Swiftboating

Notorious PR Firm That Reps Swift Boaters, Creationists, PhRMA Now Helping Fired IG

Justin Elliott | November 20, 2009, 5:12PM

Gerald Walpin

A heavy-hitting conservative public relations firm that flacked for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and boasts an impressive array of right-wing clients is now helping Gerald Walpin, who was fired this summer by President Obama as the inspector general for AmeriCorps.

Creative Response Concepts Public Relations (CRC) is representing Walpin, a secretary who answered the phone at the company confirmed to TPMmuckraker today.

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Mark Sanford

Lawmakers To Take Up Impeachment Proceedings Against Sanford

Zachary Roth | November 20, 2009, 1:25PM

Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC)

South Carolina lawmakers will next week take up impeachment proceedings against disgraced governor Mark Sanford.

House Judiciary committee chair Jim Harrison told the AP that an ad hoc panel of four Republicans and three Democrats will begin meeting Tuesday. Harrison said he expects a resolution to impeach will be ready before Christmas. That would then be considered by the full committee.

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Roland Burris

Senate Ethics Panel Admonishes Burris Over Blago Dealings, Moves On

Justin Elliott | November 20, 2009, 12:01PM

Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL)

In a letter of qualified admonishment released today, the Senate ethics panel criticizes Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) for his "inconsistent, incomplete and misleading" testimony surrounding discussions with Gov. Rod Blagoveich's brother and associates before Burris' appointment last year.

The full letter, which the Washington Post observes is the mildest form of rebuke in the panel's quiver, is here.

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Mary Landrieu

CREW Files Complaint Over Landrieu Camp's 'Mysterious' $25K Donation

Zachary Roth | November 20, 2009, 11:04AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed its complaint with the FEC over that mysterious $25,300 donation made to the US Treasury by Sen. Mary Landrieu's campaign -- framing the issue as one of transparency.

The Landrieu camp continues to refuse to reveal the reason for the donation, citing the need to protect the privacy of the original contributors. That's prompted CREW to suggest that the campaign may have feared a federal probe into the source of the money.

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Doug Hampton

Hampton: 'Crystal Clear' That Ensign Payment Was Severance

Zachary Roth | November 20, 2009, 10:05AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Doug Hampton's campaign to bring down the man who slept with his wife continues.

Hampton's latest blast at Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) came in a sit-down with ABC News's Nightline. In excerpts teased on the ABC News site, Hampton doubles down on his contention that the $96,000 he and his wife received from Ensign's parents, after the affair was discovered, was a severance package, not a gift as Ensign has claimed. A severance payment would have violated campaign-finance laws.

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Muslim Mafia

Muslim Mafia Author Appears To Completely Fold In CAIR Lawsuit

Justin Elliott | November 20, 2009, 9:43AM

Muslim Mafia Co-Author David Gaubatz

The author of the book Muslim Mafia, which was based on documents taken by the author's son while he was posing as a Muslim intern at the Council on American Islamic Relations, has agreed to return all documents and recordings obtained during the time at CAIR, according to a draft consent order filed in court yesterday.

The draft order, agreed to by attorneys for CAIR as well as for Dave Gaubatz and his son Chris, was filed along with a joint motion asking the judge to enter the order.

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Oil Business

CREW Calls On State Dept. To Probe Galbraith Over Kurdish Oil Dealings

Justin Elliott | November 19, 2009, 6:30PM

Peter Galbraith

A good government group is calling on the State Department to investigate the role of former ambassador Peter Galbraith in drafting Iraq's constitution in 2005 while he held a lucrative stake in a Kurdish oil field.

The letter from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to the State Dept. Inspector General asks whether State approved Galbraith's activities, and cites a recent New York Times exposé that built off work of the Norwegian newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv.

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Republican Governors Association

Florida GOP Gov Hopeful To RGA: Time To Give Back Rothstein's $200K

Justin Elliott | November 19, 2009, 3:06PM

Bill McCollum and Scott Rothstein (inset)

Bill McCollum, the likely GOP nominee in the Florida gubernatorial race, is calling on the Republican Governors Association to give back a $200,000 donation from accused fraudster attorney Scott Rothstein, whose political support has become a hot issue in the race.

The statement from McCollum, who is in Austin for the RGA conference this week, comes on the heels of a demand from the Democratic Governors Association that McCollum ask the RGA to give the money back.

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Jay Bybee

Legal Defense Fund For Torture Memo Author

Zachary Roth | November 19, 2009, 2:35PM

Jay Bybee

One of the authors of the Bush Justice Department's notorious memos approving torture has set up a legal defense fund to help pay anticipated lawyers' fees in connection with the episode.

A website for the Bybee Legal Defense Fund "explains how contributions may be made to help Judge Jay S. Bybee pay costs and expenses he is incurring or may incur in connection with claims, investigations or proceedings relating to his service as Assistant Attorney General for the Office Legal Counsel in the U.S. Department of Justice or his service on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit."

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John Ensign

Will Ensign Escape Criminal Probe?

Zachary Roth | November 19, 2009, 12:03PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Is the Justice Department leaning towards laying off Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)?

That's the direction in which Politico's reporting seems to point. According to the new site, DOJ officials "signal that the case is a low-priority matter for them." It adds that "no one close to Ensign or the Hamptons has been contacted by any federal investigators." And it notes that the Senate Ethics committee, which usually stands down when Justice is involved, has been forging ahead with its probe of the philandering Nevada senator.

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Mark Sanford

SC Ethics Panel Finds Probable Cause To Charge Sanford With Violations

Justin Elliott | November 19, 2009, 11:54AM

Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC)

The remaining 14 months of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's term may be about to get still more excruciating. The state ethics panel announced today it is moving ahead with its investigation of Sanford's travel and use of state funds in connection with his affair with an Argentinian woman, The State reports.

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Ken Starr

Strange Bedfellows: To Weaken Campaign-Finance Law, Starr's Group Defends Edwards Backer

Zachary Roth | November 19, 2009, 11:25AM

Ken Starr

A heavy-hitting group of conservative lawyers led by Ken Starr and Ed Meese is jumping to the defense of a Democratic trial lawyer and major John Edwards backer.

No, Starr, Meese et al. haven't suddenly undergone a political conversion. Instead, they see a chance to undermine campaign-finance laws they never supported in the first place.

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