LIE OF THE WEEK: 12-01-2006

Incoming House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes on his new position:

"For the first time in about six years, there's going to be some checks and balances. We will see true oversight, real consequences."

THE TRUTH: It would great if what he said were really the case, because Rep. Reyes' past history has been all about self-interest. The case with the most public attention was that of International Microwave Corp, which the government awarded a contract in 1999 worth hundreds of millions of dollars to install cameras on the US-Mexican border at the behest of Rep. Reyes. Of course, his daughter and son working for that company and benefiting greatly from that deal was not any indication of corruption according to Rep. Reyes, not to mention the fact that it was a waste of taxpayer money because the system they delivered failed miserably without anyone being held to account. Let's hope that Congressman Reyes spends more time on the committee focused on protecting America through good intelligence than on trying to find sweetheart deals for other relatives and friends.