An article in this morning's Washington Post, Jonathan Weissman writes of CSX rail relocation project:
The real impetus appears to be economic. For more than half a dozen years, Mississippi officials, development planners and tourism authorities have dreamed of the complex restructuring of Mississippi's coastal transportation system that Lott and Cochran now want to set in motion. Under the plan, the CSX line -- which runs a few blocks off the coast line -- would be scrapped. CSX would move its freight traffic to existing tracks to the north owned by rival Norfolk Southern. Continue reading
The Character of Jack Abramoff:
Prior to Jack Abramoff's recent sentencing in Florida his friends and acquaintances sent the judge a stream of risible letters pleading for leniency. Abramoff would lend his friends and neighbors money, save a little girl's hamster, and use stolen money from Indian tribes to donate to your campaign committee... oh wait, forget about that last one. See, Abramoff was a good guy with a big heart who got caught up in the corrupt world of Washington. There's just something in the air here that makes you want to steal tens of millions of dollars. Unfortunately, there is a mound of evidence that shows that Abramoff was in fact of dubious character. Ken Silverstein at Harpers.org shovels some more onto that pile:
Continue readingBirnbaum Live Chat:
Birnbaum caught my question in today's live chat:
Washington, D.C.: Jeff, in your article today you quote three current lobbyists who all agree that Tom DeLay could make a killing on K Street. All of these quoted lobbyists are also partisan political operatives. Are their statements of support indicative of broad lobbyist support for a DeLay to K Street move or is it just partisans backing their friend? Could you give us the view of a non-Republican lobbyist? washingtonpost.com: Today's Column: Lobbyists Say DeLay Could Be One of Them Jeffrey Birnbaum: This is an excellent question. Among the best answers I got were two lobbyists who did not want to be quoted by name. Both were Democrats. But because I prefer naming my sources (for the sake of good journalism), I didn't include their responses in the column. You will be interested to learn that they split on the subject of whether DeLay would be an effective lobbyist. Both headed major law firm lobbying practices. One said that firms would be crazy to hire a person under such a legal cloud (though he understood that some firms might) and the other said, like the the others I quoted, that DeLay would surely be a hot commodity. DeLay certainly knows where the bodies are buried, this lobbyist said, and unearthing them is worth a lot to paying clients.(click for more) Continue reading
Could Tom DeLay Become a Lobbyist?:
Why are lobbyists, who are attempting to retain their credibility and "integrity" in the face of mounting influence-peddling scandals in Washington, thinking of hiring the scandal-plagued former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX)? Jeff Birnbaum of the Washington Post reports from a lobbyists' dinner where Tom DeLay was "the elephant in the room":
While dinner participants were praising the many good deeds they do, other lobbyists around town were expressing their eagerness to hire DeLay. As long as he isn't forced to wear an orange jumpsuit (and possibly even then), those lobbyists said, DeLay could easily become a lobbyist himself and make a lot of money. That isn't exactly what you'd call the gold standard of integrity.These lobbyists would love to bring DeLay's prodigious talent at manipulating the political process to ram bills through the Congress to their respective lobbying firms. Here are some choice quotes from these virtuous lobbyists:
"He could come over here and be my boss if he wanted to be." - Charles Black, chairman of BKSH & Associates "He would be an enormously successful lobbyist. I can't think of anybody who has more friends on Capitol Hill or, more important, more understanding of the process and the rules on Capitol Hill." - Wayne Berman, Federalist Group LLC "Tom would find a lot of places where he would be quite sought after downtown ... He's beloved by the House Republicans. If he wanted to do it, he would find a lot of people interested in hiring him." - former Rep. Vin Weber (R-MN), Clark & WeinstockAs it turns out these lobbyists aren't exactly the most nonpartisan folks in town. They each have the same reason to like DeLay so much. Black is a former advisor to Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush, a political consultant to Sens. Bob Dole and Jesse Helms, and serves on the board of directors of the American Conservative Union. Black also lobbies on behalf of the controversial Lincoln Group, the contractor assigned with putting pro-American propaganda into Iraqi newspapers. Berman was the subject of much controversy during the 2000 election when, as a top Bush fundraiser, he was asked by the campaign to cease fundraising activities due to his connections to a major corruption scandal in Connecticut. He is currently a loobyist for ChevronTexaco. Weber, a former Republican congressman and Project for a New American Century signatory, recently lobbied on behalf of the Dubai Ports company DP World in the battle to acquire a number of major American ports. These quoted lobbyists are all partisan political operatives, not mere representatives of the lobbying community writ large. These quotes represent the bias of their partisan affiliation more than an actual appraisal of Tom DeLay's worth and risk in moving to K Street. But then again, these guys might just think that Tom is a victim of a witch hunt targeting Christians. NOTE: Birnbaum will be doing a Live Discussion at the Washington Post website at 1 pm if you have any questions for him. Continue reading
Reoriented Express
One of the first things I do when I'm investigating something is to collect--and, of course, to read--as many relevant documents as I can. Establishing a paper trail is a useful exercise for any number of reasons, not least because it gives you a sense of the chronology, and understanding of the issues involved, leads on who to ask for more information, and government agencies put out reams of reports and documents on their work. The "Reoriented Express" -- the effort to move a stretch of railrod track owned by CSX from its current position, somewhere between a quarter and a half mile from the beaches of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, to an inland position -- has generated its share of paper. There was a 1995 report prepared for the Gulf Regional Planning Commission, followed by a report and Web site set up by the Gulf Coast Railroad Relocation Project. That latter report was the first to note the prohibitive price tag for moving the railroad inland; it offered rough cost estimates for three different inland routes:
The test alignment within Corridor 1 has a unit cost of $36.0 million per mile, and a total cost of $2,683,695,296.
The test alignment within Corridor 2 has a unit cost of $22.8 million per mile and a total cost of $1,804,661,425.
The test alignment within Corridor 3 has a unit cost of $22.8 million per mile and a total cost of $2,437,212,170.Continue reading
More News:
- According to Florida Today, Florida Congressman Dave Weldon (R) said that "he had no idea that Edwin Buckham" had a stake in Map Roi when he wrote a $1.55 million earmark to Florida Tech, of which $500,000 went to Map Roi. The original Los Angeles Times story quoted a university newletter that pronounced, "U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon was instrumental in bringing Map Roi to Florida Tech."
- The Washington Post reports on a taxpayer funded junket that Senators Arlen Spector (R-PA) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) are on right now to visit "the actual birthplace of the matzoh ball." Okay, they're also talking about drug interdiction, guest worker plans, and global warming but it's Passover so I had to go with the matzoh ball angle.
- The West Viringia media has been picking up the Mollohan story. Here's a story from the West Virginia State Journal. Continue reading
Beelzebub in the Briefs
Sorry for the title of this post--I was looking for a play on "the devil is in the details," (devil in the digest? Satan in the summaries?), and this one is hardly satisfactory. Buried at the bottom of a column in today's Washington Post was a shorter version of this item:
Senator Asks Navy to Aid Shipyards Hit by Katrina
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) is pressing the Navy to pay for hurricane damage to Northrop Grumman Corp. shipyards in his home state that the firm's insurer won't cover.
The Senate Appropriations Committee, which Cochran chairs, added language to an emergency spending bill that could force the Navy -- against its wishes -- to give the company, the service's No. 1 shipbuilder, as much as $500 million.
The Navy says it is negotiating with Northrop on payment of some damage costs. The emergency spending request that the House approved directs the Navy not to pay costs that insurance may cover.
Northrop is suing Factory Mutual Insurance Co. of Johnston, R.I., for denying claims to its shipyards in Pascagoula, Miss., but says it needs the money now.
Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman employs 10,000 workers at its Ingalls unit in Pascagoula.Continue reading
Rehberg Took Money from Lobbyist’s Firm:
In light of this story today's news from the Helena Independent Record seems especially interesting. In 2003 Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) received a $1,000 check from a member of Team Abramoff, Kevin Ring, on the same day that Abramoff's law firm inked a deal with Clark County in Montana at Rehberg's recommendation.
Records show Rehberg’s campaign cashed a $1,000 check on March 31, 2003, from lobbyist Kevin Ring, a close associate of Abramoff’s at the Greenberg Traurig lobby house. The same day, the campaign reported cashing a second $1,000 check from Greenberg Traurig’s political action committee. Records show the lobby house wrote the check in early February, but Rehberg didn’t cash it until the end of March.Clark County was attempting to get the "main thoroughfare" through the county paved when Rehberg suggested that they hire Ring, a former staffer to Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) and Sen. John Ashcroft (R-MO). In July 2003 Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) finalized the bill that included the $9.6 million to pave the gravel road in the county. Baucus received $500 from another Greenberg Traurig lobbyist the day that Clark County inked the deal, April 3rd. However, Baucus never recommended the lobby firm or Ring to the county. Rehberg said that the campaign money didn't matter to him. But if Abramoff's emails and dealings with the NRCC tell us anything, it's that campaign contributions are the Holy Grail for lawmakers and they are willing to walk across invisible bridges to get them. Continue reading
The Reoriented Express
There's a lot of interesting information over at Porkbusters (just keep scrolling) on the $700 million earmark that Trent Lott inserted in an emergency appropriations bill to relocate a stretch of coast-hugging CSX rail track inland (the original AP story describing it is here). N.Z. Bear links to some photos that Ed Frank of Americans for Prosperity took of a small section of track and the surrounding (Katrina flattened) architecture. And Alasandra Alawine, a local resident, has offered a summary of what she's gleaned of the project's history, origins and shortcomings. An opponent of moving the railroad, she also blogs at MS Gulf Coast.
Continue readingBeat the rush
At a time when most Americans are trying their best to ignore the upcoming mid-term elections, Mike Gravel, a former Senator of Alaska, is insisting we already begin ignoring his presidential candidacy.
Continue reading
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