Inappropriate Alma? NC congresswoman investigated by House ethics committee | Hour 2

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Okay, so, and I did hear last night Brett Jensen on his program I Heard Here on WBT from six till seven, Breaking with Brett Jensen, He interviewed miss Goba about this story. And so you can go to the podcast there on WBT dot com and take a listen. It's the last segment of his show last night. But here's the write up. The House Ethics Committee interviewed a number of Representative Alma Adams's former aids as part of an investigation into an alleged inappropriate relationship between the lawmaker and a staffer who works out of her North Carena District office. Okay, so she works the staffer named Sandra Brown. She is the deputy chief of staff and district director. She supposedly works out of the local office. That will become important, although I'm kind of curious how you could be the deputy chief of staff and not be in DC. You're the chief of staff and she's got staff up in DC, so that may explain why dozens or yeah, half a dozen rather half a dozen former aides confirmed this some kind of relationship between Congresswoman Adams and Sandra Brown, and how Sandra Brown is a frequent guest, roommate, workmate. I'm not sure at the apartment that Alma Adams has in Washington, DC, which is kind of weird. So over the course of several months in twenty twenty three, House Ethics Committee staff interviewed about half a dozen former aides, some of whom were working for Adams. At the time. They did these interviews in Washington and here in Charlotte, and they were asking the staffers about her relationship with Sandra Brown. This according to four people interviewed by the committee who were granted anonymity to speak freely about the sensitive matter. So Kadia Goba spoke with four of these staffers who were interviewed. The interviews started as early as January twenty twenty three. Oh my gosh, there's probably going to be a crazy mole hunt going on right inside the Adams office, right because as I go through some of the details here, it doesn't sound like a pleasant place to work. So the interview. Started as early as January twenty twenty three and continued until at least September of twenty twenty three, so like for nine months the interviews ran. Adams, who is now seventy nine years old, was made aware of an ethics complaint that was filed against her in the summer of twenty twenty two. Okay, so summer of twenty two complaint filed. Interviews begin about six months later, and they run about nine months first nine months of twenty three. Now, the exact nature of Adams's relationship with Brown is unclear, but a high ranking staffer filed a complaint with the committee after the staffer was told by colleagues that the congresswoman was in a relationship with an aid. She is in a relationship purely platonic. I am sure, I don't know. So a high ranking staffer is tipped off that, hey, the congresswoman is in a relationship with her chief of staff. That is not allowed. By the way, just in case anybody was unclear, you are not allowed to do that as a member of Congress. I mean, you could do all the inside trading that you want, but this that's the line, okay. All of the people that spoke with notice said that at the very least, Brown's extremely close relationship with Adams resulted in a hostile work environment. Adams repeatedly led the North Carolina delegation in staff turnover, so people keep quitting her office. The Ethics Committee investigation was not announced and has not been previously reported. The committee has not released findings, but the fact that investigators traveled to North Carolina to conduct interviews indicates the scope of the probe. Now this is fairly not fairly, this is the standard operating procedure for the House Ethics Committee. All of this stuff is kept under wraps, right, They don't advertise that they've launched an investigation or anything like that. The chairman, Michael Guest, he says. The Ethics Committee. Sorry. He explained why the committee would have. Left off her name in the release of their announcement that it has conducted twenty investigations related to allegations of sexual misconduct by members of Congress since twenty seventeen. But the committee identified only fifteen lawmakers who faced allegations that had previously been made public. Adam's name was not on that list, and Guests said, quote in general, because those matters were looked into by the committee and we could not verify the allegations that were made. So maybe that's why Alma Adams wasn't part of the list of the people that they had investigated, because if they couldn't verify it, then then it's just a smear, right, And that does happen. That's one of the things that you know, people who. You know, we want all the information, like you saw this with the Epstein files and stuff. I want all the information, and I get where that's coming from. However, you know, if somebody is like invited by Epstein to a dinner party or something, and so they show up in an email exchange, and then it's like, well, now I've suffered reputational harm even though I'd never responded or something, but now I'm going to be accused of being part of the horrific things that he was doing. Right, So that's why you don't divulge. This is why law enforcement doesn't. You know. They'll say stuff like we can either confirm nor deny that there's an investigation, right, they will let the court filings do the talking if it gets to that point. All right, back to the noticed story. According to several sources, witnesses interviewed were peppered with questions about their time in the congresswoman's office and about a different staffer who was being investigated for financial mismanagement. Okay, there was that Sandra Brown. I don't know. The line of questioning, however, quickly narrowed to Adams's relationship with Brown. A spokesperson for Adams said, quote, the committee closed the matter after finding no violation of any House rules and most importantly, no inappropriate or improper relationship. Ultimately, the committee advised the congresswoman should work to ensure that no staff received preferential treatment, actual or perceived, and that all staff were aware that they could raise any concerns without fear of retaliation, and then said Adams did not face any penalties because. She did not break any rules. Okay, However, the staffers that were interviewed, they said that Sandra Brown appeared to spend long stretches of time at Adams's one bedroom apartment on New Jersey Avenue in Washington, and at least one former aide said Sandra Brown, who worked out of the Charlotte office, sometimes appeared in the background of virtual calls that Adams would be on in her Washington apartment. I do not know what to make of this. I'm just reading what notice is reporting. There's a little bit more I will get to in a minute. You know, stories are powerful. They help us make sense of thing, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. They help us process the meaning of life, and our stories are told through images and videos. Preserve your stories with creative Video started in nineteen ninety seven and Minhill, North Carolina. It was the first company to provide this valuable service, converting images, photos and videos into high quality produced slide shows, videos and albums. The trusted, talented and dedicated team at Creative Video will go over all of the details with you to create a perfect project. Satisfaction guaranteed. Drop them off in person or mail them. They'll be ready in a week or two. Memorial videos for your loved ones, videos for rehearsal dinners, weddings, graduations, Christmas, family vacations, birthdays, or just your family stories, all told through images. That's what your photos and videos are. They are your life told through the eyes of everyone around you and all who came before you, and they will tell others to come who you are. Visit creative video dot com. Jeff, Sorry, I cannot tell you how to unsee Alma Adams being inappropriate. I cannot do that for you. I just figured, you know, misery Love's company, so I shared the story. Back to this piece again. This is at notus dot org and ot US News of the United States by Kadia Goba or Kadella go Goba. Goda Goba Goba. Some staffers, when interviewed by the House Ethics Committee, described witnessing in person and virtual shouting matches between Adams and her chief of staff, Sandra Brown. Again, Adams is seventy nine years old here, and you're having shouting matches. Others described Brown as having an outsized managerial role in the office, oftentimes overruling higher banking aids. Right, so it kind of seems like there is some sort of a power dynamic there that's out of whack, right, Like, for some reason, Sandra Brown is able to veto what higher ranking aids are trying to do. And that's kind of weird. How would she have that kind of leverage? Right? And then there's this, uh, Sandra Brown wrote wrote a book, a novel self published, but still nonetheless, she wrote a book. The title of the book was Boss Lady. The Legend of Sidney Donovan begins, ooh, so it's going to be a series. So what is this book about? Well, according to the article, it at one point talks about a woman who clashes with her lover's husband. And you get that, Okay, the main character female clashes with her lover's husband. So I am assuming unless it's a gay marriage. I'm assuming she is in a sexual relationship with the woman with the wife and then has this clash with the husband. Brown wrote the book under a pseudonym, but reveals her identity in the author's section of her Amazon page. Brown told at least one aid that the book was loosely based on her own life. Okay, right, that might. I don't know. That may inform some of that power dynamic, that leverage that Brown seems to have. I don't know. I'm just I'm seeing a lot of dots here, and I can connect them and various ways, you know. One former aide said, quote, you're standing with Sandra Brown impacted your standing with Alma Adams, and then added that current staffers are still seeking advice on how to navigate the office's dynamics. Brown worked with Adams during her time in the North Carolina State Legislature, where she was an administrative assistant. So Alma brought her along when she went to Congress. Okay, I don't know what it means. There's no finding here people, I. Don't I'm just just telling you. She also wears hats. Alma Adams does. She's famous for her hats. Now. The House Ethics Committee also released a list of names of twenty six current and former members of Congress who it has investigated for sexual misconduct. She is not on this list. Okay, it did so after members of Congress have called for two members to be expelled, Corey Mills, Republican from Florida, and Democrat from Florida Sheila Triphillis McCormick. Mills is the only member with an open investigation for sexual misconduct and or dating violence. He currently has a restraining order against him issued by a Florida judge. Congresswoman Nancy Mayce from South Carolina filed a resolution to remove him from office, which failed. The committees expected to release its findings into Chriphillis McCormick next week. She was found guilty of twenty five ethics charges and is accused of stealing five million dollars in FEMA funds. Oh wait, hang on a second, what's today? Three days ago? Oh? This was this week? Yes, because I actually have the story right here too. She resigned, She's out. She stepped down under investigation by the House for two years, finally charged with ethics violations in December of this past year. Federal grand jury in Miami returned an indictment charging her and several co defendants with stealing federal disaster funding, laundering the proceeds, and using the money to support her twenty twenty one congressional campaign. Well at least she didn't use it for a lavish birthday party with a horse drawn carriage and a throne, right like our city council member did here, all right, So actually from the text line, let me jump over there, and Jim says, is this the same congress that has a slush fund to pay off sex assault victims? Yes, it is. Now, to be fair, they may not all be victims. There are people that are making accusations and then the Congress will dip into the slush fund and pay them off. And so like that's what makes it difficult. That's why they keep it all secret because some people, you know, make false accusations and it's a shakedown basically, and so if they can get ten grand, twenty five grand or something, and it's just you know, it's worth it for the congress person to just say make it go away. Right, But then there are also you know, bigger payouts I'm sure for actual victims, right, but yeah, they won't tell us who's been paid off or anything like that. David says, regarding Chriphuluts McCormick, she stepped down because as soon as she stepped down, Congress was no longer able to investigate the case, which is slimy on her part. Well, she's got bigger fish to fry now, because she's looking at a federal grand jury indictment which came down, she's looking at jail time. And somebody else said, oh, Alma Adams's liberty score is an f at six percent. And Chris says, Scherfalus is the congress person who used a five million dollar yellow diamond ring in one. Of her ads. I was not aware of that, but that five million dollars is ironically the coincidentally the same amount of money that she's accused of of stealing. Basically this according to the indictment, she and her brother, Edwin Scherfalus worked through their family healthcare company on a FEMA funded COVID nineteen vaccination staffing contract. In twenty twenty one. The company received an overpayment of five million dollars in FEMA funds. The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to steal that five million dollars and routed it through multiple accounts to disguise its source. Prosecutor's allege a substantial portion of the misappropriated funds was used as candidate contributions to the Shrifleut McCormick twenty twenty one congressional campaign, and for the personal benefit of the defendants. They arranged contributions using straw donors. Right. They would basically use their family members and give them the money. And then make the donation. They would make the donation. It's a way to mask the fact that you're surpassing the donation caps. Right. And they conspired to file a false federal tax return along with their tax preparer. He's also been indicted. Last month, Shriflest McCormick was found guilty of twenty five House ethics violations, including acceptance of improper campaign contributions, co mingling of campaign and personal funds. She denied wrongdoing and said it was just an accounting error. In her resignation announcement, she called the process a witch hunt. Now it's very difficult to actually remove somebody from Congress. You need two thirds of a majority to remove somebody. Now, maybe she thought that they would have enough votes. To do so. Only six members of the House have ever been expelled. The first three fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War and so they were expelled for disloyalty. The next two had been convicted of crimes, and the final one was George Santos, the scandal played freshman who was the subject of a blistering ethics report on his conduct as well as a federal indictment. He was from New York. He was a Republican served time in prison for ripping off his campaign donors before Trump granted him clemency. Santos has apologized to his former constituents. If convicted on the federal charges, Schrifalus McCormick faces up to fifty three years in prison. Okay, So the Ethics Committee released their list May hear twenty eight and this is in chronological order from most recent to least recent. So you got swallwell, and they list all of the allegations and like, all of this stuff is sexual misconduct, sexual relationships with staffers, right, that's what virtually all. Of this stuff is. Actually, Yeah, it's all sexual related. Okay, alleged sexual misconduct. Eric Swalwell, Tony Gonzalez, both of them just resigned. Corey Mills, he's still there, he's refusing to resign. I mentioned him earlier. Then there was Matt Gates, remember that. George Santos, Madison Cawthorn, remember him. Twenty twenty two public report, no sexual misconduct violations though, so they did not find anything in that case to warrant any kind of censure or something. In fact, let me go to this is from the Center Square. All but one are men on the list. One member was investigated twice, half of them resigned. So three members were investigated for house page. Those are like the interns types of people right the house pages sex and drugs investigation and sexual misconduct with a minor. Those would be Jerry Studs, Democrat from Massachusetts, Daniel Crane, Republican from Illinois in nineteen eighty three, and then there was Mark Foley. In two thousand and six. The committee issued a report with findings of violations for Studs and Crane for having sex with teenage pages. Neither were expelled, neither one quit. Congress censured them. Foley resigned after it was made public that he sent sexually explicit emails to teenage pages. Hearings were held, including then House Speaker Dennis Hastert testifying. Later in twenty sixteen, Hastard went to jail went to prison in the case that linked him with sexually abusing teenage boys. Due to Matt Gates, George Santos, Madison Cawthorne was investigated. Here we go Michael San Nicholas, Democrat from Guam. That was back in twenty two. Tom Reid, Republican from New York. He resigned in twenty two. Representative al C. Hastings, Democrat from Florida. He was investigated in twenty fourteen and again in twenty twenty. Katie Hill. Remember her, She resigned after an investigation was launched for her inappropriate sexual relationship with the staff or remember that story. There was video, there was hair combing was new to the former. Representative Reuben Cowheen cah Cahouin, Democrat from Nevada. Twenty eighteen. He refused to resign, but did not run for reelection. Representative Patrick Meehan Republican rather from Pennsylvania. He resigned twenty eighteen. Representative Blake Farrenhold. Remember that Guy Republican from Texas. He resigned twenty eighteen. Trent Franks, Republican from Arizona. Twenty seventeen, he resigned, John Conyers, Democrat from Michigan. Twenty seventeen, he resigned, Eric Massa Democrat New York. Twenty ten, he resigned Gary Condit remember him, Democrat from California. Two thousand and one, he resigned. Mel Reynolds Democrat from Illinois. Nineteen ninety five resigned Barney Frank Democrat Massachusetts investigated for sexual misconduct involving prostitution and or use of the House Jim Committee found no sexual misconduct violations nineteen ninety Gus Savage nineteen ninety investigated, he did not resign apparently eighty nine. Jim Bates, Democrat from California, first member of Congress to be sanctioned over such allegations. Donald Luken's Republican from Ohio nineteen eighty nine. He was later convicted of having sex with a minor and bribery, and then finally Wayne Hayes, Democrat from Ohio, resigned in nineteen seventy six. So there's the list from the House Ethics Committee does not include people who may be under investigation right now, unrelated to sexual allegations. Our representatives people. Had a couple of messages here, Andy says al C. Hastings was also an impeached judge due to bribes. Chris says, so you're saying that we elect a lot of scumbags to Congress. Yes, that is true. And look, there is a certain personality type that is attracted to these positions. Psychopathy. And I'm not saying that to be mean. It's just that people who score higher on these kinds of psychological tests, like for the dark triad features, you know, they tend to populate certain professions like media. I can personally attest to that. I have worked with people. It's like, hmm, yes, I think you think you might be on that spectrum. But it's in media. They are in they're overrepresentative media, law and politics. So Jennifer says, how did we get to the point where we just shrug our shoulders at this stuff and go on? Our representatives should be the best of the best. I say this all the time, Jennifer, I say they are our representatives. Like if you take four hundred and thirty five random people or five hundred and thirty five yet in the Senate right. Like these are the people. Yes that we have the opportunity to vote people out, but we don't they like And when you put people with these types of you know, personalities, and you put them into these offices, a lot of the guardrails get expanded out and they feel like they can get away with a lot more stuff, and in fact they do. I do not know how many hit and run at incidents are caused by illegal aliens. Don't know that seven oh four number. Yes, Ron says Cannapolis City Water has e Coli schools and restaurants closing. Correct. They put out a statement on that they brandon had it in the news at the bottom of the hour. So they're flushing their systems right now. Cannapolis is. And then there's this. As I said, we get the government we deserve good and hard. And the libs in New York City are learning this right now. And yet another hilarious development file us under the category you know of the member of the tiger face eating party has had no idea that the tiger would eat his face. Enraged East Villagers. This is in New York City, in the East Ville. Enraged East villagers have sued Mayor Zoron Mam Dannie in a last gasp effort to stop the relocation of hundreds of homeless men to a new shelter in their neighborhood. What what's the problem? You signed on to his agenda, right, he was going to do this sort of thing. Everybody knew what he was planning to do. He was telling everybody, and you were all like, hey, love us some Zoron. The lawsuit filed this week seeks an emergency restraining order that would prevent the quote rushed May first opening of the intake shelter along Third Street. The site was selected by city Hall as one of two intake shelters in Manhattan that would effectively replace the notorious Bellevue homeless shelter, which has been a for often dangerous vagrants, that Mamdani plans to close by the end of the month. So he's going to close Bellevue, and then you got to send these dangerous vagrants someplace, So let's send them over to the East Village. Mamdani and city officials, according to the the neighbors there, not only underhandedly declared any emergency to close the Midtown shelter. Their decision to plunk its client Teil into the East Village was dangerously slapdash, according to the lawsuit. This is from the New York Post, without following any of the legal requirements that should have preceded this decision. Right, the city is doing this even though they didn't do the things they were supposed to do the requirements they were supposed to do. So this skirmish erupted actually in March when Mamdani announced that he was going to be closing the Bellevue shelter. It houses two hundred and fifty residents, and he said that the city's largest homeless shelter for men had fallen into severe disrepair and that's why they had to close it. City officials revealed that families without miners families without miners would be relocated to three three three Bowery, while single adult men would go to an East Village facility. And that's the one that they are mad about. The East Village is saturated with homeless shelters already, a fact that would have been obvious if city officials had conducted a so called fair share analysis, which is designed to make sure that public facilities are equitably spread all across the Big Apple, according to the lawsuit, and it says the city failed to comply with its own codes and laws by seeking to put hundreds of people in a building with occupancy limits. Well, those are for those rules are for you people to follow. Okay, that's not for us. The commissars like, we we get to do what we want. Also a socialist victory for mom, Donnie. The rationing of food has already begun before the program has even started. This is like truly a feat I did not think possible. Yeah, the the mayor admitted that the promised lower prices at his city owned grocery stores will only be guaranteed for a select group of foods. So the city so what was pitched as city run grocery stores, so people will be able to afford the food because it's going to be subsidized or there's gonna be no profits or anything like that. Turns out it's only gonna be for like bread, milk and it. Everything else is going to be priced kind of normally, you know, but for the for the basket of staples, you'll get discounts, but for everything else not so much. So it which if you know anything about communism that's on brand. That is very on brand, right you you PLBs, you guys, you just get this food. But we over here will be able to shop throughout the whole store, and we'll be able to afford all of the other things in our gov co owned store. Items in the so called basket of goods have yet to be decided, but likely include essentials like bread, milk, and eggs. Beyond those essentials, the stores will also sell other food stuffs and items. Officials said they will aim to make those items low cost as well, but may not always be able to achieve the perpetual discount they have. They have they have blown up their own free food model before they have even set up a single store. That is a record, I mean, that is a speed record for socialism to fail. That is quite impressive. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecleanershow dot com again, Thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.