Three paragraphs jumped out at me from the final chapter of Robert G. Kaiser's excellent Washington Post series, Citizen K Street:
Cassidy helped change Washington by shaping the culture of congressional earmarks that became so important in the last dozen years. Earmarks directly transfer the government's money to particular institutions and interests. He and his original partner helped invent the idea of lobbying for earmarked appropriations -- an idea that made Cassidy rich and fed a system of interdependence between lobbyists and Congress that thrives today.
And, later in the piece...
Cassidy and his original partner, Kenneth Schlossberg, demonstrated ...Continue reading
FARA records may go online
CONTINUING WITH SOME OTHER EARMARKS
CONTINUING WITH SOME OTHER EARMARKS in the OMB database, the Department of Justice gave $740,000 to Mistral Security Inc, for continuing a drug identification program. This grant was to expand an aerosol drug detection technology that is already being tested in schools as a pilot run. The aerosol sprays can be used to detect the residue that illegal drugs leave when they've touched a surface; the company provides an independent audit of the program's results here.
According to the Mistral Group website, the aerosol applications that are being developed by schools all serve as a deterrent to ...
Continue readingDelving into OMB’s Earmark Data
After fooling around with it for the last half-day or so, I feel confident I can pronounce the new OMB earmark database a great tool and a success for OMB, and I can't wait for the updates going forward.
One thing I wanted to try was to see if one can match companies that get earmarks with members of Congress through campaign contributions. For example, DSD Laboratories got a few 2005 earmarks (see here and here and here and here ). A check of the Senate Office of Public Records site shows that the firm hasn't reported or hired ...
Continue readingA day at the earmark races
I'M TOO EASILY DISTRACTED by eamarks. Since the Office of Management and Budget posted its earmark database, I've found it hard to concentrate on the 1990 portion of the SF-LLL timeline (which is mostly written but still needs a lot of links). Instead, I keep looking up things like this:
Virginia Equine Center Foundation / Virginia Horse Center Foundation1 recipient will receive $992,000. This is a first-time earmark.
Description: The earmark funds were used to provide a USDA Rural Development Community Facilities grant of $992,000 to the Virginia Equine Center Foundation. It was used to construct ...
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SF-LLL Timeline: Part 1 (1989)
The timeline for form SF-LLL that I foolishly promised the other day has grown to an alarming length. I'm posting the pre-SF-LLL history now--the events that led Congress to pass and the President to sign a bill requiring those seeking federal contracts or grants to file a disclosure form whenever they pay a lobbyist ito influence members of Congress or the executive branch in obtaining those contracts or grants. So here's a very brief accounting of the relevant events from 1989:
June 1989: Context is important. In 1989, a scandal unfolded that involved former Reagan Administration officials successfully ...Continue reading
OMB Earmark Database is Live
Here it is. OMB says, in a press release, that...
When the earmarks database was first launched on March 12, 2007, it provided aggregate data on the number and cost of earmarks for FY2005 appropriations, and was able to show this information by agency, office and account. Today's update includes details on individual earmarks, the ability to view earmarks by State and a downloadable file so that the public can sort information in ways they find useful. However, the database is not designed, and cannot accurately be used, to identify the individual sponsors of congressional earmarks. Additionally, the recipient of an earmark identified in the database may not in all cases represent the ultimate beneficiary of the earmark.Continue reading
OMB to Release Full Earmark Database
When we last heard from the Office of Management and Budget, Chief of Staff Rob Lehman told us they were working away at their earmarks database, which they fully intended to fully release--complete with information on all of the 13,000-some individual earmarks--as soon as it was done. (It had been scheduled to go up March 12, which turned out to be a little optimistic.) Well, from what we just learned from Lehman and some of his colleagues at OMB, "as soon as it's done" will be tomorrow afternoon. When it goes online, it will be here. OMB deserves credit for doing this. Visitors will be able to search the Web site by state, by agency, or download the data into spread sheets or mash it up on maps.
Continue readingTimeline Time
Today, I'm pulling together a timeline -- a sort of biography of form SF-LLL that also suggests a number of questions. In the meantime, through the magic of Nexis, thought I'd pass along this bit from a Sept. 18, 1989, Washington Post editorial on the passage of the Byrd Amendment, the rule that required the form to be filed:
There is no better preventive measure against politically motivated favoritism than disclosure. Grant-making agencies and legislators are far less likely to be pressured by the politically connected if the details of that pressure are going to turn up in the ...
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60 Minutes Covers Lobbyist Influence
Perhaps the greatest convergance of corrupt activities in Washington over the past few years occurred during the debate and passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003. The story in a nutshell is that lobbyists wrote a one thousand page bill that was introduced hours before congressmen voted on it. The vote was then held open for three hours - the longest vote in the history of the House of Representatives - instead of the normal and required 15 minutes. During the open vote the Republican majority twisted arms and used threats and bribes to gain votes for the bill. (Later, Tom DeLay and other Republican congressmen would be admonished by the Ethics Committee for their actions.) When the bill was passed and signed by the President all of the main actors who helped pass the bill went to work for the pharmaceutical industry. Last night 60 Minutes did a great job covering this story. Crooks & Liars has the 60 Minutes footage:
Here's a direct Windows Media Player link.
Here's a direct Quicktime Link.
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