We continue with our list of Washington fundraisers. The principal invitees are heads of PACs and Washington lobbyists.
Please join the Hon. Bill Brewster, David Thompson, AT Johnston, Chad Istook of the Capitol Hill Consulting Group for an evening of fun and food -- featuring a Lasershot shooting event honoring Congressman Gresham Barrett (R-SC) Financial Services, Budget, International Relations. 499 S. Capitol Street, SE, Suite 608, Washington, DC 20003. Suggested Contribution: $1,000 PAC, $500 Individual.Continue reading
Ex-Ney Staffer to Testify Against Bush Administration Official:
The Associated Press is reporting that Neil Volz, the former chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), is planning to testify in the corruption case of ex-government procurement official and Jack Abramoff buddy David Safavian. Volz will testify that Safavian suggested the inclusion of "language into legislation that would have conveyed to Abramoff some GSA-controlled property in Maryland". Safavian stand accused of "concealing from GSA investigators and a Senate committee his involvement with Abramoff's efforts to acquire GSA-controlled property."
Continue readingAfternoon News:
- Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), under fire for allegedly soliciting bribes in a telecommunications deal, defiantly declared that he will not resign, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Jefferson, who has been named in two plea deals, made this statement, "No one wants to be indicted. I certainly do not and I certainly do not want anyone -- a family member or a close associate -- to be indicted. But I am prepared to answer these charges formally when and if the time comes. . . . I would take full responsibility for any crime that I committed, if that were the case. But I will not plead guilty to something I did not do, no matter how things are made to look and no matter the risk."
- The House Ethics Committee has announced an interim plan to review private travel for members and staff. The plan would involve voluntary cooperation by the persons or groups paying for the travel. These persons could, if they wanted, receive certification for the trip by providing the names of all persons on the trip, including relatives of the lawmaker or staffer; a detailed description of the trip, including an itinerary and agenda; a description of all travel expenses and the source of all expenses; a representation that none of the expenses were covered by a registered lobbyist, lobbying firm, or foreign agent. The Ethics Committee has made no declaration as to whether these documents would be available for public consumption.
- The Wall Street Journal reports that anonymous earmarks continue to be written despite the enormous amount of negative attention they have received in the past six months.
Comedy Comes to Congresspedia
Congresspedia now has links to the Colbert Report for each member interviewed in his "Better Know a District" series. You would never know that learning about your member of Congress could be so entertaining. Check it out, like Craig Newmark has, on the home page of Congresspedia.org.
Continue readingOn assignment…
In the first installment of my first foray into the Assignment Desk assignment, I visited the Crystal City location for which Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., my voice in Congress, secured a pittance--$3.3 million--to build,
a two-lane busway connecting Crystal City in Arlington and Potomac Yard in Arlington/Alexandria. Funding will go towards building additional bus station stops and pedestrian/bicycle accommodations. The busway will provide dedicated bus lanes and bus station stops for Metrobuses, ART buses, and DASH buses serving the corridor.As I noted, the area's not exactly the sort of place one expects to see people waiting under a bus shelter to ride from their million-dollar-plus condo to the Target at Potomac Yard. In today's installment, I thought I'd take a look at what lies behind the landscape, as it were. So let's start in the north, from the finished part of Crystal City, and see if we can't identify some of the interests in the area. Continue reading
Not Reading the Paper:
Last night President Bush proposed a National ID card to help identify legal citizens and control illegal immigration. Garance Franke-Ruta at TAPPED asks if Bush's speechwriters read the New York Times before writing this part of the speech:
Whoever wrote this speech obviously hasn't been reading The New York Times lately, or he'd have known that the reason we don't have a tamper-proof card already is because of the self-dealing ways of a certain Kentucky Republican known to his local paper as "The Prince of Pork".That "Prince of Pork" happens to be Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), notorious for his earmarking:
Instead, the road to delivering this critical antiterrorism tool has taken detours to locations, companies and groups often linked to Representative Harold Rogers, a Kentucky Republican who is the powerful chairman of the House subcommittee that controls the Homeland Security budget. It is a route that has benefited Mr. Rogers, creating jobs in his home district and profits for companies that are donors to his political causes. The congressman has also taken 11 trips — including six to Hawaii — on the tab of an organization that until this week was to profit from a no-bid contract Mr. Rogers helped arrange. Work has even been set aside for a tiny start-up company in Kentucky that employs John Rogers, the congressman's son. "Something stinks in Corbin," said Jay M. Meier, senior securities analyst at MJSK Equity Research in Minneapolis, which follows the identification card industry, referring to the Kentucky community of 8,000 that has perhaps benefited the most from Mr. Rogers's interventions. "And it is the sickest example of what is wrong with our homeland security agenda that I can find."The Washington Post previously reported on Rogers' homeland security largesse. The congressman had gotten funds for Reveal Technologies, his largest PAC contributor, to provide small and medium sized explosion-detection scanners to airports through funds in the Transport Security Administration budget. The scanners wound up running at a quarter of the speed of larger machines. So, if you're upset about the lack of movement on a National ID card (as the President ought to be considering his speech last night) or if you are standing in a long line while somebody's bags get searched by a slow machine you can always raise your fist and shake it at Rep. Hal Rogers. Continue reading
A Day Well Spent
The Sunlight staff spent yesterday at the Personal Democracy Forum conference (podcasts are available), a day well spent. After comparing notes this morning each of us came away with new information and new connections in the intersecting worlds of technology and politics. If you were there you know what I mean. Probably best of all we had a chance to meet some of our colleagues (like Josh Koenig at Trellon who is principally responsible for this website) and Michael Bassik of MSHC Partners who designed our Congresspedia web ads. (We'd never met even though Michael's office in just down the block from ours!). Alas, there were lots of folks there that I wanted to connect with, but didn't have a chance, like Mike Krempasky of RedState.org, Rebecca Donatelli of Campaign Solutions, Joe Green of Essembly.com and Jerome Armstrong, but knowing that we were all there gives me the excuse to call them up -- or email them -- to try to get together for coffee or lunch. And finally, there were some wonderful longstanding colleagues like David Donnelly, Allison Fine, and Nancy Watzman to brainstorm with about the future directions of Sunlight. All in all, quite the remarkable collection of people.
Continue readingEx-Lawmakers Turned Lobbyists Total:
Political Money Line released a report yesterday that shows that 318 ex-lawmakers currently work as lobbyists in Washington. The Hill reports, "Washington is a seductive force, according to a new report that finds it has become routine for members of Congress to take jobs on K Street after retiring from public service — rather than returning to their home districts." Another 120 and you'd have a shadow Congress operating out of K Street.
Continue readingWorry Warts:
Roll Call is reporting that House Republicans are "growing uneasy with the increasingly aggressive tactics being employed by the Justice Department in its burgeoning corruption probe of Congress". Some believe that the Justice Department has "gone too far in their techniques" and that prosecutors are trying to "get" a Congressman. Rep. Bob Ney's (R-OH) replacement as House Administration Chairman Vern Ehlers (R-MI) voiced these concerns, "A number of Members are very concerned about the way the Justice Department is investigating." Noel Hillman, the former lead prosecutor at Justice's Public Integrity Unit, stated that he did pursue more aggressive means than previous prosecutors stating that he led a "more aggressive [approach] in the ways we investigate the cases: the more effective use of cooperators, the more effective use of undercover techniques, the consensual recordings." One example cited by Congressmen upset over the aggressive techniques is the searching of Rep. William Jefferson's (D-LA) car while it was on Congressional grounds. Buried within the article is a simple statement by Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA) that explains the problems that many Americans have with Congress nowadays.
Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.), a member of the Judiciary Committee and former California attorney general, said he was growing concerned that some prosecutors and the media were viewing the simple act of accepting campaign contributions from donors with similar legislative agendas as a criminal act. With Members “put into a situation” in which they need to constantly raise money, Lungren noted that each party has found natural bases of donors who support each other’s agendas. But that, he said, doesn’t add up to the criminal level of a “fairly delineated quid pro quo.”The need to constantly raise money puts Congressmen in situations where it oftens seems that they are being bribed, whether they are or not. What Lungren implies, although he would certainly disagree with the way that I read the implications, is that the problem lies in what is actually legal - the honest graft. Continue reading
Mollohan to Admit Misstating on Financial Disclosure Forms:
Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV), under fire for writing earmarks to non-profits that he founded while his personal finances skyrocketed, plans on admitting, as early as today, "that he misstated some transactions in his congressional filings". According to the Washington Post Mollohan plans to explain how his personal wealth grew so fast while also admitting that he misstated a number of items in his personal financial disclosure forms. The Post also gives a good explanation of the history of Mollohan's string of non-profits which he created to diversify the West Virginia economy.
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