Eric Massa

Long Gone From Congress, 'Tickler' Eric Massa Still Pays Wife With Campaign Cash

Nick R. Martin | February 1, 2012, 12:40PM

Former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.)

Eric Massa may be long gone from the US House, but that hasn't stopped the confessed congressional tickler from using leftover campaign cash to pay his wife a nice monthly salary.

The former New York congressman resigned two years ago amid a bizarre scandal in which he admitted to tickling and roughhousing with male staffers while insisting it wasn't sexual.

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Neil Volz

The Other Side Of The Abramoff Scandal: Neil Volz, Now A Janitor, Self-Publishes Book

Ryan J. Reilly | December 29, 2011, 6:00AM

For a felon, former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has it pretty good: a book deal, a WND column, regular appearances on cable news and a spot judging TPM's Golden Dukes. But it turns out the path to prosperity is a lot of tougher for the lower-ranking individuals caught up in the scandal defined by Abramoff's name.

Take Neil Volz. He was chief-of-staff to former Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) and went to work with Abramoff at Greenburg Traurig LLP in 2002. He reached a plea deal with the Justice Department and pleaded guilty in 2006 and testified against fellow Abramoff associate Kevin Ring and former Bush administration official David Safavian.

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Congress

Mueller: Congress' Terror Detainee Deal Would Create 'Uncertainty' During Arrests

Ryan J. Reilly | December 14, 2011, 12:15PM

As of Tuesday, the federal government wasn't quite ready to render a verdict on the compromise reached by members of Congress on a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act which guides terrorist suspects into the military justice system. But FBI Director Robert Mueller indicated Wednesday that the administration still has concerns, though it's still unclear if the White House will make good on a previous veto threat.

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Jack Abramoff

Abramoff: Hill Staffers Should Be Banned From Becoming Lobbyists

Ryan J. Reilly | November 7, 2011, 9:07AM

Convicted felon Jack Abramoff took his recommendations for lobbying reform to 60 Minutes on Sunday night, arguing that Capitol Hill staffers shouldn't be allowed to become lobbyists.

"I would say or my staff would say to him or her at some point, 'you know, when you're done working on the hill, we'd very much like to consider coming to work for us.' Now the moment I said that to him, or any of our staff said that to him, that was it. We owned them," Abramoff told CBS's Lesley Stahl.

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Eric Cantor

TN Man Arrested For Threatening Cantor's Family

Ryan J. Reilly | November 3, 2011, 6:26PM

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA)

Glendon Swift, a 62-year-old Tennessee resident, was arrested by the FBI late yesterday for allegedly threatening Rep. Eric Cantor and his family.

The FBI says Swift left two "screaming, profanity-laden" voicemail messages with Cantor's Virginia office on Oct. 27 and threatened Cantor, his daughter and his wife.

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Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh Says He Had 'Verbal' Deal Not To Pay Child Support

Benjy Sarlin | October 12, 2011, 1:03PM

Rep. Joe Walsh (R)

Freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) says he didn't pay tens of thousands of dollars in child support payments to his ex-wife because he was under the impression they had an informal agreement that he'd keep the money.

"He reasonably relied on [ex-wife Laura Walsh's] representations and conduct, to his detriment," Walsh's lawyer said in a court filing, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Through his attorney, Walsh claimed he had a "verbal agreement" with his wife on child support because "Joe and his former wife were both tired of court appearances and the resulting emotional and financial impact on the family. Neither party had the financial or emotional wherewithal to continue the battle."

Ms. Walsh, who is suing the Congressman for over $100,000 in missed child support payments, sees things differently, however. Her attorney denied the claim, as well as Mr. Walsh's office's claim that the suit is "an attempt to tarnish the Congressman's reputation" timed to his emergence as a public figure. According to her attorney, she only launched the latest effort to collect the money after the then-candidate lent his campaign $34,000, indicating that he had significantly more cash than he had let on.

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Public Campaign

Watchdogs Want Bright Light On 'Super Committee's' Activities

Susan Crabtree | August 4, 2011, 3:07PM

Two dozen public interest, consumer, and government watchdog organizations want to shine a bright light on the activities of the newly established super committee tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction this fall.

Specifically, the groups want members of the joint Congressional committee to put a halt to all political fundraising while they conduct their work and provide details of any and all meetings and contacts with with lobbyists and outside parties.

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John Ensign

Former Ensign Love Triangle Aide Indicted For Post-Senate Lobbying

Susan Crabtree | March 24, 2011, 6:06PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Federal prosecutors have charged the husband of Sen. John Ensign's (R-NV) former mistress with breaking criminal revolving-door lobbying laws.

The indictment, issued Thursday afternoon, charges Doug Hampton, a former top aide to Ensign, with seven counts of violating conflict-of-interest laws, according to a Justice Department release.

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Joe Lieberman

Lieberman Warns Federal Employees To Stay Off This List

Ryan J. Reilly | February 17, 2011, 10:10AM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT)

"Americans love lists," Sen. Joe Lieberman told reporters yesterday as he and other members of Congress gathered at a news conference to discuss the Government Accountability Office's "High Risk" list -- a group of programs that are susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse.

That list, Lieberman noted, isn't one you want to be on if you're a federal worker. It chronicles 30 government programs, many of which have been on the list for a long time, that are at high risk for waste and will help provide a "roadmap" for Congressional oversight in the coming months.

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Scott Bloch

Scott Bloch Flip-Flops, Asks To Withdraw Guilty Plea

Ryan J. Reilly | February 11, 2011, 6:50PM

Former U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch

Former Bush administration official Scott Bloch, who originally pleaded guilty to contempt of Congress under a plea agree with the Justice Department, wants to reverse course after a judge ruled he had to spend at least a month in prison.

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Jack Abramoff

Judge Bars Scanlon From Traveling To His Estate In St. Barts

Susan Crabtree | February 11, 2011, 5:03PM

Michael Scanlon, Jack Abramoff's partner in crime, was sentenced Friday to 20 months in federal prison -- but a majority of the hearing was devoted to his real-estate development plans and whether he could travel to a luxury property in St. Barts.

Scanlon and Abramoff engaged in an elaborate kickback and fraud scheme that took down former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and 20 other government officials and lobbyists. Unlike Abramoff, who was struggling to support his family at the end of the scandal, Scanlon invested his tens of millions in real estate and is a very rich man by anyone's standards.

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John Ensign

Why Can't Congress Police Itself? Ensign Case is Exhibit A

Susan Crabtree | February 3, 2011, 8:30AM

The Senate Ethics Committee's decision to appoint a special counsel to lead the investigation into activities surrounding Sen. John Ensign's (R-NV) affair with a political staffer is raising age-old questions about the panel's relevancy.

Members of Congress are the first to admit that they hate serving on the Ethics Committee, and policing their peers puts them in an unusually awkward position. If that's the case and the panel has to farm out its work to true professional investigators, then why have lawmakers investigating their colleagues misbehavior in the first place?

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FOIA

Issa Expands Probe Of Alleged Politicization Of FOIA Requests At DHS

Susan Crabtree | February 1, 2011, 8:56PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is stepping up his investigation of the Homeland Security Department's alleged selective handling of Freedom of Information Act requests from citizens, journalists and others.

In a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, Issa said he plans to interview one of her senior political advisers and other political appointees as part of a expanded investigation into department's alleged practice of stalling hundreds of requests for federal records while political advisers looked into the backgrounds of people requesting the documents.

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Paul Magliocchetti

Despite Donations To Girl Scouts, PMA Lobbyist Gets 27 Months

Ryan J. Reilly and Alex Sciuto | January 7, 2011, 6:17PM

Former super-lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti was sentenced today to 27 months in prison, a spokesman for the Justice Department told TPM.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of Virginia, told TPM that the hearing, which began at 1 p.m., lasted until 5:30 p.m.

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Don't Ask Don't Tell

Rep. Lewis On DADT: 'Vote Yes Because Discrimination Is Wrong' (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | December 15, 2010, 5:09PM

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) gave a brief but moving speech on the House floor today in favor of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Lewis, a Civil Rights activist who was beaten while marching from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, said a vote to end DADT is a vote to end discrimination.

"I have just two words for you, my colleagues: Vote yes ... Vote yes for equality. Vote yes because discrimination is wrong," he said. "Vote yes because on the battlefield it doesn't matter who you love, only the flag that you serve."

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Congress

Democrats Added Ban On Gitmo Detainee Transfer To Omnibus Spending Bill

Rachel Slajda | December 13, 2010, 12:32PM

Detainees at Guantanamo Bay

The Obama administration has loudly opposed a provision of the omnibus spending bill, passed last week by the House, that would ban the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to U.S. soil, even for trial.

"This provision goes well beyond existing law and would unwisely restrict the ability of the Executive branch to prosecute alleged terrorists in Federal courts or military commissions in the United States," Attorney General Eric Holder wrote in a letter to Senate leadership, calling the provision "dangerous" and asking that it be stripped before the Senate votes on the bill this week.

"We strongly oppose this provision. Congress should not limit the tools available to the executive branch in bringing terrorists to justice and advancing our national security interests," White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said just before the bill passed.

So you would think, then, that this was perhaps a provision snuck into the must-pass government funding bill by Republicans intent on derailing Holder's plan to try self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civilian criminal court.

You'd be wrong.

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Financial Disclosures

Personal Financial Information Of Members Of Congress Released

Justin Elliott | June 17, 2010, 11:35AM

Personal financial disclosure forms from members of Congress, showing assets and other information as of the end of last year, are now available for perusal.

There are lots of fun tidbits. For example, Sen. John Ensign's wife was paid $2,350 in salary by HairArts LLC of Las Vegas. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) got dividends from Pizza Hut (Yum! Brands).

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