to vote for her.

She gets re-elected year after year because her counties are picked out for her. She says what these people want to hear. If you don't believe it, take a look at her precinct.
She has stolen money from her campaign to buy a car and a fur coat and makes a fool out of herself on a regular basis.
I can't stand her and I really cannot stand the fact that she represents my city in any way.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

She gets re-elected year after year because her counties are picked out for her. She says what these people want to hear. If you don't believe it, take a look at her precinct.
She has stolen money from her campaign to buy a car and a fur coat and makes a fool out of herself on a regular basis.
I can't stand her and I really cannot stand the fact that she represents my city in any way.

Exactly...can you say gerrymandering??!!??!!

 

[tinatark]

Look at her district - it meanders through typically poor, democratic areas - it was formed especially so a dem could be elected. I was there when it was created, so I CAN say that. The problem is, once a congress rep is elected, their *war chest* makes them nearly undefeatable.

She has had, in the past (not sure if he is still there or not) a convicted murderer on her staff, was very concerned about ethnic cleansing in Feredonia (a made up country, but still she was concerned!)... ethics are beyond questionable - they're non existent. There have been many inquiries into her ties to donors to her campaign - something recently about her *daughters* Lexus- and the dealer she obtained it from.

An embarrassment to her constituents.

 

[JimMIA]

We have a number of interesting politicians in Florida -- I almost don't know where to start.

Yes I do! My personal favorite is U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings of Ft. Lauderdale. The Honorable Mr. Hastings was a sitting Federal Circuit Court Judge (mind you...that's a lifetime appointment). He was indicted for taking cash bribes from drug dealers during the real Miami Vice days.

He was acquited, but the gentleman who paid him the bribe was convicted of making the payment in a separate trial. I suspect the main reason he was acquited was the guy who paid the bribe was the star witness against him, and he was obviously a problematic witness.

The acquital notwithstanding, Hastings was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives and tried by the Senate. (BTW, there was a Democrat majority in the Senate and Hastings was a prominent Democrat in Florida politics.) Unfortunately for Hastings, a bipartisan majority of the Senate convicted him and removed him from the judgeship.

He turned right around, ran for Congress, and has been there ever since! Is this a great country, or what?

My #2 is Donald Warshaw. Don Warshaw was a longtime civilian employee of the Miami Police Department who was elevated to Chief. He did such a good job, when the City of Miami was racked by a corruption scandal involving the city manager, Mr. Warshaw was appointed City Manager.

During his tenure as Chief of Police, one of Warshaw's officers started a charity to help disadvantaged kids. It was called -- and I am not making this up -- "Do The Right Thing!" The charity did very well, but frankly it got too successful for a uniform street cop to run, so a formal board of directors was formed and Warshaw became Chairman. The Chief of Police embezzled over $200,000 from "Do The Right Thing," mostly to fund trips and gifts for his mistress. He was indicted, pled guilty, served his sentence, and was recently released.

You gotta love 'em!

 

[sodaseller]

Look at her district - it meanders through typically poor, democratic areas - it was formed especially so a dem could be elected. I was there when it was created, so I CAN say that. The problem is, once a congress rep is elected, their *war chest* makes them nearly undefeatable.

She has had, in the past (not sure if he is still there or not) a convicted murderer on her staff, was very concerned about ethnic cleansing in Fredonia (a made up country, but still she was concerned!)... ethics are beyond questionable - they're non existent. There have been many inquiries into her ties to donors to her campaign - something recently about her *daughters* Lexus- and the dealer she obtained it from.

An embarrassment to her constituents.

Actually, it was created so more Republicans can be elected - I too was "there", so to speak. And the Spy spoof captured a lot more than her

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

How funny! That's exactly what I say about Bush!

My mother voted for Kerry--and is so not liking Bush.

And she agrees about Corrine.

 

[peachgirl]

My mother voted for Kerry--and is so not liking Bush.

And she agrees about Corrine.

I don't know her from Adam so you may well be right. I'm just saying that apparently your opinion of her is the same as my opinion of Bush!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I don't know her from Adam so you may well be right. I'm just saying that apparently your opinion of her is the same as my opinion of Bush!

No worries--I do wonder what he's trying to say sometimes myself.


ETA:--mom just walked in the door and I asked her what she thought--not approved for the DIS.

 

[sodaseller]

Congresswoman Brown is objectively irritating. But I find her statements no more outrageous on average than those of Ros-Lehtinen, and I don't see her any more knowledge challenged that Rep. Sterns. And those MinMaj distrcts were calculatedly supported to produce just this response, and to support other numbers absolutely

 

[sodaseller]

And as far as we are talking about "stupid" congressional representatives, I know that retired Sen. Graham (a personal hero) gave up explaining highway funds to Scarborough after three tries

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

I'm a Democrat in Florida have voted against her in every election, even crossing patry lines, to no avail.

 

[tinatark]

Actually, it was created so more Republicans can be elected - I too was "there", so to speak. And the Spy spoof captured a lot more than her

Actually, I suppose we are both wrong - it was created so a person of color could be elected?
http://www.alligator.org/edit/issues/96-sprg/960418/a1brown.htm

Holy Cow - she's worse than I remembered... from capitolhillblue.com:


Part I: Rep. Corrine Brown - running on a record of fraud


In just seven years in Congress, Rep. Corrine Brown has eluded creditors, filed false financial disclosure reports and lied to the Internal Revenue Service.

"She cons people, pure and simple," says Sheryl Wilson, a former travel agency owner in Tallahassee who knew Brown. "I don't think she has an honest bone in her body."


Rep. Brown has a poor memory when it comes to remembering her business dealings. The financial records that every member of Congress is required to file shows the Jacksonville, Florida Democrat failed to disclose the $40,000 sale of her Tallahassee travel agency and improperly reported the sale of her Gainesville agency. And she has omitted other required details from her reports.


Brown has left a trail of unpaid bills from businesses she owned in Gainesville, Jacksonville and Tallahassee during the early 1990s.
In 1994, a consortium of airlines sued Brown for $94,000 in because her company, Springfield Travel Agency Inc., falsified sales reports and did not pay its bills. Delta Air Lines revoked her authority to write tickets because of an unpaid $7,237 bill. She also owed $5,697 to the University of Florida and tried to pay part of the bill with a bad check.


The IRS also went after Brown for $14,228 in unpaid taxes and the Whirlpool Corp. had to go to court to try and collect $10,227 in unpaid bills for appliances.


In addition, the House ethics committee is investigating Brown over her dealings with an African millionaire who was imprisoned on bribery charges. Two committee investigators went to Miami recently to interview witnesses for that case.


Brown not only avoids personal responsibility for her financial dealings, but also routinely violates congressional rules and the law.
Members of Congress are required to file reports to reveal any potential conflicts of interest. As a member of the House aviation subcommittee, Brown oversees the very airlines that sued her for unpaid bills.


But Brown not only fails to truthfully report transactions involving her travel business, she also spends money she never reports and buys expensive homes and other items even though she is deeply in debt. Although she recently paid $25,000 for a down payment on a $300,000 townhouse, those who know her say they have no idea where she got the money.

"Somebody is always bailing her out," says a former staff member. "You can bet the money came from sources nobody wants to discuss."


Members who file incomplete or false reports face criminal charges under federal law. Republican George Hansen of Idaho went to prison for 11 months in 1984 and paid a $40,000 for failing to report more than $300,000 in loans and profits.


Last year, Brown's daughter received a $50,000 car from a close associate of the African millionaire who faces bribery charges.
Brown's financial dealings show a long, consistent record of deceit.


In 1985, she started a travel agency, Springfield Travel, while serving as a Florida state legislator. Papers she filed with the Florida Department of State, listed two prominent state legislators as her vice presidents-Reps. Doug "Tim" Jamerson of St. Petersburg and James Hargrett of Tampa.


But Jamerson or Hargrett say didn't know they were affiliated with her company until years later.


"I was somewhat surprised to learn I was even on the board," said Jamerson, now a Tallahassee lobbyist. "It would have been nice to have been asked."


Brown opened the agency's first office in her hometown of Jacksonville and started a second office in Tallahassee where she spend most of her time while serving in the Legislature.


Brown often used the agency to take advantage of the free trips offered to travel agents.


"She was always getting tickets to Aruba and places like that," former employee Ed Curry told The St. Petersburg Times.


But while Brown was running off to Aruba on free trips, creditors were calling to ask why they weren't getting paid.


Brown occasionally paid her employees in cash or wrote personal checks to cover payroll, Curry said. More than once, the paychecks bounced.


Brown also failed to pay unemployment taxes to the state. The State Department of Labor filed a $353 state tax lien against the company. As of last week, the lien had not been paid.


Even though she couldn't pay her bills, Brown sought to expand her company in 1991.


Barnett Bank gave her a $10,000 loan, but could never get a full accounting of how it was spent. At the same time, Brown started a new company, Springfield Enterprises, which she said would resell appliances and seafood.


Whirlpool Corp. filed suit against Springfield Enterprises for an unpaid $10,227 bill, saying Brown bought more than a dozen large appliances and didn't pay for them. Brown finally paid the bill after the company obtained a judgment.


But Brown was busy opening other businesses. In February 1992, she opened Gator Travel at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Seven months later, she was five months behind in her rent and owed the university $7,066. The IRS also filed a lien against Springfield Travel for $14,228 in unpaid taxes. Brown, who was running for her first term in Congress, was busy looking for someone to buy the travel agency.


Two buyers-Melvin Stith, dean of the Florida State University business school, and Edward Scott II, a Tallahassee dentist, paid her $40,000 for the agency, according to a contract filed with the state. Brown did not report the sale on her mandatory congressional disclosure, which required her to list sales of all assets worth more than $1,000.


The cash allowed her to make payments on some of her debts. The University of Florida got a personal check for the overdue $8,479 bill. The IRS withdrew the lien against her in March 1993.


But Brown was soon in trouble again


In February 1993, she wrote the University of Florida a check for $1,413 - partial payment for a $5,600 bill.


The check bounced.


A month later, Delta Air Lines revoked her authority to write tickets because of an unpaid $7,237 bill, a move that effectively put her travel agency out of business (Delta was the primary airline serving Gainesville).


Enter three Miami businessmen who were willing to take over her failing travel agency.


Emilio F. Torres and his partners at Douglas Executive Travel agreed to pay Brown's overdue rent to the university and take over the agency, but the transition to Torres' company took more than six months because Brown owed the airlines so much money. Finally, the airlines seized Brown's official ticketing plates and Torres was allowed to take over the lease.


Brown, however, lied about the transaction on her financial disclosure reports to the House of Representatives. Her 1993 report claims Torres bought her agency for an amount between $50,000 and $100,000. Since then, her reports claim she is owed $50,000 to $100,000 by Torres and his partners.


But Torres never bought Gator Travel. He just assumed the lease.


"We didn't buy anything from her," he says. "I don't owe her anything."
State records support his claims.


Torres also did not pay Brown's overwhelming unpaid debts to the airlines.


The Airlines Reporting Corp., a consortium of the airlines that handles ticket transactions with travel agencies, filed a lawsuit against Brown in U.S. District Court in Washington in September, 1994 (while Brown was running for her second term), saying Brown failed to pay about $94,000 for plane tickets and lied about her financial transactions.
Brown eventually paid the $94,000 and the suit was dismissed.


But Brown never reported the debts on her disclosure forms. Florida state records show she signed a contract in 1992 taking personal responsibility for the bills.


Her disclosure forms also fail to show where she got the $94,000 to pay off the airlines. Her 1994 form said she didn't have enough money to make the payment.


Her latest report shows no savings accounts, no money market funds and no stocks that she could redeem. The only asset she listed is a Jacksonville condo that she rents.


Yet she still hasn't paid back the money she borrowed from Barnett Bank in 1991 and has mortgages on a $110,000 waterfront house in Jacksonville and the $300,000 Alexandria, Va., townhouse she recently bought with her daughter.


Nobody seems to know where Brown got the $25,000 down payment for the townhouse. Brown's daughter, a political appointee for the Environmental Protection Agency, said in her financial disclosure report that she didn't have any assets over $1,000.

"She's always pulling a scam on someone," says Oliver Roster of Jacksonville, who has known Brown for years. "Somebody, somewhere, got the money for her. What we don't know yet is what she had to do or promise to get it."


Brown also forgot to disclose a $10,000 check she received in 1996 from a secret Wisconsin bank account Baptist leader Henry J. Lyons allegedly used for money laundering.

The money came from a secret account in Milwaukee that is a focus of charges against Lyons. Federal prosecutors say Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, hid more than $1 million in the account.

Brown's office did not return phone calls seeking comment on this report.

(The report was coordinated and written by Capitol Hill Blue editor Jack Sharp with assistance from researcher Marilyn Crosslyn and private investigator James Hargill.)

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Wahhhh I miss The Independent Florida Alligator. I know I can go on the website, but it's just not the same.

Okay sorry, back to the topic at hand. Like I said, what was said in the OP was not the worst thing she has ever done.

 

[sodaseller]

Actually, I suppose we are both wrong - it was created so a person of color could be elected?
http://www.alligator.org/edit/issues/96-sprg/960418/a1brown.htm

[/B]

That's correct - it's VRA. And it's used to increase GOP seats. Creating those districts "bleaches" surrounding districts, making them more GOP. Plus, it creates a predicatble provacateur for leaners.