The thoughtful, enthusiastic responses to our request for citizens to investigate members of Congress by reading their personal financial disclosures have been coming in fast (and thanks to all who linked to the original post). I'm about to head out the door (literally) for a week out of the office, but before I do I wanted to thank everyone who's written me, and if I haven't written you back yet, I will next week when I return. In the meantime, though, you might want to read the rest of this post for advice on how to get started, what to look for, and what to do.
Continue readingPrairie Parkway Miscellany
I've been meaning to get a link up to this column from Greg Hinz, of Crain's Chicago Business, which takes a look at the timeline of House Speaker Dennis Hastert's real estate deal, and finds that ... well, see for yourself:
At the suggestion of longtime associate Dallas Ingemunson, the two and a partner bought another 69 acres adjoining the Hastert farm for $15,000 per. "We had confidence the market would hold," Mr. Ingemunson says. Besides, he adds, the seller wanted a quick cash deal, so they got a good price. Continue reading
Daylight AM:
- Bob Ney (R-Ohio) told Senate Indian Affairs Investigators that he could not remember meeting with the Tigua Tribe of Texas, a client of Jack Abramoff, when he was interviewed by the committee. Unfortunately for Ney cameras do not forget. The Cleveland Plain Dealer blog has posted a picture of a smiling Ney posing with the Lt. Governor and a governing council member of the Tigua Tribe.
- Ney's buddy Jack Abramoff is such a nice guy. Roll Call reports that he called Gabon, a small African nation, a "monkey coloney" [sic]. Abramoff also liked to call Indians "troglodytes" and "morons". He sounds like such a caring man.
- The Press-Enterprise reports on the details of the subpoena issued to San Bernardino County in the ongoing investigation into the ties between Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) and the lobbying firm of Lewis' friend Bill Lowery.
- Earmark reformers are concerned that the exclusion of joint resolutions from restrictions imposed by earmark reforms would cause the resolutions to be a new place to seed pet projects. Meanwhile, Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) plans on going back to the floor of the House to challenge more earmarks, this time inserted into the Science-State-Justice-Commerce Appropriations bill.
- The New York Times tallies the amount of fraud in relief spending after Hurricane Katrina and determine that 6 percent of the total money "obligated" was wasted. Continue reading
Hastert’s Lesson:
The New York Times editorializes on Speaker [sw: Dennis Hastert]'s (R-Ill.) land deal:
Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, promised credible reform back when the stench of illegal quid pro quo dealings between lobbyists and ethically challenged lawmakers seized public attention. But nothing close to true self-policing is emerging from Congress. And now Mr. Hastert is the latest lawmaker in the limelight for the rampant pork-barrel practice of earmarking — the swift, debate-free inclusion in mass appropriations bills of small fortunes in government favors for special pleaders. In the speaker's case, his $200 million earmark to advance a road project known as Prairie Parkway back home in Illinois became an acute embarrassment after local news media and critics discovered Mr. Hastert netted a fast $2 million profit from dealing in land situated several miles from the proposed roadway. ... But we can hope Mr. Hastert would see, at least in hindsight, the cloud that this activity has cast over Congress, which slipped 13,012 earmarks to passage this year worth $67 billion. That's a tripling of the pork trough since the Republicans won control of the House in 1994. Sometimes it seems as if earmarking is all this Congress knows how to do. Members have spent so few calendar days in Washington that they hark back to the "do-nothing" Congress excoriated six decades ago by President Harry Truman.Continue reading
LaHood Defends Hastert Earmark for Campaign Contributor:
Last week Rep. [sw: Jeff Flake] (R-Ariz.) launched an assault on earmarks in the Defense Appropriations bill by introducing numerous amendments to strip member's earmarks out of the bill. One of the amendments that Flake took aim at was inserted by Speaker [sw: Dennis Hastert] (R-Ill.). Vigorously defending Hastert was Peoria Rep. [sw: Ray LaHood] (R-Ill.) asking on the floor of the House, "Do you know who earmarked this money?" LaHood has previously stated that he will fight conservative lawmakers who challenge earmarks declaring, "I'm not going to take their crap!"
The $2.5 million earmark was for the Illinois Technology Transition Center, which "helps develop new technologies that create jobs". According to LaHood, the center "has aided the Peoria-based Firefly Energy, an offshoot of Caterpillar Inc." What LaHood does not mention is that Firefly Energy and Caterpillar have aided him throughout his career.
The Peoria Journal Star notes that LaHood, a member of the House Appropriations Committee has "included $5 million for Firefly Energy in the House bill," and that Caterpillar, Inc. "would receive $75.2 million, if the Senate doesn't make changes to the bill." The lobbyists at American Defense International, who presumably aided in obtaining these earmarks, had, until the Cunningham and Abramoff scandals broke in January, "served on LaHood's campaign fund-raising committee." LaHood has previously come under fire for earmarking funds to Firefly and Caterpillar because of his ties to their lobbyists.
Caterpillar is the number one contributor to LaHood's congressional career having given the congressman $148,325. Perhaps LaHood's defense of Hastert's earmark was not solely a defense of the Speaker, but a defense of his prime funding source.
Continue readingNews Before the Storm:
Thunderstorms have become a daily occurence here in DC over the past week. It looks like we're about to get another one. Here's a look at the news before Pennsylvania Ave. turns into a river and my power goes out:
- Jack Abramoff and former Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) chief of staff Ed Buckham "orchestrated a series of multimillion-dollar maneuvers with several charities he or Buckham exerted control over. These charities became a primary tool in his criminal conspiracy," according to Roll Call. The noose continues to tighten around the now retired DeLay.
- Congress doesn't care about cleaning itself up by reforming their ethics or the practice of lobbying. According to the Washington Post, lobbying and ethics reform "has slowed to a crawl. Along the way, proposals such as Hastert's that would sharply limit commonplace behavior on Capitol Hill have been cast aside." Congress, playing the role of a baby, has soiled itself and is incapable of changing it's diapers, let alone become potty trained. It smells.
- USA Today reports that some lawmakers are questioning the annual cost-of-living adjustment to their salary claiming that they do not deserve to make more money so long as the minimum wage remains at $5.15 an hour or the government does not run a balanced budget. The rank and file member of Congress currently makes $165,200 with leadership earning more. Members today are earning $710 less than they did in 2001 due to inflation. If the raise were to go into effect members would make $168,500 next year. In 2005 the daily salary of members of Congress -- when calculating the days Congress was in session -- was $1149.65.
- According to Newsweek, "White House staffers have accepted nearly $135,000 in free trips since November 2004." Those offering the trips have included conservative organizations like the National Association of Manufacturers, he Southern Baptist Convention, Focus on the Family and the Federalist Society.
- Is the 109th Congress a "Do Nothing Congress?" Are all major actions expected to be political ploys with no expectation of serious action on the serious issues of the day? Continue reading
Pressure Cooling for Reform?
A story in Monday's Washington Post by Jeffrey Birnbaum and Jim VandeHei says in newsprint what a lot of Congress-watchers have been whispering in corridors: the pressure for reform of lobbyist and ethical rules in Congress may be slipping out of season.
This despite the fact that there’s been no real letup in stories about disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff – in fact there was yet another one on page one of Sunday’s Post. But the perception among members of Congress, say Birnbaum and VandeHei, is that ethics reform is an issue of little interest beyond the Beltway. John McCain (R-Ariz) put it this way:
Continue readingWeekend Round-up:
- The San Bernardino Sun reports on the release of documents in the [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-Calif.) investigation. In the documents Lewis' wife, Arlene Willis, recommends the lobbying firm at the center of the investigation, Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White, to San Bernardino County.
- The San Diego Union-Tribune traces the arc of success for defense contractors that have hired the Lowery law firm to lobby Appropriations Chair [sw: Jerry Lewis]. Orincon, a software engineering company, hired Bill Lowery in the late 1990s and, through the earmarking of funds by Lowery's friend Lewis, saw their "growth curve turned sharply upward." Daniel Alspach, the head of Orincon, and "Lowery would visit Lewis' office, meeting with Letitia White and sometimes with Lewis himself". From the mid-1990s to 2003 Orincon's sales, "heavily dependent on federal contracts," shot from $10 million to $52 million. When Alspach eventually sold his company to Lockheed in 2003 Lowery cashed out too having collected thousands of shares in the company which he lobbied for. Trident Systems, Inc. follows a simliar path having found success after hiring Lowery lobbyist Letitia White to collect earmarks from Lewis. White and Trident owner Nicholas Karangelen own a DC townhouse together which serves as the mailing address for Karangelen's Small Biz Tech PAC, which happens to be run by Lewis' stepdaughter. White also has deal with Trident that seems to similar to Lowery's receipt of shares in Orincon. Karangelen "has arranged to pay [White] a bonus based on the company's profitability."
- The Washington Post reports that conservative power house Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform "served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. As the money passed through, Norquist's organization kept a small cut, e-mails show." Abramoff also used, with the acquiesance of the heads of the organization, numerous other non-profits associated with the conservative movement to funnel money, hiding his activities, in his illegal schemes. These organizations included the National Center for Public Policy Research, headed by Amy Ridenour and the Council of Republican Environmental Advocacy, headed by Italia Federici. Continue reading
Sunlight Foundation Seeking New Staff Person:
The Sunlight Foundation, a new nonprofit committed to transforming citizens relationship to government, is hiring a new staff person for outreach and organizing. The ideal candidate would be a highly organized overcommunicator, good at both building spreadsheets and developing relationships with bloggers, local activists, and budding activists. The candidate must be passionate about open government and a natural extrovert, but experience is not required. Sunlight is nonpartisan. Send resume, 2 references, and a one paragraph description about why you think the job suits you to zteachout@gmail.com. Its located in DC and salary depends upon experience.
Continue readingIt Is About the Need for Reform
The Sunday Times editorial eloquently made Sunlight's point when it comes to the "scandal" of Dennis Hastert's earmarking for a local highway. It's the system that's rotten. Hastert is only one of the latest -- and most powerful -- to be caught with his hand in the veritable cookie jar. No doubt there are other stories to come along the same lines.
Hastert's early promises to clean up the system have proved to be nothing but empty rhetoric. Maybe, now that he's in the ethics spotlight, he'll be galvanized to action. The Hastert story that Bill Allison broke on his blog -- Under the Influence -- is the tip of the iceberg. As more stories are developed by bloggers, citizen muckrakers and the mainstream media, the pressure will mount to change the system in significant ways. And the good news is that none of us will be lulled into thinking that things have been improved if Congress moves forward on its current "reform" path.
Continue reading
59063
