What the money could have done-
Ernest Portillo in the AZ Star-
"I called several local charities to ask how they would spend $50,000, a nice arbitrary figure.
"Fifty thousand would make a huge impact," said Lisa Hopper, president and founder of World Care, a Tucson-based charitable organization.
That much money would pay for 26,000 packets of school supplies. Or it would buy 500 wheelchairs for people who lack insurance or whose insurance won't pay for the equipment.
With $50,000, World Care could refurbish at least 5,000 donated computers, Hopper said.
Marguerite "Peg" Harmon, chief executive officer of Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, said $50,000 would provide 15 families with quality, safe day care for a year. This would allow the parents to work and provide for their children, she said.
The $50,000 would be enough to house four families, pay the costs of delivering babies for 10 to 12 women or provide a dental checkup and teeth cleaning for 700 children, Harmon said.
At Interfaith Community Services, formerly known as Northwest Interfaith Center, Executive Director Bonnie Kampa said $50,000 would help the elderly and the working poor improve their lives. Kampa would take the $50,000 and divide it equally five ways.
The money would pay for 13,700 meals for homebound elderly, for 125 people to get emergency prescriptions, and for 80 people to get minor car repairs so they can drive to work.
In addition, 200 people would receive $50 for uniforms or shoes required to start a new job and 500 would be able to pay for identification cards or paperwork required by new employers, Kampa said.


Ernesto Portillo Jr.: Corruption money could do much good | www.azstarnet.com �: "According to The Associated Press, Abramoff raised at least $100,000 for President Bush's re-election and gave $5,000 to Bush's Florida recount after the disputed 2000 election. "

All those Greasy Palms- Yeech!

Look I have to say that now that the shit has hit the proverbial fan, I am more depressed and disgusted than elated. Now the story is all over the press, the crooked, conniving, corrupt politicians will get their comeuppance. Now that the pleas are in, the press will pile on. But this is a situation, a complex of corruption that has been ongoing for SIX YEARS people. Where was the press when DeLay was orchestrating the K Street Project? Didn’t anyone wonder about Michael Scanlon, DeLay’s chief of staff heading up his own consulting firm? Or where the barrels of money were pouring in from? Or why? Remember the brouhaha about “selling the Lincoln bedroom that they tarred Clinton with? We now know that Bush, DeLay and Company were selling not only the whole White House, but the Capitol too, a package deal. And what have they shown us as accomplishments for all this effort and ill-gotten gain? “Get us elected and we will cut taxes for the rich, and for corporations and eliminate some of those pesky environmental regulations.” What a deal. Of course, once elected, the republicans could be counted on to do all that anyway, so what were all those PACS paying for? The key phrase is “once elected.” They were paying to build up war chests to insulate themselves in a cocoon of money to intimidate rivals, and to buy elections. As none other than an old favorite says, below.