E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
NBCSanDiego.com
O'Connor walked into the federal courthouse with her attorney by her side Thursday.
Former San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor acknowledged in federal court Thursday that she took $2 million from her late husband's charitable foundation to pay for her addiction to video poker — and lost $1 billion wagering over the course of a decade.
O’Connor, the mayor of California’s second largest city from 1986 to 1992, pleaded not guilty to money laundering as part of a deal with prosecutors that will defer the charges for two years as she attempts to repay the debt.
An attorney for O’Connor, Eugene Iredale, told reporters outside the courthouse that his client had severe health problems, including a brain tumor, that led to her gambling addition, according to NBC San Diego.
Iredale said his client won more than $1 billion from 2000 to 2009 playing video poker in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and San Diego, but lost most of it.
After dipping into the red, she wound up compiling $13 million in debt, according her attorney.
Prosecutors allege that between September 2008 and March 2009, the 66-year-old took more than $2,088,000 from the foundation started by her late husband, Jack-in-the-Box founder Robert O. Peterson.
O’Connor was elected the first female mayor of San Diego after serving eight years on city council. She was married to Peterson from 1977 until his death in 1994, and her estate was at one time worth $40 to $50 million.
Former San Diego Mayor Maureen O'Connor acknowledged in federal court Thursday that she took $2 million from her late husband's charitable foundation to pay for her addiction to video poker. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.
The Associate Press contributed to this report
Leave a Comment:
No mention of what political party she is with? hmmmmm Whats up MSNBC, slacking?
Teresa does it matter, what would it mean if she were a Republican or a Democrat? Nothing.
What's the story here.? Is it that she got caught.
She's a democrat, and this is a democrat news site, of course they conveniently forgot to associate that fact. But it doesn't matter, both parties are a mess...
But I did love how 2 democrats quickly posted "What does it matter" rather than providing any specifics... quickly shows their bias and that they just want to shut down the association to their party...
Lorelord, some fact checking is probably in order there, I'm a card carrying Republican.
Easy to claim... But no parties cary cards, they just wear their biases on their sleeve...
Well played myname, but it wasn't worth my time to go after him, he clearly played his hand with his initial post, anything said in retrospect to that was just to distract you from their true scent...
Its rather irrelevant if you believe me or not I am merely telling you the facts, one who I support and two that the label applied to me is in fact wrong, the rest is up to you.
Oh fyi I am a card carrying member of the Republican party. A membership card is sent to the mailing address you give when signing up. The national and state GOP has separate membership cards. Join both for two different cards. If you so wish to have one.
Funny you didn't have facts when the initial question was raised, but you pasted anyways... again you and facts aren't exactly in a tight relationship...
Its OK Lorelord you obviously enjoy conspiracy theories and your own opinion, if this makes you happy run with it, its fun to watch.
Well this is my final word on this, you are free to comment however you wish, enjoy the fantasy.
It matters because as pointed out earlier by 123 is that this site does always state if there is an R in the bad politicians resume- and yes also usually in the story title- I just want to see news outlets get the FACTS straight and even!
I am neither an R or a D
Great defense. Almost as good as "My dog ate my homework".
Wait a minute......SHE was the victim.
Ten years and NOT ONE PERSON noticed. Yeah, right !
CaN YOU BUY DRINKS WITH YOUR Republican He Man WOman Haters CLub card? Narine Dad, by the way, seeems to be the only one with any sense on this board, so far.
I truly hope they lock this broad up so deep in prison that they will have to pipe the sunlight in to her.
So, that's the new word for greedy....'brain tumor'
This may be a silly question, but they did not mention whether they were auditing San Diego's books to see if she stole from the city? You would think that would be prudent considering Cali is broke and could use someone to pin it on.
You know, if they just built a few more hotels for Comic Con and extended it a few more days, they'd pay off this debt in 2 years with the amount of revenue they make that week.
And yes, how funny..no mention she's a democrat.
Jack in the Box
twisted crank
weasel popped
and the rich are seldom smart
again !
Only a Democrat could take two million dollars; turn in into one billion dollars; and then give it to other people, really . . .
Really! :-o
Screaminmimi,
Nice try, but we are talking about the fact that this news site ( MSNBC = Liberal ) nowhere mentioned her political affiliation in the article. We are not talking about Fox news, which is obviously right leaning. Below is what came from this site. Nice try though, to go over to Fox and post their article here, when the article here is what is being discussed. Don't try to play smart or pull a slick one, you'll be up way past your bed time.
The same paragraph from here on MSNBC, conveniently missing the Democrat part, huh?
"O'Connor, the mayor of California's second largest city from 1986 to 1992, pleaded not guilty to money laundering as part of a deal with prosecutors that will defer the charges for two years as she attempts to repay the debt."
Of course, if she had taken $40 from an open cash register, she would be in jail. You have to steal millions to avoid jail.
One has to lose a THOUSAND DOLLARS A DAY FOR 2,740 YEARS to lose one billion dollars.
If I stole 2 million dollars, I would be in jail
She has been out of political office for 20 years. Is party affiliation that important?
There is also this line too.
Out of office for two decades and you're desperate to put an R or D next to her name? Her party affiliation lost all meaning after she left office. Let alone 20 years later.
Her party affiliation is irrelevant to the issue.
Ranger,
I think screminmimi is just trying to point out to all of the msnbc people who constantly say that Fox News is Faux news, that this is the real website that has no accountability.
It is a shame, it is not that msnbc is inconsistant, it is that they have no honor, and CNN and fat candy crummy have gone that way also.
NYMike No we are not desperate to show political affiliation just the fact that on NBC if a Republican does something wrong their political party is plastered in the headline. But let it be a Democrat and that fact is almost always omitted. It just goes to show that this rag is just as biased as Fox. The omission of one with the showcasing of the other just show that true journalism is dead in America.
How awful, and to do it to a charity of all things. What a piece of work.
Double D, at some point, the posters here have to wake up to the fact that this is Liberal leaning site. Being upset about party affiliation omission at this point, is like beating a dead horse. Pointless. As you pointed out, journalism has been bought and paid for for some time now.
But yes, some here want so desperately to tie a political party to this. To act like all of that party are the same.
To just want an R or a D next to her name after being out of office since 1992, shows that some here are full of political hate.
She should have had an I next to her name.....I for being an IDIOT!.
Well her lawyer says she has a tumor. Her lawyer says that's what made her gamble. For $15k per day plus expenses a court certified Doctor will testify that is true. Expect she will get probation if she makes restitution to the Charity. The chardinay and horsey set don't do time like the commoners. Guy robs a minimart of $40 and get 8 years. Millionaire Mayor steals $2million using a checkbook and she'll likely get probation, maybe house arrest for a couple years. On the small chance it's prison, she'll go to Eglin's club Fed and play tennis and get a tan.
Doesnt matter .. they all suck ... but if MSN/BC doesnt mention it .. proabaly means she was a Dem ... again it doesnt matter.
Not like the liberal media makes even an effort to be fair .. the way MSN/BC covered the Dorner issue and people on there praised the guy like a hero was disgusting.
Typical Democrat....
Spends money like they own the printing press.
Throw the book at her!!
After 20 years OUT of office political affiliation have nothing to do with the story.
If you don't like the way the site reports then why are you here commenting? I mean, do you bitch when something comes on the T.V. you don't like or do you change the channel? Probably bitch, sit there and yell at the T.V.
Hahahahaha!
She has got to get back on a winning streak. Those lifetime political pensions should help finance a stake. Felons loose rights, yet rich or celebs never loose rights? They are never considered felons?
And stealing all this money hurt millions of people and I would bet even aided in the death of several.. These people are more dangerous then a monkey with a machine gun..
She had to have been a democrat- their addiction to spending money is insatiable!
Can you point me to a similar article where MSNBC says that he/she is Republican then?
Gamblers who can't control themselves are so hilarious - that is if they are losing their own money. I was in Biloxi and some rich guy won a billion dollars. No knowing really how much of his own money he spent though to win it, no one said. They gave him the penthouse suite and the next night he lost all of it plus a few more million dollars of his own money trying to get it back! This was several years ago and I often wonder if that guy is still wealthy or if he is living under a bridge somewhere.
With that said, this article states:
"Iredale said his client won more than $1 billion from 2000 to 2009 playing video poker in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and San Diego, but lost most of it."
Most likely she spent around $2 billion to make that $1 billion. Gamblers usually forget what they spent to make their winnings.
it would be interesting to find out how many people die in this country as an indirect result of an elected official having serious BPD/narcissism/grandiose sense of self...
God gave her this tumor, as a token of what a fine individual she choose to be,
hope it hurts
One more exposed in a never ending string of criminal politicians. They are all crooks. Show me a legitimate politition and I'll show you the next person to be ,as they say in Alaska, gone missing. It's to no surprise why they can't run a balanced budget with all the graft. It's time to replace them ALL!
Soon we will hear about her becoming ill, bumping her head and forgetting everything.
Remember Socialism is for the people, but not the Socialist leaders themselves.
Doing wrong is not exclusive to any political party, gender, race or ethnicity so can we please move off of that. The issue at hand is that this scumbag robbed a charitable organization of its funds and she is now, from what I can tell, being given a slap on the wrist, so far, for her misdeeds. She admitted in open court that she did this thing so I happen to think that throwing her a$$ in jail will cure that gambling addiction at least for as long as she is locked up. And also her douchebag lawyer has some nerve in saying that her brain tumor turned her into gambler! He also said that she won the billion between the years of 2000 through 2009 but does not say when she developed this brain tumor. Ohhkaay! I'm gonna go out on a limb here. I had a friend who developed a brain tumor and died from it at a very early age leaving behind his wife and children, his sisters and a ton of friends. It was an awful and horrible thing to happen to a very nice, sweet guy. He was, to my knowledge, the only person I actually knew who had a brain tumor so I admit that I don't know all the things that can go on when one develops this type of tumor but I do think that, generally speaking, people battling a tumor in their brain are more concerned with their acute and urgent medical situation than with throwing away a crap ton of money on video poker. I find that argument to be specious and something one would expect from an ambulance chaser. It's just wrong! Be interesting to see what the outcome of this case will be. Ex-mayor, I say she should be give the chance to have the title of ex-convict added to her titles.
Teresa: to answer your question, Wikipedia shows that she was a Democrat and that she was San Diego's 31st Mayor.
C'mon guys, let's cut her some slack. Hillary made $100K on a $1K "investment"...remember???
her political party matters greatly, if she was repub... the libtards would be OOOOH LOOK AT THE GOP IDIOTS BLAH BLAH BLAH, but she is DEMOCRAT. bias reporting ONCE AGAIN.
p.s. Obama, lies more than pinochio, but why is our gas up 30 cents last two weeks? i guess "double gas mileage" means raise in prices. what a tool.
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!
Typical PMSNBC nonsense.
If a Republican would do this it would be because she's GREEDY!
When a Democrat does this, it's because of a brain tumor.
Of course the lamestream media will make her a victim and minimize the damage she did to the city.
Liberal hypocrisy never ends.
obviously a good candidate for the presidency
The numbers in this story don't make sense. If 2 billion is correct and she won 1 billion at some point this is a complete joke unless there are mega high stakes video poker machines I am not aware of. If billion is the correct number it could not have possibly been covered up this long. We need more "Facts in a Box".
Then there are all of you protecting your "parties". What good has any political party done for us in recent memory? A polititian is just that. PArties don't matter anymore. They are all great actors.
Our court system has to start taking away peoples titles and judge them as a person NOT as a"former, ex or even the title they want to be called etc". Give them a number and try the case. There would be no bias for the accused when the case is being heard. Now that would only scare the rich people because then are a nobody with out that title.
So, let's see. Bob Menendez travels back in forth to the caribbean to get his little 14 yo girls.
Steve Cohen admits he fathered a love child 24 years ago.
Now this fine "mayor" steals hundreds of millions from the people of San Diego.
But what has the lamestream Liberal media focused on?
Marco Rubio taking a drink of water during his SOTU response.
WHAT A SCANDAL!!!!!!!!!
This woman ran as a democrat but was funded by her Republican husband who was the founder of the Jack in the box chain and a billionaire. In san Diego there is very little difference between Demcrats and republicans as they are al conservatives or whatever the right wing is calling itself this year. Wahtever it does not make any sense to even go down that road any way cause a gambling addiction can hit any one out there. grandpa told me once the worst thing that can happen to a gambler is to have a big win cause that in most cases is a one time thing. Says she won a billion dollars playing video poker? Half an hour is the most I can sit in front of one of those machines or slots for that matter...
I think they must pay some people just to stir the t u r d in these comments.
NJ just passed a law to allow on line gambling, now for the punch line, they need the extra tax money in order to help those addicted to gambling, only in America.
It matters a great deal what political party she is with. You, me and everyone else on here just got a tax raise, in addition to the ongoing hidden tax of debasing the currency.
See where our money goes? See why anytime someone asks for transparency they get the answer - can't show you anything, national security.
If this story shows you anything, it is how easy a politician can steal and hide it (took 20 years for this to catch up to her). And if they can steal and hide it that easily, SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHERE THE TRILLIONS WE BORROW EVERY YEAR GO!!!!!
Just another dingbat California politician. Something in the air? Maybe the aftershock effect from earthquakes or just the land of flakes and nuts?
Must be a Democrat, you notice they purposely left out her party affiliation.
"An attorney for O’Connor, Eugene Iredale, told reporters outside the courthouse that his client had severe health problems, including a brain tumor, that led to her gambling addition, according to NBC San Diego."
I guess we finally have a credible excuse for Congress and the past several administrations for our national debt...they all have brain tumors...who would have guessed.
Next
Republicans are women haters? Is it ok for a man to drive drunk, crash his vehicle, leave the scene allowing the woman in his car to die? Is it ok for a married man to stick a cigar into the privates of a young female intern? Is it ok to allow a confessed convicted rapist of a 13 year old to remain free? Is it ok that a senator takes trips out of the country to pay for under-aged prostitutes? Is it ok for a congressman to text unwanted photos of his junk in his shorts to women? Who are the real women haters? I think you have the wrong party in mind. My wife is more conservative than I am when it comes to abortion... While I do not believe that the government should pay for abortion, I do believe it should not be illegal because I fear illegal abortions are more dangerous for women. I believe it should not be used as a form of birth control. I do believe that women should be educated to the alternatives before following through, BUT NOT EXPOSED to photos of aborted fetuses.
There must be more than just her involved......come on one billion. You have to cover your rear-end an awful lot for others not know something was up.
At what point do "casino's" have a obligation to step in and stop these "compulsive behavorism's" versus the right of "free choice" to self destruct?
This case is but one of several such "obsessive, compulsive" personalities who have lost it all in casino's.
As a democrat she will just go back to Las vegas and double down on her bets ....yeah thats the ticket she can just spend more money to be able to repay the debts she has already racked up...nuff said
All this democrat vs. republican crap is what's tearing this country apart. Can't we all just get along?
half of us will never have 2 million...the other half of us will never know what it looks like
Here you go:
http://community.certain.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/CommunityServer.Blogs.Components.WeblogFiles/main/dollars.jpg
That's $10 million. So imagine 1/5th of that.
Only a Democrat could blow through a Billion dollars and have nothing to show for it LOL
Oh I don't know pretty sure Mitt Robme spent that much in less time............... and he's President................Oh wait no he was soundly defeated wasn't he. So I guess he and the Republicans have nothing to show for it. ROFL!
LOL...you goobers are still fixated on Mitt Romney, Silly goober...Mitt Romney is still rich and you are ...well still not, FYI your Dearest President Obama has Gambled away almost a billion dollars he stole from the taxpayers on failed green energy projects that all somehow just happened to be owned by democratic campaign contributors.
Your screen name certainly does describe you well (hateparty)and yes mine describes me well also, I am lost in the Pine Barrens
so it is safe to now label that parties with the correct donor....lets see here
Green energy = dem
oil and refined energy = gop
well i see now why this country is becoming a .....sad, just a really, really sad place
At what point do "casino's" have a obligation to step in and stop these "compulsive behavorism's" versus the right of "free choice" to self destruct?
This case is but one of several such "obsessive, compulsive" personalities who have lost it all in casino's.
Romney was not soundly defeated. It was close in the popular vote. 65,899,660 to 60,929,152.
"his client had severe health problems, including a brain tumor, that led to her gambling addition"
It's humorous that everybody has an excuse for bad behavior.
I think it is very interesting our "unbiased media" didn't label her as a D, or an R. So,.....by default that makes her a Democrat, as if she was a Republican, this story would be front page, in your face news, rather than the soft-peddling it currently is getting. And the fact that they are playing the "brain tumor", "sickness" card tells me everything I got to know!
And for all you Mitt Haters out there, he made his money himself, and has plenty to show for it, like a great family, and some trapping too!
If Obama hadn't given amnesty to a bunch of illegals right before the election, and the "unbiased media" had reported the facts about ANYTHING Obama is allowed to get away with, the election would have been completely different.
"Former San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor acknowledged in federal court Thursday that she took $2 million from her late husband's charitable foundation to pay for her addiction to video poker."
If this were any one of us, instead of using the word "took" it would have been "stole!" Most of us would have been dumped in the slammer had we just taken $20.
Whenever I go to a casino, I get tired of all those people with brain tumors crowding up the place! They should all know how those brain tumors lead to gambling addiction.
@Time4newgov:
In 1992, Bain Capital acquired American Pad & Paper, or Ampad, from Mead
Corp., embarking on a ''roll-up strategy'' in which a firm buys up similar
companies in the same industry in order to expand revenues and cut costs.
Through Ampad, Bain bought several other office supply makers, borrowing
heavily each time. By 1999, Ampad's debt reached nearly $400 million, up from
$11 million in 1993, according to government filings.
Sales grew, too - for a while. But by the late 1990s, foreign competition and
increased buying power by superstores like Bain-funded Staples sliced Ampad's
revenues.
The result: Ampad couldn't pay its debts and plunged into bankruptcy. Workers
lost jobs and stockholders were left with worthless shares.
Bain Capital, however, made money - and lots of it. The firm put just $5
million into the deal, but realized big returns in short order. In 1995, several
months after shuttering a plant in Indiana and firing roughly 200 workers, Bain
Capital borrowed more money to have Ampad buy yet another company, and pay Bain
and its investors more than $60 million - in addition to fees for arranging the
deal.
Bain Capital took millions more out of Ampad by charging it $2 million a year
in management fees, plus additional fees for each Ampad acquisition. In 1995
alone, Ampad paid Bain at least $7 million. The next year, when Ampad began
selling shares on public stock exchanges, Bain Capital grabbed another $2
million fee for arranging the initial public offering - on top of the $45
million to $50 million Bain reaped by selling some of its shares.
Bain Capital didn't escape Ampad's eventual bankruptcy unscathed. It held
about one-third of Ampad's shares, which became worthless. But while as many as
185 workers near Buffalo lost jobs in a 1999 plant closing, Bain Capital and its
investors ultimately made more than $100 million on the deal.
Bain Capital was Mitt Romney's company. He made his money by bankrupting companies and putting workers out of work!
H8TParty,
You are missing one obvious and glaring difference! The money spent by Mitt Romney was his own or from his campaign fund, not stolen from some charity. But, I guess that fact just escapes your liberal mind-set, huh?
What is a gambling addition...spell check,anyone? Or just an oversight?
So when Bankruptcy is filed NO one loses money is that what is being said, so the people that lost that money was not stolen from them, I like the way you republicans think you PREACH about responsibility but I guess that only applies to Liberals.
@Samnumbers - who are you responding to?
The AP and NBC News do not mention O'Connor's political party so she MUST BE A DEMOCRAT.
TheKhanKubla is an idiot, and now we have another typical rich liberal throwing money away...I wonder how many Michael Moore books this KublaIdiot bought to attribute to his 50,000,000 dollar fortune. You Hollywood and New York City Billionaire liberals need to give your money to those that need it, instead of telling others to give theirs away
An absolutely blatant falsehood, the current trademark of the Right. Solyndra as an example. The Chinese killed the solar panel industry by heavily subsidizing Chinese companies allowing them to produce these cells for about 1/3 what companies like Solyndra could produce them.
But you blame Obama for a problem the Chinese created? So I will then use the logic of the Right and assume you are a supporter of the late Mao and his system?
If we don't invest in alternative fuels your grandchildren and mine are going to be living in a mess. You may not believe in man-made climate change but 98% of the scientists in the world agree it is happening. Somehow I will take their word before your own or a community college dropout like Limbaugh! We need to increase our commitment to wind, solar and all forms of non-carbon emitting power. You can keep your head buried in the sand but we will ignore you Luddites, we are moving forward.
Oh, and back to the subject, this woman is and was an idiot. Could care less that she's a Democrat. We got 'em idiots on the left as well. Just a whole lot less of them than the Right. And when we find one we call them exactly that.
@67Bonnehead Guy - You're saying I'm an idiot because I posted the history on one of the 7 companies Mitt Romney purchased and bankrupted via his own company Bain Capital? They owned the controlling shares and were executives of these companies. They were also paying themselves as advisers to these companies. Making these companies borrow money they couldn't afford so they could pay themselves while at the same time they were laying off employees and/or cutting their pay and benefits. Look at the example I gave, they made Ampad borrow hundreds of millions of dollars, while at the same time, these advisers to this company were using that borrowed money to back their rival company Staples. This isn't even the worst of the companies he bankrupted to make a profit, some when the banks came to collect, took the workers and retired workers pension funds to pay for the mess he created. Can you imagine working 40 years at a company, putting your own hard earned money into a pension fund only to have some millionaire bankrupt your company and take it all? Mitt Romney and other politicians like him write the laws so they can do crap like this and not have any financial responsibility for the mess they create. You realize, that after he does all of this to these companies and doesn't have to pay anything from his pocket after making several hundred million dollars off of forcing these companies to borrow money and pay him, that it ends up being paid for in one way or another out of our taxes? You know that right? Whether paying the banks those Federal guaranteed loan securities as well as Welfare and whatever else to all the people put out of work and who have lost their pensions. By the way, I am not a Republican, neither am I a Democrat - both parties are FUBAR in their own ways. Even many Republicans were against Romney because of his Bain Capital dealings (or under-dealings). Romney and people like him wrote laws so they could steal money from companies and leave it on the workers to pay the bills. I didn't start this conversation, I was just setting the record straight when someone said how Romney earned his millions himself - he didn't - he stole it from the pockets of middle class workers!
^^THIS...... is a big part of what is wrong with our country. Far too many people want to blame anyone and anything besides the individual. It's not the fault of the casinos she frequented. Brain tumor or not, she chose to gamble. She sure had enough wits about her to swindle over $2 million from her deceased husband's charitable foundation, and the fact that she stole money from charity is the real issue here. The mention of the gambling is just a distraction that takes the focus off of her not being punished for the crime.
Ok Retards looking for political blaming
She was a Mayor!
Not a senator, not a congressman. They are not divided out as (D) or (R). Governors are! Senators are! Congresspeople are!
Idiots.
Speaking of idiots, how do you bloody blow through 1 billion dollars? Of course, how do you make 1 billion?... are they saying that in total (wins and losses) she won a total of 1 billion, and later lost it, or do they not know how to account for wins/losses?
Because I'm calling a bit of B/S on anyone saying they won 1,000,000,000 playing video poker.
Sick, sick, sick
Why is it when someone commits a crime like this theres always terminal health involved, brain tumor, cancer. Now we'll listen to the attorney blame the poker machine manufacturer for making a machine so readily available for people to become addicted too, and gambling is an addiction blah blah blah blah, so we sould be sympatheitic to the fact she has a disease.
My Brain Tumor forced me to keep pressing that button... Yea... Brain Tumor... thats the ticket!! Rediculous..
She has a severe case of the "dumb ass" and I'm sure most people will agree!!!!!!!!!
"...prosecutors that will defer the charges for two years as she attempts to repay the debt." PUT IT ALL ON RED!
She will steal from someone else to try to repay this. Prosecutors sure wouldn't "delay the charges" if it were a common person.
Aah, California. Don't you just love it.
A comedian once referred to the people of California as being LIKE A BOWL OF CEREAL .... once you get rid of all the fruits and all the nuts .... you still had a bunch of flakes ! LOL !!
San Diego ought to do an audit to see if she managed to misuse any of their funds. Jack And The Box ought to do the same. Perhaps she dug into more than just poor ol' Bob's charity. Wonder what kind of face Jack's marketing people would come up with for this. ~8-[
Can't imagine what it would be like to have won $1 billion in 10 years' time. Would hope I'd have the smarts to quit while I was ahead!
Oh but Kronkite, it was the brain tumor (insert sarcasm here) that made her do it. What an idiot she is!!
Lol. Anyone who doesn't quit when they are UP A BILLION, has a problem.
Scubasteve......I don't believe she was ever 'up a billion'. That's her total winnings, but.....her total losses were 2 million more. She'd probably win $10,000, then lose $5000, then win $6000....then lose $15000. When the checkbook was balanced, she was down over 2 million.
That's the mentality lottery players and gamblers have, when they have just won $5000 they count that as winnings while conveniently forgetting the $20,000 they spent already!
IDIOT
"She made enough money to buy San Diego, but she pissed it away so fast. Never meant to last, never meant to last."
But she's way past 40!
haha more like "A Pirate looks at 5-10..."
but I thought democrats were for the working man????
Yeah they are. At least the man working to keep her online poker machine site up and running.
parratrooper @10 LMFAO!!! I hate to burst your bubble she's a REPUBLICAN. A quick google check shows that. So all you folks who call her a Democrat your wrong. LMFAO!!!
Parratropper @ 10 Sorry I was wrong. It sucks to eat crow but when you have to you have to.
@Smitty-4183671
Perhaps a little bit less "quick" next time!
Smitty,
It's OK, we all make mistakes, but it is good to see someone on here admit to it.
Smitty wrong again...there 2 of these women with same name in wiki...try again dudette
justredd64,
Can't you read? Smitty already apologized for his error! Your response is 3.5 hours after his post. What's the matter, didn't finish reading before you posted?
Just glad the money she lost was HERS, sort of, and not from the taxpayers.
They're holding off charges for 2 years so she can pay the money back? That's messed up, anyone else would be in jail with an outstanding amount of bond.
shes not just anyone, she was an official scumbag, they don't punish those types...they just wait until they are too old before they let anyone in on the pure filth that everyone else around her knew she was....
like i said above, hope that tumor hurts..really bad...because we all know thats the only punishment she will ever face
Hahaha.. yeah.. whenever the party affiliation is left out you can be sure the person is a Democrat. 1 Billion lost !!! Nice. Typical for CA.
Whenever some last held a political office two decades ago, party affiliation means nothing.
Except for those that harbor too much political hate.
William Clinton ...12 years ago, Jimmy Carter...32 years ago, Yep they are still Democrats and it still means something! I can do the same with some Republicans if it will make you feel better
Hey Mike, Two quick points. I'm too lazy to re-read this stupid story again, but does it say that the mayorship was the last elected position she held? And secondly, as the ex-mayor, she could have easily still been a local party chairperson, or commiteeperson holding considerable sway over candidates, campaign $ ect. So yes, I believe it does matter.
@NYMike
Take a look at the current governor of Ca. He last held office three decades ago, then ran again as a Democrat! Party affiliation matters.
Not to mention, her political preferences have nothing to do with this article or her gambling issues.
Those still trying to label her as a Democrat, Republican, Independent or otherwise, do so to attempt to demean that political party as a whole.
You can do it with cat's dogs and automobiles too if you want. It doesn't change the fact that her last held political office has nothing to do with her gambling problems or this article. Clinton and Carter still actively work within their party, she doesn't. Poor comparison.
First off, sorry for you laziness. Secondly, you shouldn't assume she is involved in anything political if you admittedly stated you're too lazy to check. Her last known anything was in 2000 when she joined consumer activists railing against utility deregulation in CA.
That applies to this article how? Maureen didn't switch political affiliations and run again, did she?
Once again, only those looking to discredit every Democrat because of the actions of someone that last held political office over 20 years ago, needs to get over it.
The same goes for anyone trying to tie every Republican to something negative a former (R) politician has done. It's juvenile at best.
You should focus on the fact that she took 2 million from a charity and nothing else.
The brain tumor made me gamble!
"I'm sorry your Honor, my brain tumor made ne not pay my taxes." See how far that one gets you......
She could move to Chicago, Rahm would give her a good job. In Chicago she might be able to "make" enough money to pay some back.
MNJL170
You really need to look into California politics. Chicago politicians come here to learn!
Don't worry it will be all white
Are you sure she didn't work for the Federal Government? She would fit right in with all those crooks.
These are the same folks that 'sold' you out to the Major Financial Institutions. What a joke, this is what our Elected Officials did for us? Meanwhile, Veterans, Elderly and the Lost walk the Streets not able to take a piss because the City doesn't have enough money to pay for Toilets.
Yep, John. $hit always runs downhill...
hehehe...
Nowhere to go but up...
Yep John, but those streets they walk here in Chicago do look so pretty for the tourists, thanks Richie!
How the hell does one find the energy to steal and gamble away 1 billion dollars in only 10 years!? If i had the means to steal that kind of money i would not stupidly gamble it away, i know politicians are not known for being intelligent, but this is impressively stupid for a politician. At 66 years old there is no way she will pay that back so just throw her stupid selfish ass in prison.
I disagree...she probably has homes, cars, clothes, art...I bet she has jewelry worth a million! They'll get the money, somehow...it's only $2 million...not a billion.
someone explain how anyone wins 1 billion dollars gambling on video poker. I'm completely befuddled by that figure.
Thank you in advance.
yeah, and if it is true, how pathetic to not quit while you're ahead! she's got a serious case of video nerd goin' on!
Not a chance she made $1 billion. Maybe if she played $10,000 per pull, on machines with a 98.7% payout (i.e. a negative expectation of 1.3%) she would lose $13 million approximately after 100,000 pulls. To get up into the billion dollar range she would need to play for more money per pull, let's say $100,000, or make a lot more pulls, and get ridiculously lucky to beat the house edge. Her arm would fall off first.
If she had won a billion dollars at video poker she would have been run out of Vegas long before that. She simply stole the money from the charity and is trying to blame it on her gambling.
I think its a matter of adding up all the wins, not counting all the losses. I have a sister who though never weighing more than 160, has lost over 200 pounds over the last 10 years or so.
Let's see, at $.89 per hour in prison, it's going to take her a heck of a long time to pay that all back.
The rich and powerful get deferred sentences so they can live most of their life, protect their assets, and then report for their punishment and incarceration on their deathbed. I have heard about the crimes being committed and reported so long ago that sometimes papers and evidence get lost and witness"s die off. If that doesn't work there is always the political favor of amnesty.
In the world of attaining justice, delay, delay, delay.
In the world of insurance paying claims, it's deny, deny, deny.
She needs to pay for her crime. But she isn't the only person responsible. Gambling is an addiction for some people. Just like drinking. But unlike drinking, theres no law requiring they cut you off before killing yourself.
The government needs to regulate the hell out of the entire gambling industry.
Yep, more government regulation. Thats the ticket...
You better believe it. Too many douchebags out there taking advantage of people. Someone has to lay down the law, or its anarchy.
Morejustice...This is the government, You have typed your allotment of words on the computer today and we are cutting you off, Typing on the computer is bad for your wrist and bad for your eyes, If you do not stop typing now we will send a drone to take corrective action.
Barrack Obama gambled hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on green energy projects that failed, We should have intervened before it was too late!
So gambling is the problem? No, her tumor is the problem. No, the death of her husband 7 years before she started gambling is the problem.
How about this - she had access to insane amounts of money, a lack of character that allowed her to eschew any sense of personal responsibility and the power to make her own problems go away.
She stole other people's money and gambled with it and SHE is walking the streets because of her power and influence, while you and I just got a tax raise to support this same type of behavior across the board.
Understand why Americans don't want to give up their guns just yet? Understand why Americans are going crazy all over the place? Our leaders are sociopathic criminals who, when they get caught, blame it on the tumor. Do you think you could get away with that?
And the greatest indicator of just how sick our society is - it took 12 years before this ever made it to the media. 12 YEARS!!!!
It took more than 12 YEARS before anyone said a thing about Sandusky.
It took 12 YEARS before anyone got up in arms about Bush's yellow cake uranium and our nut job wars.
We're at the point now where Americans are so disconnected from what is happening in their country that it takes more than a decade for any kind of truth to reach the surface and when it does, these people walk with suspended sentences.
A billion dollars?!? Big deal! Obama loses that every morning before he even has coffee.
This woman sounds fairly typical of people in government.
True. She is just the tip of the iceberg as they say...fraud and coruption is more rampant in government than in insurance and banking...
It still kills me that corporations are people too...u gotta be friggin' insane with that one from the supreme court...
The party's over.
Now considered "people", corporations are not prosecuted and given free passes by the government.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/gangster-bankers-too-big-to-jail-20130214
@Debi-1314897
And you cite as your source Rolling Stone. Really? Why not Mother Jones too? How about unions, are unions people? Are environmental organizations people?
It wasn't me it was the wendy's girl ya thats the ticket