TPMMuckraker John Boehner
Michael Grimm
GOP Rep Michael Grimm: I'd Be 'Very Stupid' To Take Cash Near FBI Building
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.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Campaign Contributions, Campaign Donations, Campaign Finance, FBI, FEC, House of Representatives , John Boehner, Michael Grimm, New York, Republicans
John Boehner
Emails Suggest Ohio's New Republican-Friendly Maps Save the GOP 'Millions'
by Lois Beckett ProPublica
As we've been documenting in our ongoing series, political parties and other powerful players use the once-a-decade redistricting process to advance their own goals--often at the expense of voters.
A recently released trove of e-mails from Ohio offers a rare inside glimpse into how it works.
The e-mails, sent from June to September, show collaboration between the national GOP and state Republicans to re-draw Ohio's map and thus cement control of both the statehouse and a majority of congressional districts.
In one of the emails, a Republican consultant working on redistricting for the state suggested that the new political maps could save the GOP "millions" of dollars in campaign funds by making districts safer for Republican candidates.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: John Boehner, Redistricting, Voting
DOMA
Boehner Triples Possible DOMA Legal Tab To $1.5 Million
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)
House Republican leaders have tripled the amount allocated for a legal team arguing in support of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) from $500,000 to $1.5 million of taxpayer money.
A modified contract between the General Counsel to the House of Representatives and former Solicitor General Paul Clement of Bancroft PLLC sets a cap of $750,000 which can be raised up to $1.5 million.
"It is absolutely unconscionable that Speaker Boehner is tripling the cost for his legal boondoggle to defend the indefensible Defense of Marriage Act," Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, said in a statement.
Topics: DOMA, John Boehner
DOMA
Study Author To Boehner's DOMA Defense Team: You Know Nothing Of My Work
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and former United States Solicitor General Paul Clement
A University of Utah professor who specializes in the study of affectional bonds and same-sex sexuality is accusing House Speaker John Boehner's legal team of distorting her research.
Professor Lisa A. Diamond, whose work was cited by the legal team arguing on behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives that the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional, filed a declaration in federal court stating that the legal team "misconstrues and distorts my research findings, which do not support the propositions for which BLAG cites them."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: DOMA, Defense of Marriage Act, John Boehner, LGBT, Paul Clement
John Boehner
Boehner Legal Team: It Doesn't Matter If Science Says Being Gay Isn't A Choice
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and former United States Solicitor General Paul Clement
Remember a few months ago how John Boehner decided to step in to keep the Defense of Marriage Act in place after the Justice Department decided it was discriminatory? Well the legal team Boehner hired to defend the law has a few interesting things to say about gays and lesbians.
A briefing submitted on Monday by Paul Clement on behalf of the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the House of Representatives notes that "gays and lesbians have achieved and continue to achieve substantial political success." In sum, he argues that there hasn't been enough of a history of discrimination against gays and lesbians because most were in the closet throughout so much of history.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, DOJ, DOMA, John Boehner
Debt ceiling
Reid Not Surprised By Boehner's Debt Ceiling Vote Fail Given Their Recent Performance
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
TPM caught up with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) just after he closed down business in the Senate for the night because House Republicans weren't able to get enough votes to pass House Speaker John Boehner's debt ceiling proposal.
Asked if he had expected the day to end with no vote in the House, Reid told TPM, "With their performance the last few days I don't expect anything."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Debt ceiling, Harry Reid, John Boehner
Ethics
Watt, House GOP Leaders, Plan Sneak Attack On Ethics Office
Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC)
Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC), with the help of Republicans leaders, is launching a sneak attack on the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), the only quasi-independent ethics watchdog policing the behavior of members of Congress.
Watt, a prominent member of the Congressional Black Caucus, may be looking for some retribution against the office for investigating him last year. Along with a bipartisan group of several other members, Watt was part of a wide-ranging OCE probe into the propriety of holding fundraising events with big players in the financial sector within days -- or even on the very day -- of a vote on the Wall Street reform bill. He and the other members were eventually cleared of any wrongdoing but not before the investigation leaked to the press and he and the other members made "under investigation" headlines.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Ethics, Ethics Panel, John Boehner, Mel Watt, Nancy Pelosi, Office of Congressional Ethics
Donald 'Buz' Lukens
The Unbelievable Career Of John Boehner's Congressional Predecessor
Donald "Buz" Lukens, former Ohio representative
Ever wanted to know who to thank for House Speaker John Boehner's congressional career? The late Ohio Republican Rep. Donald "Buz" Lukens was your man.
It was 1990. Lukens was in his second term in Congress. The year before, the 58-year-old congressman had been caught on a television network's hidden camera in a McDonald's restaurant speaking with the mother of a 16-year-old girl he was allegedly sleeping with.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Corruption, Donald 'Buz' Lukens, Donald Lukens, FBI, GOP, House Ethics Committee, John Boehner
Ethics
Watchdogs: Bonner Has To Go To Fix Broken House Ethics System
Reps. Jo Bonner (R-AL) and Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Ethics watchdogs are calling on Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL) to step down as chairman of the House Ethics Committee -- at least temporarily -- for his role in the ongoing turmoil over Rep. Maxine Waters' (D-CA) case.
"I think there needs to be an investigation into the whole matter, including Mr. Bonner's role and that Mr. Bonner should step aside during the course of that investigation," Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told TPM Tuesday. "If Mr. Bonner is found to have broken the committee's rules, he should be sanctioned by the full House."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Ethics, House Ethics Committee, Jo Bonner, John Boehner, Maxine Waters
Eric Massa
He's Baaaack. House Ethics Committee Votes To Continue Massa Case
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.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Eric Massa, Ethics, House Democrats, House Ethics Committee, House of Representatives , John Boehner, Sexual harassment
DOMA
What's Next In The Battle Over DOMA
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).
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, DOMA, Defense of Marriage Act, John Boehner, Walter Dellinger
Government shutdown
House Dems, GOP Trade Jabs Over Shutdown
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)
House Democratic and Republican leaders traded jabs over the possibility of a government shutdown Friday -- as the two sides remained deeply divided on how far to go in slashing government programs.
The House continued slogging through dozens of amendments to a bill that would cut federal spending by $61 billion over the next six months, and it's unlikely they'll be able to come to an agreement with Senate Democrats on the numbers before their deadline of March 4.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Budget Cutting, Government shutdown, Jack Lew , John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Office of Management and Budget
Republicans
Old DeLay Hands Still Part Of GOP Leadership Under Boehner
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and House Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-OH)
Republicans have swept back into power in the House amid promises of a new kind of party. But how different is it, really?
If a handful of new hires made by the new House leadership -- staffers who worked for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in the heady days of his hammer-fisted reign -- is any indication, not much.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Jack Abramoff, John Boehner, Republicans, Tom DeLay
Bobby Thompson
Accomplice Of 'Bobby Thompson' Arraigned In Alleged Charity Scam
"Bobby Thompson" and George W. Bush
The Ohio Attorney General's office announced today that Blanca Contreras, an associate of the alleged charity scammer and GOP donor known as "Bobby Thompson," had been arraigned after being extradited from North Carolina. She pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering, money laundering, and aggravated theft. Bond was set at $2 million.
Contreras served as the acting treasurer for U.S. Navy Veterans Association, a fraudulent charity that Thompson allegedly operated from 2003 to 2010.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Blanca Contreras, Bob McDonnell, Bobby Thompson, George Bush, John Boehner, John McCain, Ken Cuccinelli, Michelle Bachmann, Rudy Giuliani, U.S. Navy Veterans Association
Bobby Thompson
Charity Scammer Allegedly Used Fake Names To Donate $$ To GOP Candidates
"Bobby Thompson" and George W. Bush
"Bobby Thompson" isn't the only fake identity associated with the charity scammer / GOP donor who was indicted last week in Ohio. Thompson -- whose true identity is unknown -- also made up a dozen fake names, then allegedly took out money orders in those names so he could make donations to political candidates.
According to the Ohio attorney general's office, Thompson wrote at least 11 money orders using the names of people who apparently don't exist, along with addresses associated with his fake charity, U.S. Navy Veterans Association. He used the fake names to give $376 to Florida attorney general Bill McCollum in 2006, $2,260 to Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign in 2008 and $500 to Marty Seifert, a former Minnesota state house representative who unsuccessfully ran for governor this year.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Bill McCollum, Bobby Thompson, George Bush, John Boehner, John McCain, Ken Cuccinelli, Michelle Bachmann, NRSC, Rudy Giuliani, U.S. Navy Veterans Association
Office of Congressional Ethics
Office Of Congressional Ethics Not Making Friends On Hill
Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
If you need a friend in Washington, get a dog, the saying goes. Well, the Office of Congressional Ethics could be headed for the pound.
Both Republicans and Democrats are unhappy with the OCE, and no matter what side of the aisle wins in November, the office will likely be neutered or forced the close its doors, the National Journal reports.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Office of Congressional Ethics
PACs
WaPo: Boehner's PAC Spending Money To Fund Luxury Trips
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
Fancy meals. Trips to luxury resorts. These are among the purchases -- classified as "necessary to raise money" -- that House Minority Leader John Boehner's PAC has spent the bulk of its money on in this election cycle, according to The Washington Post.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: Campaign Donations, Campaign Finance, John Boehner, PACs, Republicans
Ethics
New House Ethics Paradigm: Leadership Must Rat Out Members
Former Rep. Mark Foley, Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), and former Rep. Eric Massa
After learning that Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) had an affair with a staffer, two House Republican leaders felt compelled to inform the ethics committee of the matter. Why?
Taking that step appears to be part of a new M.O. when leadership hears about an allegation of misconduct: tell the ethics committee quickly to inoculate yourself and your party against accusations of inaction later on.
"That's the new standard: the leadership ratting out its members where there's an allegation of misconduct," Stan Brand, a former House general counsel, tells TPMmuckraker.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Dennis Hastert, Eric Massa, Ethics, Ethics Panel, John Boehner, Mark Foley, Mark Souder, Steny Hoyer
Mark Souder
Pence: I Notified Ethics Committee After Learning Of Souder Affair
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN)
Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), the No. 3 Republican in the House and an Indiana colleague of Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), informed the ethics committee that Souder was having an affair with a staffer after Souder informed him of the matter on Sunday, a Pence spokesman said today.
It's not clear why Pence went to the ethics committee about the affair.
Pence first heard about the Souder affair after a journalist approached him last Wednesday, he said at a press conference earlier today. Pence says he approached Souder on the House floor about the matter, and Souder told him about the affair.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Ethics, Ethics Panel, John Boehner, Mark Souder, Mike Pence, Sex
Health Care Reform
Angry Perriello: Boehner's Statement On Threats Was 'Outrageous' (VIDEO)
Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA)
Following the incident in which someone cut a gas line at his brother's home -- whose address had been posted online by tea partiers -- Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) says he isn't satisfied with a statement from Minority Leader John Boehner on threats against Democrats.
Boehner's statement said in part, "But, as I've said, violence and threats are unacceptable. That's not the American way. We need to take that anger and channel it into positive change."
Asked about it on CNN this morning, Perriello replied:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (10)Topics: Health Care, Health Care Reform, John Boehner, Tom Perriello
Eric Massa
Boehner Asks For Probe Of Massa Case
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
The Daily Caller reports that House Minority Leader John Boehner will offer a resolution that calls for an investigation of Democratic leaders' handling of the case of former Rep. Eric Massa.
The Caller suggests that Republicans want the ethics committee to look at how Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- whose staff was reportedly told in October that Massa lived with staffers and used sexually explicit language -- handled the Massa case.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: Eric Massa, Ethics, Ethics Panel, House Ethics Committee, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi
Tea Parties
GOP To Tea Partiers: So, Come Here Often?
RNC chairman Michael Steele
The Republican Party appears to be stepping up its efforts to capitalize on the grassroots energy of the Tea Party movement, with two of the GOP's most prominent Washington leaders announcing plans to work with the Tea Partiers. But some Tea Party activists are less than happy about the news.
Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, will meet today with a group of Tea Party leaders from around the country. And John Boehner, the House Minority Leader, will speak at a Tax Day event in April organized by the Orlando Tea Party, that group announced yesterday.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: John Boehner, Michael Steele, Michele Bachmann, Republican National Committee, Steve King, Tea Parties
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
The Obama-GOP Miranda Showdown: Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong
Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), and Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan (inset)
On close scrutiny, this week's intense debate over Miranda rights for Umar Abdulmutallab -- culminating in GOP calls for a top Obama aide to resign -- largely falls apart.
The key point of dispute -- whether four Republican leaders should have assumed that the Christmas bombing suspect had been Mirandized after a phone call from Obama aide John Brennan, in which the GOPers were told that Abdulmutallab was in FBI custody -- is moot in light of the facts of the case.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (5)Topics: FBI, John Boehner, John Brennan, Kit Bond, Miranda rights, Mitch McConnell, Obama Administration, Pete Hoekstra, Republicans, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
Top Republicans Don't Dispute They Were Told Xmas Bomber Was Held By FBI
National Security Adviser John Brennan with (clockwise from top left) Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
There's a key point in danger of being lost in all the he-said-he-said froth over what Congressional Republicans were told in the hours after the failed Christmas attack: none of the GOP leaders disputes that an Obama aide informed them that suspect Umar Abdulmutallab was being held in FBI custody.
The real dispute is over what flows from that fact. John Brennan, Obama's national security adviser, said on Meet The Press Sunday that he called four Republicans -- Sens. Mitch McConnell and Kit Bond and Reps. John Boehner and Pete Hoekstra -- the night of the attempted Christmas attack.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (6)Topics: John Boehner, John Brennan, Kit Bond, Miranda rights, Mitch McConnell, Northwest Flight 253, Obama Administration, Pete Hoekstra, Republicans, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
ACORN
ACORN Suing U.S. Over "Unconstitutional" Defunding Bill
ACORN is suing the U.S. government over a law passed recently by Congress that bars the controversial community group from receiving federal money.
In a complaint filed this morning in U.S. District Court in New York, ACORN charges that the law is unconstitutional, because it's a bill of attainder -- that is, it targets a specific individual or group for punishment.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (7)Topics: ACORN, Bill Quigley, Center for Constitutional Rights, Defund ACORN Act, Jerry Nadler, John Boehner, Mike Johanns, Peter Orszag, Tim Geithner
Charles Rangel
Hoyer: We'll Fight Resolution To Oust Rangel
Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY)
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer vowed today to block any resolution by House Republicans to forcibly remove Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
Rep. John Carter (R-TX), the Republican conference secretary, said he will introduce the resolution if Rangel does not step down this week. Republican leaders are reportedly ready to support the resolution.
"To allow Mr. Rangel to continue to serve as chairman is the same as allowing a confessed bank robber to serve as chairman of the Banking Committee during the trial," Carter said in a statement.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: Charles Rangel, John Boehner, John Carter
Health Care
Republican Leaders Rush to Defend Insurer Humana from "Gag Order"
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
As Zack noted in great detail here, the Obama administration is investigating the activities of health insurance giant Humana--a participant in Medicare Advantage that's been telling its aging consumers that the government plans to slash benefits, and urging them to tell Congress not to touch the program as it reforms the U.S. health care system.
Medicare Advantage plans are private health care plans that seniors can buy into with federal assistance in lieu of participating in traditional Medicare. Under terms the government erected when it created the system, those insurers face strict limits on how they communicate to beneficiaries--regulations that exist to protect seniors from acting under the pressures of insurers, who control their benefits. In response to a request from Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services has demanded the lobbying effort cease, and is investigating the company to determine whether it violated those rules.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)Topics: Health Care, John Boehner, Max Baucus, Mitch McConnell
ACORN
House Votes To Strip ACORN Of All Federal Funds
In the wake of a scandal in which employees were caught on tape advising people posing as a prostitute and pimp in how to break the law, the House of Representatives voted today to strip ACORN of all federal funding.
The vote was 345-75 on a measured pushed by GOP House leader John Boehner. The Senate voted earlier this week to withdraw housing and urban development funding. But the House bill would remove all federal funding.
Topics: ACORN, Eric Cantor, John Boehner, Justice Department
Charles Rangel
Boehner To Rangel: Step Down Till Ethics Probe Is Complete
Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY)
Things aren't looking good for Rep. Charlie Rangel.
Last week, we learned that the embattled New York congressman had failed to disclose $600,000 in assets, as well as tens of thousands of dollars in income, on his 2007 financial disclosure forms.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)Topics: Charles Rangel, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
In Savaging Pelosi For "Attacking" CIA, GOP Ignores Its Own Record Of Similar Attacks
We really shouldn't have to do this. As we've said before, the idea that it's some kind of outlandish and unconscionable slur to point out that the CIA -- the CIA, for chrissakes! -- can sometimes be economical with the truth is absurd on its face. But the Republican attacks on Nancy Pelosi for daring to make that claim just keep coming, so it looks like we're going to have to point this out:
Shocking as it sounds, the GOP hasn't always been so sensitive about harsh criticism of the CIA -- including leveling the charge that the CIA is being deliberately deceptive -- when it's served the party's political interest.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (10)Topics: John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Newt Gingrich, Pete Hoekstra, Torture
CIA
Boehner: Lie? The CIA? That's Crazy Talk!
House Republican Leader John Boehner says it's "hard for me imagine" that the CIA would ever mislead Congress, as Nancy Pelosi has claimed.
Watch:
Yes, we too would be shocked to learn that our nation's spy agency is ever less than entirely forthcoming.
Topics: CIA, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Torture
Voting
Conyers To Boehner: Enough With The Voter Fraud!
House Judiciary Chair John Conyers has released a statement in response to Republican leader John Boehner's various recent efforts to get the Justice Department to pay more attention to voter fraud, despite scant evidence of such fraud.
Writes Conyers:
This endless campaign to press the Department into pursuing phantom claims of 'voter fraud' must end. So-called "voter fraud" is vanishingly rare and every time this subject is given a careful look it is found to have essentially no concrete impact in our elections. Indeed, according to Justice Department data, out of almost 200 million votes cast in federal elections since October 2002, only 102 individuals have been convicted of federal voter fraud offenses. Thus, Republican agitation on this issue is both unnecessary and costly, as Department resources are needed to combat serious matters of voter suppression. Fliers distributed in Virginia this week using state letterhead to mislead Democrats and Independents about the date of the election and recent reports of violence and intimidation against citizens working to register and turnout voters are real-world problems that directly impact citizens' right to vote. It is also disconcerting to see Members of Congress criticizing career personnel of the Department for their private political activity, which intrudes deeply upon their privacy and appears to have no bearing on their job performance.PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (11)
Topics: John Boehner, John Conyers, Justice Department, Michael Mukasey, Voting, voter fraud
Voting
Boehner: DOJ Politicized ... In Favor of Dems!
At last, a high-ranking Republican has admitted what many Democrats and independent observers have maintained since the scandal over the US Attorney firings -- that, under President Bush, the Department of Justice has been inappropriately politicized.
But according to John Boehner, the House GOP leader, that politicization was actually carried out ... by Democrats.
Boehner today released a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, in which he complained about the department's decision no longer to include federal prosecutors in its teams of election observers, as it has done in previous years.
He also cited recent reports that some top officials in the department's voting-rights section had contributed to Barack Obama's campaign.
Writes Boehner:
Frankly, the real motive behind the Department's decision is undeniably suspect given that Obama partisans in key positions at the Department of Justice may well have played a pivotal role in making it.
Earlier this week, DOJ announced that it would decline a request by Boehner -- forwarded by the White House -- to intervene in a voting dispute in Ohio, on behalf of state Republicans.
Yesterday, the department released a list of the polling places to which it will send its team of observers. We'll have more on that shortly.
Boehner's full letter follows after the jump...
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (2)Topics: Barack Obama, John Boehner, Michael Mukasey, Voting, voter fraud
John Boehner
White House Wants DOJ Action On Ohio Voting Case
Looks like the White House is having trouble getting out of the habit of using the Department of Justice for political purposes.
The Washington Post reports that President Bush has asked DOJ to look into a request by House Republican leader John Boehner that would force Ohio's Secretary of State to provide local election officials with information on 200,000 newly registered voters who have mismatched registration data. That could make it possible for Republicans to issue challenges to many of these voters, perhaps forcing them to cast provisional ballots.
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Ohio Republicans, who were seeking to force the Secretary of State, Democrat Jennifer Brunner, to provide the information on mismatches to local officials, did not have standing to bring the case.
Boehner announced yesterday in a press release that he had sent a letter earlier this week to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, asking him to take action, but received no response. He then turned to the White House for help -- warning in a letter to President Bush that if no action were taken, "there is a significant risk if not a certainty, that unlawful votes will be cast and counted."
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino characterized the move as "a routine step that would be taken for any such request from a congressional leader," according to the Post.
But it's worth remembering that much of the politicization of the Department of Justice that was exposed in the U.S. Attorneys scandal centered on voting issues, and specifically on an effort by the White House and DOJ to prioritize voter fraud prosecutions despite scant evidence that such fraud was occurring.
As voting rights groups point out, the mismatches at issue in this case are often nothing more than that the name on a voter's drivers license includes a middle initial, while that on his voter registration form does not.
Jon Greenbaum of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told the Post: "This is taking the politicization of this to a new level."
We'll be watching this closely.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (93)Topics: George Bush, Jennifer Brunner, John Boehner, Michael Mukasey, U.S. Attorneys, Voting, voter fraud
Voting
What's Behind the Feds' ACORN Probe?
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 | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (9)Topics: ACORN, John Boehner, John McCain, U.S. Attorneys, Voting, voter fraud
John Boehner
Boehner: What's Good for the Goose is Good for the Gander
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 | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (1)Topics: John Boehner, Mark Foley, Tim Mahoney
Mark Foley
Ethics Inquiry into Foley Scandal Continues
The special subcommittee of the House ethics panel that's looking into the Foley scandal met again today, hearing testimony from two key witnesses.
Danielle Savoy, a former aide to Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA) -- who sponsored one of the pages who received inappropriate emails from Foley -- spoke with the panel this morning. Savoy was the first Alexander staffer the page told of the emails.
In the afternoon, Alexander's chief of staff, Royal Alexander (no relation), took the witness chair.
Also slated for appearance before the panel today: Rep. Dale E. Kildee (D-MI), a member of the page board who says he was never told of Foley's behavior.
Tomorrow, the panel is expected to hear from House Sergeant at Arms Wilson Livingood, according to CQ (sub. req.). House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), is is scheduled to appear Thursday.
New questions are being raised over the credibility of the panel's probe, however. Existing political ties -- including donations from House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), whose behavior is under investigation, to panel members -- have already cast doubt on the panel's trustworthiness.
Congressional Quarterly's Alan Ota takes a look at some of the ambitions held by GOP members of the panel -- ambitions that only Dennis Hastert has the power to fulfill:
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Dennis Hastert, John Boehner, Mark Foley
John Boehner
Boehner Flack: Who's Sure of Anything in This Crazy World?
How does Majority Leader Boehner resolve the apparent contradictions of his public statements about whether he had discussed Mark Foley's emailing problem with Speaker Hastert?
Roll Call has the answer (sub. req.):
The Washington Post late last Friday reported that Boehner said he had discussed the issue with Hastert, and Hastert had assured Boehner, “We’re taking care of it.” Boehner and his aides later contacted the Post and other media outlets, including Roll Call, to retract the comment.“That is not true,” he said after the Post’s initial report, and he contacted the Post to say he could not be sure he spoke to Hastert personally.
Kevin Madden, a spokesman for Boehner, said the comments were consistent with earlier statements in that it is Boehner’s recollection of events, but he is not absolutely certain of the conversation. “He still can’t be certain of that, but that is his recollection,” Madden said. [my emphasis]
Call it the Boehner Uncertainty Principle of Public Comment.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Dennis Hastert, John Boehner, Mark Foley
John Boehner
Boehner Hits Casino on Road Trip
More on Majority Leader John Boehner's lucky pee break.
The casino Boehner hit, the Kewadin Casino of Manistique, Michigan, is way up in Michigan's upper peninsula. A number of readers have written in to ask, with some suspicion, what Boehner was doing up there. As TPMm reader DS put it, "there's a whole lot of nothing-but-pine-trees, swamps and logging camps (and trains loaded with pulp logs on the way to a paper mill somewhere) out there."
To illustrate the point, here's a map of the upper peninsula area. The red dot is where Boehner's lucky break happened:
Earlier this afternoon, I got a call back from Rep. John Boehner's press rep Kevin Madden, who gave me the following account:
Boehner had been in a meeting with Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) in "an adjacent district" to Michigan's upper peninsula. He was on his way to another event in Wisconsin.
On the way there (and Madden digressed here to mention that even though Boehner has caught flak for being a frequent flyer on corporate jets, he does "a lot of driving"), Boehner and his companions decided to stop off the main traveling highway for a break. There were some restaurants in the area, gas stations, etc. and they saw that a casino was nearby, so they went in there to use the restroom and take a break from travel. Boehner "played the casino and had a hit" while "he was waiting for his political aide" - to get back from the john, presumably.
That's his story and he's sticking to it.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: John Boehner
John Boehner
Boehner Pees at Casino, Comes Back with $2,700
We got a number of emails from TPMm readers in Michigan about today's item in the Daily Muck about Majority Leader John Boehner's (R-OH) lucky break at the slots. According to Boehner's spokesman, he won this money at a "rest stop" when he stopped off to go to the bathroom - his aide told The New York Times he gambled "to pass the time at a rest area while waiting for a colleague."
But there's a problem.
There are no rest stops with gambling in them, our intrepid readers pointed out. If you want to gamble in Michigan, you either go to Detroit, where there are three casinos, or to the numerous Native American casinos throughout Northern Michigan.
So what's Boehner talking about?
Well, on his disclosure form, Boehner reported that he'd won the money in Manistique, Michigan. So I called up the Manistique City Hall and asked, if I wanted to pee and gamble in Manistique, where would I go?
Turns out, I'd only have one option: the Kewadin Casino, which is run by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. "Would you call that a rest stop?" I asked. "Well, they have bathrooms in there," replied Rebecca Weber, who works for the city of about 4,000.
So there. This is what Boehner calls a rest stop.
I left a message for Boehner's spokesman, but my call wasn't immediately returned.
Update: Apparently the above picture is of another Northern Michigan Kewadin casino. This, apparently, is what the one in Manistique looks like - more modest, but still a remarkable rest stop. Thanks to reader MT.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: John Boehner
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