And something I forgot in my earlier post ...

Now, Ed Towns is EVEN taking on corrupt contracting practices too: http://www.house.gov//list/press/ny10_towns/memo.html

Oh, there's a cold change a' comin', and righteousness and truth are his names ...

“I appreciate President Obama’s efforts to ensure that there is transparency in government, particularly when it comes to federal contracting,” Chairman Towns said.  “We must put an end to no-bid contracts and dishonorable procurement practices that are often the root cause of waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”

Well, it has been awhile since I posted something - sorry to all the good readers on my favorite political blog - but I'm going to try harder to get back into the mix ...

And without further ado ...

Anyone catch this: http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/03/05/oversight-committee-will-host-stimulus-hearings-across-the-us/

Brooklyn's own Rep. Ed Towns seems to be taking his Chairmanship very, very seriously.  And good on him for it!  And we owe it to him to show up, to make this a success.  It is not very often you get to see a Chairman in action outside the secretive confines of Capitol Hill.

So, did anybody catch this:

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/sports/pro/football&id=6553902

So, my (and our) favorite Congressional also-ran, Kevin Powell, helped organize a recent charity event.  That, I find laudable, absolutely.  Also appearing at the event, the ever unpredictable hero-to-goat of NY Giants fandom, Plaxico Burress.  What I find unbecoming was Kevin Powell's reaction:

So, now everyone knows about the Senate scandal unfolding in Illinois as we speak:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/1209081rod1.html

At least it is nice to know that there is no love lost between Governor Blagojevich and President-Elect Obama.  I particularly liked him calling Obama a "motherf**ker."

It does raise an interesting question, though.  If this is what Governors do - that is, dole out Senatorial terms for favors and graft - it makes me wonder what backroom dealing might be going on around Kennedy and Gov. Paterson right now.

I've noticed there has been a lot of press recently, a lot of speculation about who will be tapped to replace Senator Hillary Clinton when she heads south to take over the Department of State.  And as speculation goes, besides a smattering of usual suspects, I found this interesting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/08/nyregion/08paterson.html?ref=politics

Caroline Kennedy?  Caroline, as in, JFK's daughter?

So, I recently posted about Kevin Powell's attempts to sanitize his recent crushing defeat by Ed Towns.  I also commented about the fact that Towns was the leading candidate to become the new Chairman of the uber-powerful House Oversight Committee.

Now, the competition is evaporating right and left:

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/cummings-tells-dem-leaders-he-wont-challenge-towns-2008-11-25.html

Hello to all my R8NY friends.  It certainly has been awhile and my apologies for dropping off the face of the Earth.  I needed to focus a bit on my day job, especially with the markets upended as they are.  I'm still employed though (for now!) and things are looking up a bit, so I have time to indulge in my other favorite pastime ... armchair politicking :)

First up, our victorious Congressman Ed Towns.  Well, it now appears he's the leading contender to replace Waxman as Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee:

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/11/house_dems_avoiding_bitter_ove.php

On October 7, 2008, the second US Presidential debate was held. What was most startling was an exchange where Senator John McCain referred to his opponent as, "That One."

Check it out here:

The big question, given the approach of the Republican Party as well as McCain's own racially charged history, is, "That One" What?

Well, greetings to the R8NY community ...

After watching Kevin Powell utterly crash and burn (and then smolder into the morning), I needed a few weeks to harness my chi and focus on my next big task - a task that is directing my unusually brown eyes outside of Brooklyn.

And so without further ado ...

Slothman's Commercial on the GOP's Smear Machine

If you have a little time (00:01:19 to be exact), I'd appreciate if you might give it a look.

Well, I had intended for yesterday's post to be my final comment on the wreckage of Kevin Powell's 2008 Congressional campaign ... as well as his parting slap to the voters - *AHEM* - excuse me, the losers of Brooklyn who've just lost out for 2 more years.

That was gonna be it until 2009 at least ...

But then today, something else caught my eye - another Kevin Powell write-up in that bastion of journalistic integrity, The Brooklyn Paper.

It's been some time since last I posted, due to turmoil in the markets and a need for me to focus on my non-blog life.  But as the Democratic Primary is over, I thought I'd offer a final word.

Kevin Powell, lately contender to be Brooklyn's Congressman in the 10th, officially lost his bid to unseat 13-time incumbent, Edolphus"Ed" Towns, by a whopping 67% to 33%.

Now, Kevin Powell has let us know what he thinks.  He's posted a "Post-Election Statement" to the voters on his website here: http://www.kevinpowellforcongress.com/

So, I recently received the following message from the Kevin Powell for Congress campaign and felt compelled to post it in the interests of my earlier claim to disclose all communications (see this: Kevin Powell Missed FEC Filing Date).  So here was the official communication I received from the KP4C campaign:

"Oh, and by the way, just about the FEC stuff, we had a slight miscommunication with the FEC but managed to resolve it (and if you notice the FEC website: http://fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/mapHSCandDetail.do?detailType=cand&cand_id=H6NY10093&category=searchCand&searchKeyword=POWELL), our most recent financial report is there." 

I'l like to poll the readers for some opinions on this one.

Does Kevin Powell think Ed Towns is racist, or not? Powell used to think that "black people cannot be racist," yet he recently implied that Towns is racist. I'm just a little confused and all.

Back in 1992 on "The Real World," Kevin Powell didn't get along with his roommate Julie. During one heated exchange, Powell states, "Black people cannot be racist. Black people cannot be racist. We don't have the power to control <inaudible> ..." Here's the video; his statement at 1:40: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJiDrpdfJQE

More recently in an interview with "The Brooklyn Paper," now-Congressional candidate Kevin Powell characterized sitting Congressman Ed Towns's attitude towards Powell "as [being motivated by] something else — something, believe it or not given that both men are black, racist."

Here's the link: http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:QTmKoysVK5kJ:brooklynpaper.com/stories/31/34/31_34_powell_here.html+http://brooklynpaper.com/stories/31/34/31_34_powell_here.html&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a

This is pulled pulled from Google's history as TBP subsequently edited the story heavily on their site to remove the charge: http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/31/34/31_34_powell_here.html

So, yesterday I reported on the fact that the Kevin Powell for Congress Campaign has apparently not registered officially with the FEC. That means he has been soliciting and collecting campaign contributions in violation of FEC regulations:

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/slothman8888/exclusive_powell_violating_the_fec.html

In light of this revelation, I invited anyone to contact me about the issue, fully expecting a barrage of hate- and love-mail. It didn't happen. However, I did get something interesting, an official response today to my post from (drumroll please!), the Press Secretary for the Towns campaign, Ms. Lupe Todd!!!

To sum it up ... the Powell campaign's response to a reporter seeking comment on the recent FEC violations?  "Powell did not return repeated requests from The Brooklyn Paper for comment about the FEC letter and his missed filing."

So, this is getting better and better.  Now, for the recap...

As I blogged yesterday, it seems that Kevin Powell never bothered to officially register as a candidate for the US House of Representatives.  However, he has been billing himself as a candidate, collecting celebrity endorsements, holding fundraisers, canvassing neighborhoods of the BK 10th, and taking money.