Well, this is sad. I've been hoping that Pete Sessions would leave Congress "to spend more time with my family," but, apparently, I'm out of luck. Pete Sessions and his wife of 27 years are separating.
The 56-year-old Texas Republican issued a statement Friday:
"After a great deal of thought and discussion, a decision has been made that my wife and I are separating. I am grateful for many years of marriage, and the blessing of two wonderful sons. I ask for respect for my privacy and for that of my family, and I do not intend to comment any further."
Of course, he can't be reached for comment, and he dumped this news on Friday night. So there's no news on what's behind this--maybe she got tired of him running off to fundraisers at strip clubs or just got tired of him being so damned stupid.
Whatever the reason, he's got some splainin' to do--like it or not--to his right-wing followers who've been lapping up his "family values" message all these years.
Onetime city council candidate and longtime Libertarian John Jay Myers has announced his plans to runs for U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions' seat. The campaign will officially kick off Jan. 28.
Myers ran a spirited but doomed campaign for City Council member Carolyn Davis' 7th district seat. Virtually unknown to the district's political and religious establishment, he nevertheless won quite a few votes through tireless campaigning and a message that seemed to resonate with voters from Buckner Terrace to East Oak Cliff...
The Sessions Watch team welcomes John Jay Myers into the race, and wishes him all the best. We invite our Libertarian readers to check out John's website at this link: John Jay Myers for United States Congress.
"I love you and believe in you," Sessions wrote Stanford in an effusive Feb. 17 e-mail, according to the Miami Herald in an exclusive report Monday. "If you want my ear/voice -- e-mail."
Why the warm-fuzzies?
Perhaps because five years ago, in Sessions' greatest moment of political need, Stanford and his associates proved staunch allies.
A Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates that employees of Allen Stanford-led Stanford Financial ranked No. 2 among Sessions' donors during the 2004 election cycle, accounting for $24,275.
Of course, that amount alone won't win an election. But the Stanford donation total ranked ahead of massive firms such as SBC Communications, Ernst & Young and Crow Holdings, all of which have notable presences in Sessions' Texas District 32, situated in Dallas and its suburbs.
And it was the 2004 election cycle that Sessions, an incumbent, grappled with another longtime incumbent congressman in Democrat Martin Frost...
And, again, there's an interesting item in the comments section of the blog:
My family is represented by Sessions in Congress and we invested millions of dollars of our family's trust with Stanford last year that is now completely gone. This was a trust for two disabled members of our family. We have contacted Sessions' office no fewer than a dozen times with no return phone call. He is a disgrace to our community. He should be fighting for all the Stanford investors he helped Allen Stanford deceive. Part of the reason we trusted Stanford Group so much was because of the company's roots with our trusted elected officials like Sessions and Senator John Cornyn. We would have been better off investing with Madoff because at least those investors were able to get securities insurance. Sessions should be fighting in Washington to help the Stanford depositors to get at least the same relief the Madoff victims got. What Sessions did to help Allen Stanford is called AIDING AND ABETTING.
This article from Dallas Morning News is really just a recap of the Miami Herald article, but Sessions Watch readers were especially interested in this online editorial because of the comments, like:
Pete Sessions needs to share the love with the Stanford VICTIMS and not just Allen Stanford.
and
"I love you.....?" Wish Congressman Pete would feel the same way about his constituents. Voters, please remember this love note next election!
Our thanks to all the Sessions Watch readers who sent the link to this story, from Miami Herald:
Just hours after federal agents charged banker Allen Stanford with fleecing investors of $7 billion, the disgraced financier received a message from one of Congress' most powerful members, Pete Sessions.
``I love you and believe in you,'' said the e-mail sent on Feb. 17. ``If you want my ear/voice -- e-mail,'' it said, signed ``Pete.''
The message from the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee represents one of the many ties between members of Congress and the indicted banker that have caught the attention of federal agents...
...Sessions, 54, a longtime House member from Dallas who met with Stanford during two trips to the Caribbean, did not respond to interview requests.
Supporters say the lawmaker, who received $44,375 from Stanford and his staff, was not assigned to any of the committees with oversight over Stanford's bank and brokerages.
His press secretary, Emily Davis, said she was unable to comment on the e-mail sent at 11:31 a.m. on the day Stanford was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ``I haven't seen it, so I can't verify its authenticity at this time,'' she said.
But the message found on Stanford's computer servers and the contributions he made to Sessions and other lawmakers -- totaling $2.3 million -- are now part of the government's inquiry...
Thanks to our Sessions Watch readers in Alabama who sent this latest bit of flip-floppery; when Parker Griffith (AL-5) was running as a Democrat for Congress, the NRCC ran this ad against him: The NRCC effort failed, and Parker Griffith won; but today, the conservative Democrat switched parties, and is now a Republican. So now, Pete Sessions is lavishing praise on Parker Griffith:
Sessions: Congressman Griffith’s party affiliation may have changed, but his conservative principles, values and commitment to Alabama families has never wavered
So...if he had conservative principles all along, what's with the ad claiming he has "shameful conduct and can't be trusted"?
The one-liner Sessions tosses off is in response to Rep. Ed Perlmutter's personal story about his Ukrainian grandfather's continued struggles with nuances of the English language, even after becoming a successful businessman and spending 40 years mastering the language. Perlmutter's point pertaining to today's financial crisis is that a lot of the fraud we've seen in the financial services industry comes from con-artists who take advantage of people for whom English is their second language.
At first glance, this clip appears to be a "gotcha" from Daily Kos, Huffington Post, or some other left-leaning blog because it makes Pete Sessions look so terribly unprofessional. But no, Pete Sessions is so proud of following Perlmutter's statement with the line "pin the tail on the donkey" that he posted this video on his own YouTube site:
The Sessions Watch team often hears criticism that we're "trying to make Pete Sessions look like an idiot." We offer this video as a rebuttal to that accusation; and in defense of Pete, we acknowlege that he's perfectly capable of looking like an idiot all on his own, without assistance from us.
UPDATE: Below is a transcript of the video:
Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO-7): Thank you, Madame Speaker, and I would just say to my friend from the Financial Services Committee two things as to his amendments. It was in January of '09, the last month that George Bush was in office, that we had the highest job loss throughout this whole period. Since that time, it has been shrinking. So, under the Bush Administration, tremendous job loss in '08, up to four million jobs. And it has been those jobs, job losses have been shrinking ever since. I'd also say to my friend from the Financial Services Committee, we had this debate in the committee on the language issue and as he knows, I'm [from?] the Ukraine, my grandfather came over here, was a successful business man, but even over a forty, fifty year period he had difficulty with the written language. And where we've seen so much fraud and so much con-artistry is with people who have a difficulty with the language being taken advantage of. And part of this bill, the Consumer Protection Bill, is so that we avoid that kind of fraud and schemery because of people who can't speak...[fade out]
[fade in: Pete Sessions]:
Pete Sessions (R-TX-32): Thank you, Madame Speaker, you know, Madame Speaker, the gentleman from Colorado keeps trying to search and search and search and find who to pin this on. This bad economy, job loss. Well I would direct the gentleman that's something we've known for a long, long time in this country. The answer is pin the tail on the donkey. Madame Speaker, at this time, I would like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from Clinton Township, New Jersey, the gentleman Mr. Lance.
