Two Wingnuts Skip Swearing-In to Attend Fundraiser

[Synthaholic]

Pete Sessions Breaks Rules, Briefly Shuts Down Rules Committee

Evan McMorris-Santoro | January 6, 2011, 5:17PM


Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)



Call it a stumble out of the gate. Or a failure to find the gate entirely. Veteran Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and freshman Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) failed to make the official swearing in ceremony yesterday, a violation of the Constitution that has sent Republicans scrambling and briefly brought an end to the new majority's push to repeal the health care reform law.

While the rest of the House was being made official in the chamber, Sessions and Fitzpatrick were outside the room at an event for Fitzpatrick supporters. The pair reportedly took their oath to a televised image from inside the chamber. Huffington Post's Ryan Grimm reports the event was part of fundraiser for Fitzpatrick.

 

[Revere]

We won.

 

[Synthaholic]

From HuffingtonPost.com:



House ethics rules forbid fundraising in the Capitol.


The Bucks County Courier Times said that roughly 500 Fitzpatrick supporters were on hand at the gathering. Fitzpatrick's campaign had solicited contributions for a bus trip to the Capitol and "Mike Fitzpatrick's Swearing In Celebration."

Sessions is head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, responsible for fundraising for GOP candidates.

There is no provision in the Constitution for a remote swearing-in by television. On Thursday, Fitzpatrick was one of the members who read the Constitution from the dais. He would have been on hand to hear the section he violated read aloud: "Article VI, Paragraph 3: The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."


On Thursday, the Rules Committee adjourned because Sessions had made a motion to open proceedings to begin considering the GOP bill to repeal health care reform - an action that can only be taken by an official member of Congress.

 

[Sallow]

Gotta love it.

 

[Synthaholic]

So much for wingnuts caring about the Constitution.

 

[Revere]

A bus trip is not "fundraising in the Capitol."

 

[Synthaholic]

A bus trip is not "fundraising in the Capitol."

Learn to click a link, moron:


The Republicans, incumbent Pete Sessions of Texas and freshman Mike Fitzpatrick, missed the swearing in because they were at a fundraiser in the Capitol Visitors Center. The pair watched the swearing-in on television from the Capitol Visitors Center with their hands raised.

 

[Revere]

There were no funds raised in the Capitol Visitors Center.

 

[Synthaholic]

There were no funds raised in the Capitol Visitors Center.

Link? Or are you talking out your ass again?

 

[WillowTree]

Cynthia will never get over it. someone pass the pussy some tissues.

 

[Synthaholic]

Cynthia will never get over it. someone pass the pussy some tissues.

Revere is already handling retard duties in this thread. Your added idiocy isn't needed.

 

[Stephanie]

OMG, STOP the friggen world. This is some BIG SHIT NEWS.

 

[Revere]

There were no funds raised in the Capitol Visitors Center.

Link? Or are you talking out your ass again?

The link you posted doesn't say funds were raised in the Capitol Visitors Center.

 

[Harry Dresden]

all this proves to me is something i have known all along....and i hope you folks see it too....Congress has nothing but useless,Moronic idiots up there who can give a rats ass about this Country and its people...these guys think its all fucking joke....its like they think they are in a fraternity....."i did what?"........"i said what?"........"the people are pissed?"...."what people?".....

 

[EriktheRed]

So much for wingnuts caring about the Constitution.

They're the assholes who boast about being the only ones who really care about it and they trip out of the starting gate by violating it.


This might be a fun 2 years after all.

 

[The Infidel]

There were no funds raised in the Capitol Visitors Center.

Link? Or are you talking out your ass again?

The source you linked was enough to smell the place up.....

 

[Synthaholic]

There were no funds raised in the Capitol Visitors Center.

Link? Or are you talking out your ass again?

The source you linked was enough to smell the place up.....

Then find your own source. It's not like every newspaper isn't covering this embarrassment!

 

[Revere]

I can't find any reports of funds being raised at the Capitol Visitors Center. Can you?

 

[DiveCon]

another huffpo smear piece with no facts to back it up

what a shocker

 

[Bfgrn]

Two House Republicans Miss Swearing-In Ceremony, Violate Constitution

Two House Republicans missed the official congressional swearing in ceremony because they were hobnobbing at a fundraiser, reports TPM. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and freshman Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., violated the Constitution by missing the ceremony, though apparently they did take the oath while watching the ceremony on TV from the shindig for Fitzpatrick at the Capitol Visitors Center. House Republicans had to put their health care repeal vote on hold when they found out that Sessions—who had been casting votes all day as a member of the House Rules Committee—wasn't a bona fide congressman yet. Committee Chair David Dreier, R-Calif., was forced to suspend hearings, and Sessions' blunder may cost the committee all their health care repeal work so far. House Speaker John Boehner is trying to persuade Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to approve the committee's work retroactively.

More...

The only enemies of the Constitution are those who try to wield it as a weapon against the living, by using the words of the dead.