A lawsuit was filed Thursday by a Texas businessman who claims he was forced to funnel $75,000 in secret payments to Sen. Norm Coleman's (R-MN) wife, Laurie Coleman. The businessman, Paul McKim, filed suit against ardent Coleman supporter Nasser Kazeminy, who owns nearly half of McKim's oil-rig company. Sen. Coleman is in a tight race for re-election with Al Franken. (Politico)

It was all trick and no treat for embattled Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons (R), who issued an official statement yesterday that he would be hosting Sarah Palins' parents at the governor's mansion for Halloween. The scandal ridden Gibbons has thus far been snubbed by the McCain campain -- a trend that looks to be continuing. Unfortunately for Gibbons, the McCain campaign denied that Palins' parents would be attending. (Las Vegas Sun)

Newly filed court documents give details of former VECO CEO Bill Allen's first interview with the FBI in August, 2006. The documents show that Allen gave favors to two former state reps. and a state sen. who may or may not be under investigation. Allen, who was the linchpin in Sen. Ted Stevens' (R-AK) conviction, however, said that Rep. Don Young (R-AK) could not be bought. (Anchorage Daily News)

Read more »

Some stuff their bras with tissues, but for Massachusetts State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, it was hundred dollar bills. The scandal surrounding the Democratic lawmaker who was arrested and charged Tuesday with accepting $23,500 in bribes, has now expanded to include three Boston City Council members, the state senate president and several state liquor board officials. (ABC News)

Count one in the win column. Despite being a convicted felon, Sen. Ted Stevens will be allowed to vote in the election on Tuesday. (The Hill)

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) disputed the claims leveled by the Chicago Tribune yesterday, that he had received a loan of $200,000 from a real estate contractor, then urged the Chicago mayor to allow that developer to convert the Chicago West Side into a residential and commercial zone. Gutierrez called the transaction "fully disclosed and transparent" and stated that his role in the re-zoning was minimal. (Chicago Tribune)

Read more »

Another day, another land deal. In the late 1990s, John McCain tried to get the U.S. Forest Service to exchange part of the Tonto National Forest for land partly owned by a billionaire McCain contributor connected to Charles Keating. McCain was spurred to action by a developer, who wanted to turn the 2,154-acre Spur Cross Ranch -- desert home to Hopi Indian artifacts and special cacti -- into a golf course. (McClatchy)

Little -- if anything -- is known about a mysterious GOP donor, Shi Sheng Hao, who has given over a quarter million dollars to John McCain's campaign and the RNC. Hao's residence, occupation and current whereabouts are all unknown. But here's what we do know: he declared bankruptcy in 1995, registered to vote after his massive donations began, doesn't live at any of his listed addresses, and eight associates and relatives of Hao have given $130,000 to the RNC since last year. Curiouser and curiouser. . . (Chicago Tribune)

A military judge yesterday threw out the confession of Mohammed Jawad, a young Afghani accused of wounding two U.S. soldiers and their interpreter, saying it was obtained through torture. Jawad's case is already shaky, and prompted the resignation of a military prosecutor last month. (Reuters)

Read more »

Former Osama bin Laden aide Ali Hamza al-Bahlul and his U.S. military lawyer threw a wrench in the works of the Guantanamo Bay military trial, staying silent yesterday as the Pentagon's war crimes case opened. Al-Bahlul, who has described the trial as a "legal farce," had asked to represent himself. (AP)

Judges ruled against Georgia's Secretary of State in a voting rights dispute yesterday, determining that she should have received Justice Department approval before implementing a new voter verification system. The decision put a temporary hold on the purging of Georgia voter databases, ruling that election officials must accept ballots from people whose citizenship has been questioned. The eligibility of individual votes will be determined after the election. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Kwame Kilpatrick, the ex-mayor of Detroit, heads to prison today to begin serving his 120-day sentence for lying during a trial that investigated his firing and hiring practices. For $115 per day, Kilpatrick gets a 15-by-10-foot cell with an hour out for recreation. (Detroit Free Press)

Read more »

More earmark trouble for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). Stevens, who is awaiting a verdict in his federal corruption trial, pushed $2.7 million in federal money to Alaska to pave a road that leads to his friend Bob Persons' bistro. Persons has deep ties with Stevens - he not only looked over the reconstruction of Stevens' Girdwood home but also appears in Stevens' indictment as "Person A" and testified as a witness for the defense. (AP/Anchorage Daily News)

Embattled Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL) dropped out of a debate Friday night and may be avoiding public appearances in general leading up to election day. Mahoney, who was preceded by former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) is accused of having at least two affairs with seedy circumstances. (Palm Beach Daily News)

Sarah Palin has apparently returned a third of the clothing bought for her at high-end stores by the RNC. A McCain strategist said that the clothes were returned immediately due to size issues. (AP)

Read more »

Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) may be in some trouble with the age-old bipartisan House Franking Commission. The commission, which oversees congressional mailing standards, is investigating whether Roskam violated franking rules by sending out official mail within 90 days of an election. (Roll Call)

Lawyers for six Bosnian detainees at Guantanamo are battling it out with the Justice Department in front of a federal judge over who can be considered an enemy combatant. Once given the enemy combatant label, detainees can be held indefinitely without charges. The judge overseeing the case said Thursday that the debate "should have been resolved a long time ago." (AP/Boston Globe)

Despite a bumpy start, it was all smiles after day two of jury deliberations in the federal corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) according to the judge overseeing the case. After a dramatic second day, the jurors left just before 4 p.m. after coming together to announce that they were "unanimous in requesting a break." (Roll Call)

Read more »

Though war crimes charges against five Guantanamo Bay prisoners were dismissed Tuesday, Mohamed Jawad, the detainee whose case prompted the resignation of a military prosecutor last month, is still being held. The former prosecutor, Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, has accused the government of withholding evidence from the defense that might clear Jawad, who was picked up in Afghanistan as a teenager. (ProPublica/Salon)

The Justice Department has declined to pursue the prosecution of two former Interior Department officials accused of corruption, citing inadequate evidence. In a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, John Conyers (D-MI), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, expressed suggested the decision was motivated by a desire to "run out the clock on the many controversies surrounding this administration." (Washington Post/Press Release)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture inadequately handles discrimination cases, according to a government report out yesterday. The study, issued by the Government Accountability Office, pointed to inaccurate data and a large backlog of complaints, and suggested the creation of an oversight board for the agency. (Washington Post)

Read more »

Last month, Army Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld quit his post as Guantanamo prosecutor, saying that the military was not sharing exculpatory evidence with the defense. Yesterday, the Pentagon dropped war-crimes charges against five of the detainees being tried by Vandeveld, saying it would appoint a new team to review the cases. (AP)

An internal United Nations report has found five more instances of corruption, fraud, or mismanagement related to the way the organization awards contracts. This adds $20 million to the group's misused funds, with eight cases still under investigation. (Washington Post)

The FBI arrested a former Chicago police commander, Jon Burge, yesterday on charges of false testimony and obstruction of justice in a 2003 trial meant to determine whether he and others in the department had tortured suspects. In 2007, the Chicago Police Department paid out nearly $20 million in settlements to men who had been sentenced to death, but were freed after they said the department had used torture and prompted false confessions. (Chicago Sun Times)

Read more »

The NSA will investigate reports that intelligence operators recorded calls from American journalists, military personnel, and humanitarian workers based in the Middle East, the agency said yesterday. The whistleblowers have said they confided their worries to superiors, but Mike McConnell, the director of National Intelligence, said yesterday that the NSA did not know about the problems until an ABC News investigation was published last week. Among the claims are allegations that NSA operators listened in on phone sex and then passed around the details. (ABC News)

A U.S. Court of appeals yesterday ruled 2-1 against the immediate release of 17 Uighur Muslims who are being held in Guantanamo despite being declared good for release more than three years ago. A U.S. court had ordered their immediate release earlier this month, despite objections by the Justice Department that the men posed a security threat to the U.S. but could not be returned to China, their home, because they might be tortured. The judges' decisions broke down along party lines, with two Bush appointees siding with the Justice Department. (AP)

American International Group, the insurance firm that has received more than $122 billion in federal funds this fall, announced yesterday that it will halt its lobbying activities. The move is the latest effort to appease critics, who have faulted the company for its lavish retreats and held it up as an example of Wall Street greed and corruption. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that AIG was spending millions of dollars to prevent tougher regulation of the mortgage market. (Wall Street Journal)

Read more »

The questions surrounding Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, already the subject of an FBI probe, now extend to his wife, Patti Blagojevich, whose real estate dealings some say could represent the kind of quid pro quo politics that has brought her husband scrutiny in the past. Patti Blagojevich's firm, River Realty, received $100,000 in commissions from a developer, whose family's company witnessed a spike in state payments after Blagojevich was elected governor. The reports surfaced in the course of the FBI's investigation of Tony Rezko, an Illinois fundraiser connected to the governor and convicted in June of fraud. (Chicago Sun Times)

The House Ethics Committee is considering an investigation of Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL), whose affairs with two women--both connected to his congressional work--became public last week. Mahoney inherited his Florida district from Republican Mark Foley, whose political career was also felled by a sex scandal. (Press Release)

The corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) is set to close today, after lawyers wrap up examination of the man known as "Uncle Ted" to his constituents and as a "mean, miserable S.O.B." to his colleagues. Meanwhile, defense attorneys made a last ditch effort to have the case dismissed, filing another motion that claims the prosecution has mishandled evidence. (Roll Call)

Read more »

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), who chairs the House Oversight Committee, yesterday accused the International Oil Trading Company, which handles fuel delivery to the U.S. Army in Iraq, of overcharging for its services and earning its chief millions of dollars in personal profits. The company is led by Harry Sargeant, a chairman of the Florida GOP and a top McCain fundraiser. Waxman says his bids were repeatedly higher than competitors. (New York Times)

The National Journal publishes a long profile of the Washington lobbyist whose relationship with GOP presidential candidate John McCain was the subject of a controversial New York Times article last year. The woman, Vicki Iseman, blames the piece, which reported that some of McCain's aides confronted him over his closeness to Iseman, for hurting her career. Iseman and McCain have denied that they engaged in an improper relationship, with Iseman saying that she has "never even been alone with Senator McCain." (National Journal)

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, whom many regard as a rising star in the Republican party, took a trip shortly after his installation this year funded by Koch Industries, a large U.S. company with ties to the radically conservative John Birch society. The trip has prompted scrutiny from some who say it could violate ethics standards that regulate contacts between politicians and firms that do business with the state. (The Advocate)

Read more »

Those keeping a tally of Wall Street businesses facing federal investigation should add one more to the list. The bank Washington Mutual, whose failure in September represented one of the largest in financial history, is the subject of a government inquiry, federal officials confirmed Wednesday. (ABC)

An inter-departmental feud is further holding up the release of seventeen Uighur Muslims picked up in Afghanistan in 2001 and detained in Guantanamo. The U.S. refuses to return the men to China, their home, saying they may be tortured, but is equally resistant to releasing them in the U.S., as a U.S. court ordered them to do last week. The State Department, which has been looking for an alternative place to free the prisoners, says the Justice Department's legal wrangling has compromised its negotiations and forced it to cancel a meeting that had been planned to discuss resettlement. (New York Times)

Black employees of the U.S. Marshalls Service filed a civil rights suit in federal court Wednesday, alleging that the agency practiced discrimination and denied them promotions because of their race. The plaintiffs seek $300 million in lost backpay for approximately 200 persons. (AP)

Read more »

Former VECO CEO Bill Allen would often show up uninvited for impromptu sleepovers at Sen. Ted Stevens' Girdwood chalet, Stevens' daughter testified yesterday, forcing her to sleep on the couch. Allen was a key witness for the prosecution because of his involvement in the renovations to Stevens' home, which are at the center of the charges against the seven-term senator. (Anchorage Daily News)

Stevens trial appears to be nearing its end. Judge Emmet Smith announced yesterday, that closing arguments may come as soon as next Monday, with the defense resting either today or tomorrow with the likely testimony of both Catherine and Ted Stevens. (Anchorage Daily News)

It looks like it's not just prostitution that's recession proof. Under the bank-rescue plan run by the U.S. government, executive pay packages will be restricted, but could still stretch into the tens of millions of dollars with stock increases and grants. (Bloomberg)

Read more »

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) was accused earlier in his federal corruption trial of throwing his wife under the bus. ("When it comes to things in and around the teepee, the wife controls," his lawyer told the jury to explain his client's ignorance of VECO's billing.) Yesterday, lawyers wrangled over the prosecutors' demand for more of her documents. We'll hear from the lucky lady herself later in the week. (AP)

Tight races seem to attract lawsuits. The latest example comes from Washington, where two former Democratic justices have subpoenaed GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, in a suit against the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW), which spends heavily on GOP candidates. The justices, who are supporters of Democratic governor Christine Gregoire, want to prove that BIAW coordinated illegally with Rossi's campaign in planning spending on his behalf. Rossi, who lost his 2004 bid to Gregoire by 133 votes, and is in a tight re-match with her with this year, says the suit is intended to keep him off the campaign trail. Mailed ballots must be in on Friday, the same day he's been called in to testify. (AP)

A California paper has obtained documents relating to the purchase by top McCain contributor Donald R. Diamond, an Arizona businessman and D.C. lobbyist, of part of a former Army base, valued at $7.2 million, while McCain served on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Turns out Diamond shelled out $250,000 and walked away two years later with $18 million. The story follows up on an earlier New York Times report, which suggested that McCain's willingness to smooth the way for well-connected constituents didn't disappear after the Keating Five scandal. The 80-year-old Diamond explained to the Times that he wanted a return on his investment: ""I want my money back, for Christ's sake. Do you know how many cocktail parties I have to go to?""(Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Read more »

Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) really had a bad day Friday. Not only was she found to have abused her gubernatorial powers in a legislative report on the Trooper-Gate scandal, but she was also ordered by an Alaskan Superior Court judge to preserve her private emails until a lawsuit demanding the emails be made public is resolved. (Anchorage Daily News)

A Louisiana state senator pled guilty Friday to one charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Derrick Shepherd (D) gave a weepy apology for helping Gwendolyn Joseph Moyo launder $141,000 in checks. Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) who is also accused of unrelated bribery and racketeering, made an appearance in Shepherd's indictment as an unidentified co-conspirator. (AP)

Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) is taking heat for a tax payer financed trip he took to Alaska in 2004. Sununu claims he took the trip in order to attend a field hearing for the Senate Appropriations Committee, which he was not even a member of. While in Alaska, after attending the hearing, Sununu took the time to go on a fishing trip hosted by none other than Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). (Nashua Telegraph)

Read more »

Seventeen Guantanamo detainees remain trapped in a precedent-setting legal battle over war powers -- imprisoned by mistake and ordered released, but not yet free to go. The Bush administration appealed this week's ruling that it cannot hold the men any longer, and while the lawyers work out the details, the men will languish in prison a little longer. The men, Uighur Muslims from a restive region in the far west of China, were captured -- or possibly sold -- in Afghanistan in 2001. A judge cleared them for release in 2004, but the U.S., with its eye for irony, kept them in prison because of fears that China might torture them. (China gave assurances yesterday that it has no such intentions.) (ProPublica/AP)

It doesn't look good for the lawyers attempting to pin money laundering on two associates of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. On Wednesday, they lost a bid to replace the trial's judge. The judge had indicated in August that he thought the prosecution had no case, reasoning that, like a corner store, the money laundering law accepted only cash, not checks. (Austin-American Statesman)

The stakes are high in this election, and a Washington watchdog group wants to know how good a gambler McCain is. McCain hasn't reported his winnings on federal disclosure forms, which the organization, Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility, claims merits a Senate ethics inquiry. The McCain campaign says no dice. (Politico)

Read more »

The prosecution has rested in the federal corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), just thirteen days and infinite calls for a mistrial later. The last day for the prosecution brought emails from a neighbor of Stevens about the work at Stevens' Girdwood home, an attempt to show that Stevens was more involved with the work than he previously has claimed. But the prosecution didn't go out on a high note. In yet another motion for a mistrial launched by the defense, the judge threw out key evidence from the prosecution, though he did say the trial would continue. (AP)

Washington treated Wall Street to more tongue lashings yesterday with no less a person than President Bush scolding AIG for its $440, 000 spree at the St. Regis resort. (All this through a spokesperson of course.) The insurance firm tried to fend off critics, saying that the binge was long planned and promising to re-evaluate its spending "in light of the new circumstances in which we are all operating." Good thing too, because there was another party planned for independent brokers at the Ritz Carlton next week. Meanwhile, the federal government decided the failing insurance business could use another $37.8 billion. (AP/Bloomberg)

Alaska could call in the IRS to see if Sarah Palin owes the state back-taxes on per diem payments she used to cover the cost of commuting from Juneau, the governor's official residence, to Anchorage, where her home town of Wasilla is located. The state sets aside an allowance to reimburse officials for work-related travel, but the rules change if it seems like the person has made their home elsewhere. (Anchorage Daily News)

Read more »

The easily de-railable federal corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) was thrown off course briefly yet again -- this time by questionable head movements. Judge Emmet Sullivan chastised the personal attorney of former VECO CEO Bill Allen for allegedly signaling to his client by making "nodding" motions at Allen to tell him to answer a question either with a yes or no while he was testifying. The government, Allen, and the attorney in question denied that any "nodding" -- or as Judge Sullivan called it "borderline obstruction of justice" -- was taking place. (Roll Call)

Your company's so close to the red that it receives an $85 billion bailout and what do you do to recoup? Go to the spa, of course. Shortly after the Fed gave the go ahead to rescue American International Group, company executives beat it to the swanky St. Regis resort, spending nearly half a million dollars -- and $23,000 at the spa alone. In the words of an incredulous Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD): "They spent another $10,000 dollars for -- I don't know what this is, leisure dining. Bars?" (The Gavel)

Seventeen Guantanamo detainees were ordered to be set free yesterday, a mere four years after a judge first declared them safe for release. The U.S. had said it could not return the Uighur Muslim prisoners to China because they might be tortured. The detainees will be released in the U.S., into the care of supporters. (New York Times)

Read more »

The Federal Communications Commission has initiated an investigation into the possibility that media networks and military analysts broke identification sponsorship rules to present a rosier picture of the Iraq war. A New York Times article last April showed that media military commentators were frequently fed information in private meetings with top White House and Pentagon officials. Two democratic congressmen sent letters to the F.C.C. requesting a probe last spring. (Wall Street Journal)

The Securities and Exchange Commission may have unfairly conducted an insider trading investigation, according to a federal report. During the investigation of the hedge fund Pequot Capital Management, an S.E.C. lawyer was axed after he tried to interview a top executive connected to the case. The report recommends disciplinary action against the commission's director of enforcement and two supervisors. The S.E.C.'s record is already under fire from critics who say it lapsed in its oversight role, leading to the current Wall Street collapse. (New York Times)

Democrats have joined the chorus of critics of new F.B.I. rules governing when the agency can lay the groundwork for an investigation. Under the new regulations, scheduled to go into effect Dec. 1, agents do not need supervisor approval or evidence of a crime to launch an assessment. Watchdog groups have said that the new rules would also permit widespread racial profiling. Democrats, including House Judiciary Chair John Conyers (D-MI) have asked that implementation be delayed to allow the new administration to evaluate them. (UPI)

Read more »

The Alaska Supreme Court will hear the case brought by Republican legislators and the state attorney general against the legislature's inquiry into Sarah Palin's firing of Walt Monegan, the former state police chief. The suit, dismissed by the Superior Court last week, argues that the Trooper-Gate investigation has become overly politicized. The legislature's investigation, launched in July in a unanimous, bipartisan vote, is scheduled to release its report at the end of this week. (Bloomburg)

Attorney General Michael Mukasey released new rules to regulate FBI investigations, drawing fire from a civil liberties group that says that the changes will allow racial profiling to become part of policy. Under the new regulations, preliminary investigations can begin with far less evidence up front, and include a person's race or ethnicity as part of the considerations. The original standards are a legacy of the 1970s, when the government spied on figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr. (Press Release)

The French case known as "Angolagate" begins today, with 42 people facing charges of $790 million in arms trafficking during Angola's civil war. Among the accused are the son of former president Francois Mitterand and a former interior minister. Half a million people died in Angola's domestic conflict. (AFP)

Read more »

A case once heralded by the Bush admistration as a blow against terrorism, was overturned yesterday when a federal panel ruled that the two men convicted of conspiracy to support Al Qaeda had been denied the right to a fair trial. The judge said that some of the evidence introduced by prosecutors, such as testimony about bombings unrelated to the two defendants, had unfairly influenced the jury. A new judge will hear the retrial. (New York Times)

The Bush administration must share White House logs that could shed light on visits by Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist convicted on corruption charges in September. The Secret Service had asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, saying that knowing what prompts background checks could promote criminal activity. A federal judge ruled this week that the records must be released within 20 days. (AP)

A watchdog group filed a complaint with the IRS yesterday against seven churches whose pastors had used the pulpit to promote particular presidential candidates. The move gets the ball rolling on a case meant to examine the separation of church and state. Last Sunday's endorsements were a deliberate attempt by the pastors to challenge a 1954 rule that forbids tax-exempt non-profit groups from campaigning. (LA Times)

Read more »

Close ties between American International Group and D.C. politicians may have been a factor in the company's bailout reports The Washington Post. Since 1998, AIG has spent more than $72 million on lobbying and contributed more than $25 million to campaigns. The insurance company received $85 billion from the federal government last month. Federal intervention to save AIG, but not other firms like Lehman Brothers, has raised some eyebrows. (Washington Post)

The FBI has forbidden two counterterrorism agents from participating in a PBS documentary that planned to examine allegations that the CIA pressured the FBI to hide information during the 2004 Justice Department's investigation of the FBI's handling of 9/11 information gathering. The documentary, which will discuss intelligence agency rivalries in the pre-9/11 period, is scheduled to air in January. (CQ)

More than 15,000 pages of documents related to the scientist suspected of masterminding 2001 anthrax attacks are still secret, held by the FBI because the investigation is ongoing. In August, federal prosecutors began their case against Bruce Ivins, who had worked at a U.S. Army biological research center. The case has faced criticism for failing to present conclusive evidence. (McClatchy)

Read more »