- The former White House procurement official and Jack Abramoff devotee David Safavian is set to go to trial this week. Safavian, accused of lying the officials at the General Services Administration, will be the first court room test for prosecutors in the still unfolding Washington corruption case surrounding the practices of Jack Abramoff, according to Bloomberg. Prosecutors do not plan on calling Abramoff as a witness but will instead use the email exchanges between the two men to detail Safavian's actions. The former chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), Neil Volz, will be called to testify against Safavian. Jury selection begins today.
- The San Diego Union Tribune reports that staffers to Duke Cunningham believed that he was a "nice guy" and that he was innocent until the day he pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes.
- Some Tennessee lawmakers are making their earmark requests public as a means of showcasing that not all earmarks are boondoggles and a waste of federal dollars, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The lawmakers, a group that includes Reps. Lincoln Davis (D-TN), Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN), and Jim Cooper (D-TN), also hope to show that transparency is the best means to insure that earmarking is not abused.
- The Los Angeles Daily News talks to the new ranking Democrat on the House Ethics Committee Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA).
- Time Magazine reports that another aide to deposed CIA chief Porter Goss is under investigation in the continuing probe of Duke Cunningham and the actions of alleged briber and defense contractor Brent Wilkes. That aide is Brant "Nine Fingers" Bassett, who has been said to have attended the Wilkes run poker games at hospitality suites in the Watergate and Westin Hotels.
Grounded:
According to the Associated Press, Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) is no longer flying the really friendly skies:
An Ohio lawmaker whose travel is under scrutiny stopped accepting paid trips for himself and his staff shortly after questions were raised about who funded his trip to Scotland with lobbyist Jack Abramoff. After accepting 131 trips worth $234,775 in 4 1/2 years, Rep. Bob Ney and his staff haven't let a private outside group pay for their travel since June 14, 2005, according to an Associated Press review of travel disclosure forms Ney's office filed with the House clerk.Continue reading
Evening News:
- Sen. Mel Martinez may not like this Miami Herald article that shows how $250,000 in campaign contributions is connected to the felonious lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
- Former White House procurement officer and Abramoff e-mail buddy David Safavian "was dealt a series of setbacks by a federal judge Wednesday," according to Roll Call. The judge ruled that jurors can hear allegations that Safavian gave Abramoff "confidential government information about one of his clients" and "that jurors can be told the full cost of a controversial Scotland golf junket that Safavian took part in during August 2002." Can they also be told the purpose of that trip: Golf Golf Golf Golf!!!!! (more from TalkLeft)
- This anti-Al Gore movie ad is the perfect example of how big business operates through front groups. This one just seems completely over the top, beyond the realms of reason. I mean this ad is hanging in the outer regions of the universe. Seriously how many people in the world are pro-emissions? I love Josh Marshall's vision of the pro-emissions crowd: "I have this image in my mind of connoisseurs with their noses by a muffler. Nice bouquet? Mmmmm. Bahrain 1974." An e-mailer to Josh provides his take: "With their new ad anti-global warming ads, I think we can safely call May 18, 2006 the day the oil companies lost it completely."
Continue reading
Top of the Morning:
- James Tobin, a former Republican National Committee official, was sentenced to 10 months in prison for his role in jamming the phones of the New Hampshire Democratic Party on election day of 2002, according to the Associated Press.
- The Hill reports that Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA), the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is being accused of forcing his staff to do volunteer work for his son, Joe Baca Jr., in a local California race. Baca previously caused a split in the CHC - six members quit the group's PAC - after he used the caucus' PAC money to fund the campaigns of two sons, Joe Jr. and Jeremy Baca.
- The Senate Indian Affairs Committee report on Jack Abramoff's bilking of Indian tribes is due out "sometime in June at the earliest", according to Roll Call. The report will not have any new relevations but will focus on "the money trail out of the tribes and into Abramoff and Scanlon’s complicated web of lobbying, consulting and PR firms, along with numerous nonprofits." The report will also make a number of suggested reforms and policies to keep a future Washington go-getter with the cupidity of a Jack Abramoff or Michael Scanlon from so easily gaming the system.
Top of the Morning:
- TPM Muckraker reports (via the Washington Post) that Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), already under fire for his relationships with crooked characters Jack Abramoff and Brent Wilkes, "has been paying for babysitters out of his campaign till". Doolittle has spent $5,881 of his PAC money on child care costs since 2001. At least that's better than Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) who used his PAC to pay for groceries and Starbucks.
- Hotline On Call Blog posts a quote from Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) pillorying the Senate for their profligant additions to the emergency supplemental bill. "Any calls from the Senate for an across-the-board cut to make room for a bloated supplemental will be met by a busy signal in the House. The House will not join a shell-game spending spree with taxpayer dollars."
- The aforementioned Sen. Santorum seems to be in trouble again. Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) has filed a complaint with the FEC alleging that two former staffers for Santorum "violated several provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA)." I feel that someone should keep a tally of which legislator receives the most filed complaints against them by CREW in a given year.
- The Los Angeles Times reports that Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA), once an aspiring screenwriter, "will return $23,000 he received for a screenplay option from a Hollywood producer who pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding dozens of people into investing in a bogus television series about the U.S. Department of Homeland Security." This happens to be one of the funnier tales of influence buying in the current Congress but it leaves one question. Why didn't Rohrabacher sell his conservative themed script to his buddy Jack Abramoff, former movie producer? Abramoff produced the unbelievably bad conservative movie "Red Scorpion", why couldn't he help make Rohrabacher's tale of a grizzled war veteran who goes into Baja California with a stereotypical liberal straw man and hijinks ensue. I guess the answer is that if you want to make a wretched movie like that you need to have the backing of the secret intelligence service of an oppressive regime.
Ex-Ney Staffer to Testify Against Bush Administration Official:
The Associated Press is reporting that Neil Volz, the former chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), is planning to testify in the corruption case of ex-government procurement official and Jack Abramoff buddy David Safavian. Volz will testify that Safavian suggested the inclusion of "language into legislation that would have conveyed to Abramoff some GSA-controlled property in Maryland". Safavian stand accused of "concealing from GSA investigators and a Senate committee his involvement with Abramoff's efforts to acquire GSA-controlled property."
Continue readingAfternoon News:
- Roll Call reports that the Justice Department has broken new ground by charging former congressional staffers-turned-lobbyists Tony Rudy and Neil Volz with violating the one-year ban on lobbying their former employers.
- The Los Angeles Times provides more information on the close relationship between former OMB and GSA employee David Safavian and criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff. We are also reminded, through Safavian's emails, that Safavian never stops kissing up to Abramoff ("Let me know if there is ANYTHING I can do to help.")
- The Hill reports that 40 percent of earmarks would go unmarked and unnoticed thanks to loopholes in the lobbying and ethics "reform" bills passed by the Senate and the House.
- Top Bush donor Tom Noe wants to change his "not guilty" plea to a "guilty" plea in a case where he is charged with illegally funnelling money to the President's campaign, according to the Associated Press.
- The Washington Times interviews anti-pork crusader Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK). Continue reading
Release the Rest of the Logs!:
Twice! Just Twice!?!? It seems that the White House is pulling everyone's leg. From Bloomberg:
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now at the center of a federal corruption scandal, visited the White House at least twice, in 2001 and 2004, according to logs released by the U.S. Secret Service. The Secret Service agreed last week to release the records after being sued by the Washington watchdog group Judicial Watch, which sought them under the Freedom of Information Act. The Secret Service faxed the logs today to Bloomberg News, which had also sought the records.The visits occurred on March 6, 2001 and January 20, 2004. So this is what Scot McClellan meant when he said that the Secret Service log would not show all (any) of Abramoff's vists. UPDATE: Now with links. Here's the Judicial Watch release. Continue reading
White House-Abramoff Logs:
ABC's The Note reports that Judicial Watch expects to receive the White House-Jack Abramoff logs sometime before 5pm and will post them at their website (LINK). Paul Kiel notes that a Bush loyalist interviewed in the New York Daily News stated, "There are a bunch of visits, (but) he didn't get into the West Wing very often." Kiel's site TPM Muckraker is asking readers to guess how many visits Abramoff made to the White House with the winner getting Muckraker merchandise.
Continue readingMorning News:
- Roll Call reports that the House Republican caucus remains "noncommital" on whether to push Bob Ney (R-OH) to resign if he is indicted on charges related to the Jack Abramoff bribery case. Just two days ago Ney's former chief of staff Neil Volz pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery among other charges.
- While House Republicans are weighing their options with Ney they are urging Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to pull Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) from the Appropriations Committee. Mollohan has been under fire for his earmarking of money to campaign contributors and nonprofits that he formed. He recently stepped down from his position as ranking member of the House Ethics Committee due to these allegations.
- USA Today reports that the ethics troubles of Democrats, including Rep. Mollohan, are having a dulling effect on the party's attempt to tar the Republicans as a party with a "culture of corruption." Other Democratic ethics woes include the advancing bribery probe of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) and rehashed allegations against Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) for using his staffers as babysitters and tutors.
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