EXTORTION, BABY Vegas police probe alleged plot against GOP lawmaker

Las Vegas police are investigating accusations that a Republican state lawmaker was pressed to switch allegiances in a key vote, in a mysterious attempted extortion case that has allegations flying on all sides.  

In a statement, police said Nevada Assemblyman Chris Edwards is the “alleged victim” who was approached in December about changing his official vote for Assembly speaker. 

The Nevada Assembly voted unanimously on Monday, the first day of the session, to elect Republican John Hambrick as speaker. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Edwards also backed Hambrick during a preliminary vote in December — but allegedly was pressured to switch. 

Police have not identified who may have tried to extort Edwards but confirmed that investigators from their intelligence section executed a search warrant at a Las Vegas home last week. The property searched is the home of Rob Lauer, a Las Vegas businessman who previously applied for an assembly seat when it was vacated but was not picked.

In a phone interview with Fox News, Lauer confirmed he met with Edwards. Lauer, though, said he met with Edwards because he wanted the assemblyman to take the role of chairman on an independent veterans committee he was organizing.  

Lauer claims Edwards was not interested in the position or the committee and instead asked for donations to pay some of his remaining campaign debt.

“I told him three times that I will not give you a commitment for a figure,” Lauer said. “That’s illegal.”

Edwards denies Lauer’s allegations. The assemblyman told Fox News that police have asked him not to discuss details of the investigation, but insisted that Lauer is not telling the truth.

“I heard that he was trying to revise a lot of things that happened,” Edwards said. “If he is not consistent with what transpired it will not go well for him.”

Lauer said investigators confiscated his cell phone and computer during the search of his home, because they’re looking for a recording of the alleged conversation between him and Edwards.

Lauer denies he made a recording. “The police came looking for the tape,” Lauer said. “There is no tape, I have no tape.”

Edwards said there is an ongoing investigation in which “multiple people are involved.” He wouldn’t describe the circumstances but said the potential case is much bigger than the alleged incident involving him and Lauer.

“I would hope that other folks would start cooperating, because we have a session that’s important to the voters of the state of Nevada,” Edwards said.

Lauer also alleges that Edwards alerted the police in an effort to hinder a movement to recall his recent election. A “Recall Edwards PAC” was recently filed with the secretary of state by Citizens Outreach, a conservative organization.

Edwards addressed the issue in a statement on Facebook. “Since the November election we have seen a lot of political hype about recalls and ‘holding people accountable’ it is nice to see that many of those people will soon be held accountable for their hypocritical actions,” Edwards wrote.

Lauer said he now plans to file a defamation suit against Edwards.

“It seriously attacks my character to say I recorded him,” Lauer said. “I don’t record people. I don’t rat people out. People have a conversation with me — it’s private.”

Edwards said he couldn’t address the tape but assured “the truth will come out at the appropriate time and it will disprove Lauer’s account.”

Lauer has a small history of run-ins with the law. Most recently, in 2010, he was cited with assault against a woman in a bar. The case went to court but the charges were ultimately dropped.

“I have a history of being accused of stuff that is not true and I’ve proven myself,” Lauer said.

No arrests have been made in the current case. Police are conducting more interviews.

Matt Finn is a part of the Junior Reporter program at Fox News. Get more information on the program here and follow them on Twitter: @FNCJrReporters

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EXTORTION, BABY Vegas police probe alleged plot against GOP lawmaker

Jailed Virginia lawmaker regains seat in special election

Jan. 11, 2015: Candidates Joe Morrissey and Matt Walton appear during the Richmond Crusade for Voters, Inc. 74th District forum at Hobson Lodge in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Mark Gormus)

RICHMOND, Va. –  A state lawmaker who resigned his seat following a sex scandal involving a teenage employee won it back during a special election Tuesday.

Apparently the majority of voters in Joseph D. Morrissey’s Richmond-area House of Delegates conviction were OK with his conviction in the scandal involving his 17-year-old secretary, whose nude photo was found on his cellphone and allegedly shared with a friend. Morrissey has repeatedly denied the allegations, saying his phone was hacked. The young woman, who denies they had sex, is now pregnant.

In unofficial returns, Morrissey defeated Democrat Kevin J. Sullivan and Republican Matt D. Walton by a comfortable margin. Morrissey won 42 percent of the vote, compared to 33 percent for Sullivan and 24 percent for Walton.

Morrissey’s victory was not unprecedented: Through four previous elections, most voters overlooked or even embraced the lawmaker’s flamboyant history of fistfights, contempt-of-court citations and disbarment. The 57-year-old bachelor, who fathered three children out of wedlock with three different women, repeatedly won at least 70 percent of the vote as a Democrat.

Morrissey said in a telephone interview that the results show people aren’t interested in the drama that landed him in jail.

“They’re interested in my body of work in the General Assembly,” Morrissey said. “Nobody works harder for their constituents than I do.”

He also said Sullivan’s ads focusing on his latest scrape with the law backfired.

“People hate negative campaigns,” Morrissey said.

The lawmaker has made a career of never backing down. He hung boxing gloves in his office and promised “Joe will fight for you” in campaign ads on city buses. At one point, he waved an assault rifle inside the House chamber while arguing for gun control.

He resigned his seat — effective Tuesday, the day of this special election — after he was convicted last month of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. His agreement to serve six months in jail for the misdemeanor avoided a felony trial that could have barred him from office and put him in prison for years.

But Morrissey wouldn’t give up — he promptly quit his party to run as an independent for his seat, sleeping in jail and wearing an electronic monitoring device as he campaigned during the day.

Legislators from both parties denounced him as unfit to serve and began studying how to expel him if he won.

“Mr. Morrissey’s election tonight does not change the fact that his actions fall grievously short of the standards of a public servant in the House of Delegates,” House Speaker William J. Howell, a Republican, said in a statement.

House Democratic Minority Leader David J. Toscano and party caucus chairman Scott Surovell said in a joint statement that Morrissey’s “conviction and actions over the past two months were reprehensible, and we will be exploring every avenue in regard to his status as a member of the House of Delegates.”

According to House Clerk G. Paul Nardo said it takes two-thirds of the 100-member House to expel a member, which hasn’t happened since 1876. The Virginia Constitution says a legislator can be kicked out for disorderly behavior, but does not define it.

But Morrissey says the people, not politicians, should decide who represents them — and vowed a voting rights battle if they try to remove him.

His latest troubles began when Coleman Pride told authorities that the lawmaker was preying on his daughter when she worked at his law office in 2013 — allegations he repeated in campaign ads last week for Morrissey’s Democratic opponent.

But Morrissey’s staunchest defender is Myrna Pride, now 18, who went public this month with her side of the story.

The Associated Press does not usually identify victims of sex crimes, but Myrna Pride’s name has become well known in the district since she was named in Morrissey’s criminal case. She denies they had sex — while declining to identify the father of her unborn baby — and she publicly defended Morrissey on Monday in a radio interview.

Richmond radio host Jack Gravely was interviewing Coleman Pride on WLEE about his daughter’s relationship with Morrissey when the lawmaker called in to defend himself. Myrna Pride then showed up in person, accusing her father and others of manufacturing the entire scandal to get back at Morrissey for his help in a dispute over her father’s child support.

It was Morrissey’s role in the family’s dispute that reportedly prompted police to serve a search warrant of his office Monday afternoon, with only hours to go before the voting started. Morrissey called that a political dirty trick.

“The only person that has shown any respect or kindness, or been there for me, is Mr. Morrissey,” Myrna Pride told a WTVR reporter on Monday. “Right now it’s a friendship. I don’t speak with him often. I call here and there to check on him. I want to see how his spirits are going.”

Morrissey supported her in turn.

“She is a very smart young lady,” he told the radio host. “She is kind, she is considerate. She will go on to do very well.”

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Jailed Virginia lawmaker regains seat in special election

Mexico arrests over lawmaker murder

6 October 2014 Last updated at 00:19 Gabriel Gomez Michel was abducted in broad daylight on a motorway Police in Mexico have arrested four men in connection with the recent killing of governing PRI party congressman Gabriel Gomez Michel.

The men were arrested in the western state of Jalisco. Police released no further details.

Mr Gomez Michel, 49, and his driver were abducted in broad daylight on a motorway leading to Jalisco airport on 22 September.

Their bodies were found a day later in the boot of their burnt car.

The authorities have so far not established a motive for the killings.

Politicians from his party said they suspected a criminal gang was behind the murder.

Local politicians are often targeted by Mexican drug cartels, but the murder of politicians at a federal level is more rare.

Mr Gomez was a paediatrician who served as the mayor of the town of El Grullo in Jalisco state from 2010 to 2012.

Jalisco is the stronghold of a criminal gang calling itself the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion and the state has seen a spate of killings blamed on the group.

The car with the bodies of Mr Gomez Michel and driver Heriberto Nunez Ramos was found in neighbouring Zacatecas state.

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Mexico arrests over lawmaker murder

Venezuelan lawmaker Serra buried

4 October 2014 Last updated at 01:38 During the funeral, Mr Maduro (centre) accused right wingers of being behind the murders Thousands of Venezuelans have paid their last respects to governing party member of parliament Robert Serra.

Mr Serra and his partner Maria Herrera were found dead at their home on Wednesday night in Caracas.

President Nicolas Maduro and other government officials joined a procession that accompanied the coffins through the streets of Caracas.

Mr Maduro has blamed “ultra-right” opposition groups in the country and in neighbouring Colombia for the murder.

Mr Serra and Ms Herrera were reported to be have been stabbed.

They were buried at a local cemetery after a brief religious ceremony, attended by Mr Maduro.

In tears, Mr Maduro sang the national anthem and songs praising the Bolivarian Revolution – the movement launched in the 1990s by late President Hugo Chavez.

“I know this cemetery very well, because there are Venezuelan martyrs resting in every corner of it,” said Mr Maduro at the cemetery.

“The crowds have been calling for justice. Rest assured that we will, sooner rather than later, arrest those who committed this crime. They have been identified.

“But, more importantly, we will identify the masterminds of these murders. They are abroad, in Colombia and in Miami,” said Mr Maduro.

‘Political murder’

Earlier, thousands of people queued up outside the National Assembly building to pay their respects.

Mr Serra was 23 when he was first elected to the National Assembly Thousands of people accompanied the coffins through the streets of Caracas

Mr Serra, 27, was the youngest member of the National Assembly and was seen a rising star in the governing United Socialist Party (PSUV).

Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world, but the Venezuelan authorities have said Mr Serra was the victim of a political crime.

“This is a political murder, committed to intimidate other young people and try to keep them away from politics,” said Diosdado Cabello, president of the National Assembly.

The Venezuelan government has declared three days of national mourning.

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Venezuelan lawmaker Serra buried

Brazil lawmaker: US spying won"t hurt relations

News

Thursday, July 11, 2013

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Disclosures alleging that the United States has collected data on billions of telephone and email conversations in Latin America’s biggest country will not affect Brazil-US relations, the head of Brazil’s joint congressional committee on intelligence said yesterday.Congressman Nelson Pellegrino told foreign correspondents in Brasilia that despite Brazil’s strong repudiation of the US information- gathering activities in Brazil, “the good relations we have with the United States will not be interrupted.”“We have sent Washington a clear message that we are interested in maintaining good relations, but that we will not accept these kinds of practices,” he said. “We cannot accept that a country spies on another, on its citizens, its companies and its authorities.”He said President Dilma Rousseff’s state visit to Washington in October was still on and that it would not be affected by the recent disclosures.The O Globo newspaper reported last week that information released by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden showed Brazil is the top target in Latin America for the NSA’s massive intelligence-gathering effort aimed at monitoring communications around the world.Snowden’s disclosures indicate that the NSA widely collects phone and Internet “metadata” — logs of message times, addresses and other information rather than the content of the messages. The documents have indicated that the NSA has been collecting the phone records of millions of US phone customers, and has gathered data on phone and Internet usage outside the US.

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Brazil lawmaker: US spying won"t hurt relations