From The Loop

Trapped in the Loop, the views of one Chicagoan manage to escape.

Friday, October 06, 2006

CREW Does Video

CREW nearly lost a fumble earlier today. Justin Rood reported over at TPM Muckraker about the ongoing spat between the Citizens for Responsibility for Ethics in Washington and the FBI's unnamed spokespeople that continue to rebuke Melanie Sloan's claims. Naomi Seligman, press spokesperson for CREW, told Rood that CREW sent the emails to the FBI one week after they had received them.

I emailed Rood about that new week of time. Turns out it wasn't a new week. Seligman just fumbled, but recovered her own fumble. Fair enough. Moving along.

The CREW blog, one in which I still cannot determine the names of its editor(s), has provided vidoe of Melanie Sloan's interview on CNN from today. There's lots of great footage of Sloan walking in a plaza. There's also footage of her walking in a plaza. Then there's footage of her walking in a plaza. If there going to keep showing her walking in a plaza, is it so hard to get a shot of her walking away from the camera?

It's Friday and it's happy hour. The taps are flowing. Don't mind me. But seriously, Sloan again confirms that she thinks the 'overly friendly' emails were in her view enough for the FBI to launch an investigation. That's why she sent them to an unnamed special agent in Washington. Apparently the FBI disagreed that the emails between Foley and a Louisiana page were criminal.

Ok, what's the big deal here? Well, CNN figured that maybe the FBI was wrong. Maybe there was something there. So they talked to other law enforecement agencies. They asked the NYPD, which told CNN, they would find cause to launch an investigation in the emails if they were submitted by a parent of the minor.

Wait, so the parents of a minor would garner more traction with law enforcement than an alleged non-partisan special interest dedicated to ethics? So what else is knew? The actual parents of the Louisiana page just wanted the emails to stop, which did stop, and they wanted the issue dropped to protect the privacy of their son, which the did occur, that is until ABC News broke the story wide open on the evening of September 28th.

I really want to believe in the mission of CREW. The more special interests watching over Washington, the better off we Americans are. But CREW has to be more diligent. If Ethics is their battlefield why didn't they refer the emails to the House Ethics Committee? Did they really think that the emails were MORE criminal than a potential ethics violation? Is the organization going to police the area it knows, or rely on the investigations of others in a field they don't know?

I'll tell you what I know. I'm watching the video again.