Porter Goss, the head of the CIA, is resigning effective immediately. Ken Silverstein at Harpers.org alleged that Goss attended poker games with Duke Cunningham and Brent Wilkes that may have turned into parties with prostitutes. Could Goss' resignation be related? UPDATE: It seems that news organizations have no idea that Goss and his number three K. Dusty Foggo have had their names swirling around in a prostitution scandal. This bears all the hallmarks of getting out in front of a scandal and the media writes their pieces in the context of a staff shake-up. No successor. No warning. This definitely is not some Josh Bolten staff realignment. The next thing to watch for is what happens to Foggo. If he goes then this is big.
Continue readingFlipper:
Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) was for the pork before he was against it, says the Denver Post.
Continue readingBill Comparison:
Now that the House has passed a lobbying and ethics "reform" bill the two chambers of Congress will head into conference committee and try and hash out their two "reform" bills. The Federation of American Scientists has the Congressional Research Service report that offers a side-by-side comparison of the two bills. (PDF format only) This is well worth the read if you want to see what is/isn't included in these two bills and how each chamber took different approaches to the lobbying and ethics issue.
Continue readingMorning Stories:
- The Associated Press reports that Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) has publicly blamed his early Thursday morning car crash on a combination of prescription drugs (Phenergan and Ambien) that his doctor prescribed him. He has said that no alcohol was involved in the crash. Note to Congressmen: Don't drive on Ambien, it's a sleeping pill!
- According to the Wall Street Journal, authorites are investigating "whether a senior Navy official tried to steer business to" Custer Battles, a defense contractor that has already been ordered to pay $10 million in fines for defrauding the U.S. government. The Navy official is Douglas Combs, who served as "special assistant to then-acting Secretary of the Navy Hansford Johnson in 2003".
- Missouri Governor Matt Blunt (R) has imposed a ban on administration employees from receiving any lobbyist gifts amidst an FBI probe of his administration, according to the Kansas City Star.
- The Associated Press reports on the ongoing fight between the defense and prosecution in the David Safavian case over the prosecution's release of emails between Safavian and ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
- Alternet provides a one-stop round-up of all the information regarding the Duke Cunningham-Brent Wilkes-Prostitution scandal. Continue reading
Watergate Subpoenaed:
Justin Rood reports that the Watergate Hotel has been suboenaed in the congressional hooker scandal:
According to Graham [the assistant general manager], the Watergate has received multiple subpoenas in connection with the Wilkes Hookergate scandal. He went on to say that the hotel is complying with those subpoenas but that he couldn't discuss the content of the orders, nor could he discuss details of the investigation, "out of respect for our guests' privacy."Continue reading
In the Dark of the Night:
This does not sound good. From Roll Call:
Police labor union officials asked acting Chief Christopher McGaffin this afternoon to allow a Capitol Police officer to complete his investigation into an early-morning car crash involving Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.). According to a letter sent by Officer Greg Baird, acting chairman of the USCP FOP, the wreck took place at approximately 2:45 a.m. Thursday when Kennedy’s car, operating with its running lights turned off, narrowly missed colliding with a Capitol Police cruiser and smashed into a security barricade at First and C streets Southeast. ... “The driver exited the vehicle and he was observed to be staggering,” Baird’s letter states. Officers approached the driver, who “declared to them he was a Congressman and was late to a vote. The House had adjourned nearly three hours before this incident. It was Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy from Rhode Island.” Baird wrote that Capitol Police Patrol Division units, who are trained in driving under the influence cases, were not allowed to perform basic field sobriety tests on the Congressman. Instead, two sergeants, who also responded to the accident, proceeded to confer with the Capitol Police watch commander on duty and then “ordered all of the Patrol Division Units to leave the scene and that they were taking over.”Kennedy did recently get into an accident in Rhode Island. Maybe he just can't drive. As they say in the business, this story is unfolding... Continue reading
An Invitation to Obfuscation
I don't know the answer to this question, but I note that the text of the House's Lobby Disclosure Act, available here for the time being, potentially offers lawmakers a lot of wiggle room for mischief in the way it defines "earmarks." The bill, which require lawmakers to put their names to the earmarks they sponsor, describes them this way:
For purposes of this section, the term 'earmark' means a provision in a bill, joint resolution, or conference report, or language in an accompanying committee report or joint statement of managers, providing a specific amount of discretionary budget authority to a non-Federal entity, if such entity is identified by name. (emphases added)So if a member of Congess requests, say, $700 million to go towards a grant program adminstered by the Federal Railroad Administration for local rail line relocation and improvement projects, or if a lawmaker inserts a provision granting $230 million to be used by the competent traffic authority in any state whose territory was purchased during the presidential terms of Abraham Lincoln, to connect any island with an airport on it to the mainland, then would such lawmaker have to identify himself? Continue reading
This is Reform?
I'm late in posting today because I've had to calm down after digesting what the House did and didn't do yesterday in the name of "ethics and lobbying" reform. Just how stupid do members of Congress think we are? This package of reforms doesn't pass the straight-faced test, even those provisions that deal with disclosure.
Congress is still living in the last century even though we are ten years into the Age of the Internet. Here's what I mean: Even after the passage of these "reforms" (I can't use that word without quotations to indicate what it sham they are) lawmakers still file their financial disclosure forms on travel, gifts and legal expense funds in paper form only; House members and candidates file their campaign finance data with the FEC and Senate and candidates file paper records with the Secretary of Senate, who sends the data to the FEC. The FEC hires inputters to hand-type the computer printouts into computer-readable format. Only official foreign travel by House lawmakers and senior staf reported on line and that's done in unsearchable ways. No need to rattle on about the other 18th century ways information about what lawmakers is made available. You get the point.
Continue readingIn Blog Daylight:
- Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) likes to spend his campaign cash on himself, according to Harpers.org. Over the past eight years Weldon has spent $80,000 of his campaign funds on meals, $30,000 on hotels, purchased a personal computer, and went to a number of spas, to name just a few of Weldon's indulgences.
- Ken Silverstein also has more (see updates) at Harpers.org on Shirlington Limousines, the limousine company that allegedly delivered members of Congress, defense and CIA officials, and prostitutes to "hospitality suites". TPM Muckraker has more updates on this "play for pay" scandal. You can read it here, here, and here. Josh Marshall also has more here.
- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called on the House Ethics Committee to investigate Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) after a second associate of Jefferson's pled guilty yesterday, according to MyDD. Of course, a member of Congress has to refer Jefferson to the ethics committee since outside complaints are not allowed to be considered anymore. Somebody? Anybody? (crickets chirping)
- Out of touch Representative of the day: Mary Bono (R-CA). (from Raw Story)
Emergency Supplemental Passes:
The pork-laden emergency supplemental bill passed the Senate today with 70 "yea" votes. The 70 votes means that some Senators would have to flip-flop if they didn't want to override President Bush's first veto of his presidency. The President has threatened to veto the emergency supplemental because of the excess spending, however the President has previously signed a bill that he had threatened to veto for the same reasons. That would be the 2005 transportation appropriations bill, which at one point included the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere". Tim Chapman has more at the Capitol Report and NZ Bear at Porkbusters posts a list of votes for and against Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) pork stripping amendments.
Continue reading
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