Sen. Trent Lott to resign

Source: MSNBC

NBC News has learned that Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., the minority whip is in the midst of informing close allies that he plans to resign his senate seat before the end of the year. It's possible a formal announcement of his plans could take place as early as today.

Lott's office initially denied that he he would step down, but subsequent requests for information about his plans went unanswered.

While the exactly reason Lott is stepping down before he finishes his term is unknown, the general speculation is that a quick departure immunizes Lott against tougher restrictions in a new lobbying law that takes effect at the end of the year. That law would require Senators to wait two-years before entering the lucrative world of lobbying Congress.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21973397/

go back to being an in-the-closet cheerleader.

Ass...:grr:

}(

Then I read:



So, quit NOW and you can take on a cushy job. And that cushy job may hinge on you making sure you have a patsy lined up to do what you tell him/her? Might be the makin's of one helluva New Year's Eve party at Lott's place.

So, it could just be about making more $$$. Yeah, maybe 'Course, that doesn't rule out any impending exposure of scandal either.

with the people of his state over and over and over - he doesn't give a shat about you, he just wants a cushy job. If the Dems picked a methodist or other friendly denomination type of pastor or church leader who also may be in local politics they could have a shot at that seat. people everywhere have to be about fed up with all this crap from the b*shies...

something that made me laugh from the article - "Another event during Lott's exile changed his relationship with the White House: Hurricane Katrina. The massive storm devastated Lott's home state, not to mention his oceanside home in Pascagoula. He found his refrigerator a few blocks away in a neighbor's yard. For him, the administration's bungled response was personal. He considered retiring."

awwww poor Trent's refrigerator blocks away and thought W's response was miserable but kept on kissing der fuhrer's ass!

So many Bushie are *retiring* or *leaving to spend more time with the family*. I used to think they were fleeing to avoid prosecution. Now I think they're leaving before the lucrative lobbying job offer they have is pulled out from under them.

FBI must've had lots of fun up in Alaska, where Trent was known to visit with other 'corrupt bastards' ;)

And Abramoff was a treasurer of the National club :rofl: Guess who the Prez and VP are?

The puzzle pieces are stating to fill in and it is one big picture. SURPRISED? Hell no!

...leaving The Family to spend more time with the family.

Mississippians, who will Haley Barbour appoint to replace Lott? Wasn't Lott's seat considered in play for '08? Is this an attempt to get a repub established as an incumbent before the election?

My guess is that Barbour will appoint Chip Pickering (son the controversial judge) to Lott's seat. Pickering, if you recall, resigned his House seat and the speculation was that it was to run for the Senate.

Bake

that could win this seat and that is the former Attorney General, Mike Moore.Maybe former Governor Ronny Musgrove will try. Chip Pickering is not that well known state-wide whereas the two I posted do and it will be very interesting to see how this shakes out. Now if I am wrong I will post back about a special election.

Ben David

So Barbour will appoint someone to serve until the special election can be held. I agree that Mike Moore could take the seat, but the question is whether he wants to be a Senator or the Governor. He could win either one. I don't see Musgrave running for it.

Bake

before the new rules take place. It's always about the money with the GOP.

all something, but I say 'good riddance'!

Isn't that a really sad situation?

You're right, it is all about the money for them.

Or it could be something Abramoff is saying. Just a thought.

with a hook in your mouth!

Let me coin a new phrase, with no reference to anyone except the journalists whose job it is to know better and not push the Club's spin

"It's the Corrupt Bastards Club, stupid."

Damn, that has a nice ring, and no doubt will need repeating later.

"It's the Corrupt Bastards Club, stupid."

The "Corrupt Bastards Club" in Alaska


NOW video: http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/347/video.html


Everyone is saying Abramoff's but this video is really damning.

From: Big Oil's Influence in Washington . NOW | PBS = $82 million to candidates
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2328843

============
Big Oil, Big Influence
By LINDSAY RENICK MAYER
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/347/oil-politics.html

Lindsay Renick Mayer is the money-in-politics reporter for the Center for Responsive Politics. The nonpartisan Washington-based organization researches money's influence on politics and provided data for this story from its website, OpenSecrets.org.

During his first month in office, President George W. Bush appointed Vice President Dick Cheney to head a task force charged with developing the country's energy policy. The group, which conducted its meetings in secret .........

============
2006.06.16 - Crude Awakening - NOW | PBS
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/224/index.html
Video: Crude Awakening = http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/224/index.html#here

As oil and gas companies continue to make enormous profits in a time of record-high gas prices, watchdog groups are accusing these companies of shortchanging American taxpayers out of billions of dollars in royalties for drilling rights on public property. Members of Congress are also being blamed for making sweetheart deals with Big Oil engineered to avoid the payment of royalties.

"These oil companies along with some members of Congress have really engineered one of the greatest train robberies of all time," says California Congressman George Miller. ..........

============
$14.5 B tax breaks for oil, gas, nuclear, coal = Cheney's energy task force
As in Alaska, so also in Washington ... from the article http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/347/oil-politics.html

Buying Pro-Industry Policy
This support has not gone unrewarded. In 2005, Bush, who has received more from the oil and gas industry than any other politician, signed an energy bill from the Republican-controlled Congress that gave $14.5 billion in tax breaks .............

that greed isnt just limited to the republicans...

politicians become lobbyist after leaving office all the time... not suprising ..

He won't be missed.

I don't buy the argument that he is trying to skirt the new lobbying rules. When is this seat up? Doesn't the governor appoint his replacement if he steps down?

When his house was hit by hurricane Katrina, it was said that most of his net worth was tied up in that house. It was pointed out that he was really not wealthy. If those stories were correct, Lott may be a very honest person, who has not used his Senate seat to improperly become wealthy. Given that they need to pay for housing both in their state and in DC, an honest politician without a fortune behind them may have difficulty gathering the same amount of wealth that they would have in private industry. (Lott is not a Tom Delay creep, but one of the older version of Republican - and though they likely agree on few issues, he is friendly with people like John Kerry.)

That of course does mean that Lott will be impoverished if he stayed in the Senate. Their pensions are not peanuts.

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/11/26/breaking-trent-lott-rumored-to-be-resigning/#comments

"So, let’s see if we have this straight: he’s cashing in before the lobbying restriction goes into effect — hello oil, gas, and gambling interests that he was already serving anyway — and he wants to torture everyone by putting Jon Kyl in a position to be on television regularly as the #2 Republican in the Senate. Good lord, what a way to start the day…

In case you missed the book salon yesterday with John Anderson about, in part, the GOP connections to the K Street revolving door, now would be a good time to read through the thread. Best of luck, Trent…clearly you’ve already got a platinum parachute lined up, or you wouldn’t be jumping ship. Cozy."

Don't let the door kick you in the ass on your way out.

have an ear to the corruption trials that are going to soon start. They probably want to be sure they are far from the "center". But I bet they all are being snared in the web.

How many are going or have gone..Lott, Hassert, Hutchinson, and these are not republicans with short terms these people have been here for a long long time. SOMETHING SMELLS..Don't you'all agree.

Odds are it will be Chip Pickering.

Tweedledum replaced with Tweedledee. Hooray for us lucky Mississippians! :sarcasm:

And by the way: Weclome to DU! :hi: :dem:

or something bad is going to go down in DC (read: anthrax - or worse) that they know about and don't want to be around for. i've been watching this mass exodus intently too....:(

:rofl: What we have is a whirlpool as the sewer is draining fast! That's why there is soooo much spin. :rofl:

But I don't think he's politically stupid. This is a clear signal that many Republicans see themselves as entering another period in the wilderness. I guess Karl Rove's permanent majority didn't last nearly as long as they thought it would. About 12 years, by my count. Just about as long as the Thousand Year Reich. Not that there are any parallels.

bill S.2332 with Byron Dorgan? Say what you will, but he is very much against media consolidation. See STOPBIGMEDIA.COM. You have only until early December to act. This is urgent and the internet is next. He is thought of as a big mouth against the media getting even larger. What about Murdoch and Zell being behind some sort of blackmail to punish him for speaking out. You've got to admit - his departure is odd. And why now?


(I don't know - though different people were involved, remember Valerie Plame was outed as punishment. So it's not like this has never been thought of. Should we just wait and see if Dorgan is next?)

thing I had seen from him. I hope this doesn't weaken the move against this attempted rule change!

shows their real interests.

Oh, that's right - W is in charge.

has to be about more money.

she asked me if she could bring me back anything and I answered her "Bring me the head of Trent Lott"

and seeing I'm in Michigan expecting an ice storm any minute, that's saying something!

Trent Lott's house.

Before and After Katrina:
http://www.sunherald.com/images/beforeafter/lott.html

:evilgrin:

He's leaving with 5 years left in his term, to lobby??? Why didn't he resign last year, if this is the case???? And right now, you have to wait a year, instead of two. Big F---king difference!!!!
And he ran for whip just last year. Trent Lott is not the kind to leave abruptly. Something isn't right at all.

because they know something bad is coming! I think they are afraid of what bush is going to do!

They can't stand up to bush,so they are wimping out!

singing to the sick Americans that can't afford toilet paper.

They're singing "Mississippi Mud"

his hair is expected to serve out his remaining term in office.

HELLO! Don't these people read the News, like on DU :rofl:

Alaska trips put Washington on the hook as Bill Allen used fishing for pork bait!
FROM: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2062738



Bill Allen, second from left, is pictured in 2000 with Republican Senators Trent Lott of Mississippi, left, Dennis Hastert of Illinois, and Phil Gramm of Texas.



From left, Sen. Kit Bond, Tricia Lott, Sen. Trent Lott, Bill Allen, unidentified woman, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, former Sen. Phil Gramm, Nancy Murkowski, Sen. Frank Murkowski.

Over the past 20 years Alaskan oil entrepreneur Bill Allen and people who work for him gave more than $1 million to candidates running for Congress. But his connections gave him another way to gain influence in Washington -- fishing.
If lawmakers paid for these trips, they would cost $1,000 a night. But they don't.
Instead, political committees and a network of non-profits backed by lobbyists pick up the tab. ......

L. Coyote ... Oct-17-07 09:44 AM
15. A few comments for now. This needs more research. But, it is huge already ...

I expect more research will surface soon. Myself, I'm off for some real salmon fishing ....

What to expect? The bribes are going to reach other R Senators. It will take more work, but the evidence is there. The oil companies funneled money via Stevens to many Senators, almost every R and R candidate. Also, now we must look to direct contributions by the oil execs, and the timing of those contributions. Expect to find that there is a pay as you go R legislative process. You want something, you pony up money!

This story may just be starting, and expect it to be as HUGE as an Alaskan King Salmon!

.....

Oh, the HUBRIS of the Corrupt Bastards; they printed Club tee shirts and hats!
"Corrupt Bastards Club" has more political appeal than the oxymoranic Culture of Corruption.
What we need now is the complete roster .....

============================
I love a political "told you so" moment like this!!

Again, read on here as you contemplate if Ted Stevens is wearing the wire, or has that duty been passed on the Trent Lott now??

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2062738

AND this spin-off thread:
Who's Who in the "Corrupt Bastards Club" ?? Nothing Fishy Here. MOVE ON
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2101151#2132316

Yaaahooooooo!!!! More BIG FISH!


(mods: w/ permission)

I try to keep my eye on the ball, needless to say this story is getting around, and the Media will be shamed into covering it soon or look like the Boobs that they are...

Thanks for getting it out there :)

This may seem like a good idea but based on some earlier posts I think hes up to something fishy...

shed a tear at his departure.
I will shed tears when he re-enters D.C. as a lobbyist.

This racist water carrier will not be missed by few more than the KKK or arien brotherhood.

Good-bye and good riddance.

Selective memory there. :dunce:

Rejoice! Rejoice! Woooooooooooooo!

:party: :toast: :bounce: :loveya: :headbang: :applause: :woohoo:

It's another terrible day for the Republicans. Time for ice cream!

LOL! After the Strom Thurmond event, Bush distanced himself fom Lott.
What a crock. Lott got a leadership job. Why is NPR applying spin for Bushco?

Bush was right not to defend Lott after he made those statements, but Bush never demands accountability from those who are loyal to him. Lott wasn't a loyal Bushie and so he didn't get that favorable treatment.

Rove seized the opportunity to install Frist who was just a puppet for the White House.

settlement, and Frist went home rich and a free man! Frist is an owner of HCA.
Lott got rehabilitated, so memories are either short, or it was all just political facade.

FROM: 30 U.S. attorneys investigate BILKING BILLIONS, Medicare, Medicaid, Military’s Healthcare
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x877011

Topics:
How is it that $$ BILLIONS $$ of fraud does not put CEOs in jail?
How is it that $$ BILLIONS $$ of fraud cases seem to evaporate or settle for so little?
How were those $$ BILLIONS $$ in lobbying by single industries spent? Where do those bucks STOP?

HCA's "fraud investigation involved 30 U.S. attorneys' offices, 22 FBI field offices, inspectors general from the Health and Human Service Department and the Office of Personnel Management, Defense Department investigators and state fraud units"

SOURCE: John Byrne, "Company run by Frist's brother made $630m deal two days before he announced he would be leader"
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Family_company_of_Senate_leader_made_0929.html

.....

When Advocates Become Regulators
President Bush has installed more than 100 top officials who were once lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0523-02.htm

Thomas A. Scully .... former hospital lobbyist presided over an agency that helped a chain he once represented win a favorable settlement in a Medicare fraud case.

Thomas A. Scully represented the nation's for-profit hospitals as a lobbyist before being hired by the Bush administration in June 2001 to head the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Eight months after Scully arrived at the Medicare and Medicaid agency, it moved to settle final claims involving HCA Inc., a hospital chain that was the biggest member of Scully's former employer, the Federation of American Hospitals. HCA Inc. faced allegations it fraudulently overbilled the government for Medicare cases.

Under the terms agreed to in June 2002 by Scully's agency, HCA would have settled for $250 million. Medicare fraud cases typically are ironed out with Justice Department participation, but Scully agreed to those terms on his own, said John R. Phillips, an attorney who represented whistle-blowers in the case.

"The $250 million was a total sellout by Scully, who totally negotiated it behind Justice's back," Phillips said.

=================
November 29, 2006
Frist Decides Against ’08 Presidential Bid
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/11/29/frist-decides-against-%e2%80%9908-presidential-bid

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said he has put aside plans to run for the White House in 2008, and instead will return to medicine and the health-care field that helped launch his political career 12 years ago..

:woohoo:

Abramoff

Larry Flynt

Alaska Oil

Wilkes/Foggo

Source: MSNBC



Read more: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/26/480226.aspx

---

...allowing Haley Barbour to appoint a Republican replacement to run next year.

I can't wait to find out what this is all about!

Lott Plans to Resign From Senate, Officials Say

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Lott-Senate.html?hp

Filed at 8:08 a.m. ET

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, plans to resign his seat before the end of the year, congressional and White House officials said Monday.

Lott, 66, scheduled two news conferences in his home state later in the day to reveal his plans. According to congressional and White House officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, Lott intends to resign effective the end of the year.

No reason for Lott's resignation was given, but according to a congressional official, there is nothing amiss with Lott's health. The senator has "other opportunities" he plans to pursue, the official said, without elaborating.

Lott's colleagues elected him as the Senate's Republican whip last year, a redemption for the Mississippian after his ouster five years ago as the party's Senate leader over remarks he made at retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party in 2002. Lott had saluted the South Carolina senator with comments later interpreted as support for southern segregationist policies.

Lott To Resign By End Of The Year
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2007/11/lott_resignation_by_end_of_the.html?hpid=topnews

Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) will announce this afternoon that he's retiring from the Senate late next month, stunning Republicans who had only last year reinstated Lott to their leadership ranks.

Lott, 66, the minority whip, made the decision over the Thanksgiving weekend with his family in Pascagoula, Miss., according to a senior Republican insider. Lott's move shocked Republicans on Capitol Hill, who have seen a wave of veterans announce their decision to retire next year as the GOP looks increasingly certain to remain in the minority. But Lott is the most senior Republican to announce he is leaving office, and his decision comes barely a year after he won re-election to a six-year term.

............

He was first elected to the House in 1972, where he served on the House Judiciary Committee that voted to impeach President Nixon. He rose to House Republican whip in the 1980s, then won a Senate seat in 1988. He became GOP whip in 1995, and won the race to succeed former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) when he stepped down as majority leader in June 1996 to pursue the presidency.

Lott had been excoriated for his remarks at Thurmond's birthday party five years ago, during which he reminisced about Thurmond's failed presidential bid in 1948, saying that the United States "wouldn't have had all these problems over the years" if the segregationist candidate had won. The comment was widely condemned, including by President George Bush, who helped recruit Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) to replace Lott as majority leader.

gonna cry
gonna pout
i guess a lot of the rethugs can't stand this thing where they are in the minority and actually have to DO stuff... Lott died several years ago and was only thought to be alive because his DO NOTHING congress did not require him to .... attend... think... solve... vote... explain himself...

do you notice a lot of the pussy GOP are running to spend "more time with their families"...
so it is not EVERYBODY WINS when the democrats take over...
several GOP families will now have to suffer the presence of their dads
many cabana boys will have to avoid the masters house more often
and where the choir boys in the DC area will get a break,
those hometown youngins will have to wear bulletproof shorts

Lott was one of those complaining about those "people" in NOLA...all the time, his FEMA money came in hard and fast, his place was one of the first rebuilt...and he collected insurance on it as well.

As for why he is retiring...i figure whatever it is that's on his head in lieu of hair, has grown roots and is now controlling his every motion and thought, which is a good thing...bnecause he was told to get out of the Seante...:)

"While the exactly reason Lott is stepping down before he finishes his term is unknown, the general speculation is that a quick departure immunizes Lott against tougher restrictions in a new lobbying law that takes effect at the end of the year. That law would require Senators to wait two-years before entering the lucrative world of lobbying Congress."

I would say the reason is quite clear. It's in the best interests of Trent Lott to step down. Before the new law takes effect.

I hope his lobbying career does not do well. The last thing we need is more pork.

As these people go, Trent Lott is not a bad person.

My take on all of this: He knows that he can go no farther in politics. He really does not fit in with the Bushite-neocon crowd. The governor will appoint a Republican to replace him, and Lott will begin to cash in as a lobbyist.

"When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either."

Thurmond had based his presidential campaign largely on an explicit racial segregation platform. Many political commentators inferred that because Lott expressed support for Thurmond's campaign, Lott was implicitly supporting racial segregation. Lott had attracted controversy before in issues relating to civil rights. As a Congressman, he voted against renewal of the Voting Rights Act, voted against the continuation of the Civil Rights Act and opposed the Martin Luther King Holiday. Lott also maintained for many years an affiliation with the Council of Conservative Citizens, which is described as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Lott hosted Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) leaders, an American "paleoconservative" political organization that supports a large variety of localized grassroots causes including white separatism, at his Senate office in 1997 and addressed its events at least three times in the 1990s. As a keynote speaker at a 1992 CCC convention, Lott heaped praise on its members: "The people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy… Let's take it in the right direction and our children will be the beneficiaries!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Lott

Trent Lott's Segregationist College Days
Thursday, Dec. 12, 2002 By KAREN TUMULTY
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,399310,00.html

Under Fire: Lott says his comments about Strom Thurmond were wrong

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott helped lead a successful battle to prevent his college fraternity from admitting blacks to any of its chapters, in a little-known incident now four decades old. ....

BLOG | Posted 12/11/2002 @ 7:18pm
Trent Lott's "Uptown Klan"
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?pid=208

The incredible thing about the controversy surrounding soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's kissing up to the racist legacy of Strom Thurmond is that anyone thinks it is incredible.

Lott is on the hot seat for telling a 100th birthday party for Thurmond, the South Carolina senator who in 1948 ran an overtly racist campaign for president on the State's Rights Party ticket: "I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either."

Those remarks have caused a major stir, which is appropriate. But this is hardly the first time that Lott, who began his political career in the 1960s as an aide to segregationist Democratic Congressman William Colmer, has hailed the legacy of those who fought to defend the practices of slavery and segregation. Nor is the tortured "apology" Lott has issued the first to come from the senator.

Indeed, there is no greater constant in Trent Lott's political career than his embrace of all things Confederate.

To wit: ............

he has been racist and an impediment to every progressive reform we have sought in the Congress for over 30 years.

http://bigheaddc.com/

"...The boy happens to be real, and his “stage name” is Benjamin Nicholas. One of the politicos Big Head DC has learned he’s alleged to have been involved with is the married Sen. Trent Lott, 66, who unexpectedly announced his retirement on Monday. Lott is well-known to have been against a plethora of gay rights issues throughout his terms in Congress. He was also good friends with Sen. Larry Craig throughout his time in Congress.

Nicholas told Big Head DC today via e-mail that he didn’t want to go on the record to talk about his dealings with Lott, because, said Nicholas, “Trent is going through his fair share of scrutiny right now and I don’t want to add to it.” However, e-mail and other records confirm that the two have met on at least two occasions..."

To every aspen, turn, turn, turn.

Source: Reuters/CNN

WASHINGTON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Trent Lott, the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate, said on Monday he will retire, ending a 34-year career in Congress in which he became a powerful conservative figure.

"I am announcing today that I will be retiring from the Senate by the end of the year," Lott, a former college cheerleader, said in his hometown of Pascagoula, Mississippi.

"Let me make it clear, there are no (health) problems. I feel fine. I may look my 66 years, but I honestly feel good."



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2643313120071126

---

Yeah, he feels good. He's got some cushy lobbyist sideline setup.

At least the Republicans are losing a powerful and sometimes reasonable person who will likely be replaced with a Republican with a lot less going for him. This is good.