Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Trent Lott (R-MS) offered their proposal to reform the process of earmarking in appropriations bills, according to Roll Call. The reform would allow Senators to challenge individual items in a conference report and require that 60 votes be required for the item to survive. The reform would also shine much needed “sunlight” onto the process by requiring that the conference report list the lawmaker that has proposed each earmark along with a justification for the item and by requiring that all conference reports be available 24 hours in advance on the Internet so that members may study and read them. The Washington Post and the New York Times both devoted space to earmarks today, the Post giving a primer on the process and the Times talking about the strains that earmarks place on the Energy Department.
Continue readingSchwarzenegger, AT&T Contributions to Public Utilities Commissioner Questioned:
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger paid $25,000 to Susan Kennedy, a PUC official who is now Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff, three weeks after he received the same amount from AT&T as reported in the Los Angeles Times. In between the two contributions Kennedy voted to approve the purchase of AT&T by SBC, a move that consumer activists say will cost consumers upwards of $330 million. Schwarzenegger and Kennedy deny any wrong doing and Schwarzenegger has pointed to the amount of money that he pays to his campaigns stating that, “you can consider this money coming out of [my wife’s and my] share rather than out of the various different companies' share.”
Continue readingConnecticut Lawmaker Sentenced For Bribery:
A prominent former state Senator was sentenced to five years in jail for bribery, mail fraud, and tax evasion. The Associated Press reports that Ernest Newton received bribes from a job training facility manager and then obstructed justice by telling that manager to lie in investigators. Newton, a Democrat, was a prominent leader in Connecticut’s African American community. Despite earlier statements he made claiming that he was being investigated because he was black Newton declared after the sentence was handed down, “This is not about black and white. It's about wrong and right, and I was wrong.” Newton is the latest public official to be sentenced - two years ago Gov. John Rowland (R) went to jail on corruption charges.
Continue readingGOP Split Over Lobbying Reform:
Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ), competing for the Majority Leader post vacated by the scandal-plagued Tom DeLay (R-TX), echoed the sentiments of many in the Republican caucus when he said that Congress is good at doing two things – nothing and overreacting. According to the Washington Post, the Republican caucus is split over whether to pursue ethics reforms laid out two weeks ago by Rules Committee Chairman David Drier (R-CA). Fifty lawmakers voted against restricting former representatives from using the House gym to lobby current members, including Republicans DeLay, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA), Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael G. Oxley (R-OH), and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX). The bill was ridiculed by Democrats and Republicans alike. Drier has been forced to hold off on introducing the Republican lobbying and ethics reforms because of the belief in parts of the party that the leadership is overreacting.
Continue readingLewis Military Aide On Pentagon Payroll, May Violate Rules:
House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis’ (R-CA) aide in charge of tracking defense appropriations “is a military officer on the Pentagon’s payroll, an apparent violation of House rules and a possible conflict of interest,” according to The Hill newspaper. Department of Defense regulations state that military personnel can work on committee staffs but not on the personal staff of an individual member. Lewis’ aide, Marine Lt. Col. Michael Kime, has apparently worked for Lewis since 2001 while being on the Pentagon payroll. Congressional watchdogs call Kime’s role a conflict of interest and defense experts state that his position may give the Marines greater leverage over contracts and earmarks in the Appropriations Committee. Lewis has been a target of great scrutiny since his connection to the contractors involved in the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal emerged.
Continue readingEarle Wants DeLay Trip Info:
Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle is seeking information on a trip Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff took to London and Scotland in 2000. The Associated Press reports that “Earle wants DeLay's wife and several associates who joined him on the trip to turn over travel itineraries, expense reimbursement requests and other documents.” Newspaper reports state that the trip was funded by Abramoff’s clients e-Lottery Inc. and the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe, who funneled their money into Abramoff’s non-profit the National Center for Public Policy Research which in turn used the money to pay for the trip.
Continue readingReality: New Majority Leader Must Keep DeLay Machine Running:
“[A]nybody who is elected is going to be expected to have exactly the same results as DeLay,” states American Enterprise Institute scholar Norm Ornstein about the new House Majority Leader. Despite all the talk about reform and the distancing of members from DeLay, the next Majority Leader is expected to deliver the same money, the same conservative legislation, and the same business-lobbyist connections, according to the St. Petersburg Times. The Times notes that most Florida GOP representatives back the front runner in the race to replace DeLay, Roy Blunt (R-MO), who has close ties to K Street and offers continuity.
Continue readingIraq Reconstruction Funds Stolen, Admits Official:
The New York Times reports that Robert Stein, a Coalition Provision Authority official in charge of distributing $82 million worth of contracts, pleaded guilty to bribery, money laundering, conspiracy, and a number of firearms felonies for his part in stealing millions of dollars from the Iraq reconstruction fund and funneling it into his pockets and the bank accounts of a contractor named Philip Bloom. Stein, an ex-felon with a previous fraud conviction, and Bloom have both been charged, along with their accomplices in the U.S. military, for stealing money intended to build police stations, a library, and a center to promote democracy among other things. This is the first prosecuted case of fraud in the Coalition Provisional Authority’s rule of Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion of the country.
Continue readingFormer Doggett Aide Admits to Stealing Campaign Cash:
Kristi Willis, a former aide to Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), admitted to embezzling $166,000 from Doggett’s campaign and taking tens-of-thousands from another campaign and Texas organization. The Austin American-Statesman reports that Willis has apologized and is seeking psychiatric care for a spending addiction. She also plans to pay back the money and is cooperating with prosecutors. Doggett admits to being “shocked and saddened” by the revelation.
Continue readingLobbyists Drown Reform With Money:
Georgia lawmakers were inundated with lobbyist money as they considered and rejected a proposal by Gov. Sonny Purdue (R) to limit lobbyist contributions to lawmakers last year. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, lobbyists spent $1.1 million on the legislature in 2005, up by $250,000 from the previous year. The top 15 recipients were all Republicans, a partisan split not seen in years past. Most of the money was spent on wining and dining the lawmakers while tens-of-thousands were spent on tickets to Falcons games, Nascar events, and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The legislature did pass an ethics reform last year that installed new measures for disclosure by lobbyists meeting with regulatory officials.
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