- Roll Call tells Congress to "Start Over" on lobbying and ethics reform instead of heading forward, "[i]n typical GOP fashion," in manufacturing a compromise before the conference committee meets. The newspaper calls the reform the "Big Nothing" as it fails to fix the inherent problems in the matrix between lobbyists and Congress. The revolving door is a specific case that is not adequately addressed, a problem considering the revelations about members of Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis' (R-Calif.) staff ferrying between K Street and Capitol Hill.
- The Columbus Dispatch points to the key outcome of the David Safavian guilty verdict, that Bob Ney (R-Ohio) is in deep trouble. The Safavian trial cements Ney's former chief of staff Neil Volz as a credible witness and also provides the prosecution with the ability to coerce more plea agreements from staffers and former staffers of lawmakers. The prosecution's success could signal movement towards other indictments sooner rather than later.
- Looks like Dennis Hastert's (R-Ill.) earmarks are finding enemies within his own party. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) fired a shot across the bow at Hastert over an earmark Hastert inserted into the defense appropriations bill that would benefit a technology company headed by a former aide to the Speaker. Flake intends on offering an amendment to strip the earmark from the bill.
- Abbe Lowell, the lawyer for Jack Abramoff, pens an op-ed in USA Today that lambasts the Congress for not acting on real reform. He pinpoints the problem in the nexus of money and fundraising work provided by lobbyists who have a particular interest in legislation.
- Laura Rozen gives a round-up of the allegations and discoveries in the investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) in this month's American Prospect.
Disclosure vs. Systemic Reform: A False Choice
In a column in The Hill Meredith McGehee sets up a strawman -- that disclosure will solve all the problems of the money and influence culture -- and then tries to knock it down. (She never mentions who the current advocates are for that position, actually.) But it seems to me that every time she tries to makes her point she makes the opposite one. The most salutary change made in recent years, e.g. a ban on soft money, would not have occurred without disclosure, however inadequate and slow it was.
Of course, disclosure alone won't cure the system of its ills. Who would believe that? But what will? Surely full public financing would go along way toward that end, but until the political will is marshaled to make that happen here in Washington (it's already the law in Conn ecticut, Maine and Arizona) we need to know more about what lawmakers and lobbyists are up to -- faster, more comprehensively, and in searchable formats that are available on the Internet. Human nature being what it is, it will certainly make lawmakers more cautious. Who knows? Maybe it will stop some of the worst practices.
Continue readingNews for the Afternoon:
- Roll Call reports that the lobbying reform bill is "stuck in limbo" thanks to the inclusion of 527 reform in the House reform package. Does anybody think that this bill is going anywhere? No. It doesn't matter much since the reforms that are included in the bills fall far short of what is needed to fix the problems in Congress. It does demonstrate that even after such high-profile guilty pleas and investigations that the leaders in Congress refuse to fix the inherent problems in the system that led to those abuses and guilty pleas.
- Glenn Reynolds provides a Pork Busters update at Instapundit. He provides links to a Heritage Foundation report on reforming the budget process, the new-fangled Pork Busters site, and to a group that has the name Sunlight in its name.
- If Homeland Security is supposed to be so important (and personally I think not getting blown up and emergency disaster assitance are pretty important things) then please explain why everyone wants to cash out of the Department. The New York Times wants to know too:
"If homeland security is the central concern of the Bush administration, one wonders how it managed to create a department in which so many of the top brass were so eager to quit the crusade so soon and cash in so efficiently. But the worst effect of this kind of take-the-money-and-run mentality is on the people left behind. How many of them, having watched others land lucrative jobs as lobbyists, will temper their own judgments about what systems to buy and what consultants to use with an eye on their own private-sector prospects?"
- The San Bernardino Sun keeps reporting on the lobbying and earmarking scandal surrounding their local congressman [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-Calif.). San Bernardino County released 3,500 pages of documents related to their contacts with Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White, the lobbying firm in question in the scandal. The documents reveal that San Bernardino used the lobbying firm to develop "strategies to get federal funding," work on "problems with endangered species," and "arranging meetings with senator and Congressmen". The key question is why on earth did a county represented by Lewis need to hire a lobbying firm to make contact with their representative. This should be completely unnecessary and it looks rather peculiar.
- And finally a noted conservative opponent of earmarking, [sw: Mike Pence] (R-Ind.), defended his own earmarks to CongressDaily. Pence, who has been a vocal opponent of earmarking and pork-barrel funding, was forced to defend two earmarks that he placed into the recently passed Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill. Pence's spokesman stated that the congressman, "stands by his earmark requests." Pence also stated that he supports earmark reform but does not wish to do away with the process entirely. Of course, his defense of his own earmarks sounds much like the defense given by so many others who have been criticized.
Safavian Guilty on Four Counts:
In the fifth day of deliberations the jury ruling on the David Safavian trial found the former Bush administration official and acolyte of Jack Abramoff guilty on four counts. The Safavian trial was the first trial in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal and sets a precedent for future trials, (cough cough) Bob Ney (cough cough). Safavian's testimony did nothing to help him and most likely hurt him more than anything. As Paul Kiel notes, the "Forrest Gump" defense is not going to fly.
Continue readingMoran’s Earmarks
I've been so busy talking about House Speaker Dennis Hastert's land deals, reading and working on replies to a ton of wonderful responses from citizen journalists (I kind of like "Citizen Muckraker" better, but that's just me) to our request for help in investigating Congress (about which more soon) that I've missed the party on Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., who represents me in the House. Glenn Reynolds highlights a Washington Post piece (which ran in the Business Section, which was a little odd) about Moran's securing $37 million for a company that tried to develop magnetic technology that would make submarines less easily detected. In the end, the company tried to develop magnetic technology to make the small boats Navy SEALS use (which can be dangerous in rough seas) safer; instead, the Navy chose to buy better seats to keep the SEALS safe. Sounds almost like the company, an Alexandria, Va.-based firm called Vibration & Sound Solutions Ltd., had a solution in search of a problem. The company's president and his wife donated $17,000 to Moran.
Continue readingMr. Smith Goes to Washington
The Hastert story that Bill Allison broke last week has clearly taken on a life of its own. Maybe that's because, as a conservative friend pointed out, it rings sounds so much like a scene from the 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Here's the relevant dialogue from the movie. Read it and judge for yourself.
PAINE
Jim--suppose we didn't try to go
through with this Willet Creek Dam--
suppose we postpone it until the
next session of Congress--or drop it
altogether--
TAYLOR
That'd be a crime--after all this
work--getting it buried in this
Deficiency Bill as nice as you please--
approved--all ready to roll--
PAINE
How much does the Willet Dam mean to
you, Jim?
TAYLOR
Joe--I've got a lot of people to
take care of in this State.
PAINE
I know, but is it worth the risk of
a scandal now that a new man is going
to the Senate?
TAYLOR
Joe--what's the matter with you--
where you're concerned, I wouldn't
take the slightest risk--'specially
now after the great reputation you've
made in the Senate. Why, look at
this campaign I've started for you
in all my papers. You're the logical
man from the West on the National
ticket--at the convention, anything
can happen--
There is a pause while Joe looks at a newspaper.
TAYLOR
Joe, that's coming a long way in
twenty years since I met you
practicing law down there in Main
Street.
PAINE
Jim--if what you say about the future
is remotely possible--why not do as
I say--drop things like this dam?
TAYLOR
We can't drop it now, Joe. We bought
the land around this Dam and we're
holding it in dummy names. If we
drop it or delay it--we are going to
bring about investigations, and
investigations will show that we own
that land and are trying to sell it
to the State under phony names. No,
Joe, in my judgment the only thing
to do is push this Dam through--and
get it over with.
A Tale of Two Appropriators:
[sw: Ralph Regula] (R-Ohio) and [sw: Jim Moran] (D-Virg.) come from different parties and from different parts of the country but they both share a commonality -- they are appropriators. In this they share that love of controlling the purse strings of government, and with that power comes the ability to send money to their district or to their family members. The need of the earmark is not taken into consideration. The purpose of the earmark is not much considered either. In the end, we see two stories of odd ways to spend tax payer money. One for an unwanted defense technology and the other for a nonprofit headed by the appropriators wife. This is a tale of two appropriators. In the case of Ralph Regula, a congressman out of Ohio since 1972, we find appropriations that are pro-family -- pro-Regula family, of course. Regula's wife Mary heads an organization called the National First Ladies' Library, a nonprofit that serves as a "national archive devoted to educating people about the contributions of First Ladies and other notable women in history". According to Knight Ridder, Regula has aided his wife's organization by earmarking funds to it throughout the years:
Over the years, Ralph Regula's subcommittee inserted more than $2 million in special "earmarks" for the first ladies project into federal spending bills, including $800,000 to buy a mansion that once belonged to President William McKinley and his wife. In addition, the panel okayed a $2.5 million federal matching grant to help renovate a nearby bank building that his wife's group owns.
The NFLL's website lists the projects that these earmarks funded as their Accomplishments:
* Restore and historically document all the public rooms located in the family home of First Lady Ida Saxton McKinley from the parlor through the kitchen. * Restore and renovated the historic 1895 City National Bank Building, which now serves as a research library and educational center dedicated to the history of First Ladies and notable women in America.So I guess when Mary Regula says, "Unless you are determined and have a mission, you don't get much accomplished," she means that you don't get much accomplished without earmarked funds coming from your husband's seat on the Appropriations Committee. Now, I shouldn't be so harsh, the NFLL does get money from private interests. One of the sponsors of the NLFF, Timken Corp., is Ralph Regula's second biggest donor for his career. One of the unchecked ways that corporations or lobbyists can curry favor with legislators is to put money into a nonprofit or a charity that is connected to that lawmaker. The member of Congress doesn't have to report his connection to the non-profit or the charity and so these donations fly under the radar. Timken contributed $750,000 to help renovate the bank the bank building. And now Timken will receive more than $20 million in earmarks thanks to Regula. They have already benefited greatly from a law passed by the Ohio congressman.
Timken gained more than $200 million in federal payments from a law Ralph Regula sponsored that curbed "dumping" of underpriced foreign goods, according to a 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog agency. In a news release Tuesday, Regula announced that he'd sponsored a $3 million earmark for Timken's research on high-tech bearings. Since 2002, Regula has announced more than $20 million in earmarks for Timken, which does a lot of defense contract work.Regula is rumored to be the successor to Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) if the Republicans maintain the majority after this November's midterm elections. Lewis is currently under investigation for his role in improperly earmarking funds -- an outgrowth of the Duke Cunningham investigation. If Lewis is deposed prior to the election by this investigation I don't think that Regula is going to be the "unity" candidate in the Pork Wars. Another possible candidate is the aforementioned Jim Moran, who could take the reigns of the committee if the Democrats regain control of the House. Moran recently made the following statement about how he would lead the powerful committee: "I plan to earmark the sh_t out of it." Classy. Moran later stated that he was making a joke, but the real joke is that he has been earmarking funds to a defense contractor for a technology that can't be used and that nobody wants. The Washington Post reports on "Project M", "a technology involving magnetic levitation," which has received $37 million in earmarks from congressmen including Jim Moran and Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.). Project M was believed to be able to "keep submarine machinery quieter," "keep Navy SEALs safer in their boat," and "was examined as a possible way to protect Marines from roadside bombs." The problem with Prjocet M is simple: "All the applications have one thing in common: The Pentagon hasn't wanted them." The contractor who created Project M, Vibration & Sound Solutions Ltd., operates in Moran's district and has donated $17,000 to Moran's campaign committee. Moran states that the 25 jobs the company creates are important for his district and said that "he earmarks projects if the company involved employs people in his district and the military thinks it has merit." One of those reasons turns out to be correct. The Post story explains the complications involved in eliminating these kinds of earmarks:
Once begun, promising but speculative programs like Project M are hard to kill, sustained by members of Congress who want to keep jobs in their districts, military officials who want to keep their options open and businesspeople who want to keep their companies afloat.Ultimately, with Moran or Regula in charge of such an important committee, there is no chance there could be a reduction in the outrageous earmarking industry. They may have ideological differences, they may serve different populations, but in the end, they are appropriators who have fed from trough of an Appropriations Committee run amok. Continue reading
The Pork Wars:
The saga of the Pork Wars continues with news about the battle between conservative bulldog [sw: Jeff Flake] (R-Ariz.) and Appropriations Chairman [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-Calif.); a new name for earmarks: "projects initiated by a member"; a new face on the Appropriations Committee, but one with the same old problems; more questions about Jerry Lewis' connections to lobbying firm and that firm's connections to a PAC run by Lewis' step-daughter; and [sw: Duncan Hunter] (R-Calif.) makes his earmark requests, or his "projects initiated by a member," public.
- Robert Novak writes about the crusade to stop earmarks and its opponents. Last week Rep. [sw: Jeff Flake] presented amendments challenging numerous earmarks in an appropriations bill only to lose every vote. He even failed to win the vote of the supposedly anti-earmark Majority Leader [sw: John Boehner] (R-Ohio), "At Charlie Palmer's restaurant last Wednesday, assembled Republican campaign contributors cheered as John Boehner was introduced as the majority leader who never has sponsored an earmark. Later that day, Boehner voted against each of Flake's attempted earmark removals. In the House, one conservative reformer commented to another seated beside him, 'With this leadership, we never will get rid of earmarks.'"
- Rep. [sw: Bill Young] (R-Flor.), a member of the Appropriations Committee, say that there are "no more earmarks." That's because, "We don't call them that anymore." According to Young, the chairman of the subcommittee on Defense Appropriations, the new term is "projects initiated by a member." Well, I'm glad we fixed that problem. No more earmarks to worry about.
- Who will take the tainted Appropriations seat vacated by ethical black holes [sw: Duke Cunningham] (R-Calif.) and [sw: Tom DeLay] (R-Tex.)? Looks like [sw: Ken Calvert] (R-Calif.) is still the front runner despite his Dennis Hastert-esque problems. The FBI pulled Calvert's financial disclosure forms and are looking into his connections to the law firm of Bill Lowery. Lowery's firm, under investigation in connection to earmarks secured by Jerry Lewis and the Duke Cunningham case, is one of the top donors to Calvert's reelection committee. Calvert has been accused of earmarking funds around a piece of land that he owned and subesquently sold for a massive profit. In one year Calvert's assets nearly doubled in worth from between $1.7 million and $3.65 million in 2004 to between $2.55 million and $5.25 million in 2005.
- [sw: Jerry Lewis] represents parts of the Inland Empire so why on earth do the cities and municipalities have to hire a lobbying firm to get funds from their congressman? The Los Angeles Times tries to answer the question and finds that nobody has a good answer. The Washington Post also digs deeper into the political action committee run by Julia Willis-Leon, Lewis' step-daughter, and the funds she receives from clients of Letitia White and the Lowery law firm.
- House Armed Services Chairman [sw: Duncan Hunter] (R-Calif.) is making his earmark requests public, according to the Washington Post. Normally earmarks remain hidden in bills only to be discovered by those who find them odious. Hunter has decided that transparency is necessary to defend the practice. Transparency also allows me to point out that two of his earmarks are to one of his biggest campaign donors, Titan, Inc. For more information Hunter's ties to Titan -- a very controversial defense contractor -- check out this blog post by Jason Vest at POGO.
Continue reading
Daylight Weekend Round-Up:
- The print media in Illinois continues to run with [sw: Dennis Hastert]'s land deal, a story that Bill Allison started here at Sunlight. The Chicago Tribune ran a big article over the weekend that included denials of wrongdoing by Hastert and his partners that centered around the incorrect distance of 5.5 miles from the proposed freeway to the land (maps show that the distance is between 2.5 and 3 miles, a distance that Hastert's partner Dallas Ingemunson confirms). The key point in the Trib article comes towards the end where we learn that Hastert has purchased 126 acres in Kendall County with the same business partners. Looks like he intends on receiving continued profits from the federal projects that he is pushing.
- At least 90 former Homeland Security officials from DHS and the White House's Office of Homeland Security left their government jobs to earn millions as lobbyists, executives, and consultants for companies seeking funds from these agencies, according to the New York Times.
- The Department of Homeland Security found the missing letter that [sw: Duke Cunningham] sent to urge the issuance of a contract to Shirlington Limousines. Defense contractor Mitchell Wade's plea agreement contained allegations that Shirlington was hired by Brent Wilkes, alleged Cunningham briber, to ferry prostitutes to the now jailed congressman as payment for his earmarking services. A grand jury is investigating Shirlington's connections to the Cunningham case and their government contracts.
- The lobbying firm at the center of the ethics cloud surrounding Appropriations Chairman [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-CA) is breaking up, according to the San Bernardino Sun. The two Democrats who are partners at the firm are bolting due to the investigations into two of the three Republican partners. No more shall we refer to the firm as Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White. The firm will now be referred to as Lowery Denton & White. Soon it will probably be called Denton.
Revolving Door Database
There's a terrific front page story today in the New York Times on the revolving door between former employees of the Department of Homeland Security (and other domestic security positions in the government) and the private sector. I was surprised -- but not shocked -- at the large numbers of high level officials who've served at this still young government agency who are now reaping big bucks in the private sector. The Times has posted the full list of former domestic security officials and where they are now working that they used for their study. but alas, it's not in a searchable form. That's a lost opportunity for others who might want to take what they've learned thus far and dig deeper.
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