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Barack Obama

White House Releases More Names From Visitor Logs -- Help Us Search

The White House just posted nearly 2,000 records of visitors who came through the gates at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue this year, as part of its new transparency policy. The release includes the names of people who visited President Obama and other top officials.

Check out the names here -- and leave comments or send email to let us know what you find.

And remember: the last time Bill Ayers showed up, it wasn't that Bill Ayers.

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Topics: Barack Obama

Obama Administration

'Disappointed' Siegelman: Obama Justice Dept. Virtually The Same As Bush DOJ


Don Siegelman with Obama and Bush (inset)

When the Obama Administration argued in a filing earlier this month that the Supreme Court should not consider an appeal by Don Siegelman, the former Alabama governor wasn't surprised, even though the Obama filing maintained the Bush-era stance in Siegelman's controversial corruption case.

"There's really been no substantial change in the heart of the Department of Justice from the Bush-Rove Department of Justice," Siegelman tells TPMmuckraker in an interview.

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Topics: Barack Obama, Bush, Bush Administration, DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility, Don Siegelman, Elena Kagan, Eric Holder, George Bush, Justice Department, Karl Rove, Obama Administration

Blue Cross Blue Shield

NC Health Insurer Being Probed For Campaign Against Public Option


Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC)

BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina is being investigated by the state's attorney general for a recent mailer and spate of robo-calls in opposition to the public option, according to a company spokesman.

In October, TPMmuckraker reported that the insurance company had sent a mailer to millions of its customers asking them to urge the state's Democratic senator, Kay Hagan, (D-NC) to oppose a public option. The insurance company also deployed a related robocall.

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Topics: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Investigations, Kay Hagan

American Future Fund

GOP Group Undermining Robo-Call Laws Has Ties To DCI

American Future Fund (AFF), the shadowy conservative advocacy group that's working to undermine state laws against robo-calling, has ties to DCI Group, a Republican lobbying firm with a reputation for dirty tricks and shady clients. And a closer look at AFF suggests the group has been designed to carry out political attacks while escaping scrutiny from the press and public.

AFF paid $249,000 last year to McKenna & Associates for fundraising work, according to a copy of AFF's 990 form for 2008 that was obtained by TPMmuckraker. The Arlington, Virginia-based firm is run by Andrew McKenna, a GOP operative and former senior vice-president of DCI Group. McKenna did not immediately respond to TPMmuckraker's request for comment.

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Topics: Alex Vogel, American Future Fund, Astroturf, Chuck Grassley, FLS Connect, Health Care, Jill Holtzman Vogel, Lobbyists

Alan Mollohan

Dem Rep Controls DOJ Budget While Under DOJ Investigation


Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV)

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) has his hands on the reins of the Justice Department budget at the same time the Feds are investigating his personal finances and allegations he steered taxpayer dollars to non-profits Mollohan himself created.

The Washington Post today reports on the conflict, which led Mollohan to recuse himself from voting on certain DOJ budget items, including for the FBI, according to his office. He is the chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science.

But Mollohan's recusal hasn't mollified one conservative critic of the lawmaker:

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Topics: Alan Mollohan, Ethics Panel, FBI, House Ethics Committee, Justice Department, Ken Boehm, Nancy Pelosi, National Legal and Policy Center, Washington Post

Bill Sparkman

Police: Sparkman Committed Suicide, Made It Look Like Murder For Insurance Scam


Bill Sparkman

Census worker Bill Sparkman committed suicide and deliberately made it look like murder as part of an insurance scam, Kentucky state police have concluded.

State police, working with the FBI, said at a press conference moments ago that Sparkman had recently taken out two life insurance policies that would not pay out for suicide. It appears Sparkman hoped that the scheme would benefit his son, Josh Sparkman.

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Topics: Bill Sparkman, Census Bureau, FBI, Right-wing extremism

Paul Bergrin

Feds: Former US Prosecutor Helped Rub Out Witnesses For Gangster Clients, Ran Drugs And Call-Girls


Paul Bergrin

From federal prosecutor to accused violent gangster, pimp, and drug-dealer...That's the unusual career trajectory taken, say the Feds, by Paul Bergrin, who was indicted earlier this month in a 39-count racketeering indictment.

In a drama that could have been made for HBO, Bergrin -- a white-collar defense lawyer who once represented, pro bono, a solider accused of abusing Abu Ghraib detainees -- seems to have allowed his gangster clients to drag him into a world of violent crime. And he may have gone a lot further than Maury Levy ever did for Stringer Bell.

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Topics: Abu Ghraib, Drugs, Eliot Spitzer, Paul Bergrin, Sex, Torture

John Ensign

Ethics Probers Still Haven't Talked To Hampton On Ensign Matter


Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Last night, Nightline aired its full interview with Doug Hampton, about the amazing circumstances surrounding the affair between Hampton's wife Cindy and his former boss, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV).

Some of the best stuff trickled out early, but there are still a few good new nuggets. For instance:

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Topics: Doug Hampton, John Ensign, Lobbyists, Senate Ethics Committee, Sex

Dave Gaubatz

Muslim Mafia Scribe: How I 'Toyed' With TPMmuckraker


Dave Gaubatz (inset)

Muslim Mafia author Dave Gaubatz says in a new interview that his open call for a Winnebago, a pair of motorcycles, and $25,000 to conduct counterterrorism research in North Carolina was "bait" designed to draw attention away from real field research he was conducting elsewhere.

"While Elliot [sic] and like terrorist supporters were focused on my 'alleged' research in NC, I was hundreds of miles away conducting research in other locations," Gaubatz tells FrontPageMag, a Web publication edited by David Horowitz.

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Topics: CAIR, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Dave Gaubatz, David Horowitz, FrontPageMag, Muslim Mafia

John Ensign

Hampton: To Hide Affair, Ensign Made Me And Cindy Attend 'Goodbye Party' After Firing Us


Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

More nuggets are being reported from Doug Hampton's interview with Nightline, set to air tonight, about Sen. John Ensign's affair with Hampton's wife. And they somehow make the Nevada senator look even worse than he already did, if that's possible.

Politico, which seems to have gotten a look at the full interview, reports:

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Topics: Campaign Finance, Doug Hampton, John Ensign, Sex

Muslim Mafia

WND Editor: Muslim Mafia Scribe Is Victim Of 'Economic Terrorism' By CAIR


Muslim Mafia Co-Author David Gaubatz and Joseph Farah

The head of the company that published Muslim Mafia says that the Council on American Islamic Relations is engaging in "economic terrorism" against the book's cash-strapped author, who can't afford to fight CAIR in court.

The comments by Joseph Farah, editor and CEO of WorldNetDaily, parent company of WND Books, are buried in a profile of Martin Garbus, one of the lawyers defending Muslim Mafia author Dave Gaubatz, and his son, Chris, who went undercover as an intern at CAIR.

In response to Gaubatz's decision to accede to CAIR's demand that he return thousands of pages of documents and electronic files taken by Chris Gaubatz, Farah said:

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Topics: 'Intern Spy' Probe, Bernie Grimm, CAIR, Chris Gaubatz, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Dave Gaubatz, Joseph Farah, Martin Garbus, Muslim Mafia, WND Books, World Net Daily

Mark Sanford

Gov. Sanford Faces 37 Charges Of Lawbreaking By Ethics Panel


Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC)

South Carolina's ethics commission is investigating 37 allegations of lawbreaking by Gov. Mark Sanford in connection with travel and use of campaign funds -- charges his lawyer described just last week as "minor, technical matters."

Sanford is accused of violating ethics laws barring officials from buying high-priced airfare -- including on trips to visit his lover in Argentina last year -- as well as using state airplanes for personal travel, The State reports.

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Topics: Argentina, Ethics Panel, Mark Sanford, Sex

Jill Hotlzman

Shadowy GOP-Linked Group Plans Barrage Of 2010 Robo-Calls

A shadowy conservative group with ties to the operatives behind a host of GOP dirty tricks is working to undermine state restrictions on political robo-calls, as it gears up to unleash a barrage of such calls in 2010 races.

Last month, American Future Fund Political Action (AFFPA) informed the FEC that it's planning robo-calls in congressional races. Jason Torchinsky, a lawyer for AFFPA, wrote that the group "wishes to distribute pre-recorded telephone calls ... as part of a nationwide program of political outreach." The calls, wrote Torchinsky, "will expressly advocate the election or defeat of one or more clearly identified candidates for Federal office."

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Topics: Alex Vogel, American Center for Voting Rights, American Future Fund, Jason Torchinsky, Jill Holtzman Vogel, Jill Hotlzman, Voting, voter fraud

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