Quid pro woes

The Clinton scandals are growing by the day. A new book will hit the market on May 5 and it could mean big trouble for both Hillary and Bill.

The book I'm speaking of is called "Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich." I've heard a few excerpts from the book and they are damning. One selection summarizes a nefarious deal involving both of the Clintons. It goes like this. Bill gets a speaking fee of a cool half million dollars from a foreigner, the Clinton Foundation gets a donation of $30 million plus from the foreigner, and a little later the foreigner gets a political and business concession through the State Department.

Our statewide Sunday paper ran a two-page expose about this questionable Clinton transaction. It's a sordid tale about Russia getting the rights to over 20 percent of the uranium owned by the United States. That's scary because that means Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the KGB, controlling our uranium, and the deal was facilitated by Bill and approved by Hillary when she was Secretary of State. That's right. Bill got $500,000; their foundation got $30 million and Putin got our uranium. Is this a coincidence or is it a quid pro quo? This is only one of many tales of duplicity, deceitfulness and borderline treason that will be revealed in the upcoming book.

Majority must mean something

Last week I complained that Congress only huffs and puffs and investigates, but seldom does anything ever come of it. Of course, that's because the Republicans have not taken advantage of being in the majority in both the House and the Senate. Before the turn of the century, and I mean the century that began in 1900, an Irish-American writer quoted a fictional character he had created named Mr. Dooley, and the quote was this -- "Sure, politics ain't beanbag." So, evoking that quote and hoping to turn it into action I am offering a bit of advice to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner. They both should keep this quote in mind when doing the business of the House and Senate in the coming weeks. It's time to get tough and to do some keister kicking and good, old-fashioned horse trading.

What I'm talking about concerns the Lois Lerner/IRS case that I discussed last week. To refresh your memories, the House of Representatives voted to hold her in contempt of Congress after she refused to testify about the scandalous treatment of Tea Party groups that had sought tax exemptions. The U.S. Attorney refused to submit the case to a grand jury, so it came to a sad but inconclusive end. Meanwhile, Lerner is living off of a fat government pension and has avoided prosecution even though House attorneys asserted there was a good case that should be referred to a grand jury.

Lerner revisited

I've learned that Lois Lerner's emails have been rediscovered and she will be called again to appear before a Congressional investigating committee. If she takes the Fifth again, the House will again hold her in contempt; so here's where my advice to Boehner and McConnell begins. Assuming that Lerner takes the Fifth, the matter should be immediately referred to the newly confirmed Attorney General Loretta Lynch for prosecution. Simultaneously, let her and the White House know that no one, nobody, not a single solitary soul, will receive a confirmation vote from the Senate unless and until the Lerner affair is referred to a grand jury.

Some might say such an ultimatum is unprecedented, and it might be. But I'm sure I needn't remind you that Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader, did some unprecedented things, like changing the Senate Rules, on his own volition, to make sure that the liberal Democrat majority in the Senate could confirm a bunch of liberal judges that Obama had nominated. It's time for the Republicans to take charge and make the majority mean something.

I opine, you decide.

-- Willie Williams is a Siloam Springs resident. He can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.

Editorial on 04/29/2015