TPM Reader JO is willing to give Rep. Ney (R-OH) his due ...
"Ney returned to the same casino on a personal trip later in 2003 and reported on his financial disclosure form that he won $34,000. Walsh has said Ney parlayed a $100 bet into the large winning on two hands of a three-card game of chance."
That's the trick Rick used in Casablanca to help the young Bulgarian woman get an exit visa for herself and her husband without having to sleep with Louie. Of course, Ney and his cronies cleverly disguised the scheme by changing it from roulette (a couple of bets on good ol' 22) to a card game.
I'm no fan of bribery, but if Ney is going to put his hand out, his homage to Bogie at least shows that he's a crook with an appreciation for a great movie.
Certainly, snazzier than overpaying for your house.
(ed.note: Just to be clear, there is no conclusive evidence that Ney's boffo card game winnings were the product of more than luck. JO is speculating. Then again, there's pretty ripe pickings for speculation.)
-- Josh Marshall
(December 09, 2005 -- 11:31 AM EST // link)
Points for originality?
From the Columbus Dispatch (sub.req.) ...
Citing national security, Rep. Bob Ney won't provide details about a 2003 trip to England courtesy of an obscure company called FN Aviation.
But a previously unreported link has emerged between the Heath Republican and the British company that had an office in Cyprus: FN Aviation employed a pair of lobbyists with ties to Ney.
The same year FN Aviation spent $2,700 on Ney's trip, it paid $20,000 to a former Ney chief of staff turned lobbyist, David DiStefano, to monitor Capitol Hill trade legislation, records show.
A bit further down in the article there's this passage ...
Ney had dinner during the trip at a posh London casino with FN Aviation Director Nigel Winfield, a convicted felon whose offenses have included tax evasion, and Fouad al-Zayat, a Syrian-born businessman known as a high-stakes casino gambler. Walsh has said Ney did not know about Winfield's background.
Ney returned to the same casino on a personal trip later in 2003 and reported on his financial disclosure form that he won $34,000. Walsh has said Ney parlayed a $100 bet into the large winning on two hands of a three-card game of chance.
Good work if you can get it.
-- Josh Marshall
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