Hathaway As Houdini
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on May 10th, 2012
“How do you make 3 homes vanish into thin air?”
That’s the question asked by Detroit’s Action News Investigative Team in their expose of possible fraud committed by Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway.
The WXYZ report suggests Hathaway engaged in a shell game designed to hide her other real estate holdings from a bank presumably to help her gain approval to “short sell” her luxury home on Lake St. Clair. WXYZ reports:
In fact, records show in a little over a year, she’s owned four homes: one in Florida, and three in Grosse Pointe Park.
The homes are a part of a dizzying property shuffle that experts say raise ethical and legal questions, but Justice Hathaway has been ducking those questions for more than six weeks.
It turns out Hathaway’s shuffled ownership of some of the houses - one which was bought with cash - into the names of her step-children - and then back to her own name!
Why? Well if you own other homes outright - you’re not likely to qualify for a short-sale. Even if you’re a Supreme Court Justice.
Hathaway hid the houses and got the short-sale. Was it ethical? What do you think? Check out the story to get all the details. But if she hid the houses in order to get the short-sale - that screams FRAUD!
We all know that being on the Supreme Court has its privileges . . . do they include committing fraud to get out of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars you owe a bank? It will be interesting to see how quickly the wheels of justice turn against this Justice.
Check out the whole WXYZ investigation here.
Must Read Op-Ed
AJP President Dan Pero has an op/ed piece featured in today’s Washington Times here.
Dan exposes a recent special report in American Prospect as nothing more than a George Soros/Open Society produced & funded piece of propaganda. Dan notes:
One of the report’s biggest complaints is that conservative groups such as the American Justice Partnership and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have been too effective in supporting rule-of-law judges in judicial elections. To buttress this claim, the report quotes four purportedly nonpartisan sources but never mentions that all of them are bankrolled by Open Society, including Justice at Stake (more than $3.1 million over the past decade), the Brennan Center for Justice ($12.3 million), the National Institute for Money in State Politics ($2.3 million) and the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign ($150,000).
For those readers without a calculator handy, that adds up to about $23 million in Open Society money connected in some way to the American Prospect’s special report.
Dan goes on to rip the cover off the left’s stealth campaign to impose merit selection as a way to pack our courts with liberal judges. Be sure to check out the enire piece – it’s a must read.
Optimism in Wisconsin
As visitors to this site know Wisconsin is a place near and dear to our heart.
In addition to paying close attention to improvements in Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court, we were among the earliest to highlight the reform-minded agenda of then County Executive and now Governor Scott Walker.
Lost amid the union-stirred controversy and politically motivated recall elections is a fact highlighted by Kurt Bauer – there’s a new optimism among Wisconsin job creators and it’s because of Walker’s leadership and policies.
Bauer should know. He heads the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce and in a July 9 opinion article from js online writes:
With the enactment of the state’s first truly balanced budget in at least 15 years, as well as much needed regulatory and litigation reforms, count Wisconsin among the states now pursuing similar common-sense policies.
In a recent Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce survey, 88% of Wisconsin business leaders said they are confident the state is heading in the right direction, up from just 10% a year ago. That’s good news because confident businesses hire. Pessimistic ones don’t.
Bauer has it right. Lost in all the union intimidation tactics is the simple fact that if you care about job creation in Wisconsin you’re a lot better off today than a few short months ago. And that is what matters most.
Read the entire article here.
A Non-Scandal in Wisconsin
An ultra liberal special interest group called One Wisconsin Now has accused Republican Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen’s office of a “gross abuse of power” and putting “politics above the law.” Exactly what offense did Van Hollen’s office commit? Basically being against President Obama’s government take-over of the health care system and seeking information about joining other AGs in a Constitutional challenge to this monstrosity.
If that sounds like a big nothing-burger to you, you’re not alone. The most interesting thing here is not the non-scandal, but the extent to which a tangled web of special interest groups is spending millions of dollars to try to turn policy disagreements into criminal acts – or at least create an appearance of impropriety that can be used in the next campaign.
One Wisconsin Now is the political arm of the Institute for One Wisconsin. The Institute is bankrolled in part by – drum roll please – hedge fund billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Institute. What does One Wisconsin do with the $$? Well, some of it gets funneled to another political operation called the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund. Other members of the club include politically-motivated unions like the SEIU and AFSCME.
One Wisconsin Now also tries to drag down the American Justice Partnership, which I run, for contributing to the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) – a group dedicated to supporting conservative, rule-of-law AGs such as JB Van Hollen.
Groups like One Wisconsin Now know how deeply unpopular Obamacare is with the people of Wisconsin. They understand the bill was steamrollered through Congress despite questions over the constitutionality of several provisions. Now they’re trying to browbeat and intimidate AGs like JB Van Hollen for daring to challenge their dream of socialized medicine.
The Importance of the Attorney General
As expected eleven state Attorneys General are bringing suit challenging the constitutionality of the health care reform bill just signed into law by President Obama. The suit focuses on the law’s mandate that individuals purchase health insurance. The Christian Science Monitor reports:
The threatened action suggests the controversial measure is about to move from the legislative realm into what could become a protracted and messy fight in the courts. The attorneys general say they will sue once President Obama signs the bill into law. They are pledging to take their battle all the way to the US Supreme Court.
Newly elected Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli lays out the crux of the argument from the article penned by Warren Richey:
“Just being alive is not interstate commerce. If it were, there would be no limit to the US Constitution’s commerce clause and to Congress’s authority to regulate everything we do.”
For years we’ve promoted the importance of the office of AG and this development cements our belief. No matter how this turns out it’s great to see these 11 Attorneys General standing up against big government mandates.
Milk-a-holics United
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on March 11th, 2010
When we heard this one we had to check the calendar to make sure it wasn’t an April Fools prank . . . fasten your seat belts. From the New York Post:
Lindsay Lohan is suing the financial company E-Trade, insisting that a boyfriend-stealing, “milkaholic” baby in its latest commercial — who happens to be named Lindsay — was modeled after her. And she wants $100 million for her pain and suffering, The Post has learned.
Your Prescription for Cheerios is Ready
AJP President Dan Pero has a featured op/ed in this morning’s Washington Times.
This must read exposes the absurd over-reach of the current FDA. This type of government over-regulation is strangling free enterprise and the job creating businesses that employ our friends and neighbors. Dan does a better job telling the story than we do but here’s a picture that appears with the op/ed that while maybe not worth a thousand words made us chuckle over our morning bowl of Cheerios.
Nice work Dan!
