Roll Call is reporting that the Justice Department is expanding their investigation in the Duke Cunningham case to include the actions of three House committees, Intelligence, Appropriations, and Armed Services. Justice investigators are "seeking to interview at least nine current or former staffers" on these three panels while "also seeking “tens of thousands of pages” of Congressional documents, some going back to 1997, related to Cunningham and government programs he may have had influence over". Many of the earmarks and projects created in the Intelligence and Armed Services Committees are "black" (classified) programs and the staffers and congressmen may decide to block investigators from obtaining information about these programs. The two defense contractors accused of bribing Duke Cunningham both received earmarks for controversial "black" programs. Mitchell Wade, who pled guilty to bribing Cunningham, had a "black" contract that was tied to domestic wiretapping. Brent Wilkes, who investigators have yet to indict, maintained "black" programs relating to rendition of prisoners.
Continue readingBest Real Estate Deal Ever:
Imagine if you could buy cheap real estate and then sell it for a large profit without having to fix up the property at all. All you would have to do is pick up a pen and write some earmarks to make your property more desirable. Well, if you need pointers on how to do this you should ask Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA). From the Los Angeles Times:
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) is an experienced investor in Riverside County's booming real estate market, so he's used to seeing prices change quickly. Last year, he and a partner paid $550,000 for a dusty four-acre parcel just south of March Air Reserve Base. Less than a year later, without even cutting the weeds or carting off old septic tank parts that littered the ground, they sold the land for almost $1 million. Even for a speculator like Calvert, it was an unusually good deal. During the time he owned the land, Calvert used the legislative process known as earmarking to secure $8 million for a planned freeway interchange 16 miles from the property, and an additional $1.5 million to support commercial development of the area around the airfield. A map of Calvert's recent real estate holdings and those of his partner shows many of them near the transportation projects he has supported with federal appropriations. And improvements to the transportation infrastructure have contributed to the area's explosive growth, according to development experts.As a kicker the Times story states that Calvert has also secured earmarked projects for campaign contributors, "including employees of the Washington lobbying firm of Copeland Lowery & Jacquez, his top political donor in the last election cycle." Lowery is the same Bill Lowery who is a part of the federal investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA). Continue reading
An Enriching Experience?
A page one story by Jeffrey Birnbaum in Monday’s Washington Post recounts the growing ethical cloud surrounding West Virginia Democratic congressman Alan Mollohan, now under investigation by federal authorities looking into federal money he funneled to agencies – and some business partners – in his congressional district.
To boost jobs in his district, Mollohan established a network of nonprofit organizations and helped deliver federal funds to them, often through earmarked appropriations. At the same time, he invested as a partner in real estate deals with the head of one of those agencies and with the owner of a company that’s received “substantial federal aid.” Those investments have proved lucrative indeed.
Continue readingBlacked Out:
The San Diego Union-Tribune delves into the details of the FBI's recently revealed investigation of the powerful Appropriations Chair Jerry Lewis (R-CA):
But a federal government source told The San Diego Union-Tribune that investigators were probing Lewis' dealings with lobbyist and former Republican Rep. Bill Lowery of San Diego. The source said the investigation was a spin-off from the corruption probe of now-imprisoned former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham.Lewis adamantly denies that he was a close friend of Cunningham's and stated that Cunningham "betrayed his oath of office, his constituents, and his fellow members of Congress." He does not of course mention this:
According to government and defense industry sources, Lewis and Cunningham worked together to help Poway military contractor Brent Wilkes as he pursued contracts on Capitol Hill. Cunningham admitted taking bribes from Wilkes, who has been identified as co-conspirator No. 1 in Cunningham's plea agreement. On April 15, 1999, three months after Lewis was named chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, he received $17,000 in campaign contributions from Wilkes and his associates. At the time, Wilkes was vying for a project to digitize military documents in the Panama Canal Zone, which the United States was about to return to Panama. ... On July 6, 1999, Wilkes wrote to Cunningham saying “We need $10 m(illion) more immediately . . . This is very important and if you cannot resolve this others will be calling also.” Wilkes' memo – contained in federal documents accompanying Cunningham's guilty plea – then named two people whose names were blacked out by the prosecutors. According to military and defense industry sources, Lewis and Cunningham got the money for Wilkes, founder of ADCS Inc., by using their clout to threaten the funding of the Pentagon's F-22 fighter jet.Laura Rozen at War and Piece has a picture up of the blacked out document where one of the blacked out names clearly begins with the letter "J". Continue reading
Weekend Fundraisers
Culled from invitations faxed to PAC leaders and lobbyists in Washington. This is not a complete list of fundraisers, only what we could track down for this weekend:
Republican Main Street Partnership PAC Members Retreat, Sanctuary Inn, Kiawah Island, SC. $3,000 per organization. Please join us for a very special event on Saturday Evening - May 13 - In Greenville, NC to honor Congressman Walter Jones with our special guest U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. Political Action Committees -- $1000 (includes reception and photo-op for 4 people. [Note: at the top of the invitation, it reads: "Attention All Pac Directors: Please note that this event is to be held in North Carolina. We would be delighted to have any of you regional people join us for this even if appropriate... {elipses in original}] Continue reading
The Business of Business is Government
Muckraked! (second item) notes a Government Executive report that tells us that auditors are going to look into the FAA's outsourcing of operations at 58 FAA flight centers around the country to Lockheed Martin. Already, the Transportation Department has realized that $500 million of the supposed $2.2 billion in savings will, well, not be realized.
Among other issues, the IG office plans to look into changes in projections for how much the agency expects to save. When the contract was awarded, FAA announced that private sector performance would save the government $2.2 billion over the life of the contract, based on a 10-year estimate for the 5-year base period with up to five extension years. In its announcement of the audit this week, the inspector general's office quoted an anticipated savings of $1.7 billion. Continue reading
Kentucky Governor Indicted:
Governor Ernie Fletcher (R-KY) was just indicted. From WHAS-11 News:
Governor Ernie Fletcher has been indicted by the Merit Hiring Grand Jury on charges of conspicacy to commit politcal discrimination. This is culmination of months of investigation by the Attorney General, Greg Stumbo and a blanket pardon from Governor Fletcher. It should be noted that the pardon does not include the governor.For some crib notes on this particular scandal check out TPM's Grand Ole Docket. Continue reading
CREW Asks for Criminal Investigation of Congressman:
It's against the law to solicit a trip or a gift of any value if you are a member of Congress. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is asking the Department of Justice to open an investigation into Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) to determine whether the congressman "violated federal law by soliciting a trip to Germany and Liechtenstein from the International Management and Development Institute (IMDI)."
Continue readingReturn on Investment:
Last month I wrote a post about the oil and gas industry's massive lobbying expenditures. Here's a look at that again: * ChevronTexaco $8,550,000 * ExxonMobil $7,140,000 * ConocoPhillips $5,098,084 * Marathon $4,290,000 * BP $2,880,000 * Occidental $2,042,177 * Shell $1,478,831 * Ashland $904,000 * Sunoco $540,000 * Anadarko $250,000 That's for a total of $33,173,092. Think Progress picks up a Wall Street Journal story to illustrate what you get for $33 million.
Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips beat back an attempt by senators to raise their taxes by nearly $6 billion. The Senate version of the bill at one point included a provision that would have cost the five largest oil companies — companies with average daily production of 500,000 barrels; gross receipts of more than $1 billion dollars in 2005 and an ownership in a refinery of 15% or more — about $5 billion by changing how they account for oil inventory. House Republicans dropped the provision from the final version of the bill. A separate Senate measure would have stripped $700 million in tax incentives for large oil companies to explore for oil and gas. That provision, too, was dropped from the compromise bill that emerged from House-Senate negotiations.The return on investment in lobbying is unbelievable when you look at it. The oil and gas companies spent $33 million and in return they saved $6 billion. Even once you add in campaign contributions - $25,622,789 from 2004, the last full election season - the amount that they put in to system gives them a monumental reward. Something like a 10,000% return on investment. Continue reading
More Great Quotes Courtesy Katherine Harris:
Last night Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) went on Hannity & Colmes and denied that there was a quid pro quo with her appropriation for the felonious defense contractor Mitchell Wade. From Crooks & Liars:
COLMES: Did Mitchell offer to hold a fundraiser for you? And did you ask for $10 million that would have gone to benefit his company? HARRIS: I asked for an appropriation for an authorized naval program in Sarasota, Florida, which would bring a lot of new jobs. So, clearly -- and, in the future, I had hoped that he would host one for me. COLMES: So there was a quid pro quo? HARRIS: There was no quid pro quo, ever.$32,000 in illegal campaign contributions. $2,800 meal at Washington's finest dining establishment. $10 million earmark for naval facility to be built by the guy who gave the illegal campaign contributions and paid for the French-American cuisine. Going on Hannity & Colmes so you can say incredibly stupid things. Priceless. Continue reading
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