Two letters members of Congress wrote to the Defense Contract Audit Agency reveal two cases of employees of government contractors who alleged wrongdoing by their companies.
We learned about the letters from our Freedom of Information request to the agency for congressional correspondence logs. We have received DCAA's responses to both members of Congress, but not the original letters to which DCAA was responding. When we receive those, we'll post them, highlighting any relevant information from them.
Here's what we do know:
On Jan. 5, 2007, Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., wrote to DCAA, which does all contract ...
Continue readingSunlight Endorses OTA; Markup Pushed to Wednesday
The Sunlight Foundation has sent a letter endorsing a renewed Office of Techonology Assessment to Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Zach Wamp. Wasserman Schultz was supposed to hold a markup today that would have addressed the OTA but it has been pushed back to Wednesday. That means you still have time to contact your member of Congress and let them know that you support the OTA and that they should send the "Dear Colleague" letter they received from Reps. Rush Holt and Michael Castle to Wasserman Schultz and Wamp. Check out this blog post from last week for full directions on how you can get involved. The endorsement letter is below the fold:
Continue readingRep. Jefferson Indicted Over Corrupt Nigerian Phone Scam
Update: CREW has the indictment. If you've got time take a look. It's 94 pages long.
Today, a Virginia grand jury indicted 9-term Louisiana congressman William Jefferson (D-LA) on 16 counts including racketeering, solicitation of bribes, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, violating the foreign corrupt practices act, and conspiracy. Jefferson is accused of accepting bribes and conspiring to bribe Nigerian government officials to promote a telephone business venture. The conspiracy involved two U.S.-based companies, iGate and W2 Corp. The head of iGate, Vernon Jackson, has already pled guilty and been sentenced to more than seven years in prison. The business conspiracy was upended when W2 head Lori Mody flipped to the FBI after allegedly being cheated out of her business by Jefferson, Jackson, and Jefferson's family. Mody handed over key information to the FBI and wore a wire, catching Jefferson admitting to the conspiracy on tape. If all of this evidence wasn't enough for Jefferson, the FBI raid on his house in Louisiana netted $90,000 in cash hidden away in the congressman's freezer.
Continue readingRep. Russ Carnahan tied to Arch Leadership PAC
Following up on this post, I spoke to Vince Currao, a political consultant for both Rep. Russ Carnahan and the Arch Leadership PAC. Currao said that Carnahan is the honorary chair of Arch Leadership PAC and that the Missouri lawmaker "raises money for" it.
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Mapping Campaign Contributions
One of the leading state based organizations that analyzes campaign contributions hails from Virginia. On Friday of last week The Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP.org) announced some fascinating new on-line mapping applications as its latest innovation to enhance the public's understanding of the role of money in Virginia politics.
This new mapping initiative provides the public with a visual representation of where Virginia candidates get their campaign contributions. Users can start with a statewide view and zoom to the ZIP Code level.
Looking into Arch Leadership PAC
Just for fun, I thought I'd take ten minutes and see if I can track down another mystery PAC for our friends at the Center for Responsive Politics--this time the Arch Leadership PAC. FEC filings list the PAC's address as 906 Olive St., Suite 1212, St. Louis, MO 63101. Googling it, I got a lot of links--the one that caught my eye was this campaign finance report from the Missouri Ethics Commission showing that Tom Carnahan, treasurer of a state-registered campaign committee for Robin Carnahan, lists that address. Googling Tom and Robin Carnahan, one comes across this bio ...
Continue readingOMB to continue tracking earmarks
They've got a release on it here. I can't tell for sure from the memo, but it looks like Office of Management and Budget intends to track them in both House and Senate bills as they're reported out of committee, as they're voted on, and in conference reports as soon as they come out:
Agencies should report to OMB the number and dollar value of earmarks in each account within seven days after an appropriations bill is reported by the House or Senate Appropriations committee or passes the House or Senate Floor. In addition, agencies should ...Continue reading
National Endowment Letters Unsolicited
While I wait for word from Fraiola & Associates on the Penguin PAC (see below), I thought I'd go through a five-inch tall stack of papers Anu got in response to a FOIA request for congressional correspondence logs from the National Endowment of for the Humanities. So far, what I've seen aren't letters from members of Congress, but rather, a March 16, 2007, letter NEH sent to the entire congressional delegations of states lucky enough to be blessed with NEH funding. The letters include "a complete list of grants recently made in your state by the National Endowment ...
Continue readingThompson’s FARA Filings Are Not Online
Two of the shortcomings I mentioned about the new database that the Justice Department's Foreign Agent Registration Unit recently put online are that not every form is available (especially the Short Forms that individual foreign agents must file), and that you can't link to search results.
Both would be useful in providing the information that Nicole Belle asks for at the Crooks and Liars site -- what exactly did former Tennessee senator and possible presidential candidate Fred Thompson do when he was a lobbyist for Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn in the early 1990s (from Oct. 10, 1991 to ...
Continue readingWhat’s McConnell Hiding?
Today, the Sunlight Foundation launched a new campaign to reveal which senator is blocking passage of the Senate Campaign Disparity Act (S. 223). If you’ve been following this story here you know that twice this bill - which would require senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically - has been blocked by an anonymous Republican senator who is being hidden by Sen. Mitch McConnell. In his home state of Kentucky we are launching a billboard and a Web site to force McConnell to reveal the name of the anonymous senator. The Louisville Courier-Journal and the Politico have already picked up the story. Check out What’s McConnell Hiding? for more details or continue reading below the fold. We have a number of ways for you to get involved.
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