Soapblox Chicago reminded me of something I'd beeen meaning to write about, but hadn't been able to find time to do, which is to address a little more fully whether there's any relationship between rapidly rising demand for land in Kendall County and the Prairie Parkway. I think, and have had a lot of people tell me, that the Parkway has been a significant factor for some development. And let's be clear about what that means: No one has said it's the only factor, or even that it's the primary factor, but that the planned corridor is attracting growth (some of which would have happened in the county anyway) to the rural stretch of Kendall County through which the Parkway will run.
Continue readingHastert: “Nothing to it”
The Aurora Beacon News reports that [sw: Dennis Hastert] (R-Ill.) is "miffed" at the allegations, first reported here at the Sunlight Foundation, that he improperly profited from a real estate deal while pushing for the Praire State Parkway. Hastert says, "There is no substance to it. I've been working on the Prairie Parkway probably for a good 18 years. That's a matter of record, it is not built. Nothing to it." An article by Joe Conason in Salon shows that what Hastert was doing has a long tradition in American politics going back to Tammany Hall:
A hundred years ago, George Washington Plunkitt, New York state senator and leader of the Tammany Democrats, explained how to profit from "honest graft."Continue readingJournalist William Riordon recorded the great grifter's immortal words in "Plunkitt of Tammany Hall," a classic volume that must be consulted by anyone who hopes to understand urban (and now suburban) politics.
"I seen my opportunities and I took 'em," Plunkitt famously boasted. The boss went on to discuss in detail exactly what he meant:
"My party's in power in the city, and it's goin' to undertake a lot of public improvements. Well, I'm tipped off, say, that they're going to lay out a new park at a certain place.
"I see my opportunity and I take it. I go to that place and I buy up all the land I can in the neighborhood. Then the board of this or that makes its plan public, and there is a rush to get my land, which nobody cared particular for before.
"Ain't it perfectly honest to charge a good price and make a profit on my investment and foresight? Of course, it is. Well, that's honest graft.
"Or, supposin' it's a new bridge they're goin' to build. I get tipped off and I buy as much property as I can that has to be taken for approaches. I sell at my own price later on and drop some more money in the bank.
"Wouldn't you? It's just like lookin' ahead in Wall Street or in the coffee or cotton market. It's honest graft, and I'm lookin' for it every day in the year."
Ah, The Value of Databases
Not much attention was paid to a new report issued by Rep. Henry Waxman on government contracting.
Bottom line? The value of federal contracts has grown 86 percent between 2000 and 2005, going from $203 billion in 2000 to $377.5 billion. Waxman's team studied more than 500 sources, including government and independent agency reports, audits, and investigations to prepare the report. Waxman's staff also interviewed government procurement experts and relied on data from the Federal Procurement Data System to reach its conclusions, the report said. Sounds like pretty thorough research to me.
Abramoff Report Round-Up:
Yesterday marked the release of the much-anticipated Senate Indian Affairs Committee report on the illegal activities of Jack Abramoff and pals. While the report doesn't provide much new information, especially if you spent your time watching the hearings, it bring the story back into full view and gives a few new bits of info. Unfortunately, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the chairman of the committee, did not call any members of Congress to testify, however one member gets a special shout-out.
- The Washington Post reports that Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), Representative #1 according to court documents, falsely stated to the committee that he was not aware of "a Texas Indian tribe represented by lobbyist Jack Abramoff" even though he had held numerous meetings with the Tigua tribe and with Abramoff. Ney's statements have been contradicted by many including the Tiguas themselves and his former chief of staff Neil Volz. Ney's spokesman stated that the committee meeting with the congressman "was not conducted under oath." So, I'll take that as an admission that Ney did lie. Paul Kiel will take that as a felony, "You lie to Senate investigators, it's a felony -- regardless of whether you're under oath or not. Ney might want to ask David Safavian about that -- he was just convicted of doing the very same thing."
- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on their state's golden child Ralph Reed's connections to the Abramoff scandal. Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition and current candidate for Georgia Lt. Governor, received "more than $5 million through a series of corporations to satisfy what they said were Ralph Reed's political concerns that he would be linked to the cash". The report states that Reed was not involved in any clear wrongdoing, as the majority of the criminal activity did not happen until he was squeezed out, but that his use of front corporations to receive the money deserves further investigation. Reed used his influence among right-wing Christian organizations to stir up grassroots opposition to an Indian casino. The use of third party corporations to receive the money implies that Reed was trying to hide the fact that he was being paid by another tribe that was protecting its gambling operation.
- And finally Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker notes that Italia Federici, the head of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), lied in her testimony to the committee (which was plainly obvious if you watched her weasel her way through it). Kiel recounts the role that Federici and CREA played in this saga:
Federici had "juice" (as Abramoff put it in an email) at Interior, because she'd worked closely with Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who'd founded CREA. So Abramoff directed his clients to pump money into CREA and asked for a steady stream of favors from Federici. Abramoff's clients gave $500,000 -- a substantial portion of CREA's funds came from Abramoff. But Federici just won't admit that Abramoff was buying access. She testified -- and I'm not making this up -- that she was helpful to Abramoff in order “to be nice.” The committee, unsurprisingly, doesn't believe her.
The committee thinks that she lied to them and that could mean an indictment is down the road. Indicting Federici immediately puts the Abramoff scandal into the Interior Department as her "juice" was former Deputy Secretary of the Interior J. Stephen Griles, who also gave mealy-mouthed answers to the committee investigators.
Response from, and to, Speaker Hastert’s Attorney
On Tuesday evening, we received the following reply to our previously issued open letter to J. Randolph Evans, who is "Counsel to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert." In that letter, we wrote in part, "we ask that you please identify the specific passages in the aforementioned story that you regard as actionable." The text of both Mr. Evan's latest email and my response are reproduced below:
Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 5:55 PM To: Bill Allison Subject: RE: Request for Further Information/Clarification Dear Mr. Allison, Continue reading
Ethics Legislation Rolling Back Down Hill:
Another deadline set by the majority leaders in both Houses of Congress to pass the so-called lobbying and ethics reform legislation is going to pass yet again. This reform is like a car that stalled while driving up Constitution Ave. to the Capitol. It's just going to roll back down, pass the Smithsonian, down Maine Ave., and into the Tidal Basin. CongressDaily PM has the report:
With one week to go before the July Fourth recess, the House faces a potentially packed floor schedule, but it appears doubtful that Congress will be able to pass either a lobbying and ethics overhaul or a pension bill before the break. House Speaker Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Frist called for passage of the lobbying bill before July Fourth, but a conference agreement continues to elude negotiators, and Hastert has not named conferees.When those Abramoff indictments come down on lawmakers what are these guys going to have to say for themselves. Nothing. They have done nothing to clean their house. Instead we're going to see a debate about flag burning, which I know is a huge problem in my neighborhood. I think that there have been at least ten children in my neighborhood who've had their patriotism crushed by a glassy eyed hippy burning a flag, chanting anti-government slogans. (FYI Congress: The proper way to dispose of a flag is to burn it.) Like a bad teenager who doesn't clean their room Congress should be punished. Continue reading
Daylight AM:
- The Washington Post and The Hill finally run stories on [sw: Dennis Hastert]'s land deal in Kendall County, Illinois. The Post story looks at Hastert's land deal along side the land deals of Reps. [sw: Ken Calvert] (R-Calif.) and [sw: Gary Miller] (R-Calif.). Both Calvert and Miller made large sums of money off of land that they helped, through the earmarking process, become more profitable. Their stories are here and here respectively.
- New tax records show that Rep. [sw: Alan Mollohan] (D-W.Va.) steered $179 million in federal earmarks to companies that contributed to charities that he is associated with. According to Bloomberg, "The money went to 21 companies and nonprofit groups that contributed $225,427 to the Robert H. Mollohan Family Charitable Foundation in 2004 -- almost half of the charity's revenue". Charities connected to politicians (or spouses of politicians) are a way for companies and interests to curry favor from a legislator out of the public eye. Numerous lawmakers have used their charities inappropriately including Senators Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) and Bill Frist (R-Tenn.). I'm sure that there are many more political charity abuses that go unnoticed.
- The Senate Indian Affairs Committee just released their final report on the Jack Abramoff tribal scandal, "Gimme Five -- Investigation of Tribal Lobbying Matters". The Arizona Republic reported this morning that the report is expected to "read more like a summer mystery novel with chapters missing than a tell-all account of former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff's corrupt influence in Washington." Since Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) refused to call members of Congress to testify before his committee those "missing chapters" will have to be filled in by the Justice Department and our courts.
- Most members of Congress do not read the bills that they vote on. Rep. [sw: John McHugh] (R-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee personnel subcommittee, did not know that a provision existed in a bill that he crafted that he "philosophically" opposed. Oops. Maybe we should pay attention next time. Or we could make bills available 72 hours before they are voted on (as Readthebill.org is pushing) so that maybe somebody else could have caught what John McHugh didn't.
Rethinking Journalism
Forgive the diversion from my normal comments on money in politics, but a couple of recent stories in the Washington Post – and the reaction so far to the Dennis Hastert story that Bill Allison dug up – are worthy of comment.
The story that really got me thinking was Jay Rosen’s op-ed in Monday’s Post, Web Users Open the Gates. Rosen teaches journalism at NYU and runs a blog called PressThink. His piece points out many ways that the web – and especially the emergence of bloggers – has revolutionized the way mainstream media does its job. Uncomfortable as this has been for many journalists, Rosen concludes the shakeup will do them good.
Kentucky Blocks Muckraking Websites:
Kentucky's Commonwealth Office of Technology has blocked websites that expose government corruption from state government employees computers. Sites blocked include the liberal blog Bluegrassreport.org, a site that has helped uncover and report on the merit hiring scandal that led to the indictment of Kentucky's Governor Ernie Fletcher (R), and one of our favorite sites TPM Muckraker! Check out bluegrassreport.org for the whole list of blocked sites and up to date info. The governor gets indicted and then he blocks employees from reading about the allegations online. Not a great PR move for Ernie.
Continue readingSeeking Volunteers to Investigate Congress:
Last week at Sunlight, we exposed House Speaker Dennis Hastert's use of a secret, undisclosed trust to make a $2 million profit selling land located near the proposed route of the Prairie Parkway, a project Hastert has backed with $207 million in earmarks.
There are still 539 congress members and delegates whose disclosure forms haven't been scrutinized. Want to investigate them, I'll explain below, and then you can email me if you're interested (ballison@sunlightfoundation.com).
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