Texas: February 2012 | TPMMuckraker

About | Subscribe | RSS

TPMMuckraker
Texas: February 2012

Feds Accuse Texas Doctor Of Largest Medicare Fraud In US History

Nick R. Martin | February 28, 2012, 1:39PM

A Texas doctor was accused Tuesday in the largest Medicare fraud case in US history, with federal prosecutors charging him with scamming the government with $375 million in phony billings.

PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)
Topics: Fraud, Justice Department, Medicare, Medicare Fraud, Texas

Texas Rep. Gets Defense Of His State's Voter ID Law Wrong

Ryan J. Reilly | February 28, 2012, 1:00PM

Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) offered an impassioned defense of his state's voter photo ID law during an appropriations hearing featuring Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday. But he didn't get the details quite right.

In the middle of Culberson's questioning of Holder during an Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the Justice Department's budget request, Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) asked Culberson whether photo IDs issued by state universities could be used at the polls under the Texas law.

"I.... I don't know why it wouldn't, I don't see any prohibition against it, I read it, I don't see it," Culberson said. "I've read it and I don't see any prohibition against a photo ID issued by a state university in Texas."

PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)
Topics: Eric Holder, John Culberson, Texas, Voter Identification, voter fraud

Allen Stanford

Allen Stanford's Defense Team Says It Got Stiffed Out Of $1.9 Million

Nick R. Martin | February 27, 2012, 6:04AM

Disgraced financier Allen Stanford's alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme is said to have ruined the livelihoods of thousands of victims. Now it could result in a seven-figure loss for one more party: his own defense team.

PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)
Topics: Allen Stanford, Edith Jones, Federal Court, Financial Fraud, Ponzi Scheme, Stanford Financial Group, Supreme Court, Texas

Paul Clement

Why South Carolina's Voter ID Suit Could Be Bound For The Supreme Court

Ryan J. Reilly | February 8, 2012, 6:05AM

Paul Clement is the former Solicitor General of the United States and the guy conservatives go to when there's a Supreme Court case on the line.

So it's not surprising that it was Clement's signature that ended up on the complaint filed on behalf of the state of South Carolina this week, in a suit against Attorney General Eric Holder over DOJ's decision to block the state's voter ID law because of the disparate impact the state's numbers show it will have on minority voters.

It's a suit that supporters hope will not only enshrine South Carolina's voter ID requirement as the unquestioned law of the state, but that will also do away with federal restrictions placed on states like South Carolina because of their clear history of racial discrimination.