TPMMuckraker October 12, 2008 - October 18, 2008
David Iglesias
Ex DOJ Voting Rights Chief: "It's Going to Take a Long Time to Cleanse" Department
Zachary Roth | October 17, 2008, 5:34PM
A former top Department of Justice voting rights official -- who once worked with John McCain in defense of the senator's campaign-finance reform bill -- has added his name to the growing chorus that is denouncing the department's investigation of ACORN as a shameful and inappropriate politicization of Justice along the lines of the US attorney firings.
Speaking to TPMmuckraker, Gerry Hebert described the investigation, word of which was leaked off the record to the Associated Press less than three weeks before the election, as "a continuation of injecting DOJ into what has clearly become a political issue."
He continued: "That's really not the proper role for the DOJ, and why their policies counsel otherwise."
To demonstrate that point, Hebert provided TPMmuckraker with a copy of the department's Manual on Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses.
Under a section headlined "Investigative Considerations in Election Fraud Cases", the manual reads:
When investigating election fraud, three considerations that are absent from most criminal investigations must be kept in mind: (1) respect for the primary role of the states in administering the voting process, (2) an awareness of the role of the election in the governmental process, and (3) sensitivity to the exercise of First Amendment rights in the election context. As a result there are limitations on various investigative steps in an election fraud case.In most cases, election-related documents should not be taken from the custody of local election administrators until the election to which they pertain has been certified, and the time for contesting the election results has expired. This avoids interfering with the governmental processes affected by the election
Another limitation affects voter interviews. Election fraud cases often depend on the testimony of individual voters whose votes were co-opted in one way or another. But in most cases voters should not be interviewed, or other voter-related investigation done, until after the election is over. Such overt investigative steps may chill legitimate voting activities. They are also likely to be perceived by voters and candidates as an intrusion into the election. Indeed, the fact of a federal criminal investigation may itself become an issue in the election.
Although it is unclear whether the FBI has taken information or interviewed voters, Hebert argued that the new ACORN investigation clearly violates the manual's guidelines, both in terms of its timing -- initiated so close to election day -- and in terms of the off-the-record leak by which it was publicized.
Hebert served 21 years at DOJ's civil-rights division, including a stint as acting head of the voting rights section.* He left in 1994 and now heads a public interest legal non-profit. In 2003, he represented McCain and Sen. Russ Feingold, when the campaign-finance reform legislation authored by the two senators was challenged by conservative activist groups.
Hebert, noting that he had been at DOJ during the administrations of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, added: "During the twenty-one years I was there, even though there were political appointees who I worked with, never did we inject partisan considerations into our law-enforcement responsibilities. That has clearly not been the case in recent years under this administration. And it's going to take a long time to cleanse the Department of Justice."
The Obama campaign, House Judiciary chair John Conyers, and, in an interview with TPMmuckraker, former US attorney David Iglesias, have all also connected the FBI's ACORN investigation to the kind of politicization exposed in the firings saga.
* This sentence has been corrected from an earlier version.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (52) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (44)Topics: ACORN, David Iglesias, Gerry Hebert, Voting
Tim Mahoney
Mahoney Admits At Least Two Affairs
Kate Klonick | October 17, 2008, 4:40PM
Rep. Tim Mahoney has admitted to having "at least two" affairs, but maintains that he broke no laws, the AP reports.
"I can understand why people would feel that way and for those people, all I can say is, 'I'm sorry I let you down,'" Mahoney told the Associated Press in his first set of interviews since ABCNews.com reported Monday that he had a sexual relationship with an ex-staffer, Patricia Allen, who he agreed to pay $121,000 to in an out of court settlement.
Mahoney also admitted to a second affair, initially reported Wednesday by the AP, with a county official in his district. The affair reportedly was carried on, while he was lobbying the federal government for FEMA funds for the official's county.
So is this his full confession? Mahoney wouldn't say, but confessed to "multiple affairs."
"You're asking me over a lifetime? I'm just saying I've been unfaithful and I'm sorry for that," he said.
And what about his infamous predecessor, Mark Foley?
"With respect to the former congressman, I think that his situation is different from my situation," Mahoney said. "I don't want anyone to misinterpret that as me saying somehow I'm saying I'm more proud. I'm not saying that at all."PERMALINK | COMMENTS (7) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)
Topics: Tim Mahoney
David Iglesias
Obama Camp Connects ACORN Probe to US Attorneys Scandal
Zachary Roth | October 17, 2008, 3:01PM
Add the Obama campaign to the growing list of players who think that DOJ's election-eve investigation into ACORN is a repeat of the politicization of the department that we saw in the US attorney firings scandal.
"With this voter fraud [investigation], we're seeing an unholy alliance of law enforcement and the ugliest form of partisan politics," Bob Bauer, an elections lawyer with the Obama camp, said on a conference call with reporters just now. Bauer compared the decision to launch the investigation with the US attorneys scandal, in which several US attorneys were fired for their unwillingess to pursue politically charged cases, including voter fraud, with sufficient aggression to satisfy the Bush administration.
Bauer released a letter sent to Attorney General Michael Mukasey calling on him to have the issue taken on by Nora Dannehy, the prosecutor he appointed to investigate the US attorney firings.
Bauer went on to accuse John McCain of "trying to create a much greater doubt about the electoral process altogether," by alleging that ACORN voter fraud could threaten the fabric of our democracy, as McCain claimed in the debate Wednesday night.
House Judiciary chair John Conyers, as well as David Iglesias -- whose firing as US attorney was a direct result of his reluctance to pursue GOP-pushed claims of voter fraud, according to the recent OIG report -- have also connected the FBI's ACORN investigation to the kind of politicization exposed in the firings saga.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (54) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (71)Topics: ACORN, David Iglesias, John Conyers, Michael Mukasey, Voting
Voting
Ex-DOJ Vet: Under Bush "We Might Have Gotten Away From" Tradition of Independence
Zachary Roth | October 17, 2008, 12:10PM
It's not just David Iglesias who thinks the Bush administration has inappropriately politicized the Department of Justice.
Paul Hancock, a former top official with the DOJ's civil-rights division, told TPMmuckraker that during his tenure, the department responded in an independent and non-partisan manner to outside pressure to bring politically sensitive cases. But "I think we might have gotten away from that in this administration," he said.
Hancock, who left the department in 1997, stressed that, in his view, it's too soon to know whether the FBI's investigation into ACORN is politically driven, and said that such investigations are not unusual. But they usually would not be aggressively carried out so close to an election, for fear of their existence being made public, and thereby affecting the election.
It remains unclear how far along the ACORN investigation is.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (11) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (6)
Topics: David Iglesias, Voting
Alaska
Blogging Sen. Stevens Testimony
Kate Klonick | October 17, 2008, 12:05PM
Sen. Ted Stevens took the stand yesterday, along with his wife Catherine, to testify in his trial on seven counts of false statements.
He continues that testimony today, so we'll be bringing you context on relevant facts, quotes and happenings from what looks like it will be the final day of this historic trial of a sitting senator.
Morning testimony. . .12:01: One might call Uncle Ted a "traditionalist" after reading this quote on the power dynamic in his household.
From RollCall:
Ted Stevens testified that when Catherine agreed to take charge of the project, "I was happy about that" because she is generally much more concerned than he is about the maintenance and decoration of their homes."What goes on in the house is Catherine's business; what goes on outside is my business," he said.
Politico says Stevens read the jury an e-mail he sent to the man who produced architectural drawings for the renovation project in August 2000.
"Now I want you to give us a bill for your work," Stevens wrote to John Hess -- a VECO employee and one of the first witnesses for the defense, but never received a bill. "Under our Senate rules, I must pay you for what you have done," he added.
Direct continues . . .12:44 pm : Well the Stevens' defense has made it pretty clear -- their primary defense is throwing Mrs. Stevens under the bus:
"Who had the check book?" Sullivan asked his client."Catherine," Stevens said.
"Who got the bills?"
"Catherine," Stevens responded.
"Catherine maintained the checkbook?"
"She did," Stevens said. "She got all the bills and paid all the bills."
As you can see from the focus of the defense questions, they're looking to defend the senator on two fronts: 1) that he tried to pay his bills, even asking for them from the architect while citing Senate rules; and 2) that he didn't even know what was going on in the house anyway! That was women's work!
No Free Lunch Edition . . . 1:13 pm: This just in from the AP, Stevens wouldn't even let his buddies pick up the tab on lunch! Let alone hundreds of thousands in home renovations.
"I pay my bills wherever I am," Stevens said. "I don't let people buy my lunch or buy my dinner. Wherever I am, I pay my bills."
Sadly, Stevens also turned on the testimony of former VECO CEO Bill Allen -- who was one of his best friends until he decided to testify against Ted.
Stevens blames Allen, his one-time friend and drinking buddy, for adding freebies to the project without telling him. Stevens sat stonefaced Friday as he accused Allen of lying on the witness stand. Allen testified that Stevens knew he wasn't getting billed for everything and just wanted invoices to protect himself."That's just an absolute lie," Stevens said. "I heard it. It's an absolute lie."
Flashback to Catherine's testimony Edition . . .1:43pm: TPM Reader ML points out an interesting moment in Catherine's testimony yesterday:
Morris also questioned Mrs. Stevens about her husband's Senate staff walking their dogs, paying their credit card bills, cutting their grass and doing other personal work for her family."Sometimes," said Mrs. Stevens, who added that if they did, the staffers were paid. [emphasis ours.]
Hmmm . . . who does that remind you of?
Cross examination is coming Edition. . . 3:13pm: Roll Call is reporting that direct questioning will be wrapping up this afternoon and cross examination will probably start before they recess for the weekend. Disappointing that this won't be wrapped up by the end of the day.
Crocodile Tears Edition. . . 5:13pm : Apparently, even though Sen. Stevens and his attorneys haven't hesitated to sacrifice Catherine Stevens to the DOJ wolves, the seven-term senator still gets misty-eyed over her, Roll Call reports.
"I was happy that she was going to get a chance to be home" and to spend time with their daughter, Stevens said, referring to his wife's decision to leave work and its impact on their household finances. Fighting back tears, Stevens said that his wife had been traveling a great deal for her job with a foundation, and "she had worked awful hard. ... She deserved the rest."
Politico has some great color on the senators' cross examination, in which the prosecutor sharply questions Stevens' ignorance and passivity when it came to the home renovations.
"You were a lion of the Senate but you didn't know how to prevent another man from putting items in your house?" Morris asked."You're making a lot of assumptions that are unwarranted. There are no gifts there, ma'am," Stevens said.
Stevens is known for his temper and has even embraced that reputation, wearing Incredible Hulk ties on the Senate floor when he knows he has a tough debate ahead. He's not wearing any Hulk garb today.
Stevens, a former U.S. attorney before he served 35+ years in the Senate, got a little testy as questioning continued, deigning to offer his expertise.
"I think you better rephrase your question," he told Morris as she continued her questioning. "That question is tautological."
Things broke up around 4:45 pm. We'll be back on Monday bringing you the best in reporting on the final days of the Stevens' trial.
Topics: Alaska, Bill Allen, Ted Stevens, Veco
Voting
Supreme Court Sides With Dems On Ohio Voting Case
Zachary Roth | October 17, 2008, 11:59AM
In a ruling late this morning, the Supreme Court sided with Ohio's Democratic Secretary of State, who's in a dispute with the state GOP over voting.
Reports the AP:
The justices on Friday overruled a federal appeals court that had ordered Ohio's top elections official to do more to help counties verify voter eligibility.Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, faced a deadline of Friday to set up a system to provide local officials with names of newly registered voters whose driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers on voter registration forms don't match records in other government databases.
The ruling could make it easier to vote for thousands of Ohioans whose voter registration information did not match up with other government records.
And the McCain campaign has already responded. On a conference call with reporters just now, campaign manager Rick Davis said: "If you look at what the ruling said, it said that the Republican party didn't have standing in order to bring the suit, it didn't make a decision on the merits of the case." Davis added: "I think that the Secretary of State ought to do her job."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (37) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (47)Topics: Voting
Voting
DOJ Split Over ACORN Probe?
Zachary Roth | October 17, 2008, 11:32AM
Are some higher-ups at the FBI, or somewhere else within DOJ, pushing back against the rapidly growing perception that the department has launched a politically-driven nationwide investigation into voter fraud on the eve of an election?
The New York Times reports:
Law enforcement officials sought on Thursday to ratchet down speculation that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had begun a broader investigation into the group's activities. Some officials said privately that they were wary of being pulled into a highly partisan controversy so close to Election Day.The officials said their investigation of Acorn's activities would, for now, focus on reports of voter registration fraud that have surfaced in several states.
Doesn't sound like the FBI has much evidence of that "coordinated national scam" that the AP reported they're looking for.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (10) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (11)Topics: ACORN, Voting
The Daily Muck
The Daily Muck
Natalie Sherman | October 17, 2008, 9:52AM
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), who chairs the House Oversight Committee, yesterday accused the International Oil Trading Company, which handles fuel delivery to the U.S. Army in Iraq, of overcharging for its services and earning its chief millions of dollars in personal profits. The company is led by Harry Sargeant, a chairman of the Florida GOP and a top McCain fundraiser. Waxman says his bids were repeatedly higher than competitors. (New York Times)
The National Journal publishes a long profile of the Washington lobbyist whose relationship with GOP presidential candidate John McCain was the subject of a controversial New York Times article last year. The woman, Vicki Iseman, blames the piece, which reported that some of McCain's aides confronted him over his closeness to Iseman, for hurting her career. Iseman and McCain have denied that they engaged in an improper relationship, with Iseman saying that she has "never even been alone with Senator McCain." (National Journal)
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, whom many regard as a rising star in the Republican party, took a trip shortly after his installation this year funded by Koch Industries, a large U.S. company with ties to the radically conservative John Birch society. The trip has prompted scrutiny from some who say it could violate ethics standards that regulate contacts between politicians and firms that do business with the state. (The Advocate)
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (3) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: The Daily Muck
Voting
Unchastened, NM Republicans Still Pushing Voter Fraud
Zachary Roth | October 17, 2008, 9:28AM
This morning, we noticed an RNC press release in our inbox, breathlessly touting an Associated Press story that reports:
"The New Mexico Republican Party say they believe 28 people voted fraudulently in an Albuquerque state House district in the June Democratic primary."
Of course, as faithful TPMmuckraker readers know, David Iglesias -- who yesterday told us he was "astounded" by the FBI's new investigation of ACORN in connection with nationwide voter fraud -- was fired as U.S. attorney for the district of New Mexico in large part for failing to follow up on voter fraud complaints with sufficient aggressiveness to please the Bush administration. And many of those complaints came also from the New Mexico Republican Party.
According to the recently released report on the firings by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General, Allen Weh, the state party chair, continually pressed Iglesias to make voter fraud a priority, and in 2005 sent an email to Karl Rove and others in the White House office in which he asked for Iglesias to be removed, and a replacement appointed "that takes voter fraud seriously."
The report concluded:
complaints from New Mexico Republican politicians and party activists about Iglesias's handling of voter fraud and corruption cases were the reasons for his
removal as U.S. Attorney.
And it left no doubt that the Bush administration's decision to act on these complaints represented inappropriate politicization of the Department of Justice.
Still, it looks like the party is still out there pushing the issue.
It's not that we were expecting the GOP to act chastened after getting caught pressuring non-partisan law enforcement officials to pursue bogus and politically motivated cases of voter fraud.
But sometimes the cognitive dissonance is too much to let pass.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (1) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: David Iglesias, Voting
Voting
Iglesias: "I'm Astounded" By DOJ's ACORN Probe
Zachary Roth | October 16, 2008, 6:50PM
David Iglesias says he's shocked by the news, leaked today to the Associated Press, that the FBI is pursuing a voter-fraud investigation into ACORN just weeks before the election.
"I'm astounded that this issue is being trotted out again," Iglesias told TPMmuckraker. "Based on what I saw in 2004 and 2006, it's a scare tactic." In 2006, Iglesias was fired as U.S. attorney thanks partly to his reluctance to pursue voter-fraud cases as aggressively as DOJ wanted -- one of several U.S. attorneys fired for inappropriate political reasons, according to a recently released report by DOJ's Office of the Inspector General.
Iglesias, who has been the most outspoken of the fired U.S. attorneys, went on to say that the FBI's investigation seemed designed to inappropriately create a "boogeyman" out of voter fraud.
And he added that it "stands to reason" that the investigation was launched in response to GOP complaints. In recent weeks, national Republican figures -- including John McCain at last night's debate -- have sought to make an issue out of ACORN's voter-registration activities.
As we noted earlier, last year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein publicly highlighted changes made to DOJ's election crimes manual, which lowered the bar for voter-fraud prosecutions, and made it easier to bring vote-fraud cases close to the election.
Speaking today to TPMmuckraker, Iglesias called such changes "extremely problematic."
The way in which the news was revealed today -- Associated Press sourced its report to two "senior law enforcement officials" who "spoke on condition of anonymity because Justice Department regulations forbid discussing ongoing investigations particularly so close to an election" -- is also raising eyebrows.
Both Iglesias and Bud Cummins -- another of the U.S. attorneys who, according to the IG report, was also fired for political reasons -- told TPMmuckraker that DOJ guidelines do allow US attorneys to speak publicly about an investigation, even before bringing an indictment, if it's to allay public concern over an issue.
But that certainly wouldn't cover anonymous leaks. "If you can't say it with your name on it, it's fair to say you should not be saying it," Cummins told TPMmuckraker.
Earlier this afternoon, House Judiciary Chair John Conyers (D-MI) released a letter he sent to Attorney General Michael Mukasey and FBI director Robert Mueller, which connected today's news to the U.S. attorney firings, and to recent GOP efforts to stoke fears over voter fraud.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (23) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (56)
Topics: ACORN, David Iglesias, John Conyers, Voting
Voting
Conyers On FBI ACORN Probe
Zachary Roth | October 16, 2008, 5:22PM
Below is a letter sent by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), chair of the House judiciary committee, to Attorney General Michael Mukasey and FBI director Robert Mueller, in reaction to the news that the FBI has launched an investigation into ACORN in connection with its voter-registration activities.
In raising questions about DOJ's motives, Conyers makes the obvious link to the U.S. attorneys scandal, in which several U.S. attorneys were fired for not pursuing voter fraud cases with sufficient aggressiveness. And he makes the point that John McCain had raised the ACORN issue in last night's debate.
Here's the letter:
Dear Mr. Attorney General and Director Mueller:
It is with shock and disappointment that I read today's Associated Press report that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened and leaked an investigation into whether ACORN, a longstanding and well regarded organization that fights for the poor and working class, is involved in nationwide voter fraud.
(The rest is after the jump)
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (26) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (47)
Topics: ACORN, John Conyers, Michael Mukasey, Voting
Alaska
Sen. Ted Stevens Takes Stand Briefly Today
Kate Klonick | October 16, 2008, 4:41PM
It's about time.
From the AP:
Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska has taken the stand in his own defense at his corruption trial in the nation's capital.The Republican icon is the last defense witness. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan told him late Thursday he didn't have to testify. But Stevens replied, "It's a privilege and a duty."
Late update: In his time on the stand -- of which there was only 20 minutes before the court recessed for the day -- Stevens answered questions from his attorney on the charges he faces and spoke of his life and career in Alaska.
From the Anchorage Daily News:
"Senator, when you signed those forms, did you believe they were accurate and truthful?" asked his lawyer, Brendan Sullivan."Yes sir," Stevens said.
"Did you ever intentionally file false disclosure forms?" his lawyer asked.
"No, I did not," Stevens said.
"Did you ever engage in any scheme to conceal anything from the Senate?" Sullivan asked.
"No sir," Stevens said.
Topics: Alaska, Ted Stevens
Voting
What's Behind the Feds' ACORN Probe?
Zachary Roth | October 16, 2008, 4:03PM
It's worth noting, in response to the news that the FBI has launched an investigation into whether ACORN was involved in a nationwide voter-registration fraud scheme, that the launch of the probe comes at a time national Republicans at several different levels have sought to make an issue out of ACORN -- in some cases calling for just such an investigation.
Last week, John McCain told a Florida crowd:
"There are serious allegations of voter fraud in the battleground states across America. They must be investigated." The GOP standard-bearer has continued to sound the alarm over ACORN since then, and brought it up at last night's debate.
GOP House leader John Boehner last week called in a statement for ACORN to be de-funded -- it is currently eligible for federal housing funds -- and charged that over the years, ACORN "has committed fraud on our system of elections, making American voters question the fairness and accuracy of the exercise of their most fundamental right under the Constitution."
Last week the RNC held at least five separate conference calls with reporters to stoke fears of voter fraud connected to ACORN.
And numerous state- and local-level Republicans have also in the last few weeks called publicly for authorities to look into ACORN.
There's something else that's worth keeping in mind as we learn more about what's behind the current investigation.
At a summer 2007 hearing on the U.S. attorney firings, Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) questioned then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about changes made to DOJ's election crimes manual.
As TPMmuckraker reported at the time:
The new version (pdf), which replaced the 1995 manual, lowers the bar in terms of voter fraud prosecutions -- no longer cautioning against pursuing isolated, individual cases of fraud and softening language that had all but prohibited pursuing such cases before an election. "Two and possibly three of the fired U.S. attorneys were fired because they didn't bring those small cases that might affect an election," [Feinstein] observed. "Something's rotten in Denmark."
The recent inspector general's report on the U.S. attorney firings concluded that the failure to pursue voter fraud allegations as aggressively as the Bush administration wanted was a factor in several of the the firings.
We laid out the details to the changes in the manual at the time of Feinstein's questioning.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (13) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (9)Topics: ACORN, John Boehner, John McCain, U.S. Attorneys, Voting, voter fraud
Rick Renzi
Renzi: Gov't Listened to GOP Leadership Meetings Through Wiretap
Zachary Roth | October 16, 2008, 3:07PM
Lawyers for Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) have alleged in new court filings that the FBI "recorded dozens of sensitive conversations concerning House leadership races" after the 2006 elections, reports The Hill.
Days after the Democrats won control of Congress, say Renzi's lawyers, the bureau recorded part of a conference call involving the entire House Republican Conference.
"Through the discovery process, Renzi's lawyers have been informed that, a couple weeks before the 2006 election, a 30-day wiretap order was granted on the cell phone used by Renzi," The Hill reports.
According to court documents filed by Renzi's lawyers, the governement also recorded more than than 50 privileged phone calls between Renzi and his attorneys and many conversations between Renzi and his wife, violating attorney-client and spousal privilege.
In light of these violations, Renzi's attorneys called today for a U.S. District Court Judge in Arizona to dismiss the charges against the Congressman.
Renzi has been charged with conspiracy and other criminal counts in connection with his support for support for legislation concerning a land deal that allegedly netted him more than $700,000.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (2) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Rick Renzi
Tim Mahoney
Fed. Official: FBI Investigating Mahoney for Misused Funds
Kate Klonick | October 16, 2008, 2:37PM
A senior federal official confirmed that the FBI is investigating Rep. Tim Mahoney on the possible misuse of federal funds, the AP reports.
Yesterday, Mahoney's attorney provided documentation to the AP showing that the congressman had paid $121,000 from his personal account in a settlement with his former staffer and alleged ex-mistress, Patricia Allen, dispelling questions over whether federal or campaign funds were used to pay-off Allen.
But investigators are looking into whether funds were misused during Allen's time as a staffer in Mahoney's congressional office and questioning whether Allen was put on the federal payroll in order to keep her from revealing the alleged affair.
FBI investigators are looking into whether Mahoney "benefited sexually in return for spending or securing federal money," after it was revealed yesterday that Mahoney had a possible second affair with a county official from Mahoney's district. Mahoney lobbied for and won $3.4 million in FEMA aid for the official's county, a favor he didn't provide to the other counties in his district -- while he was allegedly carrying on an affair with her.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (0) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: Tim Mahoney
Voting
FBI Probing ACORN Nationwide
Zachary Roth | October 16, 2008, 1:53PM
The FBI is looking into whether ACORN helped foster voter registration fraud across the country, the Associated Press reports.
According to the wire service, the Feds are looking at recent raids on ACORN offices for evidence of a coordinated nationwide scheme.
An ACORN office in Las Vegas was raided earlier this month by Nevada state officials.
Topics: ACORN, Voting
Lurita Doan
Lurita Loses It Over Waxman's Report
Kate Klonick | October 16, 2008, 1:43PM
Lurita Doan, the former administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), is a favorite of TPMmuckraker -- not just because she's sufficiently steeped in controversy, but because she makes for some great TPMtv.
Well today, Lurita decided to make us some great PDFs.
The House Oversight Report released yesterday found that the White House had enlisted government agencies -- like the GSA, led by Doan at the time -- to assist Republicans running for re-election. You might remember Doan as the agency head who had the good sense to ask Karl Rove's aide Scott Jennings, "how 'we' could help 'our candidates' in the next election" in front of a roomful of assembled officials.
Doan wrote a angry two-page response to Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, defending herself. For the world's viewing pleasure, she sent a copy of that letter to FedBlog, who wasted no time in posting it.
"Most Americans have grown familiar with your lack of candor, misleading statements, and bitter partisan machinations, and certainly, your report serves as yet another example of the same ol' same ol' from Henry Waxman," Doan begins her letter.
"You, quite shamefully, decided to ignore it," Doan continues, after laying out her version of events. "You didn't want the truth; you wanted a highly charged misinterpretation so that you could weave your idea of political gold."
Doan also criticizes the investigation of Office of Special Counsel Director Scott Bloch, who she claims "directed federal employees, on government time to pen anonymous blogs to further disparage my character and distort the facts for your direct benefit."
"Are you aware," she continues, "one of Mr. Bloch's federal bloggers penned especially negative attacks and disguised himself 'a combat veteran'. [sic] How utterly craven."
But really, our favorite part is the finale where she begs for a chance to go in front of the Committee again.
I now understand you and your ubiquitous hypocrisy. I know how your witch hunts and kangaroo courts work. So please, invite me to testify. I can't wait.
We can only hope, Lurita.
Read Doan's letter to Waxman, in all its glory, here.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (6) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (23)Topics: Henry Waxman, House Oversight, Lurita Doan, Scott Bloch
CIA
Leahy: We've Been "Kept in the Dark"
Kate Klonick | October 16, 2008, 12:15PM
Sen. Patrick Leahy wrote to White House Counsel today, demanding to know why he and his colleague Sen. Jay Rockefeller were "kept in the dark" on the existence of memos from the White House endorsing CIA interrogation practices.
"You and I have communicated several times about the Judiciary Committee's oversight and legislative interest in the Government's use of torture, such as waterboarding, and other harsh interrogation practices," the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee wrote in a letter to Fred Fielding.
"I now read in The Washington Post that the White House issued two previously undisclosed memoranda to the CIA in 2003 and 2004. It is disturbing to be reminded, at this late date, of the stonewalling, misdirection and lack of accountability that has characterized this administration from its first days in office."
If Leahy seems mad, it might be because waking up and finding out that documents you've been trying to get full disclosure on for five years are on the front page of a national newspaper, isn't the best way to start your day.
Full text of letter after the jump.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (8) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (12)Topics: CIA, Senate Judiciary Committee, Torture
John McCain
Media Declines To Challenge McCain's Evidence-Free ACORN Charge
Zachary Roth | October 16, 2008, 11:51AM
In last night's debate, John McCain claimed that ACORN "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."
That's quite an allegation against a group that's working to register low-income voters. You'd hope that the media would ask McCain's campaign for some evidence for the claim, or at least note that the candidate himself didn't offer any. Or that moderator Bob Schieffer would have followed up in real time.
You'd be disappointed, of course. Reporters were too distracted by Joe the Plumber to pay much attention to McCain's hyperbolic accusation.
Of course, McCain had essentially no backing whatsoever for his claim. As TPMmuckraker and others have pointed out, there's virtually no evidence that fraudulent registration forms of the type erroneously submitted by ACORN in their thousands in some states ever turn into fraudulent votes.
(Indeed, the whole voter fraud controversy is such baloney that now even Florida's Republican governor Charlie Crist, a big McCain backer in the primaries, felt compelled to throw some water on it, telling reporters yesterday: "I think that there's probably less [fraud] than is being discussed. As we're coming into the closing days of any campaign, there are some who enjoy chaos.'')
But the media's failure last night is in keeping with its broader failure to explain that key distinction between voter registration fraud and voter fraud point. We've highlighted some egregious examples of CNN conflating the two. But there are plenty more from other outlets.
Here's a report from ABC's World News Tonight, flagged by Media Matters, which aired Tuesday night, in which correspondent Jake Tapper, keying off claims made by McCain, sounds the alarm about "voter fraud." Rather than stating authoritatively that the fraudulent forms aren't going to lead to fraudulent votes cast, the story goes he-said she-said, leaving it to Barack Obama to say it while talking to reporters about the charges -- as if this were a debatable point, when in fact it's a crucial fact which undermines the essential premise of the story.
Or consider this NBC News "Deep Background" investigative report, which stokes fears of voter fraud by running down ACORN's history of legal disputes over its registration activities, without ever explaining that in not a single one of these cases was there evidence that fraudulent voting took place.
It's thanks largely to this ongoing media failure that the McCain camp is continuing to flog the issue. Already today, Sarah Palin told a crowd in Bangor, Maine that voters face "a choice between a candidate who won't disavow a group committing voter fraud and a leader who will not tolerate the voter fraud."
Given how clueless the reporting on this story has been, it's almost hard to blame them.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (6) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (7)Topics: ACORN, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Voting, voter fraud
The Daily Muck
The Daily Muck
Natalie Sherman | October 16, 2008, 9:31AM
Those keeping a tally of Wall Street businesses facing federal investigation should add one more to the list. The bank Washington Mutual, whose failure in September represented one of the largest in financial history, is the subject of a government inquiry, federal officials confirmed Wednesday. (ABC)
An inter-departmental feud is further holding up the release of seventeen Uighur Muslims picked up in Afghanistan in 2001 and detained in Guantanamo. The U.S. refuses to return the men to China, their home, saying they may be tortured, but is equally resistant to releasing them in the U.S., as a U.S. court ordered them to do last week. The State Department, which has been looking for an alternative place to free the prisoners, says the Justice Department's legal wrangling has compromised its negotiations and forced it to cancel a meeting that had been planned to discuss resettlement. (New York Times)
Black employees of the U.S. Marshalls Service filed a civil rights suit in federal court Wednesday, alleging that the agency practiced discrimination and denied them promotions because of their race. The plaintiffs seek $300 million in lost backpay for approximately 200 persons. (AP)
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (2) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: The Daily Muck
Ted Stevens
Stevens Likely to Testify Tomorrow
Kate Klonick | October 15, 2008, 7:05PM
We know that we've strung you along telling you that Sen. Ted Stevens was testifying on Tuesday. . . and then today, so maybe we should hedge our words a bit when we tell you that Ted Stevens will likely testify tomorrow.
As soon as the owner of the Double Musky Inn is finished testifying, Catherine Stevens, Ted's wife, will take the stand. And then it's time for Ted, the final witness for the defense.
Given Stevens past tendencies to inaccurately wax poetic, we're pretty excited.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (1) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Alaska, Ted Stevens
Voting
Ohio's Voting-Rights Ruling: What's the Upshot?
Zachary Roth | October 15, 2008, 5:44PM
Initial reports seemed to suggest that last night's ruling by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on voter registration procedures in the critical swing state of Ohio could potentially disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of newly registered voters.
In truth, the story is more complicated than that. It's not clear how many, if any, voters will be dropped from the rolls as a result of the ruling, and the underlying legal dispute is not as cut and dry as in some of the other GOP-led voter suppression efforts we've covered.
We've seen a slew of voting-related litigation in states and counties across the nation. So it's worth taking a moment to understand how this latest development might affect voting in a state that John Kerry lost by around 118,000 votes in 2004 -- and what it says about the where the Republican's voter-suppression strategy is heading.
Ohio's Democratic Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, was being sued by the state Republican party, in what it says is an effort bring the state into compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002, and state election laws.
The entire 6th Circuit reversed a three-judge appeals panel and sided with the GOP. The court held that HAVA requires Brunner to provide county elections boards with the names of newly registered voters whose voter registration forms don't match DMV records.
Over 600,000 new voters have registered in Ohio this year. But it appears from the ruling that Brunner has already identified the mismatches from that group. The ruling notes that if the Secretary of State's office found a mismatch, it would send the county board of elections a letter saying that the voters' eligibility could not be confirmed. Then, "the Secretary required unconfirmed voter records to be updated and resent to the Secretary for another effort to validate them with the [Bureau of Motor Vehicle] records." But at a certain point, for reasons that are unclear, the communication between the Secretary of State's office and the county election officials appears to have ceased.
The court's decision will require Brunner to provide local elections officials with easily accessible county-by-county lists of mismatched voters for whom there were discrepancies between the information on their registration forms and other government documents.
The court didn't spell out what the counties must do with the information on mismatches. It's illegal for election officials to unilaterally remove voters from the rolls this close to an election, but voting-rights advocates fear that the information could allow some counties to mount challenges to voters whose records don't match up, even if the mismatch is the result of nothing more than a typographical error, and force them to cast a provisional ballot -- "disenfranchised by a typo," as Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center, a voting-rights activist group, puts it.
But it appears unlikely that large numbers of challenges will result from the ruling. The Ohio Secretary of State has the power to set a uniform standard for what counties should do when confronted with a mismatch, according to Carrie Davis, a lawyer with the ACLU. And Brunner -- like officials in 46 other states, say experts -- has consistently said that a simple mismatch is not grounds for knocking voters off the rolls.
Could some GOP county election officials try to ignore that directive, and impose a harsher standard? Possibly, but every challenge would be voted on by the board, made up of two Republicans and two Democrats. Brunner herself would cast the tie-breaking vote.
So at this point, it's far from clear how many eligible voters will be removed from the rolls thanks to the court's decision last night.
Part of the concern among voting-rights advocates has to do with the timing of the decision. They say that, with only three weeks until election day, there's little time for election officials to clear up the mismatches, creating potential confusion and delays on election day if, in the end, significant numbers of voters are challenged. In addition, the court makes clear that any voter registered in the last year -- over 600,000 -- must be verified.
By contrast, in Florida, where courts ruled earlier this year that a similar "no-match, no vote" standard can obtain, it applied only to voters registered in the last few months. And because the court made its ruling earlier in the cycle, there's been more time for election officials to sort out discrepancies.
Still, in a sense, this is really the result of an earlier legislative win for the GOP. Thanks largely to the efforts of congressional Republican "vote-fraud" hawks like Senators Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Kit Bond, HAVA, the sweeping federal voting law enacted in the wake of the Florida 2000 fiasco, imposed a more restrictive standard in terms of verifying new voters' information. Arguing in the courts for that law to be strictly upheld is hardly an underhanded strategy, even if there are good arguments for a more liberal interpretation of the law.
So the GOP's voter suppression efforts have simply become more sophisticated. Instead of -- or really, in addition to -- ground-level efforts to use misinformation to intimidate and confuse voters at the polls -- they've gotten the courts to uphold a newly restrictive standard on verifying voters' eligibility.
Or, put more simply: Republican voter suppression has gone legit.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (19) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (22)Topics: Jennifer Brunner, Voting, voter fraud
Tim Mahoney
Mahoney Paid Off Staffer with Own Funds
Kate Klonick | October 15, 2008, 5:01PM
The lawyer for Rep. Tim Mahoney provided documentation to the Associated Press today showing that Mahoney used personal funds to pay $121,000 to Patricia Allen, a former staffer and alleged ex-mistress. The wire transfer receipts and canceled checks provided to the AP answer the question of whether or not the Congressman had ever followed through on the private settlement reported earlier this week.
The documents also answer one of the other questions swirling around Mahoney's scandal -- whether the payment had involved campaign funds. While Mahoney has issued statements in the few days since this scandal erupted, he had failed to deny or directly address questions about the affair or the settlement.
Before running for Congress, Mahoney was a successful venture capitalist with a net worth listed on financial disclosure forms between $3.2 and $12.7 million.
According to Mahoney's attorney, $141,903 was the total ticket price for Allen's silence. The settlement included a confidentiality agreement that prohibits either party from discussing the details and paid $61,903 to Allen; $60,000 to her attorney; and $20,000 to Mahoney's own attorney.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (4) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (8)Topics: Tim Mahoney
John Boehner
Boehner: What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander
Kate Klonick | October 15, 2008, 4:36PM
Back when the Mark Foley page scandal threw Republican leadership into the spotlight, Rep. John Boehner voluntarily testified.
And now that Foley's successor, Tim Mahoney, has found himself in a sordid scandal of his very own, Boehner is eager to see the same standards of forthrightness applied by his Democratic compatriots.
"In 2006, House Republican leaders voluntarily testified under oath in the matter of disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley," Boehner said in a statement released by his office on Wednesday. "Will House Democratic leaders, including Speaker Pelosi (D-Calif.), Congressman Emanuel (D-Ill.), and Congressman Van Hollen (D-Md.), agree to do the same?"
Van Hollen and Emanuel have both admitted to speaking with Mahoney after hearing rumors he was carrying on an affair with a staffer. Pelosi called on Monday night for a House Ethics Committee investigation into the allegations about Mahoney.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (3) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: John Boehner, Mark Foley, Tim Mahoney
Torture
Sen. Rockefeller Reacts to News Report on White House Torture Memos
Kate Klonick | October 15, 2008, 1:35PM
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, spoke out in reaction to the news this morning that the White House endorsed controversial CIA interrogation techniques in memos requested by then CIA director, George Tenet.
"The Senate Intelligence Committee is in the midst of an investigation of the CIA's interrogation program, including the Department of Justice's determination that the use of waterboarding on prisoners is lawful," Rockefeller said in a statement.
"If White House documents exist that set the policy for the use of coercive techniques such as waterboarding, those documents have been kept from the Committee. That is unacceptable, and represents the latest example of the Bush Administration withholding critical information from Congress and the American people in an attempt to limit our oversight of sensitive intelligence collection activities."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (22) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (25)Topics: CIA, Torture
Voting
Montana GOP Official Out After Failed Bid To Challenge Voters
Zachary Roth | October 15, 2008, 1:00PM
Sometimes there's justice in the world.
Earlier this month, Montana Republicans decided to challenge thousands of voters in predominantly Democratic areas, based on discrepancies in their addresses.
The GOP hastily withdrew the challenge after it sparked an outcry.
But now, the party's executive director has resigned, just three weeks before the election.
No one's saying on the record that Adam Eaton's departure is a result of the challenge fiasco. But the Missoulian reports: "Last week, rumors were running rampant in political circles that Eaton would be pushed out because of the much-criticized effort to challenge voter registrations."
The challenges appeared to win the party no friends in the state. After it was revealed that among the challenged voters was a member of the Army Reserve about to deploy to Kuwait, and an 86-year old Second World War hero, even some local Republicans denounced the gambit.
Democrats in the state had gone to court to block the challenges. The Republicans withdrew them before a ruling was made, but not before the judge issued an order charging: "The timing of these challenges is so transparent that it defies common sense to believe the purpose is anything but political chicanery."
Eaton told the paper he's going to work for an equity consulting form based in Madison, Wisconsin.
He'll be replaced by former state representative Larry Grinde of Lewiston.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (22) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (27)Topics: Voting
House Oversight
House Oversight Finds WH Sought Gov't Help for GOP Candidates
Kate Klonick | October 15, 2008, 11:57AM
After lots of fun testimony, the House Oversight has released a draft report finding that the White House "enlisted agency heads across government in a coordinated effort to elect Republican candidates to Congress," directing them ""to make hundreds of trips -- most at taxpayer expense -- for the purpose of increasing the electability of Republicans" in the 2006 elections.
If you'll remember, this whole ordeal involved infamous Karl Rove aide Scott Jennings and Lurita "Private Sass" Doan, former head of the General Services Administration.
After a tactful presentation by Jennings, Doan had the good sense to ask the assembled officials "how 'we' could help 'our candidates' in the next election."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (6) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (16)Topics: House Oversight, Karl Rove, Lurita Doan
CIA
White House Endorsed Torture in Memos to CIA
Kate Klonick | October 15, 2008, 10:51AM
Two memos sent by the White House authorizing the use of torture in CIA interrogations firmly tie the Bush administration to the controversial techniques used on detainees and investigated by the Justice Department, the Washington Post reports.
The White House's written approval of the CIA interrogation methods were provided at the request of then CIA Director George Tenet, who was seeking "top cover," should the administration try to distance itself from the decisions later.
One memo, provided in 2003 approved the methods later used in prisons like Abu Ghraib. When the scandal over that prison erupted, Tenet requested a second letter from the White House which was provided in July 2004.
The memos are the latest in recent admissions from the Bush administration on their role in authorizing and shaping CIA interrogation techniques -- charges they denied for years. In late September, Condoleezza Rice admitted White House officials discussed using torture against detainees.
From the Washington Post:
Tenet first pressed the White House for written approval in June 2003, during a meeting with members of the National Security Council, including Rice, the officials said. Days later, he got what he wanted: a brief memo conveying the administration's approval for the CIA's interrogation methods, the officials said.Administration officials confirmed the existence of the memos, but neither they nor former intelligence officers would describe their contents in detail because they remain classified. The sources all spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not cleared to discuss the events.
The second request from Tenet, in June 2004, reflected growing worries among agency officials who had just witnessed the public outcry over the Abu Ghraib scandal. Officials who held senior posts at the time also spoke of deteriorating relations between the CIA and the White House over the war in Iraq -- a rift that prompted some to believe that the agency needed even more explicit proof of the administration's support.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (13) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (13)
Topics: CIA, Condi Rice, George Bush, Torture
Tim Mahoney
AP: Mahoney Also Had Affair with County Official While Lobbying FEMA for Aid
Kate Klonick | October 15, 2008, 10:19AM
Rep. Tim Mahoney is not having a good week.
The AP is reporting that Mahoney was having an affair with another woman, a local county official, while simultaneously lobbying the federal government for FEMA aid for the county.
From the AP:
On Tuesday night, a person close to the Mahoney campaign told the AP that Mahoney also was having a relationship with a high-ranking official in Martin County in his Florida district around the same time of the purported affair with Allen.PERMALINK | COMMENTS (5) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4). . .The person said Mahoney was having the relationship with the official in 2007 while he also was lobbying the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a $3.4 million reimbursement for Martin County for damage caused by hurricanes in 2004. FEMA approved the money late last year.
Mahoney's congressional staff declined to comment on this alleged tryst, but noted Mahoney lobbies for FEMA funding throughout his district, and that Martin County has received $43 million from FEMA since 2004. Mahoney didn't take office until 2006.
Topics: Tim Mahoney
The Daily Muck
The Daily Muck
Matt Berman | October 15, 2008, 9:14AM
Former VECO CEO Bill Allen would often show up uninvited for impromptu sleepovers at Sen. Ted Stevens' Girdwood chalet, Stevens' daughter testified yesterday, forcing her to sleep on the couch. Allen was a key witness for the prosecution because of his involvement in the renovations to Stevens' home, which are at the center of the charges against the seven-term senator. (Anchorage Daily News)
Stevens trial appears to be nearing its end. Judge Emmet Smith announced yesterday, that closing arguments may come as soon as next Monday, with the defense resting either today or tomorrow with the likely testimony of both Catherine and Ted Stevens. (Anchorage Daily News)
It looks like it's not just prostitution that's recession proof. Under the bank-rescue plan run by the U.S. government, executive pay packages will be restricted, but could still stretch into the tens of millions of dollars with stock increases and grants. (Bloomberg)
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (2) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: The Daily Muck
Tim Mahoney
ABCNews: FBI Is Investigating Mahoney
Kate Klonick | October 14, 2008, 9:23PM
The FBI has begun preliminary investigations into allegations that Rep. Tom Mahoney paid $121,000 in "hush money" to his former mistress and staffer, ABCNews.com reports. What charges might result from such an investigation are unclear.
This sure makes a House Ethics Committee Investigation look like a tea party.
From ABCNews.com:
FBI agents have reportedly contacted members of Mahoney's staff and Tuesday sought legal files surrounding the secret settlement, according to current and former Mahoney Congressional and campaign staff workers.PERMALINK | COMMENTS (2) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)A spokesperson for the FBI said she had been instructed to say "no comment" to press inquiries.
It would be unusual but not unprecedented for the FBI to open an investigation into a member of Congress three weeks before the election.
Topics: Tim Mahoney
Tim Mahoney
Alleged Mahoney Mistress Employed By Campaign, Congress, Campaign Again
Kate Klonick | October 14, 2008, 7:19PM
Little is known about the woman at the center of the scandal currently embroiling Rep. Tim Mahoney. Patricia Allen, who was named by ABCNews.com as Mahoney's former mistress, is also a former campaign and congressional staffer with Mahoney's offices in Florida. According to FEC filings and documents examined by TPMmuckraker, Allen was on Mahoney's campaign and congressional books starting in late 2006 until Feburary of this year, making over $40,000.
Allen first appears on Mahoney's FEC filings for expense reimbursements filed on October 25, 2006, almost two weeks before Mahoney narrowly won the seat of former Rep. Mark Foley (R) -- who had resigned due to his own sex scandal, involving male teenage House pages.
Allen's name appears again for two payments of $750 on December 15 and 18, 2006 for "Consulting Research Services." Combined with her expenses, Allen's payments from the Mahoney campaign in 2006 totaled $1,883.40.
In January 2007 Allen was hired by Mahoney's home office in Florida as a "Constituent Liason," making her an official Congressional staffer. She remained in that position for roughly five months, ending on June 2 of the same year and paying her $12,500 in taxpayer dollars.
Less than two weeks later, Allen was hired again by Mahoney -- this time back at his campaign. Allen appears on the campaign payroll on June 15, again performing "Consulting Research Services."
On January 20 of this year, Mahoney fired Allen in a heated phone call. Roughly two weeks later, Allen, who is often billed by her nickname "Trish," left the campaign. She appears on the payroll until February 2, with a request for mileage reimbursement filed on February 4. Her total in pay and reimbursement for her second stint at the congressman's campaign was $26,230 dollars.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (1) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (6)Topics: Mark Foley, Tim Mahoney
Voting
CNN Leads Media Failure on ACORN Story
Zachary Roth | October 14, 2008, 6:26PM
Another day, another effort by the McCain camp to seize the political advantage over the bogus issue of ACORN and voter fraud.
This morning, the campaign trotted out former Missouri Republican senator John Danforth -- playing on his reputation for bipartisanship -- to call on Barack Obama to "rein in ACORN."
Said Danforth:
We think that this is really serious, and it goes beyond who ends up winning this election, it goes to the whole integrity of the election, and it goes to confidence in the election, and it goes to whether the American people will have sufficient confidence to be willing to put the election behind us and move forward as one country once the election is over. We are concerned about it.
(Here's Obama's response from later in the day.)
Of course, as TPM has been making clear, the allegations of vote fraud are essentially a crock.
That's not because ACORN hasn't submitted hundreds or even thousands of fraudulent registration forms in several crucial swing states. They have -- though it's worth noting again that in many states, they're required by law to submit any forms their canvassers collect.
But to reiterate the main point: according to experts, fraudulent registration forms almost never lead to lead to fraudulent voting. If ACORN submits a form with the name Mickey Mouse, Mickey is unlikely to show up to vote on election day.
In other words, there's a crucial distinction between voter registration fraud and voter fraud -- and there's essentially no evidence whatsoever of the latter.
But the Republican bamboozlement is crucially abetted by the fact that a lot of the reporting on this story -- much of it prompted by the GOP's strenuous effort to tout the issue -- utterly fails to make this key distinction, and often implies the opposite. And (leaving Fox aside, of course) CNN has been the worst offender.
Consider this CNN report from yesterday, gleefully sent out by the RNC. After reporter Drew Griffin lays out the details on fraudulent forms submitted by ACORN in one (heavily minority) in Indiana county, anchor Kieran Chetry and Griffin have the following exchange:
CHETRY: You know what, not only is it not funny, but it's such a waste of time. If you look at what we went through in previous elections, from hanging chads to voter irregularities, I mean we're talking about our country right now, dealing with an economic crisis, a war in Iraq, a war in Afghanistan. You know, for people to do this, it's just a shame. It just wastes more time and you wonder if the process, if your vote will count.GRIFFIN: Certainly, the credibility has dropped in this system, no matter which way Lake County votes. Lake County, heavily Democratic by the way, which way it votes, either side, they're going to have ammunition to say -- oh there's probably voter fraud.
Which is exactly why the GOP is pursuing this tactic. But it would have less "ammunition" to allege vote fraud in the event of a loss if the news media would report the story properly.
Lou Dobbs has also fastened onto the issue, breathlessly reporting Sunday night:
New evidence tonight that the so-called community left-wing activist group, ACORN, is involved in widespread voter registration fraud. And point of fact, ACORN is a left-wing special interest group that's been under investigation for literally years in various parts of the country for voter fraud and embezzlement.
Later, Dobbs asked Griffin:
We're seeing it from Vegas to Ohio, to Pennsylvania, and to Indiana, all over the country, and these investigations are opening up. How can there be any doubt about what's at work here?
Never did Dobbs explain to viewers the crucial difference between voter fraud and voter registration fraud.
The media's failure to grasp this crucial distinction -- exemplified by CNN -- has encouraged the GOP and the McCain campaign to believe that they can gain a political advantage by continuing to hammer on this bogus story.
In one sense, it's easy to understand the Republicans' motivation, as sleazy as the tactic might be: they're trying to win an election, or at least lay the groundwork to make a post-hoc argument that their loss was unfair.
But media outlets like CNN have no such excuse.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (19) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (20)Topics: ACORN, Voting, voter fraud
John McCain
Testimony: Timmons Knew Lobbyists Met With Saddam
Zachary Roth | October 14, 2008, 3:56PM
As we just noted, Murray Waas is reporting that William Timmons, the head of John McCain's transition team, was involved in a lobbying effort on behalf of Saddam Hussein's government in the early 1990s.
At TPMmuckraker, we've acquired a copy of the court documents from the 2006 trial of Tongsun Park, one of the lobbyists involved, on which Waas' report was in part based.
And they shed some crucial light on a key point about Timmons' involvement in the scheme.
As Waas notes:
Timmons previously told investigators that he did not know that either Vincent or Park were acting as unregistered agents of Iraq. He also insisted that he did not fully understand just how closely the two men were tied to Saddam's regime while they collaborated.But testimony and records made public during Park's criminal trial, as well as other information uncovered during a United Nations investigation, suggest just the opposite.
For instance, court records examined by TPMmuckraker show that Samir Vincent, the other lobbyist involved in the scheme, testified at Park's trial about a trip he took to Iraq during which he met with Saddam personally, and listened as the Iraqi dictator expressed his desire to have sanctions lifted and normal relations with the U.S. restored.
The prosecutor then asked Vincent: "When you returned to the U.S., did you tell anyone about your visit with Saddam Hussein?"
Vincent replied: "I told Bill Timmons and Tongsun Park."
Prosecutor: "Why did you tell Bill Timmons about your visit with Saddam?"
Vincent: "To let him know that we were talking to the leader of Iraq, and in essence we have access, and assure him that any messages we were relaying between Iraqi (sic) and Tariq Aziz [a top Saddam aide] and anyone else, it was being transmitted to the president, Saddam Hussein, in Iraq."
Late Update: As we should have noted, this exchange appears in Waas' report.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (4) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (9)Topics: John McCain, Lobbyists
Henry Waxman
House Panel: White House Claims of Exec. Privilege "Unprecedented"
Kate Klonick | October 14, 2008, 3:38PM
Oversight Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) came together today to criticize the White House for their use of executive privilege in the Valerie Plame leak scandal.
The two lawmakers called Bush's refusal to disclose the report of the FBI interview with Vice President Cheney "legally unprecedented" and "inappropriate." The committee seeks the document in order to establish the White House's role in the leak of Plame's name to the media.
From The Hill:
"The president's assertion of executive privilege over this document was legally unprecedented and an inappropriate use of executive privilege" Waxman, the panel's chair, and Davis, the ranking Republican, said in a joint report.PERMALINK | COMMENTS (9) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (10)Although both lawmakers agree that the president's action was "inappropriate," they disagree over whether Bush had the right to invoke executive privilege. Waxman rejects the validity of the assertion while Davis supports the privilege.
Waxman has been attempting to get access to the document since December 2007, and the committee issued a subpoena for it on June 24th 2008.
The Justice Department declared it would "not provide or make available any reports of interviews with the president or the vice president from the leak investigation" in response to the subpoena.
Topics: CIA, Henry Waxman, House Oversight, Valerie Plame
John McCain
Report: McCain Transition Head Helped Saddam's Lobbying Effort
Zachary Roth | October 14, 2008, 3:30PM
Wiliam Timmons, the veteran Washington lobbyist tapped to lead John McCain's transition team was involved in an effort on behalf of Saddam Hussein's government to ease international sanctions against Iraq, according to a report by Murray Waas in The Huffington Post.
The two lobbyists with whom Timmons teamed in the early 90s, Samir Vincent and Tongsun Park, both either pleaded guilty to, or were convicted of, charges that they had acted as unregistered agents of Saddam's government.
Park has a long history of involvement with covert schemes to influence international events. In 1976, he was charged with attempting to bribe members of Congress to win their support for keeping U.S. troops in Vietnam.
This isn't the first time that Timmons has had his name in the news for the wrong reasons since being announced as McCain's transition chief. Last month, Bloomberg reported that he had lobbied on behalf of Freddie Mac, a company that McCain has blamed for helping to cause the current financial crisis.
Timmons' Washington lobby firm, Timmons and Co., founded in the 1970's, helped develop the model on which today's lobbying culture is based.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (7) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (9)Topics: John McCain, Lobbyists
Alaska
Second Trooper-Gate Probe Expanding
Zachary Roth | October 14, 2008, 2:15PM
There's further evidence that the investigation into Trooper-Gate being conducted by the state Personnel Board could have real teeth.
The Anchorage Daily News reports that the probe has broadened to include other ethics complaints against Sarah Palin, and actions by other state employees.
That's according to the investigator hired by the board, Timothy Petumenos, who conveyed the information in two recent letters sent to an Anchorage attorney who had threated a lawsuit over Palin's effort to waive confidentiality in the matter.
Petumenos, a Democrat with a reputation for aggressive prosecutions, plans to sit down with the governor, who is cooperating with his investigation, next week.
It's not clear which other ethics complaints about the governor Petumenos is now looking into, but two have been previously reported. One relates somewhat to Trooper-Gate: the state troopers' union alleges that state officials illegally examined the personnel file of Mike Wooten, seeking damaging information on him. Wooten's feud with the Palin family was at the center of Trooper-Gate.
In addition, a good-government activist has alleged that Palin circumvented state hiring practices in giving a job to a supporter.
Petumenos has also requested a copy of the Branchflower report, released Friday.
Many observers have questioned the ability of the personnel board to come to independent conclusions on Trooper-Gate, largely because its three members are appointed by the governor, and it conducts its deliberations largely in secret.
It's unclear when Petumenos' investigation will wrap up, but the ADN also reports that the personnel board has meetings scheduled for Oct. 20 and Nov. 3. Adds the paper: "The agendas for those meetings mention confidential ethics matters to be handled in executive session."
Separately, ADN reports that Walt Monegan, the former public safety commissioner whose firing by Palin is at the heart of Trooper-Gate, has asked the personnel board to hold a hearing, then issue public findings, on whether he was a "rogue" employee and demonstrated "insubordination", as the Palin camp has publicly alleged in an effort to discredit him.
Palin has given several apparently contradictory explanations for why she fired Monegan. Branchflower's report concluded that Monegan's reluctance to fire Wooten was a contributing factor in his own dismissal.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (12) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (30)Topics: Alaska, Sarah Palin, Trooper-Gate
Voting
New Hampshire Phone-Jamming: The History
Zachary Roth | October 14, 2008, 1:33PM
Given the news that James Tobin has been indicted for making false statements to the FBI in connection with their investigation into the GOP plot to jam Democratic phones on Election Day 2002, it's worth stepping back a bit to recap how we got to this point.
In 2002, Republican John Sununu and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen were in a tight race for an open Senate seat. On Election Day, over 800 computerized hang-up calls jammed phone lines set up by the Democratic party and the Manchester firefighters' union for get-out-the-vote activities on behalf of Shaheen and other Democratic candidates. Sununu won the race by about 20,00 votes.
At the time, Tobin was the regional director, overseeing New Hampshire, for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
In 2004, Charles McGee, the head of the New Hampshire GOP at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with the scheme. Allen Raymond, a Republican consultant whose firm was hired by McGee to carry out the plan, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy. Both have served jail time for their roles in the affair.
As for Tobin, his legal proceedings have been more complicated. He was convicted of putting McGee and Raymond in touch, and sentenced to jail time. But he never served time -- the conviction was overturned on appeal in March 2007, with a court ruling that the government had not shown that Tobin intended to harass. It remanded the case to a U.S. District Court in Concord, where a judge acquitted Tobin in February of this year, saying his ruling had been "constrained" by the appeals court ruling. In March, the government appealed that decision. That appeal was making its way through the courts when last week's indictment for making false statements was filed.
From the start, there has been evidence tying senior White House and Republican party figures to the case. The Republican National Committee has admitted to paying Tobin's legal bills during that case, totaling nearly $3 million.*
And phone records released in the case show that Tobin made two dozen calls to the office of then-White House political director Ken Mehlman within a three-day period around Election Day 2002. Mehlman has said none of the calls involved the phone-jamming incident.
* This paragraph has been edited from a previous version.
Topics: James Tobin, New Hampshire Phone Jamming, Voting
Tim Mahoney
House Dem. Leader Spoke to Mahoney About Affair As Recently as Last Month
Kate Klonick | October 14, 2008, 12:15PM
House Democratic leader Chis van Hollen knew of Rep. Tim Mahoney's affair, and spoke with him about it as recently as last month, ABCNews.com reports.
Van Hollen, who is also chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, spoke through a press aide from the committee.
"After a rumor recently surfaced on a blog about Mr. Mahoney's affair, the Chairman spoke briefly once with Mr. Mahoney about his responsibility as an elected official to act appropriately and urged him to come clean with his constituents if there was any truth to the rumor," DCCC spokesoman Jennifer Crider said.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, whose comment was included in the ABCNews.com article, stated through a spokesperson that he had confronted Mahoney about the affair in early 2007.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (2) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: Tim Mahoney
Voting
Ex-GOP Operative in New Hampshire Indicted
Zachary Roth | October 14, 2008, 11:48AM
Former Republican operative James Tobin has been indicted for making false statements to the FBI in connection with the bureau's investigation of a phone-jamming scheme in New Hampshire in 2002, according to court filings examined by TPMmuckraker.
Details to follow...
Update: Here's the indictment. It contains two counts, both related to making false statements to the FBI during its investigation into the New Hampshire GOP's effort to jam the phones of the Democratic Party on Election Day 2002.
It charges, in part:
"Tobin stated that when he first called Allen Raymond to discuss the phone-jamming scheme, Raymond and Charles McGee had already spoken with each other about the plans. In fact, as Tobin well knew, Tobin spoke with Raymond before Raymond was contacted by McGee, and Tobin requested that Raymond assist McGee with the plan."
McGee, the former executive director of the New Hampshire GOP, and Raymond, a GOP consultant, both were convicted and served jail time in connection with the scheme.
But Tobin's own 2005 conviction relating to the scheme was thrown out on appeal in 2007*.
Dane Butswinkas of the Washington law firm Williams and Connolly, who is representing Tobin, declined to comment when reached by TPMmuckraker. The Republican National Committee has in the past paid for Williams and Connolly's defense of Tobin.
And phone records released in Tobin's 2005 trial show that he made two dozen calls to the office of Ken Mehlman, then the White House's political director, within a three-day period around Election Day 2002. Mehlman has said none of the calls involved the phone-jamming incident.
According to a court document, each count is a felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
*This sentence has been corrected from an earlier version.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (16) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (32)Topics: James Tobin, New Hampshire Phone Jamming, Voting
The Daily Muck
The Daily Muck
Natalie Sherman | October 14, 2008, 10:45AM
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) was accused earlier in his federal corruption trial of throwing his wife under the bus. ("When it comes to things in and around the teepee, the wife controls," his lawyer told the jury to explain his client's ignorance of VECO's billing.) Yesterday, lawyers wrangled over the prosecutors' demand for more of her documents. We'll hear from the lucky lady herself later in the week. (AP)
Tight races seem to attract lawsuits. The latest example comes from Washington, where two former Democratic justices have subpoenaed GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, in a suit against the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW), which spends heavily on GOP candidates. The justices, who are supporters of Democratic governor Christine Gregoire, want to prove that BIAW coordinated illegally with Rossi's campaign in planning spending on his behalf. Rossi, who lost his 2004 bid to Gregoire by 133 votes, and is in a tight re-match with her with this year, says the suit is intended to keep him off the campaign trail. Mailed ballots must be in on Friday, the same day he's been called in to testify. (AP)
A California paper has obtained documents relating to the purchase by top McCain contributor Donald R. Diamond, an Arizona businessman and D.C. lobbyist, of part of a former Army base, valued at $7.2 million, while McCain served on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Turns out Diamond shelled out $250,000 and walked away two years later with $18 million. The story follows up on an earlier New York Times report, which suggested that McCain's willingness to smooth the way for well-connected constituents didn't disappear after the Keating Five scandal. The 80-year-old Diamond explained to the Times that he wanted a return on his investment: ""I want my money back, for Christ's sake. Do you know how many cocktail parties I have to go to?""(Santa Cruz Sentinel)
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (0) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: The Daily Muck
Tim Mahoney
Mahoney Apologizes for Embarrassing Family in Presser This Morning
Kate Klonick | October 14, 2008, 10:37AM
Rep. Tim Mahoney held a press conference this morning, apologizing for the embarassment his actions have caused his family and denying he violated his oath of office or any laws.
"I would have come forward earlier but making sure my family is ok is far more important than any political career," Mahoney said, accompanied by his wife. "I have not violated my oath of office, nor have I violated any laws, and I consider this to be a private matter."
Mahoney also re-emphasized his request for a House Ethics Committee investigation and his belief that he will be cleared of any wrongdoing.
"I think the people of my District know that I am a fighter," he said. "I am not going to allow this story coming out 20 days before an election to change my resolve to serve the people of the 16th Congressional District."
Full text of press release after the jump.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (11) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: Tim Mahoney
Ted Stevens
Ted Stevens to Take Stand Today in Own Trial?
Kate Klonick | October 14, 2008, 9:48AM
In a filing today with the U.S. District Court, Sen. Ted Stevens' defense team listed four witnesses that it may call today. Among them, Orrin Hatch, Martha Stewart and the seven term senator himself.
Senator Stevens hereby gives notice of the witnesses he intends to call on the fourth day of his case-in-chief, and the exhibits that he may seek to introduce during testimony.
1. Orrin Hatch
Exhibits: None
2. Donna DeVarona
Exhibits: None
3. Martha A. Stewart
Exhibits: None
4. Theodore F. Stevens
It's not an absolute certainty, but it's worth letting you, our readers, know that Uncle Ted may soon be taking the stand.
It's a good thing.
Late update: It looks like we can expect the 84 year-old senator to take the stand tomorrow. According to Reuters, Stevens is scheduled to testify Wednesday. Today in court, he told the judge he was aware that he's not required to testify in his own defense.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (3) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Alaska, Ted Stevens
Tim Mahoney
Pelosi Calls for Ethics Probe of Mahoney
Kate Klonick | October 14, 2008, 9:11AM
Mere hours after ABCNews.com reported that Rep. Tim Mahoney had agreed to pay $121,000 to a former mistress and Congressional staffer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for an ethics investigation into the allegations.
"I just learned today about the serious allegations concerning Congressman Tim Mahoney," Pelosi said in a statement released last night. "These charges must be immediately and thoroughly investigated by the House Ethics Committee."
Mahoney, a Democrat who won the seat of disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley, called for an ethics investigation of himself last night.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (6) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Mark Foley, Tim Mahoney
Tim Mahoney
Mahoney Media Consultants Jump Ship Over "Secret Legal Settlement"
Kate Klonick | October 13, 2008, 7:05PM
The media consultant team working with Rep. Tim Mahoney on his re-election bid, has severed its relationship with the junior congressman, after allegations surfaced this morning that he agreed to pay $121,000 to a former Congressional staffer and mistress after she threatened to sue him.
In a strongly-worded press statement released this evening, Fletcher Rowley Chao Riddle Inc. (FRCR) CEO Bill Fletcher terminated his firms relationship with Mahoney's campaign.
"As of today, FRCR, Inc. has resigned from Tim Mahoney's campaign and permanently ended our relationship with him," the statement reads. "According to ABC News, Tim Mahoney apparently included our company in a secret legal settlement without the knowledge of our firm. . . If these allegations are true, Tim Mahoney's actions are unacceptable and not in line with FRCR's business ethics."
The "secret legal settlement" Fletcher refers to, is the promise of a new job for Mahoney's former congressional staffer: a 2-year position at FRCR. Fletcher denied to ABCNews and in the statement today ever agreeing to such a deal.
Shortly after ABCNews.com's article, Mahoney issued a statement calling for an ethics investigation of the matter.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (1) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: Tim Mahoney
Tim Mahoney
Mahoney Asks For Ethics Investigation into Allegations Over Former Mistress
Kate Klonick | October 13, 2008, 5:45PM
Just hours after ABCNews.com reported that he had agree to pay $121,000 to a former staffer and mistress, Rep. Tim Mahoney issued a statement asking the House Ethics Committee to conduct an investigation, The Hill reports.
The Democrat who won the infamous Mark Foley's seat in Florida, didn't exactly deny the charges.
"I am confident that when the facts are presented that I will be vindicated," Mahoney said in a statement released this afternoon.
"I was notified this afternoon about a story that ran on ABC News' website reporting allegations about a former employee," Mahoney stated. "While these allegations are based on hearsay, I believe that my constituents need a full accounting. As such, I have requested the House Ethics Committee review these allegations."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (0) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: Mark Foley, Tim Mahoney
Voting
Indiana and Ohio Spar Locally with ACORN
Kate Klonick | October 13, 2008, 4:02PM
As the Republican furor over ACORN and voter fraud continues to heat up nationally, there are two local developments in Democratic counties in swing states that are worth noting.
In Lake County, Indiana, where the GOP has already tried to prevent the opening of early voting sites in minority areas, the secretary of state has now asked the state attorney general and federal prosecutors to investigate ACORN for voter fraud.
Secretary of State Todd Rokita wrote a letter to fellow Republican, AG Steve Carter on Friday, stating that he had received "secured credible evidence" of voter fraud perpetuated by ACORN, the AP reports.
"There looks to be some felonious actions taken here," Rokita said to reporters. "I think the message to the voters and taxpayers of this state is that we're watching, and we're not going to tolerate the kind of behavior in the state."
ACORN responded on Friday saying that they themselves had "identified approximately 2,100 cards in Lake County that we believe were problematic."
"We are the victim here because we have identified the problem, and now certain interests are turning that information against us," Brian Kettenring, a spokesman for ACORN said.
And Lake County isn't the only Democratic stronghold in a swing state to be targeted with voter fraud accusations. The bipartisan Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, a county which contains Cleveland, held hearings today and voted unanimously to ask the county prosecutor to investigate multiple registrations of individuals registered by ACORN, the Columbus Dispatch reports.
Four people were subpoenaed in front of the board this morning, testifying that they had been asked to register multiple times by ACORN solicitors.
Katy Gall, the ACORN director for Ohio, said that they had cooperated with the investigation and would terminate the employment of anyone found soliciting multiple registrations.
No charges have been filed against ACORN in either state and in Indiana, the attorney general has yet to respond to Rokita's request Friday for an investigation.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (3) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (5)Topics: Voting
Voting
A Dose of Reality on the ACORN Hysteria
Zachary Roth | October 13, 2008, 1:09PM
It's worth taking a moment to step back from the slew of charges leveled over the last week at ACORN, the community-organizing group that Republicans and the McCain campaign have been trying to turn into a bogeyman for fears about vote fraud (and, of course, tie to Barack Obama).
The GOP has accused ACORN of submitting fraudulent voter registration forms numbering in the hundreds or thousands, in battleground states including Ohio, Indiana, Nevada, and Missouri.
But the most important point that's getting lost in the Fox-generated hysteria is that, according to voting experts, even when fraudulent voter registration forms are submitted, they virtually never lead to fraudulent votes being cast. Richard Hasen, a law professor at Loyola and an authority on voting law, wrote in a 2007 op-ed published last year in the Dallas Morning News and noted recently by TPM, that "the idea of massive polling-place fraud (through the use of inflated voter rolls) is inherently incredible," because of the sheer logistical challenges it would require to carry out on a large scale.
In many states, ACORN is required by law to turn in all the forms it collects, though the law differs from state to law, according to experts.
ACORN has consistently said that it flags suspicious forms for election officials. Indeed, in Nevada where last week an ACORN office was raided in an investigation headed by the Secretary of State, ACORN was already cooperating with authorities.
According to a statement from the group which has not been disputed by state officials, in July, ACORN set up a meeting with county elections officials and the Secretary of State's office to urge them to take action on information ACORN had provided. Since then, "ACORN has provided officials with copies and--in some cases--second copies of many of the personnel records and the 'problem card packages' and cover sheets with which we originally identified the problem cards."
It's also worth noting that similar allegations were made against ACORN in the last few election cycles, and several investigations were conducted, none of which found evidence of widespread voter fraud. Many of these were conducted by US attorneys, who were pressured by GOP political figures to investigate the issue, then fired after they failed to come up with sufficient evidence.
So as the GOP campaign to make an issue out of ACORN continues -- and we'll be keeping you posted as it does -- remember that the number of fraudulent votes that will be cast in November as a result of the group's voter-registration activities is close to zero. But the number of valid voters who could potentially have obstacles placed in their way of voting, as a result of the Republican campaign, is far larger.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (13) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (27)Topics: ACORN, John McCain, Voting
Tim Mahoney
Foley Successor Embroiled In Own Allegations of Misconduct
Kate Klonick | October 13, 2008, 12:00PM
Is the West Palm Beach congressional seat prone to sex scandals, or is it just us?
Congressman Tim Mahoney, the Democrat who replaced disgraced representative Mark Foley, agreed to pay a former mistress -- who was also a staff member -- $121,000 after she threatened to sue him, ABCNews.com reports.
From The Blotter:
Mahoney, who is married, also promised the woman, Patricia Allen, a $50,000 a year job for two years at the agency that handles his campaign advertising, the staffers said.A Mahoney spokesperson would not answer questions about the alleged affair or the settlement, but said Allen resigned of her own accord and "has not received any special payment from campaign funds."
. . . The affair between Mahoney and Allen began, according to the current and former staffers, in 2006 when Mahoney was campaigning for Congress against Foley, promising "a world that is safer, more moral."
Later in the article there's this kicker:
Senior Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), the chair of the Democratic Caucus, have been working with Mahoney to keep the matter from hurting his re-election campaign, the Mahoney staffers said.
Late update: Later in the article, there's a transcript and a recording of Mahoney firing Allen. It's pretty damning.
"The only person that matters is guess who? Me. You understand that. That is how life really is. That is how it works," Mahoney can be heard yelling on the call to Allen.
Listen to the audio below. Full transcript after the jump.
Topics: Mark Foley, Tim Mahoney
Alaska
Trooper-Gate: Where Do We Go From Here?
Zachary Roth | October 13, 2008, 11:22AM
The Trooper-Gate report found that Sarah Palin violated a state ethics law and abused her power by pressuring subordinates in trying to get Mike Wooten fired. So what happens next?
In terms of official actions, maybe nothing, at least in the three weeks between now and November 4th.
If Palin were to be prosecuted for violating state law, the state attorney general would likely take the lead. But Attorney General Talis Colberg -- who until Palin plucked him from obscurity to make him the state's top lawyer was a Matanuska Valley assemblyman and private-practice lawyer -- has been criticized for appearing to represent the governor's interests in Trooper-Gate, rather than the public interest. So a prosecution led by the AG's office seems unlikely.
Of course, the state personnel board is continuing its own probe of the affair, with which Palin has been cooperating. The board has the authority to impose fines or even recommend impeachment for violations of the ethics act. But the board's members are appointed by the governor, calling into question its ability to draw independent conclusions.
Still, it has hired Timothy Petumenos -- an aggressive Anchorage lawyer, and a Democrat -- to investigate. Newsweek reports that Palin is scheduled to sit down with Petumenos next week, and his findings could be released soon after. "We took a gamble when we went to the ethics board," a McCain aide told the magazine.
Before the report was released, the idea had been floated that the legislature could institute impeachment proceedings. But since Friday night, that possibility appears to have receded. According to a TPM source who attended Friday's session of the legislative council, State Senate President Lyda Green, an outspoken Palin critic, replied with a flat 'no' when asked, after the report's release, whether impeachment was being considered.
And Green told the Christian Science Monitor over the weekend that even a censure motion is unlikely, since the legislature is not currently in session.
Walt Monegan, whose firing as public safety commissioner was at the center of the affair, declined to say whether he was considering filing suit against the administration, when asked this morning on NBC's The Today Show. But the report concluded that Palin was within her rights in firing him, since, as governor, she can fire any executive branch official for any reason.
So it may be that whatever impact Trooper-Gate has on the presidential race will be based on the findings released Friday. If nothing else, the fact that Palin was found by a legislative investigation to have broken a state ethics law will only further complicate the McCain campaign's flagging effort to present her as reform-minded advocate for a more open, honest approach to governing.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (7) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: Alaska, Sarah Palin, Trooper-Gate
Ted Stevens
Stevens' Wife's Emails Subpoeaned
Kate Klonick | October 13, 2008, 9:34AM
Prosecutors in the case against Sen. Ted Stevens are leaving no stone unturned, subpoenaing emails sent from his wife Catherine which may have discussed the home renovations which are at the center of the charges against Stevens, the Anchorage Daily News reports.
Though the subpoena was sent Sept. 15 to Catherine Stevens' law firm, it was made public over the weekend when the defense asked a judge to intervene, calling it a "fishing expedition." The law firm had already turned over 26,000 pages of documents, but declined to turn over communications between Catherine and her husband Ted, citing spousal privilege.
On the subpoena, the government seeks the correspondence between Catherine Stevens and 34 other people. Some of those names are new, and related to evidence not yet discussed in the trial -- like the name of Anchorage jeweler George Walton and his Alaska Gold and Diamond, Co. Any documents relating to diamond earrings are also requested in the government's subpoena.
So as we head into the fourth (and possibly final) week of Stevens' trial it seems like we may have more to look forward to besides the possibility of Stevens' himself testifying and the defense's parade of illustrious character witnesses.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (0) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: Alaska, Ted Stevens
Alaska
Palin Falsely Claimed Report Cleared Her of Legal Wrong-Doing
Zachary Roth | October 13, 2008, 9:08AM
It's fair to say that Trooper-Gate hasn't exactly burnished Sarah Palin's reputation for honesty. And in a conference call she gave Saturday to respond to the legislature's report on the affair released Friday night, that reputation took another hit.
Palin opened her remarks by declaring:
I'm very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing ... any hint of any kind of unethical activity there.
But of course, it's simply untrue that the report cleared Palin of legal wrongdoing or unethical activity.
Steve Branchflower did conclude that Palin was within her rights to fire Walt Monegan -- since, as governor, she can fire any executive branch official for any reason.
But he also concluded, just as definitively, that Palin pressured and intimidated subordinates in trying to force the firing of Mike Wooten. In doing so, Branchflower wrote, she violated a state ethics law which says that "any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action" is a violation of the public trust.
When an Anchorage Daily News reporter followed up by reminding the governor of this finding, she did not respond directly.
(Below is the audio from the call, preceded by some video footage from over the weekend of Palin calling the Trooper-Gate inquiry "a partisan kind of process.")
In the call, Palin also asserted that the inquiry "did turn into a partisan circus" -- perhaps forgetting that it had been launched through a unanimous vote of the bipartisan legislative council, and that the council voted unanimously again on Friday to release the report to the public.
And asked how she felt about having called Walt Monegan, a widely respected public servant, a "rogue", she replied: "'Rogue' isn't a negative term."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (16) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: Alaska, Sarah Palin, Trooper-Gate
The Daily Muck
The Daily Muck
Matt Berman | October 13, 2008, 9:00AM
Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) really had a bad day Friday. Not only was she found to have abused her gubernatorial powers in a legislative report on the Trooper-Gate scandal, but she was also ordered by an Alaskan Superior Court judge to preserve her private emails until a lawsuit demanding the emails be made public is resolved. (Anchorage Daily News)
A Louisiana state senator pled guilty Friday to one charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Derrick Shepherd (D) gave a weepy apology for helping Gwendolyn Joseph Moyo launder $141,000 in checks. Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) who is also accused of unrelated bribery and racketeering, made an appearance in Shepherd's indictment as an unidentified co-conspirator. (AP)
Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) is taking heat for a tax payer financed trip he took to Alaska in 2004. Sununu claims he took the trip in order to attend a field hearing for the Senate Appropriations Committee, which he was not even a member of. While in Alaska, after attending the hearing, Sununu took the time to go on a fishing trip hosted by none other than Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). (Nashua Telegraph)
PERMALINK | COMMENTS (0) | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: The Daily Muck
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