The Daily MuckSen. John McCain has seen a flood of lobbyists leave his campaign for president due to conflicts of interests, yet the staff continues to straddle its self-imposed ethical lines by keeping the likes of Charlie Black around. (New York Times and Huffington Post)
Further restrictions on photojournalists at Guantanamo Bay are being put into place in the name of “operational security.” (Miami Herald)
Elsewhere at Gitmo, an report by an official there that detainee Ibrahim al Qosi had called his family in Sudan in order to find legal counsel outside of the U.S. military lawyer offered him turned out to be untrue. A later notification by a spokeswoman retracted the earlier report; Qosi’s call is still in the works. (Reuters)
Watchdog groups are calling for tighter rules on the disclosure of outside employment from House members and congressional staff. Currently, once a member or aide accepts a new job, they are required to recuse themselves from any conflicts of interest. But very little is done to enforce such rules. (Roll Call)
An investigation is under way into whether a former aide to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) used congressional funding to pay for a vacation. (Washington Post)
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin used suspect state science reports to refute federal research on polar bears in order to avoid granting them status as an endangered species. (McClatchy)
Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) is under fire for hiring John “Rick” Rickenbacker, an old acquaintance who spent a year in federal prison for accepting bribes from an undercover FBI agent. (Congressional Quarterly)
In a federal court case brought by death row inmates in Missouri, an anesthesiologist, despite the profession’s ethical concerns, was found to have joined the state’s execution team, completing the staff that will allow Missouri to resume executions after a break of 2 1/2 years. (Kansas City Star)
A long-standing Pacific Northwest timber company is set to receive a $182 million tax break from the recent farm bill that ran through Congress. Yet Weyerhaeuser officials believe the relief may not be enough to keep the country’s last, major integrated timber company from the grips of a major overhaul courtesy of Wall St. (McClatchy)