Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Congressional Tea Party Crack Head Gets Probation!

According to USA Today, in a sting operation that stemmed from a broader FBI and DEA investigation of a major drug trafficking organization in the nation's capital, Tea Party Congressman (Rep. Trey Radel from Florida) was caught in the federal net.

The targets of the federal investigation were dealers and high-level people in a drug organization, not buyers and users. But a dealer who was arrested last month told federal agents that one of his customers was a Congressman. So federal agents had set up the sting operation.

The drug dealer (working with federal agents) set up a "buy" on Oct. 29th when Radel purchased cocaine. FBI agents didn't arrest him on the spot, but later went to Radel's apartment, where they briefly detained him.

Then Radel hired a defense attorney who negotiated charges with a prosecutor. The charging documents from the U.S. attorney's office had said that Radel did "unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally" possess "a quantity of cocaine." MSNBC reported today that is was 3.5 grams of cocaine for $265.00.

The charge against Radel was only for a "misdemeanor", but it carried a potential maximum of 6 months in prison. Law enforcement agents had never handcuffed Radel or taken him to jail (because he's "special").

Today CNN reported that the presiding judge only gave Radel one year of probation --- that's all --- then Radel most likely returned back to work to vote for cutting food stamps again. Trey Radel had voted NO to food stamps 3 times.

Radel also voted YES for a House bill that would have required all recipients of food stamps to undergo drug testing --- even though several studies have already shown that the recipients of food stamps had a lesser degree of drug use than did the general population (In an interview today, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also pointed this out this hypocrisy of drug testing the poor.)

Also, Radel reportedly said he opposed legalizing marijuana in a debate back in April. Earlier this year (before his arrest for possessing cocaine) Radel had said that he never heard of the government run "growhouse" at the University of Mississippi, or the federal program that supplies four people with 300 joints every month. Randel had said:

"The unfortunate part is, in Washington there's not a whole lot more that's shocking when it comes to spending and misspending. Why are we still paying this person to smoke weed, everyday?"

Although apparently, it's OK for taxpayers to pay members of Congress $174,000 a year to buy and snort cocaine.

But Radel can surely appreciate the importance of the nuance on drug policy as it exists now. He is lucky he was not arrested on cocaine possession in Florida, as one Miami Herald reporter pointed out, where it’s a felony. That would have cost him his right to vote against food stamps for the poor.

In the statement from Congressman Radel's office, he said he struggles "with the disease of alcoholism, and this led to an extremely irresponsible choice. As the father of a young son and a husband to a loving wife, I need to get help so I can be a better man for both of them." He also said that the incident had been a "blessing in disguise" because [only] now can he seek out help. 

Now we know who's REALLY been doing all the drugs --- and because Congressman Radel blamed his drug use on alcoholism, he's a damn drunk too! (Isn't that what the GOP and Tea Party have been calling the unemployed for the past 5 years?)

It had already been predicted that Radel wouldn't be going to jail --- not like a black man would if he were caught with a bag of weed (because, not only is Radel "special", he's also white.)

Fox News reports, "A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement Tuesday the incident was between Radel, his family and his constituents, but that "members of Congress should be held to the highest standards." (John Boehner is another drunk in Congress.)

But, evidently members of Congress are not held to the same standards as regular folks --- who would have at the VERY LEAST been handcuffed, put into the back of a police car, finger printed and drug-tested at the local police station, and put into a stinking holding cell for several hours before finally being allowed to pay bail.

I told you ---- we should "means test" members of Congress before they collect their government handout salary. When members of Congress are financially supporting people who run "Breaking Bad" drug operations, why aren't THEY held to the same standards as everyone else?

Yeah, I know --- maybe Trey Radel isn't a crack head, or even a drug addict --- maybe that 3.5 grams of cocaine wasn't just for him, and he was also buying for his Congressional friends --- and maybe Radel's just a your everyday "recreational user" --- but still --- the damn hypocrisy of these assholes.

I'm surprised though, that the media hasn't given this story of a sitting U.S. Congressman the same attention as they do to a city mayor in Canada.

4 comments:

  1. UPDATE:

    The drug dealer sold Radel 3.5 grams of cocaine for $250 at an unidentified restaurant near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C.

    Radel was targeted after confidential sources informed officers that Radel had purchased cocaine on several occasions, and that he sometimes would provide cocaine to others.

    When confronted on Oct. 29 by federal agents after purchasing cocaine at around 10 p.m., Radel dropped his package of cocaine on the street and invited agents back to his apartment, where he provided a vial of cocaine he had purchased previously.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/trey-radel-sentenced_n_4309546.html

    In September, Rep. Trey Radel voted for Republican legislation that would allow states to make food stamp recipients pee in cups to prove they're not on drugs.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/19/trey-radel-drug-testing_n_4305348.html

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  2. Rep. Trey Radel's drug trade must have really ruined the neighborhood:

    "Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) was hit over the head and robbed Tuesday night near the Capitol. An attacker knocked her to the ground with a hit to the head while she was walking back to her apartment after eating dinner. The attacker took her bag and ran away near 6th St. and Pennsylvania Ave — a little less than a mile from the Capitol building."

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  3. It also makes you wonder what else he was involved with that he wasn't caught at yet. Guys like him who scores grams of coke in DC also have a tendency to frequent strip clubs and visit hookers too. A family values guy my ass. This Tea Party favorite and Fox News radio host also has as history of registering sex-themed web addresses.

    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/06/florida-trey-radel-sex-domain-gate-scandal

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  4. Upon exiting rehab last month, "He is subject to random drug testing," explains Leonard Sipes, a senior public affairs officer at the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency. And, just like other offenders, Radel will have to report in person to a federal drug facility, in D.C., to pee in the cup.

    A month before the congressman's drug bust, Radel voted for GOP-supported legislation that would allow states to drug test food stamp recipients. Now Radel said he supported members of Congress having to be drug tested, too.

    And lucky for Radel, he gets to be first in line.

    http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2014/01/07/trey-radel-to-be-randomly-drug-tested

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