My colleague Bill Allison came up with a new lede for the Washington Post story today on Alan Mollohan's (D-WV) defense of his securing earmarks for campaign contributors:
The former ranking minority member of the House Ethics Committee said he saw nothing wrong with using his position on the appropriations committee to secure federal funding for the organizations and companies of friends, former staffers, and his own real estate partners.Apparently, Mollohan thinks that there is no reason that anybody should question him for investing with his campaign contributors who have received million dollar earmarks from him. Nothing to see here! Continue reading
Ethics free zone
Crazy Politico notes the same Washington Post article that shocked me this morning. I think, though, it could have been framed a little better. Here's how I would have written the lede:
The former ranking minority member of the House Ethics Committee said he saw nothing wrong with using his position on the appropriations committee to secure federal funding for the organizations and companies of friends, former staffers, and his own real estate partner.Well, glad he cleared that up for us! Continue reading
Abramoff’s Bargain Hunting:
Jack Abramoff liked to go bargain hunting. Only he had a particular way of doing it. Instead of looking in the $2.99 bins at Filene's or driving around to garage sales that he found in the back of the City Paper he would email his buddy David Safavian at the General Services Administration to get discounted stuff sold by the government. The Washington Post provides more email exchanges between the two:
"I have a need to buy a stretch limo for the restaurant," Abramoff wrote, referring to Signatures, the downtown establishment he owned. "Are there any coming up on any of the GSA drug property sales?" Safavian, according to the documents recently filed by Justice Department prosecutors at U.S. District Court, wrote back that the GSA does not auction off seized cars. But he added that he was ready to help: "Let me call a friend at the Marshall's Service. They handle drug seizures." Abramoff replied: "I was thinking of the druggies bounty. No problem. Thanks, see you Friday."Safavian has been charged with lying about Abramoff's desire to do business with the GSA so that he could take a golfing trip to Scotland. Continue reading
Oil Slick Threatens Capitol Hill
In the face of outraged constituents stung deeply by the ever-rising cost of gassing up the family sedan, SUV or pickup truck, members of Congress are scrambling to look at rollbacks to recent tax breaks for the oil industry. The one-two punch of sky high gas prices and record-breaking oil industry profits looks to be one of this year’s biggest political hot potatoes in every congressional district in the land.
The job of trimming back the oil companies is likely to be a more painful one for Republicans, however, since the oil industry has historically given a lopsided majority of its campaign funds to GOP members.
Continue readingScandal Checklist:
Bribery? Check! Shady defense contractors with possible connections to domestic spying? Check! Congressman behind bars? Check! And finally, hookers? Check! If scandals were judged like Olympic contests I'd have to give this one a 9.1. Anyways, go read Justin Rood for more. Here's a couple paragraphs from the Wall Street Journal article:
Mr. Wade in February pleaded guilty to giving bribes of more than $1 million to Mr. Cunningham, including cash, antiques and payment for yachts. Mr. Wade, who hasn't been sentenced yet, is cooperating with prosecutors. According to people with knowledge of the investigation, Mr. Wade told investigators that Mr. Cunningham periodically phoned him to request a prostitute, and that Mr. Wade then helped to arrange for one. A limousine driver then picked up the prostitute as well as Mr. Cunningham, and drove them to one of the hotel suites, originally at the Watergate Hotel, and subsequently at the Westin Grand. Mr. Wade told investigators that all the arrangements for these services had been made by Mr. Wilkes and two employees of Mr. Wilkes's company, according to people with knowledge of his debriefing. He said Mr. Wilkes had rented the hotel suites and found the limousine driver, who had "relationships" with several escort services. Mr. Wade told prosecutors that sometimes Mr. Cunningham would contact him to request these services, and he would pass on the request to Mr. Wilkes or his employees, who then made the actual arrangement. Mr. Wade said that other times Mr. Cunningham called Mr. Wilkes directly to make the requests.The FBI is looking into whether other lawmakers benefited from this arrangement as well. Continue reading
No Outcry:
The House Republicans feel that they can push a "relatively tepid ethics bill" because they are not hearing about ethics from constituents, according to today's Washington Post. Rep. David Hobson (R-OH) said, "We panicked, and we let the media get us panicked." Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-CT) believes that "the rhetoric of reform is just political." Unfortunately for these lawmakers some historians see them misreading the public. L. Sandy Maisel, a professor of government at Colby College said, "When you combine [the ethics issue] with the general dissatisfaction with the way in which we are governed ... I think the breaking point might be near." As you can see from the posts here, the ethics issue cuts across party lines. What we need is a reform that balances out the crimes committed.
Continue readingBurns’ Massive Earmark; Coburn’s Amendment:
According to Knight Ridder Newspapers, Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) inserted one of the largest earmarks into the controversial emergency spending legislation for Katrina and Iraq. Burns' earmark totals $3.9 billion and is meant "to help farmers hurt by any natural disaster, not just last year's hurricanes. The money includes aid to offset the high costs of oil, making agriculture one of the few industries to get energy-related assistance." Meanwhile Tom Coburn's (R-OK) amendment to kill the railroad relocation in Mississippi, derisively labeled the "railroad to nowhere", failed in a 49-48 vote. Some those voting to keep the $700 million railroad relocation earmark in the spending bill "were several of the 35 senators who had pledged earlier in the day to back Bush's veto if he cast it." UPDATE: NZ Bear at Porkbusters has a roll call of those voting against Coburn's amendment.
Continue readingIn Blog Daylight:
- Ken Silverstein has a must-read post on earmarks at Harpers.org. Here's a slice of the action:
Consider here the tangled tale of Representative Pete Visclosky, an Indiana Democrat and a powerhouse on the House defense appropriations subcommittee, and a Washington lobby shop called The PMA Group. In November 2004, Visclosky secured a $900,000 earmark—the final tranche of $6.9 million in federal funding he won—to build the Purdue Technology Center, a high-tech “business incubator” in Merrillville, Indiana. Two months later, Visclosky participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the inauguration of the center. Visclosky also took credit for recruiting four of the center's seven charter firms, 21st Century Systems of Virginia, ProLogic of West Virginia, ACT-I of Texas, and Sierra Nevada of Nevada. But on closer inspection, Visclosky's actions are less like “recruiting” and more like “quid pro quo.” According to campaign finance records, all four of those firms have donated generously to Visclosky in the past, with ProLogic giving $19,000 to Visclosky since last year—making it the leading donor for his current reelection campaign. Sierra Nevada, ACT-I and, 21st Century are each on the list of the top-20 donors.
- Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit provides a Porkbusters Update. Reynolds quotes a report that indicates that Senators Bill Frist (R-TN), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) have put together "34 Senate signatures on a letter backing the veto threat the President laid out yesterday on the groaning Senate supplemental."
- Tim Shoop at Govexec's FedBlog writes about all those lawmakers justifying the earmarking practice. His take on it: "That's right folks. Hundreds of congressmen jockeying and horse-trading for approval of their pet projects is better than experienced professionals--accountable to their politically appointed overseers--making rational decisions about how to most effectively distribute appropriated dollars."
Drudge Headline:
"Pork plant to close for immigration rally..." I guess Congress is closed on Monday.
Continue readingCoburn Site Offers Earmark Info
The official Web site of Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., offers an "earmark toolkit" for visitors. The most useful element is the summary of the appropriations process and the means by which members secure funding for their pet projects. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more information on individual earmarks or, alternatively, lists of them all, although given the fine work that many others have done identifying them in appropriations bills (most notably, Taxpayers for Common Sense and Porkbusters), there’s little reason for a Senate office to duplicate their efforts.
Continue reading
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