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Mary Landrieu

CREW Files Complaint Over Landrieu Camp's 'Mysterious' $25K Donation

Zachary Roth | November 20, 2009, 11:04AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed its complaint with the FEC over that mysterious $25,300 donation made to the US Treasury by Sen. Mary Landrieu's campaign -- framing the issue as one of transparency.

The Landrieu camp continues to refuse to reveal the reason for the donation, citing the need to protect the privacy of the original contributors. That's prompted CREW to suggest that the campaign may have feared a federal probe into the source of the money.

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Topics: CREW, Campaign Contributions, Campaign Finance, FEC, Mary Landrieu

Mary Landrieu

Landrieu Camp Mum On $25K "Donation" To U.S.

Zachary Roth | November 16, 2009, 10:10AM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)

So here's an intriguing mystery...

Why did Sen. Mary Landrieu's campaign last year donate $25,300 to the U.S. Treasury Department? The donation was buried in the campaign's lengthy FEC report, from which it was picked out by CREW, the tireless good-government watchdog.

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Topics: CREW, Mary Landrieu, Senate Ethics Committee, Treasury Department

Media

Newsweek And Oil Lobby Team Up To Host Climate Change Event With Lawmakers

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2009, 11:29AM

Jack Gerard, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute

Newsweek magazine is teaming up with an oil-industry lobbying group to host an event on climate-change and energy issues involving lawmakers, just as the Senate gets set to take up legislation on the subject.

The panel discussion, entitled "Climate and Energy Policy: Moving?," will feature Jack Gerard, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, and, as moderator, Newsweek columnist Howard Fineman, according to an email invitation sent by a Newsweek business staffer and obtained by TPMmuckraker.

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Topics: American Petroleum Institute, Astroturf, Jack Gerard, Mary Landrieu, Media, Oil

Mary Landrieu

Landrieu Responds to CREW Complaint, Post Story

Paul Kiel | January 9, 2008, 6:39PM

Yesterday, the D.C. watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a criminal complaint against Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), calling for an investigation of whether she'd been bribed to deliver a $2 million earmark. The basic facts, as laid out in a December 20th Washington Post piece, I said, "weren't pretty."

Well, late yesterday, Landrieu's office finally, after having remained silent for nearly three weeks, responded, providing a number of facts that substantially changed the story.

The story had been that Randy Best, the longtime Bush supporter who founded Voyager, had struggled to find a senator willing to give his company, the Voyager literacy program, funding for the Washington, D.C schools. In the fall of 2001, he finally landed an interview with Landrieu. Shortly after that, someone from Landrieu's office contacted him to see if he might host a fundraiser. He said yes, ultimately delivering $30,000 to Landrieu's campaign (despite his Republican ties) through Voyager executives; four days after that, he landed his earmark, which provided $2 million to the D.C. schools for use on Voyager... even though the schools hadn't asked for it. As far as things on the Hill go, it seemed like a pretty tidy quid pro quo.

But yesterday Landrieu's office provided a letter showing that, in April of 2001, Paul Vance, the superintendent of the D.C. public schools, had written Landrieu, then the ranking member on the D.C appropriations subcommittee, and Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH), then the chair, to ask for funds for Voyager. And they produced another showing that three weeks later, on May 15, 2001, Landrieu wrote to DeWine to request $3.5 million for the program's use in D.C.

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Topics: Mary Landrieu

Mary Landrieu

CREW Calls for Criminal Investigation of Dem Senator

Paul Kiel | January 8, 2008, 12:20PM

You might say there's an art, a finesse to earmarking. And Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-LA) $2 million earmark in 2001 to the Voyager literacy program was bad art.

The Washington Post laid it all out in a big piece late last year: four days after getting a heap of campaign contributions from Voyager executives and relatives, Landrieu delivered the earmark, which provided the money to city school officials in Washington, D.C. on the condition that it be used on Voyager.

Now the D.C. watchdog Citizens for Responsibility for Ethics in Washington says the feds should investigate whether Landrieu was bribed. The group filed complaints today with the Justice Department, two U.S. attorneys offices, and the Senate Ethics Committee based on the earmark.

The basic facts aren't pretty. Voyager's founder Randy Best is a Texan and Bush supporter (he signed up to be a Bush Pioneer in 2000, but apparently didn't raise enough money to qualify). He only approached Landrieu in 2001 after striking out on the Republican side of the aisle; when he hired a second lobbyist for help, they approached Landrieu. After an apparently positive meeting between Best and Landrieu, someone from her office approached Best to see if he would host a fundraiser for her. Voyager executives and relatives delivered $30,000 in contributions for Landrieu, and "most had never before given to a Democrat running for Congress." Four days later, Landrieu followed through for Voyager. Over the years, Voyager execs and relatives gave her almost $80,000.