Bill Allison’s story on Dennis Hastert’s land deal has shot off of the pages of Sunlight and out into the blogosphere. Needless to say we’re jumping out of our socks at Sunlight. We know there are thousands of investigators out there, and so much of what we want to do is provide the foothold for them to soar from, creating transparency whether Congress does it voluntarily or not. The blogosphere has picked up the story and is running with it, adding new information, graphic illustrations, and hearty debate. But first don’t forget to read Bill’s original piece and his numerous follow-ups.
Continue readingHastert’s Inadequate Disclosure
Let's assume, for a moment, that the line that House Speaker Dennis Hastert has taken, on display here for example, that his land deals in Kendall County are entirely unconnected with the Prairie Parkway (a point we certainly don't concede), and see whether it's a sufficient defense. Our story about Hastert revealed that he was conducting land transactions through a trust which he did not reveal on his annual financial disclosure form. We pointed out that the information he provided about his land investments was insufficient to locate the property. (The House Ethics manual states, "Disclosure of real property should include a description sufficient to permit its identification (e.g., street address or plat and map location)." We suggested that this inadequate disclosure prevented his constituents from knowing that he was selling land to real estate developers. And finally, we noted that Hastert has justified the Prairie Parkway to constituents by casting it as a solution to the problems created by growth.
Continue readingHow Many Miles Separate Hastert’s Earmark and Investment?
Over at Think Progress, commenter Pale Rider (who's apparently much more technically sophisticated than I) uses technology to arrive at pretty much the same measurement I got (about 2.6 miles) using my thumb, index finger, and squinty eye and paper maps to determine the distance from the site of Hastert's investment property and the point where the proposed Prairie Parkway corridor would bisect Galena Road:
Continue readingDaylight PM:
- Rep. [sw: William Jefferson] (D-LA) has a lot of friends and Ken Silverstein at the Harper's.org blog has brought them all together in one place. His friends in the Capitol may be dwindling as the Democratic Caucus is voting right now to decide whether Jefferson will be removed from his seat on the Ways and Means Committee. Two of the most powerful members of the Congressional Black Caucus, [sw: Charlie Rangel] (D-NY) and [sw: John Lewis] (D-GA), have broken ranks with the CBC, staunch backers of Jefferson, and will vote to remove the troubled congressman from the tax-writing committee.
- The Hill documents the powerful defense industry lobby and their congressional connections. The PMA Group stands out for honorable mention as one of those lobby shops that is filled with former congressional staffers. Don't forget this little piece about [sw: Pete Visclosky]'s ties to PMA.
- What you say on the campaign trail, stays on the campaign trail. That seems to be the motto for the newest Congress critter, [sw: Brian Bilbray] (R-CA). According to the Club for Growth blog, Bilbray, who holds the infamous Duke Cunningham seat, denounced earmarking on the campaign trail and called for greater transparency. But yesterday Bilbray voted against all of Jeff Flake's challenges to earmarks in the Transportation-HHS Appropriations bill.
- Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt likes to fly. Mike Leavitt likes to fly on luxury jets that are only intended to be used for emergency purposes. Did I mention Mike Leavitt likes to fly?
Daylight AM:
- Yet another city is subpoenaed in the investigation into Appropriations Chairman [sw: Jerry Lewis]' (R-Calif.) earmarking practices. The San Bernardino Sun reports that Highland, California has become the eighth city, county, or university to receive a subpoena in the federal investigation. The Sun also notes the debate over earmarks that took place on the floor of the House yesterday as [sw: Jeff Flake] (R-Ariz.) forced members to defend their earmarks. Unfortunately, the House voted by 6 to 1 margins to maintain all of the earmarks, which included a $500,000 earmark placed by Lewis to renovate a swimming pool in Banning, California. The Banning swimming pool had previously received a combined $500,000 in earmarks from Lewis.
- Not only did Majority Leader [sw: John Boehner] (R-Ohio) return to the House leadership in an unexpected victory last year, but he also won $2,700 at the slots. Boehner was waiting for an aide at a "pit stop" in northern Michigan and "decided to play the slots ... and won."
- Jeffrey Shockey, revolving door poster boy and central figure to the [sw: Jerry Lewis] scandal, revised his 2004 financial disclosure forms to show that he made $500,000 more from his former lobbying clients while he was working in Lewis' office.
- Roll Call reports that the Senate' millionaires club has expanded by one to 46 Senators. [sw: John Kerry] (D-Mass.) and [sw: Jay Rockefeller] (D-W. Va.) still sit atop the list while presidential aspirant Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) reported $19,000 in negative net worth. That makes for a total of $2 million.
- The GOP is trying to find a balance on spending restraint and earmark reform, according to The Hill. Republicans in the Senate are "trying to salvage a spending-reform provision empowering individual senators to strip new earmarks out of conference reports without handing the rank and file unlimited power to wage wars of attrition to defeat bills they do not like."
- The Hill has a run-down on the personal finances of members that were released yesterday.
Pork Wars:
The stuff you miss when you go out to lunch. Today, Rep. [sw: Jeff Flake] (R-Ariz.) challenged earmarks on the floor of the House. This was an outgrowth of the all-out Pork War between Flake, [sw: Mike Pence] (R-Ind.) and their nemisis Appropriations Chairman [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-Calif.) that began during the debate on lobbying, ethics, and earmark reform. Tim Chapman at Townhall's Capitol Report and Andy Roth from the Club for Growth blog have both blogged the debate. Rep. [sw: Henry Bonilla] (R-Tex.) took the floor to proclaim his displeasure in Flake's earmark challenges by telling Flake that his amendments to strip the earmarks out of the legislation were "the definition of 'insanity'." Earmark hall of famer [sw: Alan Mollohan] (D-W.Va.) makes a cameo -- defending one of his earmarks.
Continue readingDennis Hastert’s Real Estate Investments
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has used an Illinois trust to invest in real estate near the proposed route of the Prairie Parkway, a highway project for which he's secured $207 million in earmarked appropriations. The trust has already transferred 138 acres of land to a real estate development firm that has plans to build a 1,600-home community, located less than six miles from the north-south connector Hastert has championed in the House. Hastert's 2005 financial disclosure form, released today, makes no mention of the trust. Hastert lists several real estate transactions in the disclosure, all of which were in fact done by the trust. Kendall County public records show no record of Hastert making the real estate sales he made public today; rather, they were all executed by the trust.
Continue readingMorning News:
- The federal government spent over $1.4 billion on fraudulent assistance to fake victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. One man spent 70 days at a hotel in Hawaii on taxpayer money.
- [sw: Alan Mollohan] (D-WV), who resigned his seat on the House Ethics Committee after he became the subject of a federal inquiry, released corrections to his financial disclosure forms yesterday, according to the New York Times. Mollohan "filed some two dozen corrections to his past six annual financial disclosure forms, saying his accountant had uncovered 'a relative handful of unintentional and immaterial mistakes.'" He had left out one major transaction in which in he took out a "$2.3 million 'back-to-back loan'". Mollohan stated that he did not feel that he had to report this previously because the net value was zero.
- The judge ruling in the David Safavian trial is weighing whether to toss a juror because she spoke to persons outside of the juror pool about the case. The prosecution wants her tossed, while the defense wants her to stay.
- The Defense Appropriations bill for FY 07 contains $1 billion less in earmarks than the previous year's bill did. Well, they did get rid of [sw: Duke Cunningham], so that's about what I'd expect.
- Yesterday Redstate reported that [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-CA), under fire for earmarking and connections to lobbyists, inserted a $500,000 earmark to renovate the swimming pool in Banning, California. Today, the San Bernardino Sun picks up the story along with criticism of Lewis from his fellow caucus members. Jeff Flake (R-AZ): "It's just ridiculous. Cities ought to pay for their own pools." Banning is represented by lobbyist David Turch, who has lost numerous county and municipal clients to the now-radioactive lobbying firm of Copeland Lowery Jacquez and White.
“I Was Just F-ing Kidding!”:
I guess Jim Moran (D-VA) was just joking about "earmarking the s_it out of" Appropriations bills if he were to become chair of the Approps Committee:
The Congressman’s remarks were meant to be light-hearted and not a serious policy statement; he is in fact very concerned with the irresponsible spending taking place in Congress. The Congressman has a strong record of fiscal responsibility, having voted for a balanced budget, supported pay-as-you-go budget rules and opposed what he considers to be the misplaced spending priorities of the current administration. Democrats are the party of fiscal restraint and will make it a top priority if they retake the House in November.Continue reading
Morning News:
- The White House rejected a new EPA rule to "keep groundwater clean near oil drilling sites and other construction zones" after receiving complaints from oil and energy company executives. Ernest Angelo, a Texas oil man and a Republican activist, expressed his anger over the EPA rule by writing that many in the energy world "openly express doubt as to the merit of electing Republicans when we wind up with this type of stupidity." As always we like to remember that President Bush is the biggest recipient of campaign cash from the oil and gas industry in the entire history of elections in America.
- Anti-pork hardliner [sw: John Shadegg] (R-AZ) has fired the latest salvo in the Pork Wars between conservative Republican congressmen and [sw: Jerry Lewis]' (R-CA) Appropriations Committee by "circulating a newspaper story linking Rep. Jerry Lewis to 'the inherent risk of corruption at the heart of the congressional earmark process.'"
- Several weeks ago [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-CA) retained a lawyer to handle to federal investigation into his and his aides' earmarking practices. One of Lewis' lawyers is Barbara Comstock who is currently representing I. Lewis Libby in the Plame case.
- In Scotland, the famous destination of Jack Abramoff and his merry band of travellers, no one knows about the lobbyist's well-documented golfing trips. Favorite quote: “'We have the same scandals,' said Neil Paton, the head professional in the town’s only certified pro shop, 'except our politicians go the beach in Spain or Italy.'"
- At least the corruption in this country doesn't fuel an insurgency. In Iraq, that appears to be a huge problem. Continue reading
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