South Carolina

SC County GOP: If You've Had Pre-Marital Sex, You Can't Be A Republican

Jillian Rayfield | March 5, 2012, 2:04PM

Before you can join the Laurens County Republican Party in South Carolina and get on the primary ballot, they ask that you pledge that you've never ever had pre-marital sex -- and that you will never ever look at porn again.

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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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Arizona

Tougher Than Wisconsin: Arizona Republicans Launch 'All Out Assault' On Public Unions

Nick R. Martin | January 31, 2012, 5:13PM

The Arizona State House of Representatives in Phoenix, AZ

With a sweeping series of bills introduced Monday night in the state Senate, Republicans in Arizona hoped to make Wisconsin's battle against public unions last year look like a lightweight sparring match.

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Mitt Romney

Tax Questions Tripped Up Romney's Run For Governor

Nick R. Martin | January 24, 2012, 2:16PM

Presidential Candidate And Former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA)

It may be a touch of deja vu that Mitt Romney's campaign is being weighed down by questions about his taxes. A similar issue tripped him up during his 2002 run for governor of Massachusetts.

Romney was the Republican gubernatorial frontrunner that year when state elections officials investigated the fact that he received a major tax break on his $3.8 million mansion in Park City, Utah.

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RetireSafe

Seniors Group With Republican Ties Honors Republicans For Protecting Seniors

Jillian Rayfield | December 3, 2011, 10:44AM

A seniors group that claims to be grassroots but has ties to Republicans and members of the pharmaceutical industry has been handing out awards to vulnerable Republicans for standing up for senior citizens.

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Republicans

VA GOP Condemns Picture of Obama As Zombie Shot In The Head

Jillian Rayfield | November 1, 2011, 10:33AM

The Virginia Republican Party has condemned an e-mail sent out by the Loudon County Republican Committee picturing a zombie version of President Obama with a gunshot in his head.

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New Jersey

GOPer Apologizes For Saying A Woman Should Be 'A Whore' In the Bedroom

Jillian Rayfield | October 21, 2011, 12:31PM

New Jersey Senate candidate Phil Mitsch is sorry for saying that women should be "a lady in the living room and a whore in the bedroom" -- but he's still not backing out of the race.

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Rick Perry

DOJ: Rick Perry's Texas Congressional Redistricting Map Violates Voting Rights Act

Ryan J. Reilly | September 19, 2011, 2:57PM

Texas Governor and Presidential Candidate Rick Perry (R)

Updated: September 19, 2011, 4:27PM

The Justice Department said Monday that Texas' state House and congressional redistricting plans didn't comply with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), indicating they thought the maps approved by Gov. Rick Perry (R) gave too little voting power to the growing Latino population in the state.

Officials with DOJ's Civil Rights Division said the proposed redistricting plan for the State Board of Education (SBOE) and the state Senate complied with the Voting Rights Act, but indicated they had concerns with the state House plan and the plan for congressional redistricting.

The federal government "[denied] that the proposed Congressional plan, as compared with the benchmark, maintains or increases the ability of minority voters to elect their candidate of choice in each district protected by Section 5," DOJ lawyers write in a filing. "Defendants deny that the proposed Congressional plan complies with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act."

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Orange County

Orange Co. GOPer Says Obama-As-Chimp Pic Was Just A Joke Meant For Friends

Jillian Rayfield | April 18, 2011, 10:36AM

Orange County Republican party official Marilyn Davenport has sort-of apologized for sending out a racist picture of President Obama depicting him as a chimp being held by his chimp parents: "I'm sorry if my email offended anyone. I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth."

She added: "Again, for those select few who might be truly offended by viewing a copy of an email I sent to a select list of friends and acquaintances, unlike the liberal left when they do the same, I offer my sincere apologies to you--the email was not meant for you."

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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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Ethics

Mystery Surrounding House Ethics Committee Attorneys Continues

Susan Crabtree | March 1, 2011, 12:38PM

The House Ethics Committee attorneys accused of bungling the case against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) three months ago were still on the House payroll as of Jan. 31, as TPM reported late last week, and there are new questions about how they are managing to stick around.

House Ethics Committee rules clearly require the panel to approve all staffers at the beginning of each Congress.

"All staff members shall be appointed by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the Committee," the rules state.

The vote shall occur at the first Committee of each Congress, according to the rules, and "as necessary" during the Congress.

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Imtiaz Insanally

NY Man Charged With Putting Fake Addresses On Election Petition

Eric Lach | February 8, 2011, 5:21PM

Imtiaz Insanally

Election fraud alert!

An employee of the Nassau County Board of Elections has been accused of writing eight fake addresses on campaign forms in 2009, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice's office announced Tuesday. Imtiaz Insanally, 27, of Valley Stream, is alleged to have used the fake addresses on a petition to add Republican Christian Browne to the ballot on the Tax Revolt Party line. Browne was running for County Legislator in the Fifth Legislative District.

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New Black Panthers

Poll Watcher To New Black Panther Party Videographer: 'Don't F**k Up The Story' (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 28, 2011, 11:10AM

Stephen Robert Morse was a freelance journalist and videographer working as a poll watcher for the local Republican Party in Philadelphia in 2008 when he got the call of his lifetime.

Members of the New Black Panther Party, he was told, were standing outside a polling place in an overwhelmingly African-American section of the city.

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Anthony Miller

Local Arizona GOPer Resigns: 'I Don't Want To Take A Bullet'

Eric Lach | January 12, 2011, 12:40PM

Anthony Miller

An Arizona Republican Party District Chairman resigned shortly after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and 18 others on Saturday. According to The Arizona Republic, Anthony Miller had been subject to verbal attacks and internet postings by apparent Tea Party members, and said he feared for his safety.

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Republicans

Old DeLay Hands Still Part Of GOP Leadership Under Boehner

Rachel Slajda | January 4, 2011, 8:37AM

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.

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House Judiciary

Rove Protege Tim Griffin Now On Judiciary Committee

Ryan J. Reilly | January 3, 2011, 1:45PM

A few years ago, Tim Griffin was a key figure in of the biggest scandals in the Bush administration. Democrats said -- and the Justice Department Inspector General later concluded -- that the Bush White House and Justice Department pushed out U.S. Attorney H.E. "Bud" Cummins III to give Griffin, a former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove, a plum spot as interim U.S. attorney that would pad his resume.

Now Griffin, who was elected to Congress from Arkansas in November, has been named by House Republicans to be a member of the House Judiciary Committee -- the very same committee which took a close look at his own role in the scandal that ultimately lead to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

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Republicans

House GOP Crushes Bill That Would Protect Against Child Marriage

Rachel Slajda | December 20, 2010, 8:55AM

Eric Cantor (R-VA) and John Boehner (R-OH)

On Thursday night, hours before passing the tax cut compromise, House Republicans thwarted a bill that aimed to protect girls around the world from being coerced into child marriage. They opposed it because, they claimed, it might fund abortions.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), was blindsided. After the Child Marriage Protection Act passed the Senate with zero objection on Dec. 1 -- a rare feat these days -- it didn't seem like there was much to worry about.

But just before the vote began, Republican leadership blasted out a "whip alert" to GOP staffers with a message: Vote no. The alert claimed the bill cost too much and that a competing bill, introduced just the day before, would be better.

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Guantanamo

Senate Aims To Follow House In Blocking Gitmo Detainees Transfer

Rachel Slajda | December 15, 2010, 10:12AM

Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay

Following in the House's footsteps, the Senate is trying to block the Obama administration from bringing any Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States, even for trial.

The Senate Appropriations Committee released the text of a 2,000-page omnibus spending bill yesterday, a bill that would fund the government through next September. Like the House's spending bill, the Senate's includes a provision that would ban any funds from being used for the transfer of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or any other Guantanamo Bay detainees to the U.S.

As TPM reported Monday, the House bill was written solely by Democrats -- meaning Democrats put the detainee transfer ban in. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote to the Senate's majority and minority leaders after that vote, pleading with them to keep such a provision out of the Senate's version.

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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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voter fraud

Illinois GOP Chair: We're Working With RNLA On 'Voter Integrity' Program

Ryan J. Reilly | October 19, 2010, 2:26PM

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady

Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady told TPMMuckraker on Tuesday that the state Republican Party does not have a prominent birther on the payroll, but confirmed that his organization is working with the Republican National Lawyers Association to train volunteers on election day as part of a "voter integrity" initiative.

Brady -- who previously posted a notice on the GOP website about the "voter integrity" program that was later scrubbed -- said that the program is not unusual.

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Republican National Lawyers Association

Illinois GOP Worked With 'Birther' On 'Voter Integrity' Plan

Ryan J. Reilly | October 19, 2010, 9:45AM

The voter integrity program that has come to be associated with the campaign of GOP Senate nominee Mark Kirk was launched by the Illinois Republican Party, working with a conservative political action committee and an anti-Obama birther, Mother Jones reported.

Sharon Meroni -- who according to Mother Jones blogs under the pseudonym "Chalice Jackson" -- launched a petition demanding Obama's resignation for "high crimes and misdemeanors." Reached on Monday, Meroni wouldn't answer TPMMuckraker's questions, referring any inquiries to another representative. "My role is to recruit, and that's it," she said.

She did, however, say that the proper person to speak with was Curt Conrad, who is listed online as the Executive Director, IL Republican State Committee. Conrad didn't return a message left for him on Monday.

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RNLA

GOP Lawyers Group That Gins Up Voter Fraud Claims Hosting Training Events Across Country

Ryan J. Reilly | October 15, 2010, 2:47PM

Ed Gillespie

Election law seminars that a Republican lawyers group held in Illinois -- which happened to coincide with GOP senate candidate Mark Kirk being secretly recorded saying his campaign would be running voter integrity squads in predominately black neighborhoods of Chicago -- are actually part of a series of seminars the group is holding for Republican lawyers in several states around the country

According to the Republican National Lawyers Association's Facebook page, they have held events in Illinois, Nevada, Wisconsin, California, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Florida. Earlier this month, the Washington D.C. Chapter held a lunch with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

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Charlie White

Republican Candidate In Indiana Probed For Possible Voter Fraud

Jillian Rayfield | October 6, 2010, 8:44AM

Charlie White (R), candidate for Secretary of State in Indiana.

The Republican nominee for the top job overseeing Indiana's elections has a bit of a voting problem himself.

For one thing, Republican Secretary of State nominee Charlie White moved out of Fishers, Indiana, six months before stepping down from his post on the town council there. The town attorney has ruled that White's disputed town council votes from that interim period will still stand.

But according to the Indianapolis Star, White's troubles don't end there. He is reportedly being probed for committing voter fraud because he registered to vote with his old address, and voted in the primary in his old district.

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Bryan Fischer

Searching For Bryan Fischer: One Top Social Conservative's Record Of Xenophobia

Jillian Rayfield | August 16, 2010, 8:40AM

Bryan Fischer

Top social conservative Bryan Fischer has attracted a lot of notice over the last week for his polarizing comments about Muslims. And while Fischer may be the "Director of Issues Analysis" for the conservative Christian group the American Family Association, AFA spokesman Cindy Roberts remains emphatic that his "analysis" of the "issues" is his and his alone. Roberts told TPM that Fischer's writings, many of which are featured on Fischer's AFA website blog "Focal Point," are "his personal opinion" and "not AFA's position."

But Fischer and the AFA alike, both with ties to mainstream conservative politicians, have a long and colorful history of championing social conservative causes that are often discriminatory, and in some cases, just plain bizarre.

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Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich's Second Wife Dishes Hard To Esquire: His Money Woes, His Philandering, His Meltdown

Megan Carpentier | August 11, 2010, 8:42AM

In 1999, after refusing to take the seat he won in the 1998 elections, Newt Gingrich left his second wife, Marianne, for a much-younger staffer with whom he'd been having an almost-ignored affair. As in his first marriage, he did so shortly after Marianne was diagnosed with a serious illness; as in his first divorce, he fought Marianne tooth and nail over any financial settlement. And then he had the Atlanta archdiocese inform Marianne that their marriage was invalid in the eyes of his fiancée's faith; 9 years later, he completed his conversion to Catholicism.

Given his popularity among Republicans, one would think there is little left to say about Gingrich's personal foibles that could hurt his political career. But sandwiched in between snippets from his campaign to return to popularity in yesterday's Esquire profile are tidbits from the still-supportive Marianne that portray Gingrich in a far-from-pleasant light -- and hints that his personal foibles took quite a toll on his political fortunes behind the scenes.

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Muslims

#BigotryFail: Plan To Harass Muslims With Dogs At CA Rally Collapses

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 3, 2010, 6:17PM

In the end, the people trying to stop the construction of a mosque in Temecula, California were vastly outnumbered by the crowd welcoming the growth of the Muslim community in Riverside County. Last week, we told you about the plan by some conservatives opposed to the construction of the new mosque to show up over the weekend outside the Temecula-area Muslim group's current digs to tell those inside they weren't welcome. To prove the point, the group planned to bring dogs -- which one protester characterized as pretty much the Muslims' mortal enemy, saying that Muslims "hate dogs."

Here's how it all turned out: the anti-mosque protesters were outnumbered by pro-mosque supporters, the local tea party disavowed the protest and called it hate speech, the protester we talked to dropped off the face of the earth and only one dog made it to the planned protest.

It was a fittingly unexpected end to an extraordinary tale.

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Sarah Palin

Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Mosque? TPM Rounds Up The Latest In Right-Wing Fear-Mongering

Jillian Rayfield | July 29, 2010, 8:30AM

Clockwise from top left: Former Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Rep. Peter King (R-NY), and NY Gov. candidate Carl Paladino (R). Center: A mosque.

The right-wing controversy du jour? Construction of several mosques throughout the U.S. -- perhaps most notably, a Muslim community center near Ground Zero in New York City. In many cases, the right-wing fear-mongering has fed a shrill campaign warning against Muslims inevitably using their places of worship to conspire to implant sharia law in the lives of unsuspecting Americans.

So which right-wingers are most afraid of the big bad mosques? TPM rounds up the worst offenders.

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Same sex marriage

GOP Reps Urge Countries That Criminalize Homosexuality To Oppose LGBT Rights NGO

Rachel Slajda | July 14, 2010, 2:53PM

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ)

Two Republican congressmen are urging other countries -- including, potentially, some where homosexuality is a crime punishable by death -- to vote against an American-led effort in the U.N. to recognize a respected international gay rights group.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has been trying since May 2007 to win accreditation from the United Nations, which would allow the NGO to have a voice at the international body. But the group's application for "consultative status" had been deferred by the status-granting NGO committee until early last month, when the committee voted to block its application.

Among the countries voting against the application: Egypt, Angola, Burundi, China, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia and Sudan. In all those countries but Russia and China, LGBT people can be jailed, fined, whipped or killed if they are caught by authorities.

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Sarah Palin

Palin Spent Almost $4K On Supporters' Sausages

Rachel Slajda | July 13, 2010, 10:05AM

Former GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

How do we get on this list?

Sarah Palin's political action committee spent some $3,800 in the past quarter on "gift bag items" from an Alaskan company called Indian Valley Meats, according to SarahPAC's latest FEC reports.

Indian Valley, according to its (drool-worthy) web site, sells gift boxes full of Alaskan meats: smoked salmon, caribou sausage, musk ox jerky, reindeer hot dogs, trail sticks, honey mustard sauce and more.

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Iraq War

Is Another CT Candidate Stretching Truth About His Time In War Zone?

Rachel Slajda | July 12, 2010, 5:08PM

CT gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley (R)

The Connecticut Post reports that another Connecticut political candidate -- this time Tom Foley, a Republican candidate for governor -- may be stretching the truth about his time in a war zone.

Foley lived in Baghdad's Green Zone in 2003 while working for the Coalition Provisional Authority. On his campaign web site, he describes his time there as pretty hairy.

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Jim Greer

Greer Suing Florida Republicans For $120K Severance Package

Rachel Slajda | July 8, 2010, 10:07AM

Former Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer

Former Florida GOP chair Jim Greer is, as you know, in legal hot water for allegedly using a shell company to skim money from the party -- charges to which he pleaded not guilty last week. But he's also suing the Republican Party of Florida, demanding the severance package he says was promised to him when the party ousted him in January.

Greer was pushed out in January, as the party tried to scrub its image in the wake of reports of lavish spending. Party officials negotiated a severance package with Greer. According to Greer, that agreement is a binding contract. But according to the party, the agreement was never finalized and is null and void.

The severance package offered Greer 11 months of consulting fees totaling $123,750, close to his annual salary of $130,000, plus health benefits.

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Denny Rehberg

Rehberg Files Lawsuit Blaming Firefighters For Trees Burned In Forest Fire

Megan Carpentier | July 5, 2010, 6:26PM

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT)

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), fresh off his Republican primary win, filed a lawsuit Friday against the City of Billings and the Billings Fire Department for damages sustained in a 2008 fire. Rehberg is the developer of record for the 1,000-acre subdivision that is managed by his wife.

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Arizona

Brewer Falsely Claimed Immigrants Beheaded People In Arizona (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | July 1, 2010, 6:43PM

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R)

When defending her highly criticized immigration law, Gov. Jan Brewer (R) often lists the myriad problems she says undocumented immigrants bring to her state. In an interview on Fox News last week, for example, she claimed: "We cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime and to the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings ..."

There's no better way, it seems, to make the case for strict anti-immigration laws than to claim that undocumented immigrants are pouring into the country to decapitate innocent Americans.

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Sarah Palin

State Investigator: Palin's Legal Defense Fund Was Illegal

Ben Frumin | June 24, 2010, 6:10PM

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

The legal defense fund set up for Sarah Palin when she was governor of Alaska was illegal, an investigator for the state's personnel board announced today.

Investigator Timothy Petumenos found that Palin acted in good faith in setting up the legal defense fund -- but that the fund's website improperly used the word "official," implying the then-governor's endorsement. Petumenos' report comes in response to an ethics complaint filed when Palin was governor.

Palin's lawyer said she'll return the money.

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Brent Furer

Attorney: Vitter Aide Paid His Own 'Minimal' Fees In Assault Case

Justin Elliott | June 23, 2010, 12:01PM

Senator David Vitter (R-LA)

One of the curiosities of the case of the now-former aide to Sen. David Vitter who held his girlfriend hostage during an assault in 2008, is that Brent Furer, on a $47,000-per-year salary, hired one of the top lawyers at one of Washington's fanciest law firms to represent him.

The lawyer, Thomas Kelly of Venable LLP, told TPMmuckraker this morning that the fees in the case were "minimal" -- and that Furer paid.

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David Vitter

Vitter Aide Who Assaulted Girlfriend Resigns

Justin Elliott | June 23, 2010, 10:47AM

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)

Brent Furer, the aide to Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) who allegedly cut his girlfriend with a knife during a 2008 altercation and has had other run-ins with the law, has resigned after ABC reported on his criminal record, the AP is reporting.

The AP says Vitter "accepted" Furer's resignation.

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John Ensign

Report: Staffers Tell Ethics Panel Ensign Knew He Was Breaking Lobbying Ban

Rachel Slajda | June 23, 2010, 9:47AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

The Hill reports that staffers for Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) have told the Senate Ethics Committee that their boss knew he was breaking a one-year lobbying ban when he helped a former staffer set himself up as a lobbyist.

In depositions to the committee, Ensign's staffers said several aides openly discussed helping to get lobbying gigs for former staffer Doug Hampton, after Ensign had an affair with Hampton's wife. The aides also discussed that such help apparently violated a one-year ban on Congressional staffers moving to K Street, sources close to the investigation told The Hill.

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Brent Furer

Vitter Continued To Employ Aide Who Slashed Girlfriend, Drove Drunk

Justin Elliott | June 23, 2010, 9:07AM

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)

It seems that Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) doesn't have the most discriminating standards when it comes to who he employs on his staff: ABC today tells the dark story of Vitter legislative assistant Brent Furer, who was accused in a 2008 criminal case of assaulting his girlfriend with a knife but nevertheless remains on the job at the senator's office.

Furer, who has worked on Vitter's staff since 2005, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor threat and property destruction charges after the January 2008 incident involving him and his girlfriend, Nicolia Demopoulos.

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American Crossroads

Fundraising Group Led By GOP All-Stars Falling Short Of Goals

Eric Lach | June 22, 2010, 11:10AM

Karl Rove, former Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush

American Crossroads, formed by some of the GOP's biggest names with the aim of helping the party win the 2010 midterms, launched a few months ago with an ambitious $52 million fundraising goal. So how much did the group pull in in May? A whopping $200.

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Mark Souder

Souder: Regular Prayers And Hymns Failed To Stop Affair

Justin Elliott | June 16, 2010, 10:30AM

Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN)

If only Mark Souder had listened to Dan Quayle, everything would have turned out better.

Souder, the Indiana Republican congressman who resigned last month after admitting to an affair with a staffer, is still giving interviews. In the latest, with the Christian WORLD magazine, Souder says that when he was first elected to Congress in 1994, Quayle called and advised him to move his family to Washington. Souder now regrets not taking the advice.

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