Michael Grimm

GOP Rep Michael Grimm: I'd Be 'Very Stupid' To Take Cash Near FBI Building

Ryan J. Reilly | February 3, 2012, 4:25PM

House Speaker John Boehner said Friday that he was "not familiar with the details" of the unfolding campaign finance scandal involving Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY). Let's bring him up to speed.

The New York Times reported this week that Grimm worked closely with Ofer Biton (a top aide to the orthodox Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto) back in 2009 to recruit the rabbi's followers to donate to Grimm's campaign. Together, they collected more than $500,000 for his campaign, helping convince Republican leaders Grimm was a viable candidate.

Now Biton is now under investigation by the FBI, which just happens to be Grimm's former employer. Grimm himself is accused of accepting a cash donation of $5,000 "near the FBI building" and three followers of the rabbi told the New York Times that Grimm or Biton said they would find ways for the campaign to accept donations over the legal limit.

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Jean Schmidt

Watchdog Says Rep. Schmidt Lied To Ethics Investigators

Susan Crabtree | October 26, 2011, 1:46PM

An ethics watchdog group has filed a complaint with a House ethics office, accusing Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) of lying in an attempt to throw off a previous House ethics investigation into her failure to pay almost $500,000 in legal bills.

The group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed its complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics, a quasi-independent body charged with conducting preliminary reviews of allegations against lawmakers and furthering them on to the full Ethics Committee for further action. CREW also asked the FBI to investigate.

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House of Representatives

GOP Finance Committee's Anti-Obama Vid 'Walks The Line' Of Congressional Rules

Ryan J. Reilly | September 13, 2011, 4:40PM

The GOP-led House Financical Services Committee has produced a highly-stylized video, posted on YouTube, attacking the Obama administration's approach to regulation. A public interest group says the video comes pretty close to breaking House rules.

"This partisan video walks the line of the franking rules, but unfortunately may not cross it," Public Citizen's Lisa Gilbert told TPM.

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Eric Massa

He's Baaaack. House Ethics Committee Votes To Continue Massa Case

Susan Crabtree | July 15, 2011, 2:54PM

Former Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY)

When Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) left Congress amid a cloud of charges that he inappropriately touched and sexually harassed a male staffer, most of his Democratic colleagues hoped the issue would fade away -- or at least disappear from public view.

But the House Ethics Committee announced Friday that it has voted to continue an investigation it began last year.

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House Ethics Committee

Suspended Ethics Attorney Looks Elsewhere For Employment

Susan Crabtree | March 9, 2011, 11:53AM

One of the suspended attorneys in the middle of a brewing showdown between Republicans and Democrats on the House Ethics Committee is looking to jump ship and get out of the messy ethics battle altogether.

Morgan Kim, who served as deputy chief of staff of the panel in the last Congress and lead attorney on the case against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), has applied for the job of Broward County inspector general, according to a list of applicants compiled by the Sun-Sentinel.

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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 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.

Countrywide

Issa Issues Broad Countrywide VIP Loan Subpoena

Susan Crabtree | February 16, 2011, 7:04PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, expanded a prior investigation into the Countrywide Financial Corporation's infamous VIP loan program by issuing a wide-ranging subpoena aimed at exposing more information about the mortgage giant's efforts to win friends and influence people at the highest levels of government.

Issa's subpoena, announced Wednesday night, was sent to Bank of America, which purchased Countrywide just before the height of the economic crisis. The subpoena asks for all documents and requests related to Countrywide's VIP program, which implicated Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), the then-chairman of the Banking Committee.

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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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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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Birthers

Birther Interrupts House Reading Of Constitution, Yells 'Help Us Jesus' (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 6, 2011, 12:08PM

An apparent member of the birther movement seated in the gallery of the House of Representatives on Thursday interrupted a reading of the Constitution. The woman yelled out "Except Obama, except Obama, help us Jesus!" as Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) read the "natural born citizen" clause of the Constitution.

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Ralph Hall

New House Science Chair Has Zero Percent Rating From Conservation Group

Ryan J. Reilly | December 8, 2010, 4:59PM

Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX)

Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), the oldest member of Congress, was officially confirmed as the next chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee on Wednesday.

The Texas representative is a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry and has voiced his support for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The League of Conservation Voters has given him a zero-percent rating every year since 2004 due to his positions and votes on environmental issues.

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Charles Rangel

Charlie Rangel's Final Plea For Reprimand (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | December 2, 2010, 8:58PM

Ahead of the vote to censure Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) for ethics violations, the long-serving congressman made a final plea on the floor of the House of Representatives for his colleagues to lessen his punishment to a reprimand.

Rangel cited his record of military service as he admitted that he brought his problems upon himself. The New York Democrat was found guilty of 11 ethics violations by the House ethics panel, which then recommended Rangel be censured. The full House voted late Thursday to do so, and Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) read out that censure immediately after the vote.

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Robert Decheine

Former Obama Advisor, Aide To NJ Dem, Arrested On Child Sex Charges

Ryan J. Reilly | November 23, 2010, 6:07PM

Robert Decheine

Robert Decheine, chief of staff to Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ), was arrested in Gaithersburg, Md. last Friday on charges of soliciting sex from a minor. Decheine, who had been with the Democrat's office since 2003, was fired immediately after the congressman consulted the House Counsel about his arrest, Rothman spokesman Aaron Keyak told The Hill in a statement.

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House Oversight

Kucinich, Towns Battling For Right To Square Off With Issa? (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | November 17, 2010, 8:59AM

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

Is Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) gearing up be the Democratic answer to Republican Oversight Committee Chairman-in-waiting Darrell Issa?

Kucinich wouldn't tell TPM if he planned to make a run for ranking member as he dashed out of a Democratic House caucus meeting on Tuesday. His spokesman did not return phone calls. But a senior House Democrat told Politico that Kucinich was in the running.

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Darrell Issa

Team Issa Plans Hundreds Of Oversight Hearings

Ryan J. Reilly | November 9, 2010, 2:25PM

Reps. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Darrell Issa -- the chairman-in-waiting of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform -- wants each of his seven subcommittees to hold one or two hearings a week, for a total of seven hearings per week during a 40-week period, he told Politico. That would mean nearly 300 hearings.

Issa also said he is looking at members like Reps. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina and Jim Jordan of Ohio to chair some of the seven subcommittees of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

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Darrell Issa

The GOP Plan To Investigate Obama: The First Four Potential Investigations

Ryan J. Reilly and Johanna Barr | November 3, 2010, 10:37AM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX)

Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Lamar Smith (R-TX) have been attacking the Obama administration since pretty much the day Barack Obama took office. Until now, as just the ranking members of two powerful House committees and members of the minority party, their criticisms of administration officials and their decisions have been mostly limited to issuing press releases.

Now -- as the expected chairmen of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the House Judiciary Committee, respectively -- they're the proud new holders of subpoena power, will have a much more robust unit of investigators and will likely be a huge thorn in the side of President Obama and his top cabinet members.

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Darrell Issa

Darrell Issa's Subpoena Gameplan For 2011: Investigate ACORN, Climate-Gate And The U.S. Postal Service

Ryan J. Reilly | September 28, 2010, 10:01AM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

After ACORN's demise, you might have thought that if if the GOP takes the House and Rep. Darrell Issa becomes the new chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the California Republican would have better things to worry about. You'd be wrong.

Last week, Issa issued a blueprint for his agenda titled "A Constitutional Obligation: Congressional Oversight of the Executive Branch." Among the issues he chastised the Democratic leadership for not addressing: the fraud he says was committed by the community organizing group ACORN.

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Charles Rangel

Rangel Faces Tough Fight In Ethics Committee Trial

Brian Beutler | July 26, 2010, 3:39PM

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY)

In the coming days, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) has a choice to make. He can listen to his Democratic colleagues and cut a deal, or he can face a full trial before a House panel over several allegations of misconduct.

It's extremely rare for congressional ethics proceedings to reach this stage. Members more commonly acknowledge some wrongdoing, or resign, well before they're forced to defend themselves before an official body. But the gravity of the Rangel allegations, combined with his intransigence to this point, leave him poised, potentially, to be the first House member to be tried, and even expelled, by his own colleagues since James Traficant, in 2002.

"We're kind of astonished it's gone this far," says Peter Flaherty, President of the National Legal and Policy Center, whose work led to one investigation of Rangel and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus. "We always believed the allegations against Rangel were serious, but we never thought the Ethics Committee would do anything."

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