The New York Times reports that a juror has been dismissed from the federal corruption trial of David Safavian. The jury has been deliberating for one day over the verdict.
Continue readingSweet Deal for Asa Hutchinson
Dennis Hastert is not the only government official running into trouble with less-than-revealing personal financial disclosure reports – though don’t miss Bill Allison’s report if you haven’t already seen it. The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported last week that former Congressman and Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson – running these days for Governor of Arkansas – has come under fire for failing to report a million-dollar investment windfall.
Continue readingGoogle the Government:
Let's all welcome Google into the business of government searching. Google has launched a government search engine. Check it out.
Continue readingDaylight AM:
- Yet another city is subpoenaed in the investigation into Appropriations Chairman [sw: Jerry Lewis]' (R-Calif.) earmarking practices. The San Bernardino Sun reports that Highland, California has become the eighth city, county, or university to receive a subpoena in the federal investigation. The Sun also notes the debate over earmarks that took place on the floor of the House yesterday as [sw: Jeff Flake] (R-Ariz.) forced members to defend their earmarks. Unfortunately, the House voted by 6 to 1 margins to maintain all of the earmarks, which included a $500,000 earmark placed by Lewis to renovate a swimming pool in Banning, California. The Banning swimming pool had previously received a combined $500,000 in earmarks from Lewis.
- Not only did Majority Leader [sw: John Boehner] (R-Ohio) return to the House leadership in an unexpected victory last year, but he also won $2,700 at the slots. Boehner was waiting for an aide at a "pit stop" in northern Michigan and "decided to play the slots ... and won."
- Jeffrey Shockey, revolving door poster boy and central figure to the [sw: Jerry Lewis] scandal, revised his 2004 financial disclosure forms to show that he made $500,000 more from his former lobbying clients while he was working in Lewis' office.
- Roll Call reports that the Senate' millionaires club has expanded by one to 46 Senators. [sw: John Kerry] (D-Mass.) and [sw: Jay Rockefeller] (D-W. Va.) still sit atop the list while presidential aspirant Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) reported $19,000 in negative net worth. That makes for a total of $2 million.
- The GOP is trying to find a balance on spending restraint and earmark reform, according to The Hill. Republicans in the Senate are "trying to salvage a spending-reform provision empowering individual senators to strip new earmarks out of conference reports without handing the rank and file unlimited power to wage wars of attrition to defeat bills they do not like."
- The Hill has a run-down on the personal finances of members that were released yesterday.
Members Disclose Finances:
Today the personal financial disclosure forms of members of Congress were released to a public eager to know that they elected people who make vastly more than the average American to rule this country. Who flew your member to some exotic locale? How much property or stock does your member own? Check it out for yourself at Political Money Line. And remember, Duke Cunningham went to jail because of one enterprising journalist who was searching through his financial disclosure and found a real estate deal that just didn't look right. Have at it!
Continue readingPork Wars:
The stuff you miss when you go out to lunch. Today, Rep. [sw: Jeff Flake] (R-Ariz.) challenged earmarks on the floor of the House. This was an outgrowth of the all-out Pork War between Flake, [sw: Mike Pence] (R-Ind.) and their nemisis Appropriations Chairman [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-Calif.) that began during the debate on lobbying, ethics, and earmark reform. Tim Chapman at Townhall's Capitol Report and Andy Roth from the Club for Growth blog have both blogged the debate. Rep. [sw: Henry Bonilla] (R-Tex.) took the floor to proclaim his displeasure in Flake's earmark challenges by telling Flake that his amendments to strip the earmarks out of the legislation were "the definition of 'insanity'." Earmark hall of famer [sw: Alan Mollohan] (D-W.Va.) makes a cameo -- defending one of his earmarks.
Continue readingNey No Longer Flying the Friendly Skies:
Rep. [sw: Bob Ney] (R-Ohio) didn't meet a private jet flight that he didn't like. That is until he became entangled in the lobbying scandal surrounding the activities of Jack Abramoff. Ney's involvement in the scandal is tied to a private jet trip that he took with Abramoff and associates to the storied links in Scotland. Now, the previously high-flying Ney, is grounded:
After accepting 131 trips worth $234,775 in 4 1/2 years, Ney and his staff haven't let a private outside group pay for their travel since June 14, 2005, according to a previous report. No trips were listed on the report released Wednesday and dated May 15.Continue reading
Dennis Hastert’s Real Estate Investments
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has used an Illinois trust to invest in real estate near the proposed route of the Prairie Parkway, a highway project for which he's secured $207 million in earmarked appropriations. The trust has already transferred 138 acres of land to a real estate development firm that has plans to build a 1,600-home community, located less than six miles from the north-south connector Hastert has championed in the House. Hastert's 2005 financial disclosure form, released today, makes no mention of the trust. Hastert lists several real estate transactions in the disclosure, all of which were in fact done by the trust. Kendall County public records show no record of Hastert making the real estate sales he made public today; rather, they were all executed by the trust.
Continue readingThe Logic of Cold, Hard Cash
A couple of weeks ago the puns were flying everywhere around Capitol Hill as Members expressed outrage – and no shortage of pluckish humor – when the FBI turned up $90,000 in cash in Congressman William Jefferson’s freezer. Comments about the power of cold, hard cash abounded everywhere – including this blog. Others talked about frozen assets and the like. Everyone got a good yuk except Jefferson, who gamely suggested there was a more benign explanation for those freeze-wrapped stacks of cash, though he was not at liberty to talk about it just yet.
Continue readingMorning News:
- The federal government spent over $1.4 billion on fraudulent assistance to fake victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. One man spent 70 days at a hotel in Hawaii on taxpayer money.
- [sw: Alan Mollohan] (D-WV), who resigned his seat on the House Ethics Committee after he became the subject of a federal inquiry, released corrections to his financial disclosure forms yesterday, according to the New York Times. Mollohan "filed some two dozen corrections to his past six annual financial disclosure forms, saying his accountant had uncovered 'a relative handful of unintentional and immaterial mistakes.'" He had left out one major transaction in which in he took out a "$2.3 million 'back-to-back loan'". Mollohan stated that he did not feel that he had to report this previously because the net value was zero.
- The judge ruling in the David Safavian trial is weighing whether to toss a juror because she spoke to persons outside of the juror pool about the case. The prosecution wants her tossed, while the defense wants her to stay.
- The Defense Appropriations bill for FY 07 contains $1 billion less in earmarks than the previous year's bill did. Well, they did get rid of [sw: Duke Cunningham], so that's about what I'd expect.
- Yesterday Redstate reported that [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-CA), under fire for earmarking and connections to lobbyists, inserted a $500,000 earmark to renovate the swimming pool in Banning, California. Today, the San Bernardino Sun picks up the story along with criticism of Lewis from his fellow caucus members. Jeff Flake (R-AZ): "It's just ridiculous. Cities ought to pay for their own pools." Banning is represented by lobbyist David Turch, who has lost numerous county and municipal clients to the now-radioactive lobbying firm of Copeland Lowery Jacquez and White.
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