Brent Wilkes

NYT: WILKES SPEAKS -- Earmarks System "Little More Than a Shakedown"

Justin Rood | August 5, 2006, 1:07PM

Brent Wilkes, a.k.a. "Co-conspirator #1" -- who allegedly bribed Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham -- has been silent since the Cunningham scandal broke. Now, he has given his first on-the-record interview to the New York Times:

Mr. Wilkes had set up separate meetings with the lawmakers hoping to win a government contract, and he planned to punctuate each pitch with a campaign donation. But his hometown congressman, Representative Bill Lowery of San Diego, a Republican, told him that presenting the checks during the sessions was not how things were done, Mr. Wilkes recalled.

Instead, Mr. Wilkes said, Mr. Lowery taught him the right way to do it: hand over the envelope in the hallway outside the suite, at least a few feet away.

That was the beginning of a career built on what Mr. Wilkes calls “transactional lobbying,” which made him a rich man but also landed him in the middle of a criminal investigation.

Rick Santorum

GOPers Gathered Signatures for PA Green Candidate

Paul Kiel | August 5, 2006, 12:06PM

The farce continues. From The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Six staffers on Sen. Rick Santorum's campaign - including an intern who tailed Democratic candidate Bob Casey Jr. in a duck costume - collected voter signatures to help place the Green Party on the fall ballot.

The intern, petitions show, collected signatures from voters in five counties in one day.

T.J. Rooney, the state Democratic Party chairman, and other Democrats disclosed details of the petition drive that they said offered further evidence of involvement from Santorum supporters to get Carl Romanelli, the Green Party's Senate candidate, on the ballot. Not only did Santorum aides help collect signatures for Romanelli, but Republicans and Santorum supporters put more than $60,000 into the petition drive.

It's examples such as the apparent one-person, five-county petition tour - plus unregistered voters, multiple signatures by the same person, and fake names - that could form the basis of a challenge, Rooney said. John Michael Glick - the Santorum intern who has worn a duck costume to hound Casey for "ducking" issues - appeared to have collected signatures in Beaver, Washington, Fayette, Juniata, and Schuylkill Counties, Rooney said.

Claude Allen

Thieving White House Adviser: Katrina Made Me Do It

Justin Rood | August 4, 2006, 4:41PM

A dispatch from the McClatchy Newspapers Washington Bureau:

Former White House adviser Claude Allen tearfully pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge Friday, telling a Montgomery County judge that he lost his bearings after working 14-hour days and getting little sleep in the "tumultuous time" after Hurricane Katrina.

"Something did go very wrong," said Allen, who began crying during his remarks to the court. "I failed to restrain myself ... I did not appreciate what was going on."

That's right, folks: Katrina made him shoplift. On twenty-five separate occasions.

The judge gave Allen two years' criminal probation, 40 hours of community service, and $1350 in fines. If he stays out of trouble for the length of his probation, the conviction will be removed from his criminal record.

Connecticut Heckler Has a Tricky Past

Justin Rood | August 4, 2006, 3:40PM

Over at TPMCafe, Greg Sargent has been trying to get to the bottom of the Connecticut Heckler kerfuffle. Who is this man, Richard F. Goodstein, who came all the way from Washington, D.C., leaving a lucrative lobby practice on hold so he could sit in a diner, munch a hamburger, and heckle progressive Democratic challenger Ned Lamont for the benefit of assembled reporters and photographers?

It turns out, this recent flap isn't the first time Goodstein's been in hot water. Way back in 1983, Goodstein -- then a lawyer for the doomed Mondale for President campaign -- "surreptitiously took" a notebook from a Philadelphia office in order to hide the nature of the campaign's scheme to use rather flimsy outside organizations to evade fundraising laws. The action was disclosed in a 1985 book and reported in the Washington Post. (The notebook was returned soon after Goodstein took it, the paper reported; the FEC discovered the ruse, and Mondale -- after losing 49 states to Ronald Reagan -- paid over $379,000 in fines.)

As Goodstein told the Washington Post (article not online) at the time of its article on the topic: "It was the middle of a campaign and the stakes were high. . . It seemed to be the thing to do at the moment."

Since the 1980s, Goodstein has worked as a lobbyist specializing in waste issues.

Read more »

Pro-Lieberman Lobbyist/Heckler Refuses Questions

Justin Rood | August 4, 2006, 2:52PM

Over at TPMCafe, Greg Sargent has been tracking the brewing kerfuffle involving a Lieberman-friendly D.C. lobbyist who popped up at a Ned Lamont event to heckle the progressive challenger, have his picture taken, and give pithy quotes to reporters.

Sargent got the lobbyist, Richard F. Goodstein, on his cell phone -- some fun ensues. Unfortunately, he didn't help Greg figure out what he was doing up there, who was paying for him to be there, and if he was coordinating his efforts with the Lieberman campaign.

George Bush

Dems Release Report Alleging White House Lawbreaking

Justin Rood | August 4, 2006, 1:50PM

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have released the final version of their report, "Constitution in Crisis," which details the many broken laws, misstatements and missteps they allege the Bush administration to have made. You can find it here.

We reported Monday on a draft summary of the document written by the top Judiciary Dem, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI).

Earlier this week I had a chance to talk with Conyers about why he produced the report.

"We could get no response from the president" about their concerns over pre-war intelligence and the march to war in Iraq, he said. "Then we tried to get hearings in the Judiciary Committee," which met with a "no way" response, according to Conyers.

Read more »

John Doolittle

Doolittle was Abramoff Island Client's "Hero"

Paul Kiel | August 4, 2006, 12:30PM

Why did a congressman from California adopt the cause of a distant cluster of islands that his constituents most likely had never visited, much less heard of?

Two words: Jack Abramoff.

While Tom DeLay was the Northern Mariana Island's "biggest supporter on Capitol Hill," there is another congressman whose efforts for the islands deserve special mention: Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA). Doolittle, who took tens of thousands of dollars from Abramoff and his clients, was such an ardent advocate for the Marianas that Jack Abramoff referred to him in an email as the islands' "hero."

What did he do to deserve such an honor?

A TPMmuckraker investigation shows that Doolittle stayed in close touch with the island's needs through Abramoff and his team. According to billing records from Abramoff's lobbying firm in 2001, Doolittle met several times each month with members of Team Abramoff to discuss the concerns of the Northern Marianas (CNMI) government, which had been an Abramoff client since 1994*. He signed "Dear Colleague" letters praising the islands; he met a number of times with island officials; and he was responsible for earmarking at least $400,000 in federal funds for the CNMI.

Doolittle's office did not respond to my request for comment on this story.

The California lawmaker's work for the Marianas and Abramoff's other clients won him consistent and substantial support from the now-disgraced superlobbyist. Dating back to 1999, Abramoff, his associates, and their clients contributed at least $140,000 to the lawmaker's campaigns and political action committees.

Perhaps Doolittle's most significant favor for the islands was the $400,000 he secured in 2001, his first year on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. The money funded a study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on possible "improvements to [the CNMI's] water infrastructure," according to the bill.

Appropriations bills do not list the sponsors of earmarks, but a story in the local paper The Saipan Tribune credited Doolittle with securing the money; and billing records from Abramoff's firm show several meetings between one of Abramoff's lobbyists and both Doolittle and his staff regarding appropriations for the Marianas that year.

"It stinks," said Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense of the earmark, noting that the Corps of Engineers was one of Congress’ biggest pork barrels. "It looks like pay to play."

Read more »

Bernard Kerik

Bush's Would-Be DHS Chief Faces 2nd Probe

Paul Kiel | August 4, 2006, 12:12PM

Woops! Bush's one-time pick for Homeland Security Secretary ("he has demonstrated a deep commitment to justice, a heart for the innocent, and a record of great success") is facing a second investigation.

Bernard Kerik, the former NYC Police Commissioner whose nomination to head DHS imploded in December 2004 over a spate of problems (an illegal-nanny scandal foremost among them), has already pled guilty to accepting illegal gifts from a mobbed-up contractor. He got away with no jail time -- though he did suffer the indignity of the Manhattan Bernard B. Kerik Complex quickly and quietly dropping his name from the jail.

This time, the FBI is looking into how hundreds of thousands of dollars disappeared from a nonprofit affiliated with New York City's Department of Corrections when Kerik headed the agency. Heckuva commitment to justice, Bernie!

FEC: Nearly $900 Mil to Campaigns This Cycle

Justin Rood | August 4, 2006, 11:28AM

Congressional campaigns have raised over $893 million for the 2006 elections, according to the Federal Election Commission. That's a 12 percent jump over the 03-04 election cycle.

Political Action Committees contributed $232 million to House and Senate campaigns -- a 23 percent increase over the previous cycle, the FEC said. At least they're not spending it on lottery tickets.

Katherine Harris

The Collateral Damage of a Harris Defeat

Justin Rood | August 4, 2006, 11:00AM

A couple days ago, Reader JS wrote in with this observation:

It looks to be a given that [Rep. Katherine] Harris [(R-FL)] will (a) get the [GOP Senate] nomination; and (b) lose big. But I haven't seen any speculation on whether she will be a drag on Republican chances in Congressional races in FL.

An interesting observation, I thought. What do the experts think? I checked around, and it turns out JS was on to something. Harris' tenacity is perilous for at least one GOP House candidate in Florida.

Here's what I learned: as a Senate candidate, Harris is poised to ride near the top of the Florida Republican ticket. Unfortunately, she's expected to boost turnout statewide by Democrats eager to vote against her -- and she's thought to have the reverse effect on Florida Republicans, who seem increasingly concerned about sending this erratic, scandal-tainted character back to Washington, lest she provide a bigger embarrassment to their party.

Most Florida races are all but locked up. But one -- ironically, Palm Beach County's 22nd District -- is neck-and-neck. And the GOP incumbent, Clay Shaw Jr., is said to be deeply concerned about the political price he may pay for Harris' candidacy. ("So Shaw's really biting his nails over this?" I asked one professional election-watcher. "To the bone," she replied.)

A Democratic victory in the FL-22 race, by the way, is thought by some to be key to the party's takeover of the House.

Update: An earlier version of this post was written under the delusion there was no FL governor's race this year.

The Daily Muck

The Daily Muck

pauljustin | August 4, 2006, 8:20AM

Still No Action on Cunningham-Linked Contracts
"Eight months after former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham confessed to taking massive bribes in exchange for providing at least $230 million in questionable defense and intelligence contracts, the Defense Department inspector general still has not determined whether any of those projects were improper." (SD Union-Tribune)

Read more »

Katherine Harris

Feds' Queries into Harris Grow

Justin Rood | August 3, 2006, 7:20PM

At least four former aides to Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) have now been contacted or interviewed by the FBI as part of a widening investigation into wrongdoing by lawmakers and special interests.

We learned yesterday that Harris' former chief of staff (Fred Asbell) and a top campaign adviser (Ed Rollins) spoke with investigators curious to know more about Harris' involvement with Mitchell Wade, the man who has admitted to bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA). Harris took thousands of dollars from Wade, and attempted to win his company an earmark. (She failed.)

Now, AP reports that two more former staffers -- one from the Hill, one from the campaign -- have been interviewed by the Feds:

[T]he FBI this week called a former congressional staff member and asked if she would talk about Harris. The woman said she would cooperate, but an interview was not scheduled. A former campaign staff member said he also was contacted by the FBI Wednesday, but has not yet been interviewed. Neither wanted to give their names because of the continuing investigation.

Harris continues to maintain she is not a subject of the investigation.

Tom DeLay

Feds Closing in on DeLay's Money Man?

Justin Rood | August 3, 2006, 4:42PM

The Feds appear to be encircling a key figure tying the Abramoff scandal to one of the most powerful Republicans of the past six years.

National Journal reports (not available online) that FBI agents have been interviewing former aides to onetime House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) about Ed Buckham, formerly one of DeLay's closest aides. They have also spoken with former advisors to Buckham's sham charity, the U.S. Family Network, about Buckham.

In addition, investigators have subpoenaed an evangelical political fundraising group, America 21, which took money from Abramoff and whose lawyer worked with Buckham at USFN.

Read more »

Tom DeLay

DeLay Will Appeal Today's Ruling

Paul Kiel | August 3, 2006, 3:55PM

How badly does Tom DeLay want to avoid running again for his seat? He's taking his case all the way to the Supreme Court: a statement just out from the Texas Republican Party says they will appeal today's ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The full statement is below.

Read more »

WSJ: Dirty-Tricks Firm Tied to Anti-Gore Video

Justin Rood | August 3, 2006, 2:36PM

The Wall Street Journal article today fingering dirty-tricks firm DCI Group did not evade our notice.

The PR firm's colorful history includes a fake grassroots movement using the personae of dead people, paying $4,000 a head for seniors who would say nice things about the disastrous Medicare discount drug card, and a disingenuous attack on Eric Schlosser's burger-bashing "Fast Food Nation." (They also enjoy the assistance of Swift Boat Veterans' Chris LaCivitas.) Oh, and it's the former dirty-tricks HQ for James Tobin, convicted New Hampshire Phone Jammer.

Now, according to the WSJ, the firm appears to have paid for an anonymous video artist to create an attack video on YouTube that makes meanspirited fun of Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth."

These Eddie Haskells of the right don't pull these stunts for their own amusement, of course; they're bankrolled by very large companies, interest groups, and foreign despots. In this case, the Journal implies they may have used money from big oil companies. (Exxon, however, told the paper they played no role in funding or producing the mini-flick.)

Update: Paul watched the video and declared it "lame."

Tom DeLay

BREAKING: Appeals Court Rules Against DeLay

Justin Rood | August 3, 2006, 2:09PM

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a federal judge's prior decision: Tom DeLay stays on the ballot.

Update: Paul just spoke with DeLay counsel James Bopp. He said he didn't have a statement but would shortly, and it will address the issue of an appeal.

Late Update: From Hotline on Call - "The court held that, at the time DeLay was taken off the candidate slate, there was no firm evidence he had moved to Virginia and no conclusive evidence that he intended to live in VA on Election Day."

Later Update: To quote from the Opinion:

When [Texas Republican Chairwoman Tina] Benkiser reviewed the public records sent by DeLay and concluded that his residency in Virginia made him ineligible, she unconstitutionally created a pre-election inhabitancy requirement. The [Constitution's] Qualifications Clause only requires inhabitancy when that candidate is elected. Given this language, Benkiser could not constitutionally find that DeLay was ineligible on June 7, the date she made her decision. Therefore, her application of the ineligibility statute to DeLay was unconstitutional.

Rick Santorum

Halliburton Lobbyist Blames Wife for Green Party Donation

Justin Rood | August 3, 2006, 1:12PM

This morning I spoke with the Halliburton lobbyist who gave $1,000 to the Luzerne County (PA) Green Party.

"It was my wife" who made the contribution, Bill Wichterman told me. Wichterman, a well-connected GOP lobbyist, presumably backs Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), his onetime employer.

So, do the Wichtermans have a wacky Dharma-and-Greg thing going on? I asked Bill if his wife was a Green Party member.

"I'm not going to answer any questions about it," he replied.

Well, would your wife be willing to discuss the contribution?

"No, she wouldn't."

Rick Santorum

GOP-Funded Green Candidate: "I Bring Charisma, Depth" to PA Sen Race

Paul Kiel | August 3, 2006, 11:45AM

The Green Party's Senate candidate in Pennsylvania doesn't mind that his candidacy is completely paid for by Republicans. In fact, he says he was the one who approached them for donations.

In an interview yesterday, the Green candidate Carl Romenelli didn't flinch when I noted his campaign was funded entirely by GOP money. "It's quite possible," he said. "We received a lot of money from Republicans." Romanelli made the ballot, you'll remember, due to a voter signature drive funded by $66,000 from 20 conservative donors. The private company he hired was able to roust up over 90,000 signatures despite there being fewer than 20,000 registered Greens in Pennsylvania.

But Romanelli disputed the notion that he was being used by supporters of incumbent Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) in order to draw votes away from their Democratic challenger, Bob Casey. He said it showed that there was "enough mutual respect" between himself and his donors to have "a free and open debate."

"I respect the fact that people on the complete opposite side of an issue could respect my point of view," he told me. As Justin wrote yesterday, that respect came from an unlikely pool of GOP lobbyists and extremely wealthy donors.

Read more »

The Daily Muck

The Daily Muck

pauljustin | August 3, 2006, 8:26AM

Harris Campaign Chief Has History of Lame Shenanigans
Rep. Katherine Harris' (R-FL) fourth campaign manager for her Senate bid, Bryan Rudnick, "was involved in a petition controversy in Massachusetts in 2001.

"Then, Rudnick was chairman of Massachusetts Citizens for Marriage, which championed the Defense of Marriage act. His group was accused of tricking voters into signing its petitions for a proposed ban on gay marriage by asking voters to first sign a petition to protect horses from being killed and sold as food, then asking them to sign a second time, on a petition to ban gay marriage." (Roll Call, sub. req'd.)

Read more »

Claude Allen

Guilty Plea for Claude "Sticky Fingers" Allen

Paul Kiel | August 3, 2006, 12:22AM

Say it ain't so, Claude! Who put him up to it? The evil twin?

Claude Allen, the former Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, is set to plead guilty, McClatchy reports. He'll admit to a single misdemeanor: for "fraudulently stealing items worth less than $500 from a Target store." He'll get no jail time - just $850 in restitution to Target Corp. and one month's probation. That's a pretty sweet deal considering police alleged that he stole over $5,000 from Target and Hecht stores. He faced up to 18 months in jail.

So what's next for Allen? Oh, he'll bounce right back:

Friends of Allen, a well-known conservative who rose from a senator's press aide to one of the top jobs in the White House, said Wednesday that the criminal conviction shouldn't keep him from a future in politics.

"You know, people are more forgiving than you generally expect," said Carter Wrenn of Raleigh, N.C., a friend who was a political strategist for Helms and has known Allen since the early 1980s, when the recent college graduate was a spokesman for Helms' re-election campaign.

For those of you who have forgotten the details of Allen's forgivable crimes, he shoplifted from a Target store, and also repeatedly returned items he'd never bought.

Katherine Harris

Harris: I Didn't Report Subpoena Because I Didn't Have To

Justin Rood | August 2, 2006, 7:10PM

I just spoke with Jennifer Marks, the campaign spokeswoman for Rep. Katherine Harris' (R-FL) Senate bid. Responding to my question this morning -- why didn't Harris report her subpoena to the Speaker of the House, as House rules require, Marks gave the following statement:

"It is important to point out that the Department of Justice has informed Congresswoman Harris she is not a target of the investigation. Our campaign has helped the Department of Justice in every way they have asked, and there have been no requests of the congresswoman personally, or of her congressional office, that would require a report to the House Speaker."

Marks repeatedly declined my requests to elaborate beyond that statement.

Rick Santorum

In PA, Big-Time GOP Donors Show True Colors: Green

Justin Rood | August 2, 2006, 5:51PM

A Halliburton lobbyist giving money to the Green Party?

That's right, folks, you have now officially heard everything: A $1,000 donation to a local Pennsyslvania Green Party chapter came from Bill Wichterman, a senior lobbyist at Washington, D.C.'s Covington & Burling. Wichterman, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), now lobbies for such corporate behemoths as Halliburton, Chevron and Unisys.

A Green Party candidate in the Pennsylvania Senate race can't win -- even if he's well-funded. In fact, it might even throw the race to the Republican incumbent, Sen. Rick Santorum. But that hasn't deterred Wichterman and other GOP power players from quietly supporting their secret dream: to see a Green Party senator emerge from the Pennyslvania hills.

Read more »

Rick Santorum

GOP Donors Funded Entire PA Green Party Drive

Paul Kiel | August 2, 2006, 4:00PM

OK, we've done it. We've nailed it down: Every single contributor to the Pennsylvania Green Party Senate candidate is actually a conservative -- except for the candidate himself.

The Luzerne County Green Party raised $66,000 in the month of June in order to fund a voter signature drive. The Philly Inquirer reported yesterday that $40,000 came from supporters of Rick Santorum's campaign (or their housemates). Also yesterday, we confirmed that another $15,000 came from GOP donors and conservatives. Only three contributions, totaling $11,000, remained as possible legit donations.

Today, I confirmed that those came from GOP sources.

- The Green Party listed a $1,000 check from a Bill Wickerman of Covington & Burling. There is no such person. However, a Bill Wichterman works there. He's a Republican lobbyist who has also given to Santorum this campaign.

- James Holman, who in the past has supported GOP House candidate Howard Kaloogian, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), was incorrectly listed by the Greens as "James Howmen." He disclosed that he was an editor at the San Diego Reader; a James Holman is the publisher there.

- The Green Party disclosed that a "Franklin Schoneman" of Pottsville, Pa. gave $5,000. A "Franklin Schoeneman" of Pottsville has given $8,000 to Santorum so far this election.

That leaves only one contribution, for $30, as a legitimate donation from a Green Party supporter. That came from the candidate himself, Carl Romanelli. He made it to his own campaign fund, not the local Green Party.

Romanelli's latest FEC report shows his campaign currently has $17.20 on hand.

Rick Santorum

PA Dems Will Challenge GOP-Backed Green Candidacy

Paul Kiel | August 2, 2006, 1:20PM

We reported yesterday that the Green Party candidate in the race for Rick Santorum's seat is almost completely funded by Republicans. The Greens used the Republican money to hire a private company to collect enough signatures.

Today there's news that the Pennsylvania Dems will be challenging the signatures. From the Hotline:

The chairman of the PA Dem party, T.J. Rooney, said today he'll challenge the signatures that Green Party candidate Carl J. Romanelli submitted to join the Senate ballot. A number of those signatures were collected by JSM, Inc.

Rooney: “This is a questionable and controversial firm that has a history of fraudulent activity where many signatures, and candidates in some instances, have been thrown off the ballot in various states. We will ensure that this doesn’t take place in Pennsylvania and that the integrity of the electoral process is safeguarded.”

As the Hotline points out, "the Green Party counts fewer than 20K members in PA; it took 67K signatures to earn a spot, and Romanelli turned in more than 90K."

Update: Pentagon Meets Subpoena Deadline

Justin Rood | August 2, 2006, 1:08PM

A few weeks ago I wrote that the House Government Reform Committee had taken the uncommon step of sending a subpoena to the Department of Defense and Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to compel the release of documents related to abuses at Abu Ghraib, and a whistleblower who reported them.

The subpoena's deadline was July 14, and according to commitee spokespeople, the Pentagon made it in time.

The committee now has "a large stack" of papers, spokesman Robert White told me, as well as a list of documents DoD would not release. "We're still looking through all the documents to see what they gave us," White told me yesterday afternoon. "There are some things they told us they excluded, for a variety of reasons, and our lawyers and their lawyers arte still talking about that."

White wouldn't give me a timetable of when the public might learn what's in those files, or what kind of documents are missing.

Rick Santorum

GOP Milks Net Neutrality Issue for Campaign $$

Paul Kiel | August 2, 2006, 12:31PM

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) big telecom bill has stalled on the matter of "net neutrality" -- it's just too controversial (and technical) to deal with at the height of a heated election season, Roll Call reports today.

But there may be another reason that the Senate's GOP leadership is holding back on the bill, the paper tells us: it's generating a ton of campaign donations to Republicans, especially helpful in tight races. Why decide an issue today, when you can make millions by putting it off?

As it happens, "net neutrality" is a dream issue for Senate fundraisers, as it pits two prodigiously deep-pocketed interests (the telecom giants on one side, the internet giants on the other) against each other. Wishing to influence the outcome, both sides are reportedly writing checks at a furious pace, fueling a "torrent of campaign cash" for the GOP:

Vulnerable lawmakers are loathe to cut off that spigot before they are in the clear.

“Another reason some don’t want it to happen is from the fundraising perspective,” a GOP Senate aide said. “Some in leadership are saying, ‘Let’s not vote until the election.’”

The piece names Sens. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Mike Dewine (R-OH) and Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), all of whom are in tight races, as senators wishing to avoid a controversial vote.

Katherine Harris

Did Harris Break Rule, Hide Subpoena from House Leaders?

Justin Rood | August 2, 2006, 11:52AM

It's unfortunate that after receiving a federal grand jury subpoena, Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) declined to mention it to her Senate campaign staff.

But it appears she also declined to share it with the Speaker of the House -- and that's a violation of House rules.

As we've seen most recently in the case of Rep. Bob Ney's (R-OH) heavily-subpoenaed office (wham, bam, thank you and ma'am), any representative or staffer receiving a subpoena concerning any work-related issue must disclose it, and an announcement is subsequently published in the Congressional Record. It's called "House Rule VIII," and it's cited in just about every disclosure.

Yet a search of the Record turns up no mention of a subpoena for Harris.

"The rule's pretty clear," Andrew Herman, a Washington, D.C. defense lawyer who specializes in congressional ethics and investigations, told me. "I don't think this is a close question. She got subpoenaed, they're investigating, it's her obligation" to disclose the matter to the House leadership.

A spokesman in her Capitol Hill office referred my questions to Harris' Florida campaign staff. There, a spokeswoman took a message and promised to look into the matter. My call to the office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) wasn't immediately returned.

If Harris indeed violated Rule VIII, she likely faces little more than a slap on the wrist. Violations of House rules are handled by the House Ethics Committee, which hasn't shown a compulsion to do much enforcing of anything.

Conrad Burns

Ethics Committee Refuses to Exonerate Burns on Abramoff Dealings

Paul Kiel | August 2, 2006, 10:45AM

Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) to Senate Ethics Committee: Tell me I didn't do anything wrong.

Senate Ethics Committee: No, there's an ongoing criminal investigation.

Burns: “That’s a feeble excuse.”

Katherine Harris

HarrisWatch: "Pink Sugar" Hid Subpoena from Staff

Justin Rood | August 2, 2006, 8:26AM

Good morning! Here's your steaming mug of Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL):

U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris received a grand jury subpoena from federal investigators and concealed the fact from top campaign advisers hired to help her deflect negative publicity, her former campaign manager has disclosed.

"Yes, there was a subpoena. She didn't tell us," said Glenn Hodas, Harris' third and most recent campaign manager. He said he learned of it in June while reviewing invoices from powerhouse Washington lawyer Benjamin J. Ginsberg and confronted his boss.

The story, from today's Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, notes a couple other new details in Harris' case:

- In addition to interviewing former Harris strategist Ed Rollins, the Feds have now also interviewed Fred Asbell, Harris' former chief of staff on Capitol Hill.

- Harris is no longer represented by her high-paid D.C. insider lawyer, Benjamin Ginsburg. There's no mention of who replaced him.

The Daily Muck

The Daily Muck

pauljustin | August 2, 2006, 8:20AM

In Congress, the French Fries Are Back
In an unannounced move, the House cafeteria has removed the terms "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" from its offerings, and has reverted to using the dishes' more common names, "french fries" and "french toast."

Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), who had implemented the change in 2003 in a fit of hollow but PR-friendly patriotism, refused to comment on the switch. "We don't have a comment for your story," a spokesman for Ney said.

Owing to his notably unpatriotic involvement in the Abramoff scandal, Ney was several months ago forced to step down from his post as chair of the House Administration Committee, which oversees the cafeteria menu, among other things. The change appears to have been made by Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), although he too declined comment.

An indictment for Ney is rumored to be mere weeks away, which could send him to prison. If that's the case, we wonder: will he rename it "the freedom house?"

Read more »

Rick Santorum

Republicans Sponsor Green Candidate in PA Senate Race

Paul Kiel | August 1, 2006, 3:31PM

It's worse than we knew. Is the Green Party candidacy in the race for Rick Santorum's seat a wholly Republican sponsored affair?

As reported today by the AP and the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Green Party managed to get their candidate Carl Romanelli on the ballot with a costly petition drive, which was mostly funded by contributors who had also given to Rick Santorum's campaign. The party raised $66,000 for the effort, all of which they spent on a private company to collect signatures. TPMmuckraker was able to establish that at least $55,000 of that came from conservatives.

Virginia Davis, Santorum's spokeswoman, told the Inquirer that their office had encouraged the contributions. Why? Because a challenge from the left is seen as a liability for the Dem candidate, Bob Casey.

The $66,000 came from twenty donors, in contributions ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. None of the donors have a history of giving to the Green Party.

The Inquirer reported that $40,000 came from donors who either had given to Santorum's campaign or lived at the same address as a Santorum supporter. But even more than that came from Republicans. That raises the question whether any of the $66,000 - which comprises the total sum collected by both the local Green Party and Romanelli (with the exception of his $30 contribution) this election cycle - came from actual supporters of the Green Party.

But there's evidence that even those who didn't also give to Santorum's campaign are Republicans.

Read more »

George Bush

White House Briefing to Become TV within TV

Paul Kiel | August 1, 2006, 12:14PM

The medium is the message. From the Wall Street Journal (subs. req.):

For a decade, the daily White House news briefing has been televised. Now it is becoming television.

Earlier this year, Fox News talk show host Tony Snow was hired as press secretary. Next up: a renovation of the briefing room, likely with a video wall that could display everything from "flags waving in the breeze [to] detailed charts and graphs," according to a senior White House official working on the project. For TV viewers, the video feed could be the sole on-screen image, or could share the space with the speaker.

White House officials say they are weighing how -- and how often -- to use the video capability. But the new technology could help transform White House briefings -- midday exchanges with reporters in a utilitarian setting -- into more interesting viewing. Both the planned video capabilities and Mr. Snow's hiring appear to be part of a subtle but sweeping effort by administration officials to deliver their message directly to the public, particularly through video....

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Scooter Libby

Libby Lawyers Channel Proust

Paul Kiel | August 1, 2006, 10:38AM

What is memory? What is it to remember?

Those are questions that Scooter Libby's lawyers want jurors to be asking along with "Did Libby lie to the FBI and a federal grand jury?"

Libby's lawyers have long signalled that they want to call a memory expert at his trial in order to explain how he might have misremembered details of certain conversations. "The crux of Libby's defense," the AP writes, "will be that he was too preoccupied with national security "matters of life and death" and that he could have easily confused "snippets of conversations" he had with reporters from Time magazine, NBC and the New York Times." Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald charges (pdf) that he lied about those conversations concerning CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Yesterday, Libby submitted a summary of the expert's testimony. It's a brief treatise on the vagaries of memory... amounting to the conclusion that sometimes people forget or misremember things. We've posted it here in our Document Collection. An example:

At the encoding phase of memory ... events and information are not stored in a literal way, but rather are interpreted and then stored in memory with respect to existing memories, expecations, schemas and goals. During the retention interval ... stored memories do not tend to remain in the as-encoded state, but rather are malleable. Existing memory representations are influenced and modified by subsequent and prior related events and information. Finally, .... retrieved memories are reconstructions, rather than exact reproductions of past events.

Libby's lawyers say jurors need reminding of the unreliability of memory. The judge, who's signalled in the past that he's skeptical of the testimony's relevance, will ultimately rule whether the expert may testify.

Reform

CQ Election Experts: Scandals' Effect -- If Any -- Will Likely Be Isolated

Justin Rood | August 1, 2006, 8:16AM

CQPolitics.com asked its five-member board of advisers to weigh in on the success or failure of the 109th Congress, and how its record will affect the upcoming midterm elections.

Big surprise, only one mentioned the unfolding congressional scandals. Of the five professional analysts -- David P. Rebovich, Lawrence Jacobs, Charles S. Bullock III, Susan A. MacManus and Bruce E. Cain -- only Cain brought up the issue of corruption and lobbying reform:

The absence of lobbying reform is no plus for the Republicans, but apparently not a minus so far either. Perhaps a few more revelations and indictments will help generalize the issue, but until then, the effects of the Abramoff scandal will be isolated to specific races, such as Katherine Harris, Ralph Reed, Conrad Burns etc.

We're mad as hell -- but we're happy to take it a little more?

The Daily Muck

The Daily Muck

pauljustin | August 1, 2006, 7:51AM

Lawsuit Seeks to Void CA-50 Busby-Bilbray Results
"A lawsuit filed yesterday asks a judge to toss out results of the June 6 special election that saw Republican Brian Bilbray defeat Democrat Francine Busby to finish the remaining term of disgraced former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham. The lawsuit, filed at Superior Court in downtown San Diego by lawyer Paul Lehto of Everett, Wash., also asks for a recount of all ballots cast in the election in the 50th Congressional District.

"Lehto says there is no way to ensure that the voting machines used by county elections officials were not tampered with, which Registrar of Voters Mikel Haas vigorously denied. " (SD Union-Tribune)

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George Bush

Conyers Report Available

Justin Rood | July 31, 2006, 5:29PM

What's the charge, officer?

Earlier, I reported findings from an unreleased draft of a document written by Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) of the House Judiciary Committee. The document summarized a much lengthier report, also under wraps, detailing Bush administration transgressions.

We've posted the draft copy we obtained in the TPM Document Collection; you can read it for yourself by clicking here.

Tom DeLay

Judges Indicate They'll Rule against Republicans, DeLay

Paul Kiel | July 31, 2006, 4:28PM

If early accounts are accurate, Tom DeLay's likely to remain a GOP congressional candidate, despite his or his party's best efforts.

DeLay and the GOP have been trying to get courts to allow them to remove his name on the ballot in the race for Texas' 22nd District. But The Houston Chronicle reports the judges at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals were particularly critical in their questioning today.

The Republicans are trying to get the three judge appeals panel to reverse a federal judge's earlier ruling that Tom DeLay must stay on the ballot. The suit stems from a Democratic complaint that DeLay and the Republicans schemed to circumvent candidacy laws by moving to Virginia.

If DeLay loses this round, he'll either be forced to run again or let the Democrats take the seat without Republican opposition.

A decision is expected sometime within the next couple weeks.

Surveillance

NSA Whistleblower's Testimony Postponed

Justin Rood | July 31, 2006, 3:15PM

Russ Tice, the former NSA employee who's said he spoke with the New York Times about the NSA's domestic spying efforts, was subpoenaed last week to testify before a grand jury on Aug. 2. A quick letter from a decent lawyer has now won Tice an indefinite postponement, according to the advocacy group National Security Whistleblowers Coalition.

Meanwhile, another group argues that the federal investigation into who leaked the NSA program to the NYTimes may itself be illegal. According to federal law, “Until the government demonstrates that any properly classified information has been released, it is illegal to spend federal funds investigating Mr. Tice," said Government Accountability Project legal director Tom Devine in a press release today.

Katherine Harris

Florida GOP to Harris: We Never Loved You

Paul Kiel | July 31, 2006, 3:04PM

The AP reveals today that the Florida Republican Party did all they could back in May to convince Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) to drop her bid for the U.S. Senate -- even sent her a letter revoking its support. Harris, of course, was undeterred.

From the AP:

Party Chairman Carole Jean Jordan made a last-ditch attempt in the confidential May 7 letter to force Harris out of the race for the nomination to challenge Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record).....

The letter was also signed by national committeewoman Sharon Day and national committeeman Paul Senft.

"Katherine, though it causes us much anguish, we have determined that your campaign faces irreparable damage," the letter said. "We feel that we have no other choice but to revoke our support."

"The polls tell us that no matter how you run this race, you will not be successful in beating Bill Nelson, who would otherwise be a vulnerable incumbent if forced to face a stronger candidate," it said...."

The state Republican Party confirmed the letter's contents Monday. In a statement, Jordan said she was "disappointed" that the private letter had been made public but added that "our concerns about the race and Congresswoman Harris' campaign still exist."

George Bush

EXCLUSIVE: Bush Admin May Have Violated 26 Statutes, Dems Say

Justin Rood | July 31, 2006, 1:53PM

The Bush administration may have broken over two dozen federal laws and regulations -- some of them multiple times -- according to an unreleased report from the House Judiciary Committee Democrats.

"The misconduct I have found is not only serious, but widespread," reads a draft summary of the report by Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI):

The laws implicated by the Administration’s actions include federal laws against making false statements to congress [sic]; federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and other government employees; Executive Orders concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence; federal regulations and ethical requirements governing conflicts of interest; the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; communications privacy laws; the National Security Act; and the Fourth Amendment.

The document, an update to the Democrats' December 2005 report, "A Constitution in Crisis," will be released later this week, according to knowledgeable sources. It is several hundred pages long, with over a thousand footnotes.

In earlier days such a report would be easily ignored. But with the looming possibility of Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives in November, Conyers' charges pose a potentially serious threat to the Bush administration. After all, it takes only a simple majority vote in the House to impeach a sitting president.

On their face, the laundry list of alleged wrongs form a natural basis for impeachment proceedings -- but Conyers has insisted he has no intention of rushing to impeach. No, a slow walk to possible impeachment (preferably down a path that includes months of hearings) is more what the would-be chairman envisions, he has said.

My call to the White House was not immediately returned.

Did Iranians Attend North Korea's July 4th Missile Test?

Justin Rood | July 31, 2006, 10:25AM

CQ's Jeff Stein makes a neat catch: the State Department's top Asia official told Congress recently that Iranian officials were in North Korea to observe its missile test firings this July 4. Headlines ensue. Days later, Hill quietly retracts the claim:

“Hill . . . told reporters he could not confirm reports that Iranian officials had witnessed the July 4 launches,” the AP said. “He said he misspoke when he earlier told lawmakers that he could confirm such reports."

Experts Stein spoke with agreed: it wouldn't be unheard of for Iran to watch a North Korean test -- in fact, they did so in 1993. Perhaps Hill was confused about the dates. Perhaps he spoke out of class. Or perhaps the intelligence doesn't actually exist.

However you read it, CQ's national security editor concludes, the lesson is grim: either U.S. intelligence doesn't know what's going on, a top State official can't keep life-or-death facts straight, or the administration is again attempting to mislead on national security matters.

The Daily Muck

The Daily Muck

pauljustin | July 31, 2006, 7:50AM

TX 22: DeLay Ballot Issue Heads Into Appeals Court
"The 5th Circuit federal appeals court in New Orleans on Monday will become the latest venue for the partisan legal battle over whether Tom DeLay — the former House majority leader who resigned from Congress under a cloud of ethics controversies June 9 — must remain on the ballot this November as the Republican nominee in Texas’ 22nd District." (CQ, AP)

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Rove Criticizes Press' Role in Politics

Justin Rood | July 30, 2006, 11:54AM

This is kind of funny. NYTimes: "Rove Criticizes Journalists' Role in Politics."

What about Rove's troubling role in journalism?

Mitchell Wade

In Scandal's Aftermath, Painful Prices Still Being Paid

Justin Rood | July 30, 2006, 10:33AM

It's official: the Virginia defense facility run -- on taxpayer dollars -- by one of the central felons in the Duke Cunningham scandal is closing Monday.

The news comes just days after the Pentagon announced it would not renew the contract for the Martinsville-based Foreign Supplier Assessment Center, which was created and sustained largely through earmarks from Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA). Goode received over $90,000 in contributions from Mitchell Wade, who's spilling his guts to federal investigators in an attempt to dodge jail time.

Who's it bad news for? Just about everyone involved. Goode's getting slammed for bringing MZM to town, winning the company unusually generous financial perks and sending the bill to the city. "Rep. Goode forgot whom he should represent when he brokered a deal favorable to campaign contributors at the risk of his district," the Roanoke (Va.) Times opined Saturday.

It's bad news for MZM -- now Athena Innovative Solutions. Sources tell me this is not the only one of their contracts getting cut. The Pentagon trimmed more than 30 positions from an Athena contract to provide employees to the Counterintelligence Field Activity office (CIFA), according to two former MZM employees who are in touch with current Athena staffers.

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