Robin Hayes' Felons & Friends

When I was growing up my parents warned me about hanging out with the wrong crowd. I thought then that a person's character would be judged by their actions, but have learned through life that it is many times judged by the company that a person keeps as well. Much can be learned about our Representatives in Washington just by looking at the company they keep, as well as who is giving them money and when.

I recently spent some time going through six years of Robin Hayes' FEC reports to see just who among his fellow members of congress are giving him money. I was amazed to find out some of the details about Robin's friends. There were enough felons, indictees, adulterers, liars and cheaters to fill a good-sized corner of hell.

These are the people representing American citizens in Washington and these are Robin Hayes' friends. Among the group is one felon, one man under indictment, one man fined $210,000 for illegal campaign contributions, two admonished by the House Ethics Committee, four connected to defense lobbyist investigations, eight who are proven liars and five admitted adulterers. I can only imagine if Robin Hayes was more open about his associations with these people and the fact that he takes money from them, there would be quite a few voters in North Carolina's 8th Congressional District that wouldn't be lining up to join this crowd.

Most recently Hayes took contributions from 13 first-time contributors who conveniently sent their payments in the weeks leading up to the vote on CAFTA. Remember that vote? That's the vote Robin Hayes promised not to support, but last minute pressure and possibly last minute campaign contributions convinced Hayes that he should lie to his constituents and vote with his party.

There are many, many stories to be found researching our members of Congress. I just wish more of them were about patriots and heros.