John Pavich on the Attack!

And in DKos, no less. Check out John's strong attack on Republican Jerry Weller's family connection to a homicidal Central American dictator. Excerpts:

Weller is the first elected official in United States history to marry a member of a foreign legislature. Zury Rios Sosa is a third-term legislator in Guatemala's congress, and also has the distinction of being the second most powerful leader of the Guatemalan political party, FRG. There's a lot of questions surrounding the ethical problems Weller's relationship has produced...

The FRG is led by her father, the former dictator of Guatemala, General Efrain Rios Montt. Rios Montt is under indictment by the Spanish government for crimes against humanity during his leadership of Guatemala in the early 1980s, which took place during Guatemala's 36-year civil war.

Neither Weller nor his bride have denounced the activities of Rios Montt's goverment, which he himself described as, "excessive." Weller holds the vice chairmanship of the House's western hemisphere subcommittee, which oversees much of the policy in relation to Latin America.

Though Weller had promised to recuse himself from any legislation having to do with Guatemala in order to avoid a conflict of interest, Weller went on to cast a vote for CAFTA, which passed with a razor-thin majority (Weller also serves in the Illinois congressional district with the largest labor population in the state). When questioned about the conflict, he backtracked on his statement, saying that he only meant he would recuse himself from legislation that directly deals with Guatemala. Except the U.S. Government almost never directly deals with nations in that area.

The appearance of impropriety doesn't end there. Weller stated in 2004 that he wanted to focus on cracking down on the drug trade. Up to 70% of the drugs that enter the United States come through Guatemala, but in his subsequent dealings with the issue, he notably excuses Guatemala from the list of drug trafficking nations. The FRG, as the article points out, is known to have opened the door to drug trafficking and organized crime in the district.

Weller is a typical lying, corrupt right-wing Republican who has voted with Bush and Tom DeLay more than 92% of the time. He deserves to be voted out in favor of a REAL patriot--John Pavich!

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