More trouble for Siplin?

An Orlando TV station is reporting that the Florida Commission on Ethics today found probable cause in a case against State Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando. More here.

The complaint came from a deputy who stopped Siplin at a roadblock last fall and said Siplin threatened to take his job if he did not let him through.

Comments

i like siplin, a smart, hard-working for the people kind of state rep. he's doing a heckuva job.

No Shame:

The next step for the Democrats will be to hold another fund raiser for the senator.

AHAHAHAHAHA! You're kidding!

Is it politically incorrect to criticize a blatantly corrupt and incompetent politician just because he's an African American?

There are bad apples in both parties: The difference is in how the party deals with them. Republicans investigate and throw their bad apples out while Democrats circle the wagons and defend their dirt bags.

I'm sure he'll be releasing a statement soon, chalking it all up to racism on the part of the cops.

8:31
So how is the Republican investigation of bathroom prowler and bad apple Rep Bob Allen going?

EARTH TO GELLER AND GELBER:

PLEASE, I BEG YOU, MOVE TOWARD REMOVING HIM. PLEEEEEEASSSSSSSSSSEEEEE

AS A DEMOCRAT, WE CAN TAKE NO MORE. FIRST THRUMAN NOW SIPLIN......AGAIN.

GELBER AND GELLER.....TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE.

double standard

9:29, Thank you for asking, the investigation of course is ongoing. Once we have all the facts, we will see what happens. In the mean time, how are the Dems handling John Murtha, Robert Byrd, Ted Kennedy, William Jefferson, Barack H. Obama, Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer?

There have already been numerous calls for Allen to resign. I'm sure that he will be given an opportunity to prove his innocence (which is unlikely) and then he will either resign or be forced to leave. But this story is just another example of how the Democrats protect and defend their own!

I love how outraged the Republicans are. Isn't the Republican Party the same party that KNEW about Mark Foley molesting children for over a year but looked the other way. Ha ha! The Republicans are a joke, in fact a dirty joke.

There is no excuse to Geller not moving to remove Siplin. Sorry, but there is no excuse.

I am a democrat and I am very dissapointed in Geller leadership or in this case, lack of leadership. Doesn't he realize that this taints all Democrats and especially those newly elected who need to raise money.

Enough is enough.

For the sake of the DEMOCRATIC PARTY, please remove him immediately. He does no service to your caucus, your sitting members or the party. WAKE UP GELLER.

What's the status of the Republicans investigating of Cheney, Gonzalez, and Libby? Well, I guess it doesn't matter if they'll all get a free pardon from the President.

Are we forgetting that Siplin is ALREADY a convicted felon? As a convicted felon he was charges with violating the terms of his release. That got thrown out. Now there is a new complaint involving him pushing his weight around.

Why is this dirtbag still in office?

11:46, The moment the R's found out about Foley, he was forced to resign.

7:59, As for Cheney and Gonzalez, the fact that you don't like their politics does not constitute a crime. And as far as Libby goes, he was found guilty of crime by a jury that misunderstood what he was being tried for and the President did not have the courage to do the right thing and pardon him, he only commuted his prison sentence.

Siplin is still in office because the Republican-led Senate and Republican President Ken Pruitt let him stay. They gain more politically by letting him stay and have the press keep Siplin in limelight. Those of you calling for Geller to get rid of him should realize that the Dems don't have the votes to do anything so it is up to the Republicans to take action.

9:04, nice try.

9:04, So now it's the GOP's fault that the Democrats refuse to discipline Siplin?

If this guy was a republican this would be front page news every day until he left office. Where is the fairness media?

[Devan Raze]

914
Democrats cannot "discipline" him officially.
Senator Pruitt can bring it up at any time. The votes are there to remove him.
Makes you wonder why he hasn't done it......Who is Siplin committed to for presidency ?

Okay, sure, whatever helps you sleep at night, Devan.

So Devan, you are sying that the Democrat leaders have asked Pruitt to bring this up for a vote and Pruitt is refusing?

This is now beyond making a mockery of the 159 other legislators.

Pruitt, Gelber, Geller, and Lawson: DO THE RIGHT THING. WHEN YOU PUT YOUR RIGHT HAND UP TO TAKE OATH, DID YOU REALLY TRULY MEAN IT??

He's black 9:18, it has nothing to do with Democrat or Republican. He's black and they don't want to be painted as "racist". The same reason the sentinel covered the naugle toilet non-story for days.

He's taking up space, get rid of that man

RUMOR HAS IT THAT THEY'RE GOING TO DROP THE CRIMINAL CHARGES AGINST SIPLIN-- SEEMS HE AGREED TO HELP THE COPS BY POSING AS AN UNDERCOVER POLICE OFFICER IN A PARK BATHROOM IN BREVARD COUNTY,,,,

nice 10:44, how long did it take you to come up with that, tool?

I love Siplin, he takes care of his district. His people need attention and worry about making the rent payment. He takes care of them!

Just say no to felons in the Legislature.

Siplin is a disgrace. But so is the weenie who didn't throw his a__ out of the Senate.

9:01 - Nice try. It was clearly established that the then Republican Speaker's office and the then Republican Majority Office knew about Foley for at least one year before it was made public, but DID NOTHING.

Nice try with your revisionist history. The Republican Party covers for pedophiles and perverts. Nuff said!

3:26 Actually, what they knew about Foley was that he was writing "questionable" e-mails. Nothing illegal. Notice he hasn't been charged with anything?

siplin, however, is CONVICTED FELON who has gotten himself into trouble at least twice more since his conviction.

Some Republicans are great. Jury's that convict Republicans "misunderstand." Those that convict Democrats? Fought long and hard for justice. If you're stupid enough to bellieve Siplin is corrupt because he's a Democrat, then it follows that Allen was in the Bathroom soliciting a man for oral sex BECAUSE he's Republican. I love the list of names without any backup from an earlier post. Kind of like saying, but what about, McCain, Romney, Doolittle, Delay (who took forever to resign), Putnam, Vitter (solicitation is still a crime) and Jeb? Lay off the moron juice.

When a man is tried for perjury and the jurors wonder why they didn't get to hear testimony from Cheney & Rove, they clearly misunderstood what they were supposed to be doing.

Please don't offer anyone $20 dollars for anything.

10:59, are you speaking from experience?

Trying to twist all this into a partisan issue just shows how out of touch people are in Tallahassee.
There is plenty of blame to go around in both parties.
But Siplin is particularly blatant.
It's still incredible that Senate leadership, in both or either party,or regardless of party, has done nothing about it.
Siplin has no shame, but you'd think someone else would care about the Senate's image more than this.

7:01 - Unbelievable. You are actually excusing the fact that Foley only sent "questionable" emails to underage boys. Call me old fashioned, but that is inexcusable. I guess that is why I am not a Republican.

Let's put it in perspective. When Chris Hansen at Dateline busts perverts that prey on underage children, they have rarely acted on their intentions, but just solicited illegal activity.

According to 7:01 and the Republican Party's talking points, these pervs should be excused because they haven't yet acted on their intentions. I disagree and most Democrats do as well.

7:01 and Republicans - keep defending Foley, Allen and their sick behavior. It's typical of the Republican Party.

9:22, 9:24
Democrats could "excommunicate" him i guess, but PRESIDENT Pruitt is the one who would make the decision to put it on agenda. If he did, how many Dems do you think would vote to keep Siplin ?
Doubt it would be many.

Yes, and the loud cries from Democrats in the Senate demanding that Pruitt take action are...are....nowhere to be heard. The Democrat party is silent and will continue to be so, as is their custom.

1:06, In order to be persuasive, you must be credible. No one has defended Foley. Quite the contrary, he was forced to resign and the only people more angry with Foley than the GOP is the parents of the kids with whom he was exchanging e-mails. The fact remains that the full extent of Foley's actions were not known by the GOP leadership. Stating this fact does not in any way constitute a defense of Foley. We in the GOP only wish that we had known earlier so that we could have dealt with the dirt bag sooner.

11:16 - Wrong again. Why don't you just admit that the Republican leadership knew about Foley's actions and did nothing? Your attacks on the Democratic Party would have more credibility if you just came clean on your own dirty laundry.

FACT: Top Repubicans, including NRCC Chairman Tom Reynolds, knew about Foley way back in 2005.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/09/29/national/w123452D40.DTL

FACT: The right-wing newspaper, Washington Times, called for Dennis Hastert to resign as Speaker because he covered up Foley's behavior. ("Resign Mr. Speaker," The Washington Times, October 3, 2006)

11:16 - you can try to split hairs by saying that covering up Foley's behavior didn't amount to "defending" him. I frankly disagree. Covering up for Foley was the same as defending him in my book. Fortunately for me, it appears that our values are different.

I don't expect you to start being honest about this issue, but it would be nice.

11:11
as opposed to the loud cries from any Repub senator ?

8:03, So you're defending Siplin?

This is NOT about Foley (who is already out and disgraced)

THis is about SIPLIN, a CONVICTED FELON still serving in the Florida Senate who has gotten himself into 2 other messes after being convicted.

12:14, I will say this, if I believed for a second that Hastert knew the full extent of Foley's actions and did nothing, I would have called for Hastert to resign as well. That is simply not the case. You democratunderground types can make your accusations all day (I would expect nothing less) but you saying what you wish were true does not make it so.

6:57 It’s called “blame the victim”.

[RJM]

Is he any worse than Sen. Dawson? I mean, at least he shows up for work! Dawson is an empty seat and is not representing her constituents at all.

8:26 Not at all. Just pointing out who is in charge in tallahassee.