Thursday, September 11, 2014

Lawmaker Lunacy Comes Off Half Cox'ed

The son-in-law of the late President Richard Nixon gave a lesson during a visit to Syracuse Wednesday on the difference between Watergate and the New York Republican Party's recent bugging scandal. One tactic was legal. The other was not, said Ed Cox, the chairman of the New York State Republican Party and the husband of former first daughter Tricia Nixon...

It was exposed recently that Assembly Republicans, led by Oswego County's Assemblyman Will Barclay, had a private investigator put a GPS tracking device on a car driven by Assemblyman Edward Hennessey, D-Suffolk County to track his whereabouts.

They admitted to it in court...

Cox, who was in Syracuse Wednesday, said the two investigations are not the same.
First of all, Assembly Republicans admitted to bugging the car. 


Secondly, it was legal, he said (although he admits he doesn't know any more about the law than what he's been told by a reporter.)

He talked about bugging the car as if it was the Republican Party's responsibility. He said it is part of the "self-policing, democratic process" for one party to investigate the other party's candidate before the election.


"Watergate was using illegal means - breaking and entering and illegal bugging - in order to find out what was legal political conversation. It's just the opposite," he said.

Cox said politics in New York is a competitive sport. "It ain't bean bag," he said...


What would he say if someone bugged his car?

Under the same circumstances, he said, "Sure that would be fine with me." (more)