Last night, David Kurtz (nee TPM's Reader DK) noted that the New York State Police demoted a 28-year veteran detective following the pre-election leak of a police report detailing a 9-1-1 domestic disturbance call from the house of Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY). Sweeney's attorney insists he was the guy who leaked the police report to the press.

So Sweeney got his retribution, it would seem. But he should have been warned -- whom the gods would destroy, they first make angry. And this morning, the story just turned sharply against Sweeney: This morning, the Albany Times-Union reports that the State Police may have faked a vague version of the original police report filed from the incident, to protect Sweeney in case the document became public:

State Police took steps to "lock up" a 911 report about a call to Congressman John Sweeney's home last year by creating an alternate version that lacked key details, an informed source said Thursday.

The full report on the domestic incident was concealed because of concern it could be used against Sweeney during his re-election campaign this fall, the source said.

Since the emergency call did not result in any arrest -- Sweeney and his wife, Gaia, called off the alert -- State Police officials created a less specific version to guard against leaks of the original, according to the source.

When Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) announced there there'd be a press conference today, expectations were high that he was going to finally release that promised "authentic" police report. You know, the one that would disprove all those news accounts which said an officer was called to his house because he was knocking his wife around.

Alas, he's not giving up the document. Instead, he's starting his own investigation into who "leaked" the "false" records. From The Albany Times-Union:

E. Stewart Jones apologized to TU reporter Brendan J. Lyons, who is over at Jones’ office in Troy, saying he has no documents to release today.

The news, Jones said, is that he has been hired by the Sweeney campaign to investigate who leaked police records related to the Dec. 2, 2005 911 call by GOP U.S. Rep. John Sweeney’s wife, Gaia/Gayle, that summoned State Police to a domestic incident at the couple’s Clifton Park home.

It's not entirely clear, but it sounds as though Sweeney's no longer contesting the integrity of the police reports cited in news accounts.

Sweeney has said that recent reports of police documents showing he abused his wife were forgeries, and that he'd consent to releasing the originals so they could see they'd been duped. But for over a day and a half, he's declined to sign the official order to allow those docs to be made public.

As TPM readers no doubt know, The New York Daily News and Albany Times-Union both published accounts earlier this week of a police blotter report that showed that an officer had been called to the Sweeneys home in December of last year on a domestic abuse call. Sweeney's wife allegedly told a 9-1-1 dispatcher that he was "knocking her around the house," and when an officer arrived, he was told that Sweeney had "grabbed [his wife] by the neck and pushed [her] around the house," but that everything was fine now.

Sweeney responded to the report by claiming that the blotter report was forged. But oddly, the Sweeneys did confirm that there had been a 9-1-1 call -- but that nothing like what's alleged in the blotter report happened.

There's a very clear way to get to the truth, of course: the police could release the official report. To do that, all they need is a signed and notarized letter from the Sweeneys. Now, Sweeney has said that he would authorize the police to release the report. But somehow, despite the fact that numerous news organizations have offered to facilitate the process, Sweeney just hasn't gotten around to sending the police that letter.

And more than 24 hours after his promise to release the report, we're all still waiting.

Rep. George Miller (D-CA), in a conference call with reporters today, criticized Rep. John Sweeney's (R-NY) visit to the Northern Mariana Islands in 2001.

In response to questions from The Albany Times-Union, Sweeney said that he was not aware of the mistreatment of workers on the islands when he visited. He also claimed not to have witnessed anything worrying while he was there.

Miller, whose various attempts over the past decade to regulate the labor conditions and immigration laws on the islands were consistently foiled by Jack Abramoff, wanted to know how Sweeney had managed to tour the islands and not witness evidence of abuse. "Why did you take the trip? What did you do?" he asked. "It’s a very small island."

"If you didn't look into the human rights abuses... what were you doing there?"

Miller added that when he'd visited the islands, he'd visited with federal and state investigators, human rights advocates, local workers, and others to investigate reports of abuses. By contrast, Sweeney met with the local chamber of commerce and business leaders.

Sweeney's spokeswoman told the Times-Union that Sweeney was invited "because of his experience as state labor commissioner under Gov. George Pataki" in New York.

"If they were seeking his advice what happened? He never came back and said we’re going to correct this situation," Miller said.

Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) joined the Abramoff party today. And his blithe remarks about the lack of apparent mistreatment in the Northern Mariana Islands could mean political trouble.

In 2001, The Albany Times-Union reports, he took a trip to the Northern Marianas (CNMI), Jack Abramoff's infamous client, but failed to disclose that the trip was privately-funded, as Congressional rules require. Sweeney says he thought the trip was paid for by the Marianas government; it was actually paid for by the island's chamber of commerce. Pretty small potatoes for an Abramoff story.

But it gets better. The paper quotes remarks that Sweeney made during his visit to the U.S. territory, which had become notorious stateside for its human rights abuses:

Sweeney was quoted in the Saipan Tribune on Jan. 15 as saying reports of poor working conditions in the CNMI were overblown, and that he had seen worse sweatshops back home in New York. Carlson said Sweeney was "absolutely not" aware of any severe mistreatment of workers or forced prostitution before he made these comments.

The mistreatment of CNMI workers, of course, was no secret. They had been the subject of numerous news stories, Congressional hearings, and federal investigations. And it seems that Sweeney was more aware of the CNMI's reputation than he's letting on:

On Jan. 15, 2001, the Tribune reported Sweeney had indicated in his speech that the CNMI needed to continue efforts to combat its poor image back in the states.

"The reputation of the commonwealth is not really what ought to be," Sweeney said. "I come (sic) here and found that the truth projected to me in Washington was not the truth at all."...

Abramoff viewed these Congressional trips as prime opportunities to raise the islands' profile. Over the years, he ferried dozens and dozens of lawmakers and staffers to see for himself that the so-called human rights abuses over there weren't so very bad. Somehow they never saw what human rights activitists had seen. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), who's worked for more than a decade to improve conditions there, said that "a blind pig could run into the human rights violations and the exploitation of workers on the islands." Abramoff's travellers, of course, ran anything but a blind course.

What does the yacht industry use to lobby Congress? Yachts, of course.

As yesterday's Chicago Tribune reported, the recreational boat manufacturer's trade association has been hosting lawmakers and staffers on one of its yachts for years -- it calls the events the "Congressional Cruise Series."

Having read the story, I went to the group's Web site, eager to see a picture of Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) at the helm of the 38-foot Meridian 381 Sedan, which the news story had mentioned. It was one of a number of photos of lawmakers on the National Marine Manufacturers' Association's boat, enjoying -- literally -- a free ride.

But alas, I found that NMMA.org has suddenly gone down for "routine maintenance." A coincidence, I'm sure.

Thankfully, the muckrakers at Capitol Confidential saved a copy of the NMMA's newsletter (pdf) before it disappeared, which they've hosted online. And at the end, voila! there's Captain Sweeney at the helm (at an unfortunately low resolution).

Although hundreds number of lawmakers and staffers (650 last year alone, according to the Tribune) climbed aboard the NMMA's yacht, a few took advantage of the boat to throw classy fundraisers. One of those was Sweeney, who threw two campaign events -- and also happened to sponsor legislation that makes personal flotation devices tax deductible for boat manufacturers, legislation the NMMA strongly supports. (He reimbursed the organization $500 per event.)

And so we add this picture to an already fine photographic collection of Sweeney's activities, and as a bonus to earlier classic photos of Congressional maritime activities.

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Responding to press reports late last week that he'd shown up to frat party drunk, Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) now says that he "wasn't drunk and wasn't even drinking" at the frat party he attended at Union College last month.

So we called up the reporter for the Union College newspaper, John Tomlin, who had described Sweeney in his piece as "openly intoxicated." He stood by his story. Students at the party he spoke to agreed: Sweeney was clearly drunk. And one perceptive student told him not only that Sweeney had been drinking at the party, but that his beverage of choice was a Keystone Light beer. Another student confirmed to us that he'd seen Sweeney drinking beer.

"I distinctly recall being there [at the party] and thinking to myself, 'This guy is drunk,'" Tomlin said. Ha talked to a number of people there, and they agreed.

But I guess you never know. Maybe a room full of frat boys don't know a drunk guy when they see one.

As we noted in an italicized euphemism earlier, it appears that one of the young college students partying with Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) was smoking something that may not have included tobacco. Others -- the Stakeholder, <cough cough> -- had similar suspicions.

Here is the original of that picture:

We jumped on the story at once. We tracked down someone from the party, and even got our hands on more photographs, including a high-resolution copy of the photograph that appeared in the local college paper. Our photo-forensic team pored over the snaps, and came to a unanimous conclusion: it's a legitimate smoke. You can see the definitive close-up below ...

A reportedly inebriated Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) took a break from kissing babies last Friday to hug some frat boys. I wonder if they're of drinking age?

Bonus: Notice how he appears to be in the er, smoking section of the frat house.

Sweeney's appearance was reported by the Concordiensis, Union College's newspaper. Full text of the article below. You can see the article as it ran in hard copy here.

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Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY), like Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), paid his wife on commission for campaign fundraising, a highly unusual arrangement that means that the Sweeneys benefitted personally from every contribution. Ethics experts we spoke to earlier this week about Doolittle's wife said that they'd never heard of a similar arrangement. Well, we found one. And it might explain why the Justice Department recently examined Sweeney's financial records.

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