The Chattanooga Times’ continuing jihad against Zach Wamp
One would think that the editors of the Chattanooga Times editorial page (a part of the Times-Free Press, which is as unnatural a merger as I ever saw) would take a vacation from going after Zach Wamp. After all, this is his last year as a member of Congress, and the Times has opposed him viciously since he first ran in 1992.
However, we are not dealing with rational creatures, especially editorial writers who are True Believers in whatever the Talking Points of the Day might come from the Democratic National Committee. In an April 5 lead editorial, the Times decided that where Wamp is living has become the Great Crisis of the Day. If you think I exaggerate, read on:
“The secretive religious foundation which provides favorably priced housing in Washington, D.C., to a select group of senators and congressmen, including Tennessee’s Dist. 3 Rep. Zach Wamp, has come under fire again for operating the C Street house under the tax exempt status accorded to religious institutions. Two new complaints reasonably raise issues that beg transparent answers about the legal status of The Fellowship’s Washington house and the ethical propriety of the lawmakers who reside there.”
No, the “secretive foundation” is not under fire. Instead, this is what we contrived incident courtesy of a shadowy organization, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, called CREW. Now, if you have never heard of CREW or its executive director, Melanie Sloan, it is not because you are ignorant of the news.
No, it is because for all its supposed “nonpartisan” status, CREW exists to create contrived news stories. I never had heard of CREW until I was reading a piece on the legal challenge to the shadowy and murky federal law called “honest services fraud.” I have written a number of articles on this legal abomination, and last fall was a guest on the Fox News show hosted by Judge Andrew Napolitano in which I pointed out that the “honest services fraud” violates every constitutional norm one can imagine.
Well, guess who was in favor of this abomination? It was Melanie Sloan, so it is obvious to me that when we have a “public watchdog” who favors laws that truly are evil and unjust, I am not interested in what Sloan or her confederates might have to say.
Furthermore, if the editors at the Times want to look at a secretive organization, they might want to check the record of one of their favorite organization, Public Citizen. If you wish to see secrecy in action, look at how Ralph Nader does business.
Of course, the Times considers Nader to be pure, and Sloan to be brilliant, so there can be no questioning the wisdom of these people. Nonetheless, just because Sloan wants some publicity by sending out a press release does not mean that what she has to say is newsworthy.
If we want to be concerned about ethics, perhaps the accounting practices that this current government uses to claim that a huge new spending program called ObamaCare is going to “cut the federal budget deficit.” Maybe we can look at the ethics of propping up worthless paper in the administration’s Wall Street bailouts, or maybe how taxpayers are being drained to pay for the fraud known as “green energy.”
Nonetheless, the editors at the Times are not particularly worried about fraud. No, they are upset that Rep. Wamp is paying $600 a month rent for a tiny room. He should be paying more!! We demand justice! Lest anyone think I am being silly, read on:
“Mr. Wamp, however, denied that he has violated gift and ethics bans. He said his room rate has remained unchanged for years, but that he moved into a Spartan eight-by-10 foot single room that has no closet or bathroom.
Given the other amenities of the commodious house — a kitchen and common living areas — that still amounts to a low price.
What is most incongruous about The Fellowship’s tax-exempt status for the house as a church is the behavior of some of its previous residents. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada, and former Congressman Mark Sanford, now-the beleaguered Republican governor of South Carolina, became embroiled in scandals for separate adulterous affairs while they were residents of the C Street house. Such behavior certainly is at odds with the focus of the National Prayer Breakfast which The Fellowship, also known as The Family, sponsors for Congress and Washington big-shots every year.”
Which means what? Because Mark Sanford was acting like Bill Clinton has nothing to do with Rep. Wamp or where he sleeps at night. This is what is known as a cheap shot, and no one does it better than the Times. Ever since the paper published hit jobs masquerading as news stories in 1992, the Times has been all over Zach, and it drives Harry Austin and Wes Hasden batty that the voters won’t listen to their Great Editorial Wisdom at election time.
My guess is that the Times would have paid scant attention to this latest “ethics” nonsense if Zach were not running for governor of Tennessee. And if I know the people running the show at that sorry excuse for an editorial page, I am sure that we can expect to see hit job after hit job all the way until the primary election, and maybe beyond. That is the only way that these people know how to do business — the dirty way.
—Dr. William Anderson
