Wisconsin

Tackled Wisconsin Representative Says His Capitol Key Card Is Disabled

Eric Lach | March 4, 2011, 4:37PM

Wisconsin's Capitol building has "always been open to state legislators, to come and go as they please," state Representative Nick Milroy (D), the lawmaker who was tackled by Wisconsin Capitol Police on Thursday night, told TPM in an interview on Friday.

But this week, he says, has been different.

All tackling aside, Milroy's Capitol key card was disabled on Monday, and he doesn't know when it will work again -- leaving him unable to access the building freely, as he used to do.

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Arizona

Arizona Considering Tea Party License Plate That Would Fund Tea Party Causes

Jon Terbush | March 4, 2011, 4:12PM

The Arizona State Senate is considering a bill to introduce specialty license plates with the Gadsden Flag phrase turned Tea Party slogan, "Don't Tread On Me," with funds generated by those plates going to promote the Tea Party in ways well beyond car bumpers.

As the Arizona Daily Star noted Thursday, the state Senate is considering a bill that would create a license plate depicting the Gadsden Flag's iconic image, a coiled snake on a yellow background, complete with the "Don't Tread On Me" tag line. Similar specialty plates have been proposed in Virginia, Nevada, and South Carolina, while Texas has already approved creating such a license plate.

Yet what's interesting about this particular plate is that the money generated from its sale would be used specifically to fund tea party causes.

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Jared Lee Loughner

Jared Lee Loughner Charged With Murder Of Giffords Event Participants In New 49-Count Indictment

Ryan J. Reilly | March 4, 2011, 3:03PM

Jared Loughner

Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused in the January shooting spree in Tucson, was indicted on additional federal murder charges by a grand jury yesterday for allegedly murdering "participants at a federally provided activity," the Justice Department announced Friday.

The news out of the 49-count superseding indictment is that Loughner is now charged with the murder of non-federal employees who were participating in the event held by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) back in January.

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Sharia

Alabama Proposes Constitutional Amendment To Ban Sharia Law In Courts

Melissa Jeltsen | March 4, 2011, 2:10PM

State Sen. Gerald Allen (R)

It's been a busy few weeks for Sharia-fearing Americans. Tennessee recently introduced a bill that would ban the practice of Sharia - and perhaps by extension, the practice of Islam itself. Elsewhere, anti-Sharia groups battled for supremacy outside the White House, and Missouri filed legislation to outlaw the use of Sharia law in its courts. Now, it appears Alabama is getting into the game.

State Sen. Gerald Allen (R ) has introduced a constitutional amendment, SB 62, that would forbid the use of Islamic law in the state's courts.

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Wisconsin

Tackled Wisconsin Representative Decries 'Armed-Palace Environment' At Capitol

Eric Lach | March 4, 2011, 1:05PM

Wisconsin state Representative Nick Milroy (D), the lawmaker who was tackled last night while trying to enter the Capitol building in Madison, said in a statement Friday that both he and the law enforcement officers involved in the incident had acted aggressively, but that "no harm was done." He did, however, have some harsh words for what he calls the "armed-palace environment created by Gov. Walker."

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Arizona

Arizona Senate Passes Bill To Let State Nullify Federal Laws

Jillian Rayfield | March 4, 2011, 10:18AM

State Senator Russell Pearce (R-AZ)

After being shot down earlier this week, the Arizona State Senate revived and successfully passed a bill that would create a mechanism for the state to nullify federal laws.

As TPM has reported, Senate Bill 1433 would create a 12-person "Joint Legislative Committee on Nullification of Federal Laws," which would "recommend, propose and call for a vote by simple majority to nullify in its entirety a specific federal law or regulation that is outside the scope of the powers delegated by the People to the federal government in the United States Constitution."

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Wisconsin

Video Apparently Shows Wisconsin Rep Getting Tackled By Officers (VIDEO)

Eric Lach | March 4, 2011, 9:10AM

WKOW in Madison, Wisc., posted some stunning video Thursday night, apparently showing state Representative Nick Milroy (D) being tackled by Capitol police as he tried to enter the building.

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Frank Gaffney

Gaffney, Jones Fight For Soul Of Anti-Sharia Movement At Rally By White House (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | March 4, 2011, 8:50AM

Frank Gaffney

Rev. Terry Jones, the man who rose to national prominence last fall when he announced (but later backed off off) a plan to burn copies of the Koran, was clad in a beat-up black leather jacket when he showed up to a park across the street from the White House a few minutes before noon on Thursday.

His black sunglasses resting a few inches above his signature handlebar mustache, Jones hopped up on a bench in Lafayette Park and announced that his organization Stand Up America was holding a rally.

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MEK

Ex-Officials Say They Were Paid To Attend Pro-MEK Events

Eric Lach | March 4, 2011, 8:34AM

Former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-IN) and retired Gen. Anthony Zinni

Former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton (D) and former CENTCOM Commander Anthony Zinni told the Inter Press Service that they were paid to appear at recent events supporting the MEK, an Iranian opposition group currently considered a terrorist organization by the State Department.

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Charlie White

Indiana Secretary Of State Indicted On Voter Fraud Charges

Ryan J. Reilly | March 3, 2011, 10:15PM

Secretary of State Charlie White, the top election official in Indianapolis, is facing seven felony counts, including voter fraud, perjury and theft, all connected to what a prosecutor said was an attempt to hold on to his seat on the town council even though he was living outside of his designated district.

White was indicted by a grand jury in Hamilton County on three counts of voter fraud for allegedly lying about his address when he voted in last year's Republican primary, the Courier-Journal reports. In addition he's facing charges of perjury, fraud on a financial institution (for lying about his address) and theft for keeping the salary he received as a member of his town council after he moved out of his designated district.

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Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich Helped Jump-Start Campaign To Oust Iowa Judges

Jillian Rayfield | March 3, 2011, 4:03PM

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA)

Newt Gingrich secured $200 thousand for a successful campaign by anti-gay groups last fall to oust Iowa Supreme Court justices who voted to allow gay marriage in Iowa, the Los Angeles Times reports.

"It wouldn't have happened without Newt," said David Lane, executive director of the group that spearheaded the campaign, Iowa For Freedom.

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Randall Terry

Randall Terry Says Terry Jones 'Blinked' On Koran Burning (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | March 3, 2011, 3:36PM

Anti-abortion rights activist Randall Terry and anti-Islam Rev. Terry Jones -- undoubtably two of slickest self-promoting crusaders for their respective causes -- ran into one another outside the White House on Thursday, where Terry said the pastor "blinked" on his plan to burn copies of the Koran.

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Sharia

Anti-Muslim Protestor Throws Crosses At Feet Of Man Praying By White House (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | March 3, 2011, 2:30PM

A group of anti-Sharia protestors who planned to counter-protest the planned pro-Sharia rally by the radical provocateur Anjem Choudary in front of the White House on Thursday found themselves without an opponent to debate.

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Newt Gingrich

Gingrich To Rumsfeld: Plant Army Spies Throughout Government

Ryan J. Reilly | March 3, 2011, 12:43PM

Former Sec of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich recommended in a 2003 memo to then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that he "both maximize DoD's influence on debates and to maximize the flow of information to DoD" by establishing "a system of DoD detailees throughout the federal government and where possible as overseas detached personnel for foreign governments."

Gingrich wanted the Defense Department to have more reach in the policy making apparatus and not "yield the territory" at the National Security Counsel and elsewhere to the State Department and other interests.

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Commission On Wartime Contracting

Highway Robbery! U.S. Losing Hundreds of Millions To Rampant Afghan Fuel Theft

Susan Crabtree | March 3, 2011, 11:55AM

After nearly a decade of mismanagement, theft and fraud, the U.S. military still hasn't found a way to staunch the flow of what is likely hundreds of millions -- if not billions -- of dollars in lost fuel in Afghanistan, some of which is sold on the black market and winds up in Taliban hands, a TPM investigation has found.

With political unrest in the Middle East sending oil over $100 per barrel and Congress more intent than ever at cutting government waste, fraud and abuse in tough budgetary times, the Defense Department is under intense pressure to find a way to monitor and track the flow of fuel in and out of its bases in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The extensive corruption associated with disappearing fuel in Afghanistan provides another illustration of the problems associated with the heavy use of private contractors on the battlefield. Earlier this week, the non-partisan Commission for Wartime Contracting reported that the U.S. government has spent $117 billion on private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002, and tens of billions of those dollars have been wasted.

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David Rivera

Sessions Praises Embattled Rivera: 'Doing A Very Good Job'

Eric Lach | March 3, 2011, 11:27AM

Congressmen Pete Sessions (R-TX) and David Rivera (R-FL)

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told The Hill on Wednesday that he thinks already-embattled freshman Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) is doing a "very good job."

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Chicago

Rahm Emanuel Meets @MayorEmanuel (VIDEO)

Eric Lach | March 3, 2011, 10:15AM

Rahm Emanuel

Chicago mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel met his Twitter impersonator Wednesday and, according to The Chicago Tribune, "the skies didn't open, and no one got sucked into a time vortex." So that's good.

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Barack Obama

ICE Ethics Office Still Investigating Who Leaked Immigration Status Of Obama's Aunt

Ryan J. Reilly | March 3, 2011, 9:40AM

Zeituni Onyango, President Obama's aunt.

Two years and four months after someone disclosed the immigration status of then-candidate Barack Obama's aunt to the media ahead of the 2008 election, government investigators are still probing whether any federal officials improperly leaked the information.

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Yasir Afifi

Arab-American Student Sues FBI Over GPS Tracking Device

Ryan J. Reilly | March 3, 2011, 8:30AM

In a photo he posted online, Yasir Afifi holds the tracking device he found on his car

Yasir Afifi, the 20-year-old Arab-American student who was visited by FBI agents after he found a secret GPS tracking device on his car, sued Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller this week for allegedly violating his constitutional rights.

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Bradley Manning

Report: Military Files More Charges Against Alleged WikiLeaks Source Bradley Manning

Ryan J. Reilly | March 2, 2011, 5:30PM

Pfc. Bradley Manning

The military has filed 22 additional charges against Pvt. Bradley Manning, including aiding the enemy, in the alleged massive leak of classified files, NBC News reports.

Manning is accused of illegally downloading tens of thousands of classified documents from both the U.S. military and the State Department that were later released by WikiLeaks, Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube report.

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Colby Bohannan

African-American Studies Prof. Rips Student On Whites-Only Scholarships (VIDEO)

David Taintor | March 2, 2011, 4:42PM

An African-American studies professor at Columbia University on Wednesday took to task a Texas student who is organizing scholarship exclusively for white men.

Marc Lamont Hill on MSNBC told Colby Bohannan -- who came up with the scholarship idea -- that "being white is itself a form of scholarship." He said that white Americans have better access to health care, criminal justice and housing, among other things.

"There's no need," he said. In fact, Hill called it a "spectacle that we see every year with Affirmative-Action bake sales, with now whites-only scholarships, which only draw attention to white folk who are becoming increasingly frustrated that the world is becoming a little more fair."

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Sharia

Show-Me State Says "Me Too" On Sharia Court Ban

Melissa Jeltsen | March 2, 2011, 3:47PM

Missouri is now the latest state seeking to ban its courts from consulting Sharia law. A bill introduced on Tuesday by State Rep. Paul Curtman (R) would bar courts from taking any foreign law, legal code or system into consideration when deciding cases.

From the bill:

Any court, arbitration, tribunal, or administrative agency ruling or decision violates the public policy of this state and shall be void and unenforceable if such court, arbitration, tribunal, or administrative agency bases its rulings or decisions in the matter at issue in whole or in part on any law, legal code, or system that would not grant the parties affected by the ruling or decision the same fundamental liberties, rights, and privileges granted under the constitutions of this state and the United States.

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Muslim Public Affairs Council

American Muslims Decry 'Cottage Industry Of Hate' Ahead Of Pete King Hearings

Ryan J. Reilly | March 2, 2011, 3:30PM

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) and Rep. Peter King (R-NY)

Muslim Americans concerned about anti-Islam rhetoric in the United States described a "cottage industry of hate" during a Capitol Hill panel Wednesday a week ahead of Rep. Peter King's hearing on the radicalization of the Muslim community in America.

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Westboro Baptist Church

Supreme Court: Westboro Baptist Church Has Right To Protest At Military Funerals

Ryan J. Reilly | March 2, 2011, 10:52AM

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church have the right to protest at the funerals of members of the military, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

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Lila Rose

Lila Rose: DOJ 'Looking The Other Way' On Sex Trafficking

Jillian Rayfield | March 2, 2011, 9:09AM

Lila Rose, president of LiveAction.

Lila Rose, the head of the anti-abortion activist group LiveAction, decried Eric Holder's statement on Tuesday that the FBI will not prosecute in connection with a LiveAction video "sting," which was aimed at catching Planned Parenthood employees looking the other way on sex traffickers.

"An untold number of women, and possibly underage girls, are being exploited and likely in danger and the Justice Department is looking the other way," Rose said in a statement.

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Former Majority Association for Equality

Texas Student Defends Scholarships For White Men

David Taintor | March 2, 2011, 8:35AM

William Lake

Members of the Texas nonprofit group Former Majority Association for Equality are on a media blitz defending their scholarships exclusively for white males.

William Lake -- the group's treasurer and an MBA candidate at Texas State University in San Marcos -- told MSNBC Tuesday afternoon that white men are "one group that just doesn't have any support."

How does he figure? "We saw opportunities for just about every demographic, as far as paying for college goes, except for this one," Lake told TPM.

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Sarah Palin

Palin Tells Anti-Gay Group Obama 'Flip-Flopped' On DOMA

Ryan J. Reilly | March 1, 2011, 5:00PM

A week after the Obama administration announced it believed part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional and said it would no longer defend the law in court, former half-term Gov. Sarah Palin is out with a statement that slams (surprise!) President Barack Obama for the decision.

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New Black Panthers

Holder: Rhetoric On New Black Panther Case Does 'Great Disservice' To Civil Rights History

Ryan J. Reilly | March 1, 2011, 3:20PM

Attorney General Eric Holder went up for his first round of hearings in the Republican-controlled House on Tuesday, where he faced questions over the Justice Department's handling of a two-year-old voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party.

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Eric Holder

Holder: No Prosecution In Connection With Planned Parenthood Video 'Sting'

Jillian Rayfield | March 1, 2011, 2:18PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that the FBI has declined to prosecute in connection with a series of incidents where a man entered Planned Parenthood and claimed to be a pimp operating a sex trafficking ring. Those incidents were later revealed to be part of a video "sting" by the anti-abortion group LiveAction.

"It is my understanding that the FBI actually has looked at that matter" and "prosecution was declined in that matter," Holder's commented in a hearing of the House Appropriations subcommittee.

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David Wu

Steny Hoyer: Rep. Wu's Resignation 'Not Appropriate At This Time'

Melissa Jeltsen | March 1, 2011, 2:12PM

Rep. David Wu (D-OR)

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) weighed in on the calls for Oregon Rep. David Wu's resignation today, saying they were "premature."

"I understand that he has said he is seeking mental health services and that's the appropriate step for him to take. If he had a broken arm, he'd get it fixed," he said. "I believe that mental illness and physical illness both are treatable, and we ought to treat them both as illnesses."

He added that while he has not spoken to Wu or his staff about the matter, he "would personally believe talks of resignation are not appropriate at this time."

Wu is facing growing pressure to resign after detailed reports emerged of the seven-term congressman's erratic behavior around last November's midterm elections. His bizarre conduct -- including emailing a photograph of himself dressed in a tiger suit to employees -- led staffers to stage multiple interventions and request he check into a psychiatric hospital.

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Darrell Issa

Issa Fires Spokesman After Email Controversy

Eric Lach | March 1, 2011, 1:28PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has fired his spokesperson, Kurt Bardella, after Politico raised concerns that Bardella had shared emails from other journalists with The New York Times' Mark Leibovich.

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Ethics

Mystery Surrounding House Ethics Committee Attorneys Continues

Susan Crabtree | March 1, 2011, 12:38PM

The House Ethics Committee attorneys accused of bungling the case against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) three months ago were still on the House payroll as of Jan. 31, as TPM reported late last week, and there are new questions about how they are managing to stick around.

House Ethics Committee rules clearly require the panel to approve all staffers at the beginning of each Congress.

"All staff members shall be appointed by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the Committee," the rules state.

The vote shall occur at the first Committee of each Congress, according to the rules, and "as necessary" during the Congress.

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Eric Holder

AG Eric Holder: 'I Don't Know' If Guantanamo Will Close In Obama's First Term (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | March 1, 2011, 12:08PM

Attorney General Eric Holder told a House subcommittee on Tuesday that he didn't know if Guantanamo Bay would be closed by the end of the first term of the Obama administration.

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Eric Holder

GOPer Wolf Questions AG Holder On Allegations Of Politicized FOIA Process

Ryan J. Reilly | March 1, 2011, 11:20AM

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and DOJ Whistleblower J. Christian Adams

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) had his first shot at Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday, and he based his first question on a report on the handling of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests authored the ex-Justice Department "whistleblower" behind the controversial New Black Panther Party case. But Holder said he looked into the allegations made by former Justice Department lawyer J. Christian Adams and found there was "no ideological component to how we answer the requests."

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Mosques

Fire At Kansas City Mosque Under Investigation

Melissa Jeltsen | March 1, 2011, 11:03AM

Kansas City fire investigators are working to determine the cause of a three-alarm fire that destroyed a mosque in Kansas City, Missouri, early Monday morning. Federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents are also on the scene to investigate the blaze---standard procedure when a place of worship is involved in a fire.

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Rick Perry

Perry's Office Tells Blocked Journo: Gov Uses Account 'As He Likes'

Eric Lach | March 1, 2011, 10:07AM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Dallas Morning News reporter Tom Benning has his answer as to why he's being blocked from following Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Twitter. Sort of.

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DOMA

What's Next In The Battle Over DOMA

Ryan J. Reilly | March 1, 2011, 9:01AM

The Justice Department's decision not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court has sent anti-gay marriage groups into a fundraising frenzy and forced House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) into the uncomfortable position of either defending a law that many agree will be found unconstitutional or put a social issue front-and-center (after he vowed to focus on fiscal issues).

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Pamela Geller

Pam Geller On 'Hate Group' Label: 'A Badge of Honor'

Eric Lach | March 1, 2011, 8:55AM

Conservative activist Pamela Geller

Pamela Geller is pretty worked up about the Southern Poverty Law Center's designation of her group, Stop Islamization of America, as a hate group. But not because she gives the designation any credence. On the contrary, Geller -- the blogger behind Atlas Shrugs and one of the most vociferous opponents to a planned Muslim community center near Ground Zero in New York City -- says "a slam from the SPLC is a badge of honor."

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Rick Perry

Is Rick Perry Blocking Journalists From Following Him On Twitter?

Eric Lach | February 28, 2011, 4:48PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

A reporter at The Dallas Morning News says he's been blocked from following Texas Gov. Rick Perry's Twitter account -- and he's not the only one.

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David M. Rivera

Eric Cantor "Very Concerned" About David Rivera Scandal

Benjy Sarlin | February 28, 2011, 4:33PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

Days after snubbing embattled Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) on a visit to Florida, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) told reporters on Monday that he was keeping an eye on reports of a brewing scandal surrounding the freshman Republican.

"There are ongoing investigations in Florida involving Congressman Rivera and we are respectful of those investigations," Cantor said in a briefing with reporters. "I'm obviously very concerned about the reports surrounding those investigations, but we'll wait to see the result of them."

Rivera is reportedly under investigation over questions surrounding $817,000 his campaign paid to a political consultant as well as additional issues involving a $500,000 payment from a dog track to a consulting firm run by his mother to help pass a gambling initiative he supported while in the Florida House of Representatives. According to the Florida Clarion, Cantor deliberately avoided contact with Rivera on a trip to Miami last weekend.

Texas State University

TX Group Introduces Scholarships For White Males Only

David Taintor | February 28, 2011, 1:57PM

Texas State University in San Marcos

A volunteer group in San Marcos, Texas has set up scholarships for a group of students they think is underrepresented: white men.

A student formed the "Former Majority Association for Equality" to organize the scholarships. Colby Bohannan -- a senior at Texas State University in San Marcos and the group's president -- told the Austin American-Statesman the lack of white-only scholarships made him feel "excluded."

"If everyone else can find scholarships, why are we left out?" he said.

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Mine Safety

Federal Grand Jury Indicts Massey Energy Official For Lying In W. Va. Mine Probe

Ryan J. Reilly | February 28, 2011, 1:35PM

Families mourn at Upper Big Branch Mine explosion memorial

Hughie Elbert Stover, the chief of security at Massey Energy Company's Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia, was arrested at his home on Monday and charged with making materially false statements to federal officials and obstructing a federal investigation.

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Kyle Sampson

Gonzales Chief Of Staff Kyle Sampson Gets His D.C. Law License

Ryan J. Reilly | February 28, 2011, 10:50AM

Former Bush Admn. Justice staffer Kyle Sampson

After a two-year battle, Kyle Sampson -- the former chief of staff to then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who was caught up in the legal and political scandal that grew out of Gonzales' term in office -- has won his fight for a law license in the District of Columbia.

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David Rivera

Scandal-Plagued GOPer David Rivera Claims 'Most Transparent Member Of Congress' Mantle

Ryan J. Reilly | February 28, 2011, 10:21AM

David Rivera, who has been dogged by questions on ethics issues in his first month in as a member of Congress, doesn't think House Republican leaders are distancing themselves from him. In fact, he claims in an interview which aired on "Naples Daily NewsMakers with Jeff Lytle" on Sunday that he's "probably the most transparent member of Congress as of right now."

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Raymond Davis

NYT Explains Why It Held Back Reporting On CIA Contractor

Eric Lach | February 28, 2011, 9:49AM

Raymond Davis

New York Times public editor Arthur Brisbane wrote a column this weekend probing the paper's decision to withhold information about Raymond Davis, the American man who was arrested in Pakistan in January after shooting two men dead on the streets of Lahore.

Last week, the Times and other news outlets revealed that, after a request by the Obama administration, they had held back reporting that Davis was a contractor working for the CIA.

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