Corrupt Buchanan Apparently Supports Nation of Lawyers

At some point I would think corrupt thug Congressman Vern Buchanan would just keel over from sheer embarrassment.

He has now taken it upon himself to sue a former colleague for allegedly defaulting on a loan.

Really, Vern?

Really?

Given the rather lengthy expose from the St. Petersburg Times a few days ago, I'd think this would be something Vern would want to avoid. At least for the sake of politics.

Apparently not.

"Shame" is evidently not in Vern's vocabulary:

...Buchanan left Michigan just as American Speedy [the company he founded] verged on a spectacular collapse. Angry franchise owners accused him of mismanagement, deceit and outright fraud. Michigan's attorney general was threatening to shut down the company. In 1992, American Speedy landed in bankruptcy court, followed by dozens of store owners, some of whom lost their life savings.

[snip]

In eight lawsuits filed since May, former employees accuse Buchanan of bilking customers of his auto dealerships, employing illegal immigrants to help build his house and violating federal campaign finance laws by reimbursing donors for campaign contributions.

Buchanan denies the allegations and says they are politically motivated. They surfaced so close to the election that he has virtually no time to disprove them in court.

But the court record is settled in Michigan, where Buchanan left a trail of lawsuits, judgments and settlements.

"Whatever he's involved in, at best he's being opportunistic," says Ben C. Maibach III, among the American Speedy franchisees who sued Buchanan. "You won't find many people in Michigan who have any respect for Vern or anything good to say about him."

[snip]

Buchanan liked the franchising concept so much that in 1976 he and James W. McDonald started American Speedy Printing Centers and began selling franchises.

[snip]

In fact, they had a bitter falling out. It led to extensive litigation, including a lawsuit in which 10 Business Card store owners claimed Buchanan and American Speedy had wrongfully transferred assets between the two companies, sold "antique" equipment to stores and vastly overstated the earnings potential of franchise
locations.

Hm, a corrupt businessman who bilked a lot of good and honest people out of their money and the cut and run before anyone caught on, at the expense of the little guy. Sounds an awful lot like a certain financial situation our nation collectively finds itself in today...

Vern Buchanan: not the kind of guy you want in Washington. Especially these days.

Corruption and Staff Discord in the Vern-iverse

If you didn't hate him so much, you'd almost feel sorry for thug Congressman Vern Buchanan.

First, his district director and campaign coordinator was busted for another DUI. Now he's resigned.

Poor Vern hasn't found a replacement yet.

Of course, maybe he's been tied up reading about how he is at the top of the list of the Citizen's for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington's "Most Corrupt" list. Check out his profile on their site.

By all means, download the five-page report here [PDF].

Not for nothing -- you notice a whole lot more "Rs" there than you do "Ds." Should tell you something.

Democrats Call on Feds to Investigate Vern's Crimes

The Florida Democratic Party is asking for the FBI to investigate the crimes alleged against Congressional thug Vern Buchanan.

Good.

From the Buzz:

The Florida Democratic Party today called on the FBI to investigate the allegations that Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, violated campaign finance law by pressuring employees to donate to his campaign and allowing his campaign to reimburse those who did.

The GOP said the Democrats' attack was simply timed to coincide with this week's visits by Gov. Charlie Crist and Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer on Buchanan's behalf. RPOF spokeswoman Erin VanSickle also mentioned Jennings' tax troubles:
Her campaign failed to pay tens of thousands of dollars in payroll taxes during her 2004 and 2006 races for Congress.

Nice try, Erin. I don't think it's going to work, though.

This is a story that is going to get away from Erin -- and Vern -- very quickly. ABC has picked it up. So has CBS (via Politico). These allegations are the real deal. If proven true, Vern will be one more Republican in a long line of Republicans who have foresaken their duty to the people they represent. And don't think the FBI won't investigate allegations like this.

From the Democrat's statement:

"Over the past several weeks, the Sarasota Herald Tribune and other media outlets have uncovered very serious allegations of fraud and violations of election laws by Congressman Vern Buchanan. Based on the seriousness of the charges being made, it is only appropriate that the FBI and other authorities begin investigating these allegations. While Congressman Buchanan deserves the benefit of the doubt until these allegations are proven true or false, it is a sad day when a Member of Congress does not live up the laws he took an oath to defend."

After Katherine Harris, and now thug Congressman Vern Buchanan, the people of the 13th Congressional District of Florida deserve better.

Vern Buchanan Hates His Constituents

It is fairly well established on this blog and in the Florida media generally, that Congressman Vern Buchanan hates his employees so much he bullied them into forking over campaign donations.

Now it turns out Vern Buchanan apparently hates his constituents as well.

Why else avoid debates and public events where his opponent might be?

Vern's people -- those that haven't been shaken down, we assume -- chalk this issue up to scheduling conflicts.

Sally Tibbetts, Buchanan's spokeswoman, said "we look very much forward to debating all of the candidates" but that scheduling conflicts have prevented it thus far.

Democrat Christine Jenning's crew has a different -- and imminently reasonable -- point of view:

“The voters of the 13th Congressional District deserve every possible opportunity to hear the substantial differences between Christine Jennings and Vern Buchanan from the candidates themselves,” said Jennings spokesperson Melissa Smith. “Candidate debates are one of the cornerstones of our democratic system, but so far during this campaign Vern Buchanan has tried to hide from any real debate on the issues and his record.”

Marj Baldwin is the founder and head honcho of the Sarasota Tiger Bay Club. She is also a powerful presence in Sarasota politics and a force to be reckoned with. She is the one who showed Katherine Harris the door because she didn't have an invite to the event.

So she's tough.

And she seems fairly perturbed by the actions of Vern on his avoiding the, you know, people he represents.

"It appears that he's made up his mind that he's not going to appear on any platform with Chris Jennings," Baldwin said. "For whatever reason, he will not get on the platform with the other candidates for the 13th District race."

[snip]

Baldwin said that was because the club wanted to hear from all the candidates. Unless all can attend, the forum might not happen, she said.

"I cannot have Vern come by himself," Baldwin said. "It would imply that Tiger Bay would be endorsing him, just as I could not have Chris Jennings come by herself because that would imply Tiger Bay Club was endorsing her. That's the quandary I'm in."

A quandary indeed.

If you want someone in Congress who will be accessible to her constituents, support EMILY's List featured candidate Christine Jennings.

If you wonder why Vern Buchanan is tucked away in a hidey-hole and won't come out, email his campaign and ask when he'll debate Christine.

Better yet, go pay a visit to Vern and Empty Chair Charlie at Dolphin Aviation in Sarasota.