- Laura Rozen at War and Piece writes, “Looks like Wendy Buckham, the wife of former DeLay chief of staff-turned-lobbyist Ed Buckham, was getting her cut of donations going to a DeLay-linked ‘charity’ too.”
- At Tapscott’s Copy Desk, Mark Tapscott writes about a bill that uses Enron-style accounting to allow for more money to be spent. The bill, offered by Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), would “authorize congressional appropriators to tap up to $500 million in revenues that may be collected by the federal government if drilling is allowed in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge.” So, the Congress can spend money now that it may or may not get in the future? The bill passed 51-49.
MSNBC Exposes Nuclear Revolving Door:
The subject of an MSNBC exclusive is Alex Flint - a man who has been through the revolving door a number of times - and the inherent conflicts of interest that stems from congressional staffers going back and forth between Capitol Hill and K Street.
Most recently, Flint left his job as majority staff director for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where he was a key player in legislation that provided billions in subsidies to the nuclear industry, to become the chief lobbyist for the industry’s largest trade group, the Nuclear Energy Institute.
Continue readingFlint was hired for the Senate post in 2003 after spending several years as a lobbyist representing a number of large firms with deep interests in the nuclear power field, as well as the NEI. Flint’s boss on the committee was Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., an unabashed booster of the nuclear power industry who has received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from employees of the companies that Flint represents.
As a lobbyist, Flint was himself a frequent donor to Domenici’s campaigns before being rehired by the senator. And many of Flint’s qualifications to lobby for the nuclear industry in the first place were acquired through earlier jobs working for Domenici as a staff assistant, legislative aide and clerk of an energy subcommittee chaired by the senator.
Nobody alleges that Flint did anything illegal. Neither the law nor Senate rules prohibited Flint from leaving the Energy Committee post after three years in which he helped develop policy and shepherd legislation on nuclear issues and going directly to work as NEI’s senior vice president for governmental affairs.
In Blog Daylight:
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Wonkette reports on Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas’ (R-CA) expensive private travel. Thomas took a trip to Beaver Creek, CO for an AEI forum that cost, in travel expenses alone, $27,233. I know that the airlines are going bankrupt but who knew that they were charging the price of a car for a round-trip flight to Beaver Creek. Thomas also took a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland on the dime of the Ripon Educational Fund (a Republican organization that is run by lobbyists) that cost $18,702, which included an “Edinburgh Military tattoo”. Are tattoos included in the proposed gift and meal ban?
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Think Progress reports that John McCain’s (R-AZ) attempt to attach 527-reform legislation to the lobbying and ethics reform bill would wind complicating and potentially killing off the reform bill: “Even pro-reform activists, who endorse tough new restrictions on 527 organizations, have testified that the 527 debate should be handled separately. They argue that dragging in 527-related provisions would complicate and undermine the lobbying reform effort."
Josh Marshall is counting the number of politicians seeing their careers ending due to the Abramoff scandal: “So far I've got Ralph Reed, Conrad Burns, Katherine Harris and Bob Ney. Tom DeLay is another obvious contender. But that's muddled by the fact that his own independent crimes appear to have brought him down first. Who am I not thinking of?”
Morning News:
- The DC restaurant industry is not happy with congressional efforts to prohibit lobbyists from treating lawmakers and their staff to meals, according to the Los Angeles Times. In response to this attempt at reforming lobbying the restaurant industry has dispatched its own team of lobbyists to lobby Congress to allow lobbyists to be able to spend freely for lawmakers’ meals.
- What happens when you violate safety laws, don’t pay fines, and oppose increased oversight? The Hill reports that you get tax breaks: “After fatal mining accidents this year, the mining industry is on the verge of winning tax breaks to help pay for new safety technologies as it lobbies against government-imposed safety requirements.” Back in January the Washington Post reported that, “the Bush administration abandoned or delayed implementation of 18 proposed safety rules that were in the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's regulatory pipeline in early 2001”.
- President Bush’s Faith and Community Based Initiative is directing millions of dollars into organizations run by his religious right supporters, according to the Washington Post. Rep. Mark Souter (R-IN) says that the program has “gone political” and Rep. Chet Edwards (D-TX) asserts, “I believe ultimately this will be seen as one of the largest patronage programs in American history.” Outspoken televangelist Pat Robertson’s Operation Blessing received tens of millions of dollars; “local antiabortion and crisis pregnancy centers have received well over $60 million in grants for abstinence education and other programs;” Shepherd Smith, the strategist for Robertson’s 1988 presidential bid, received $7.5 million; many of the recipients of federal grants were “influential supporters of Bush's presidential campaigns.”
- Prosecutors in the Tom DeLay (R-TX) money laundering case are trying to get two charges reinstated against the troubled former Majority Leader, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle reports that DeLay believes that the charges are just political theater and prosecutor Ronnie Earle will throw out the charges after the 2006 midterm elections.
Education Official Moving to House Education Committee; Former Lobbyist:
A former lobbyist for the for-profit online University of Phoenix is moving from her post at the Education Department to work for the new House Education and Workforce Committee chairman Buck McKeon (R-CA), according to the New York Times. Buck McKeon has been an ally of for-profit universities like his predecessor John Boehner (R-OH). A few months ago, “the committee for the first time permitted institutions that teach more than half their courses online to receive federal student aid, a boon to for-profit institutions like the University of Phoenix.” Stroup was instrumental in pushing for these rule changes as she oversaw a program that judged whether the 50% rule should be waived. The Education Department Inspector General wrote that her 2003 report to Congress “contained unsupported, incomplete and inaccurate statements.” In 2004 the Chronicle of Higher Education documented the campaign contributions that for-profit universities had funneled into the pockets of McKeon and Boehner. McKeon received $126,000 from these universities from 2003-2004.
Continue readingDeLay in Legal Limbo, Aide May Talk to Prosecutors:
Tom DeLay (R-TX) remains in legal limbo with regards to the unfolding Jack Abramoff scandal that is roiling Congress, according to the Houston Chronicle. DeLay, who is under indictment for laundering money in Texas, “is likely to be linked to the probe for the foreseeable future because of his previous close association with Abramoff” despite recent comments made by Abramoff in a Vanity Fair interview about DeLay. Abramoff stated that “he didn't extensively lobby DeLay, partly because they already were in tune as conservatives.” However, DeLay’s involvement in any wrongdoing hinges on the cooperation of a former top aide, Tony Rudy, currently under investigation by the Justice Department. Rudy “is believed to be cooperating with federal officials, and sources close to the case said he is expected to reach a plea deal with the Justice Department.” Meanwhile, judicial partisanship may pop up again in DeLay’s appeal attempts on money laundering charges. One of the appeals court judges donated money to an opponent of prosecutor Ronnie Earle and another worked with an organization that had close ties to DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority, the PAC at the center of the money laundering case.
Continue readingGet a Piece of History:
Looking for a piece of congressional history, a silver Ferrari, a 19th century Louie-Philippe commode, or rare coins? This Thursday, “members of the public will have a chance to bid on dozens of luxury items that” jailed ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham purchased with the bribes he accepted from Mitchell Wade and Brent Wilkes, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Toledo Blade also reports a scandal auction, this one at the state level. The coins that Republican fundraiser Tom Noe illegally invested Ohio state money in are going on sale. Bids are due by March 29th.
Continue readingIn Other News:
Just as the IRS has issued warnings to churches that it will crack down on political activities by tax-exempt religious institutions, “coalition of nonprofit conservative groups is holding training sessions to enlist Pennsylvania pastors in turning out voters for the November elections,” according to the New York Times. … The Associated Press reports that the House Government Reform Committee will hold hearings on waste and abuse by contractors involved in cleaning up and rebuilding the Hurricane Katrina ravaged Gulf Coast. … Campaign finance reformer Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been drawing fire for his appearance at a fundraiser for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) where $100,000 could get you a picture with the governor, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. McCain had called California’s previous governor Democrat Gray Davis’ fundraising “disgraceful”. … A pipeline deal in Georgia that “short-circuit[s] normal [Public Service Commission] oversight” is being decried because the pipeline company spent $6,100 on lawmakers and one utility regulator and took lawmakers on a trip to Trinidad and Tobago, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. … The Tampa Tribune reports that MZM, the defense contractor headed by the convicted Cunningham briber Mitchell Wade, received tax breaks supported by Gov. Jeb Bush as they attempted to expand into Tampa.
Continue readingIn Blog Daylight:
Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker reports that John McCain recently hired a man connected to both Tom DeLay’s money laundering case and the New Hampshire phone-jamming case to run his political action committee, Straight Talk Express PAC. … Daily Kos’ Markos reports that Joe Lieberman likes to fly on private jets. … The Common Cause blog reports on New York state campaign finance laws and how they are out-of-whack: “The fact that an individual is allowed to give more money to a candidate for New York State office than to a presidential contender should tell New Yorkers that our campaign finance laws need to be fixed.” … Captain Ed at Captain’s Quarters continues to hit on the “fundraising” John Doolittle’s (R-CA) wife did for him: “We don't elect legislators so that they can get rich by pulling 15% off the top of all their campaign contributions. For a position that pays around $160,000 a year plus travel and per diem, the salary should be enough; it's three or four times what an average family makes in the US.”
Continue readingWade Pushed Contracting Practices to the Limit:
The Washington Post provides the story behind the rise and fall of Mitchell Wade, the defense contractor convicted of bribing ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham and defense department officials, and passing along illegal donations to two other lawmakers. Wade, who learned the intricacies of the procurement process from working as a civilian worker at the Pentagon and as an apprentice to Brent Wilkes, another contractor implicated in the Cunningham bribery, took existing practices and pushed them to the limit to become a contracting powerhouse. Wade “aggressively used the ‘revolving door’ between the government's defense and intelligence bureaucracy and the private industry,” hiring “top talent” and “freely distributed title and rank, appointing more than 100 vice presidents, executive vice presidents and ‘senior executive vice presidents’” while paying higher wages than any other defense contractor would offer for officials with security clearances. Wade found the global war on terrorism good for business as a Knight Ridder report shows that the Pentagon hired his MZM to “collect data on houses of worship, schools, power plants and other locations in the United States.”
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