Democrats Pick Silvestre Reyes For Intel Chair

So after Nancy Pelosi made her first, of many yet to come, misstep by backing Mr. Cut & Run Murtha for the Minority job she came close to her second by nominating Mr. Bribery Alcee Hastings for the very important job of Intelligence Chair. Someone must of got to her before officially backing Mr. Bribery because we know this lady has no common sense. She has now switched to Silvestre Reyes for that chair:

Texas Rep. Silvestre Reyes has been chosen to head the House Intelligence Committee when the Democrats take control of Congress in January.

House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi picked the former U.S. Border Patrol agent for the key congressional posting after political differences with Pelosi left the current top Democrat on the committee, California Rep. Jane Harman, out in the cold. Pelosi’s first choice, Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida, was squeezed out amid ethical questions.

Pelosi issued a statement Friday morning praising Reyes, while offering an olive branch to Hastings and Harman, the latter of whom will step aside as the committee’s top Democrat to make room for Reyes.

“Congressman Silvestre Reyes has impeccable national security credentials,” Pelosis said. “When tough questions are required, whether they relate to intelligence shortcomings before the 9/11 attacks or the war in Iraq, or to the quality on intelligence on Iran or North Korea, he does not hesitate to ask them.”

Who is Mr. Reyes? He’s a Vietnam vet, former Border Patrol officer, and a comrade in arms with the looney tunes of the Democrat party:

In an interview this month, Reyes said he will insist on more information about the Bush administration’s most classified programs and how they are working. The Republicans, he said, have made a habit of rubber-stamping those programs.

He said he also wants to look at the role of intelligence three years after the war in Iraq began, as well as the state of traditional spycraft also called “human intelligence” by intelligence professionals versus “signal intelligence” gathered by satellites and electronic surveillance.

“We haven’t required or haven’t had the administration give us the details, evaluation or plan of how these classic programs are functioning,” Reyes said. “There is plenty to do on the role of intelligence, the programs that are vital and critical to our national defense, and certainly to our war fighters.”

Reyes is considered less partisan than Hastings, and signaled that the day after the election when he praised the selection of former CIA Director Robert Gates to replace Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Reyes noted that Gates served in Republican and Democratic administrations, giving him a bipartisan background. “I do look forward to hearing from him and what his ideas are,” he said, particularly on the administration’s new direction in Iraq.

He looks to be another “bring on the silly investigations” type of Democrat.

Additionally Dan from Riehl World View has a overview of his voting record:

Voted NO on continuing intelligence gathering without civil oversight. (Apr 2006)
Voted NO on federalizing rules for driver licenses to hinder terrorists. (Feb 2005)
Voted YES on continuing military recruitment on college campuses. (Feb 2005)
Voted YES on supporting new position of Director of National Intelligence. (Dec 2004)
Voted NO on adopting the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. (Oct 2004)
Voted YES on emergency $78B for war in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Apr 2003)
Voted YES on permitting commercial airline pilots to carry guns. (Jul 2002)
Voted YES on $266 billion Defense Appropriations bill. (Jul 1999)
Voted YES on deploying SDI. (Mar 1999)
Stopping Vieques bombing range good; sooner is better. (Jun 2001)
Rated 78% by SANE, indicating a pro-peace voting record. (Dec 2003)
Voted NO on declaring Iraq part of War on Terror with no exit date. (Jun 2006)
Voted YES on approving removal of Saddam & valiant service of US troops. (Mar 2004)
Voted NO on authorizing military force in Iraq. (Oct 2002)
Voted NO on disallowing the invasion of Kosovo. (May 1999)
Condemns anti-Muslim bigotry in name of anti-terrorism. (Oct 2001)

Here are a few of my own finds regarding immigration:

• Cosponsored HR 4885 which would increase legal immigration numbers and offered a massive amnesty for illegal aliens.
• Voted NO on HR 6061 which would build a 700 mile fence along the southern border
• Voted NO on HR 4437 which included:
• major improvements in interior enforcement and border security
• reduction in legal immigration numbers.
  
• requirement that all businesses must use an electronic system to check if all new hires have the legal right to work in the country
• additional security fencing along the Mexican border
• a mandate that the federal government cooperate with local authorities in picking up all illegal aliens they detain
• elimination of the visa lottery program that each year awards 50,000 green cards to randomly selected winners.

Hell, his own party members were in disbelief when he downplayed border incursions from Mexico.

How about his ethics? (via Michelle Malkin)

A critical network of cameras and sensors installed for the U.S. Border Patrol along the Mexican and Canadian borders has been hobbled for years by defective equipment that was poorly installed, and by lax oversight by government officials who failed to properly supervise the project’s contractor, according to government reports and public and industry officials.

The problems with the $239 million Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System (ISIS), which U.S. officials call crucial to defending the country against terrorist infiltrators, are under investigation by the inspector general of the General Services Administration.

That probe, into whether government officials allowed the contractor to cut corners on the project and receive huge overcharges during its eight-year lifetime, could lead to administrative or criminal charges, the officials said. Perhaps tens of millions of dollars were wasted, the GSA suggested.

[…]The investigation focuses in part on IMC’s employment of the daughter of Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), a former Border Patrol official and key backer of the system of 12,000 sensors and several hundred cameras installed for the Border Patrol between 1998 and last year, officials said. There is no indication that Reyes took part in any impropriety, they said.

No, there wouldn’t be any evidence of cronyism would there? I’m sure his daughter got that no-bid contract all on her own…..

Sure thing.

So lets recap. A player in the Party of Corruption, against many bills that would increase our border security, leads the charge for unfounded investigations of the Administration, voted against the Iraq war in 2002, but voted for the military action in Kosovo.

A typical party line voter with suspect ethics. A perfect fit for the Democrats.

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• Mary Katherine Ham

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