On Monday a judge ordered the White House to turn over all Secret Service logs showing Jack Abramoff's visits to the watchdog group Judicial Watch, who had filed suit to obtain the records. Now we learn that the White House does not plan on releasing all of Abramoff's logged visits:
The White House said Tuesday the list the Secret Service has been ordered to release concerning convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's contacts with the Bush administration will be incomplete. But spokesman Scott McClellan declined to say what is wrong with the Secret Service list, why it is inaccurate and whether it includes far fewer meetings than took place. "I don't know exactly what they'll be providing, but they only have certain records and so I just wouldn't view it as a complete historical record," McClellan said.So, did Abramoff enter the White House without having to go through the Secret Service screening and signing in? There should be no reason that all of Abramoff's visits would not be recorded. Unless of course Abramoff was visiting for reasons that the White House does not want the public to find out about. The White House should release a COMPLETE version of the logs to disspell any notion of a cover-up. Do they really want the public to speculate as to why they aren't telling the truth about Abramoff's White House visits? For all we know the reason that Abramoff's visits aren't logged is because he was smuggled in by Jeff Gannon. Continue reading
Harris Overruled Staff on Wade Earmark:
The trouble for Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) continues to mount over her lavish dinner with bribery contractor Mitchell Wade and the $10 million appropriations request she filed for his company MZM. Today the Associated Press reports that Harris' staff initially rejected the MZM appropriation before being overruled by Harris:
Former senior members of U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' congressional staff say they initially rejected a defense contractor's $10 million appropriation request last year but reversed course after being instructed by Harris to approve it. ... "She said, 'It's important to me, so submit it,' " said an ex-staffer who was involved in the process. "She wanted it in." ... "Katherine was pretty adamant about it," the former staffer said.Wade has already pled guilty to giving Harris illegal campaign contributions. The story of Harris and Wade has progressively gotten worse for Harris. Last year, she dined with Wade to the tune of $2,800 (the House Ethics Manual states that members should not accept gifts over $100). At that dinner she received tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions from Wade. Then she insisted, over her staffer's objections, on inserting a $10 million appropriation - the largest earmark on her plate - weeks late into the defense appropriations bill. Continue reading
Reform Deform:
There's more today on the passage of the lobbying and ethics "reform" that narrowly passed the House yesterday. The bill, which has been significantly watered down (or drowned), must now go to a conference committee to be reconciled with the Senate version of reform. According to the Washington Post this could cause some confusion:
The final version of the legislation will be a combination of statutory changes and changes in the rules governing House and Senate members, but not all the rules need apply to both chambers. Rules that govern the gifts and travel expenses that lobbyists are allowed to give to lawmakers can be different for the House and for the Senate. Each chamber is responsible for setting the rules for the conduct of its lawmakers and staff members. ... Still, if rule changes remain different for each chamber in the final version that becomes law, said Donald Simon, a campaign-finance expert, "it's going to complicate life for lobbyists and probably cause some confusion."Not only could the final bill result in mass confusion among lobbyists, but the bill's themselves, and the House bill in particular, are devoid of meaningful reform. Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) questioned his own Majority Leader's commitment to reform in the New York Times, "This is not John Boehner's forte ... This is not something he believes in." Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) denounced the bill, "We are cleaning up Congress the way teenagers clean up their bedrooms." Meanwhile the Washington Times writes that the "earmark reform" "fell short of the reforms embraced by some conservatives." Continue reading
“Reform” Bill Passed:
The "business as usual" lobbying and ethics reform just passed the House 217-213. Think Progress tells us what is not in the bill:
– No Restrictions on Lavish Gifts: Current gift limits will remain unchanged.
– No Ban Free Exotic Trips: Lawmakers will still be able to accept lavish privately-funded trips from lobbyists.
– No Increase in Lobbyist Transparency: Lobbyists can continue to pay $25,000 or $50,000 for a campaign fundraiser, with no oversight.
– No Ethics Training for Members: Ethics training will be mandatory for all congressional staff, but not for members.
– No Revolving Door Slow-Down: A companion piece of legislation to the lobbying bill would require administration officials to wait at least two years after they leave office before becoming lobbyists. But there is no legislation to create a similar two-year waiting period for lawmakers.
– No Grassroots Lobbying Regulation: There are no disclosure rules “for professional lobbying firms that are retained to spend money on campaigns aimed at stimulating the public to lobby Congress, including multimillion dollar advertising campaigns.”
– No Enforcement of Existing Rules: The bill “includes no mechanism for enforcing and monitoring old and new rules.”
This bill is truly an embarrassment to the notion of reform.
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Legal Defense Funds:
Aside from Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) there are two other notable congressmen with legal defense funds: Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) and Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). The Columbus Dispatch reported today on the bankrollers of Bob Ney's defense fund:
The majority of Rep. Bob Ney’s relatively modest legal-defense fund has been bankrolled by members of the Boich family, which owns an Ohio coal conglomerate. The Licking County Republican, under federal investigation for his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, took in $40,000 during the first quarter to his legal fund, according to the report submitted late Monday. Of that amount, $25,000 was given by members of the Boich family or Boich companies. Another $5,000 came from the Laborer’s Political League in Washington, and $10,000 was given by individuals from Akron and Miami.Meanwhile, Political Money Line has reported on Jefferson's defense fund:
The Congressman William Jefferson Legal Trust Fund filed its first quarter 2006 report indicating it had raised $34,500 and spent $16,082. Donors included $5,000 each from Connell Co (NJ, Debra L. Lee (DC), Robert L. Johnson (CT), C&S Consultants (LA), Lisa Green Campbell (LA), among others. The Trust paid Smith & Fawer (LA) $6,082; Robert Trout (DC) $10,000; and Trout & Cacheris (DC) $20,000. In the previous quarter the Trust raised $84,750 and spent $65,000. Payments included $55,000 to Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hall and $10,000 to Smith & Fawer.Continue reading
Vernon Jackson Pleads Guilty:
As expected, Vernon Jackson, the chief executive of iGate, pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA).
Continue readingFront Company:
Ken Silverstein at Harpers.org provides more info on Shirlington Limousine and their government contracts. Shirlington received a number of government contracts that total $25 million. Also, Silverstein reports that, "The limo company does business under at least four different names; in addition, the office addresses listed on its business filings regularly change. A number of those office addresses are actually at residential buildings or business suites, and calls to the listed phone numbers are taken by an answering service." This sounds a lot like how Brent Wilkes' operated - the creation of shell companies, front companies with no address and voice recordings.
Continue readingMid-Morning News:
- Josh Marshall looks into how Shirlington Limousines came to be connected to alleged-briber Brent Wilkes. The "missing link" appears to be former Rep. Bill Lowery (R-CA), who is now a lobbyist with close ties to Appropriations chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA).
- Following the money doesn't have to be limited to politics and the Episcopal Diocese of Washington has shown how to follow the money in the religious arena.
- Captain Ed is disheartened by the failure of Coburn's amendments to strip pork from the emergency supplemental. When talking about the Northrop Grumman earmark he asks the question that we all have in our head when thinking this, "Why does a corporation that made $2.4 billion in profit need another $200 million from American taxpayers to cover a loss they've absorbed in that same year?" Amen.
- citizen dc at Daily Kos writes about Karl Rove's "unexplained personal wealth". It is quite strange that a man who doesn't make so much money happens to own million dollar homes. Continue reading
Sharpshooters and Corporate Lobbyists:
The Hill gives a run-down of the top "sharpshooters" and corporate lobbyists in Washington. An important list to know the behind the scenes power players. Here are the listed lobbyists who used to be elected members of Congress:
- Dick Armey, Piper Rudnick Gray Cary
- John Ashcroft, The Ashcroft Group
- Al D’Amato, Park Strategies
- Bob Dole, Alston & Bird
- Tom Downey, Downey McGrath
- Slade Gorton, Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds
- Bob Livingston, The Livingston Group
- Bill Paxon, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- J.C. Watts, The J.C. Watts Cos.
- Vin Weber, Clark and Weinstock Weber
Imam at a Pork Roast:
The Washington Post writes a profile of anti-pork Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) crusade to cut earmarks out of the emergency spending supplemental before the Senate. Only one of his amendments were ultimately successful and the lack of majority support from either party led him to withdraw many of his amendments challenging the earmarks. One of his challenges was to a $500 million earmark to aid rebuilding of a Northrop Grumman shipbuilding yard in Mississippi. The Wall Street Journal reports that the vote was 51-47 with both parties evenly dividing. One of the few successul amendments aimed at controlling spending was introduced by Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and co-sponsord by Coburn. The amendment restricts the number of no-bid contracts for rebuilding in the Gulf Coast and was agreed to with a 98-0 vote.
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