Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) used campaign funds to pay parking tickets in the Washington, D.C. area, according to campaign finance records. Although it is not illegal to use campaign funds to pay off tickets written during campaign activities, it is still not clear if all $1,540 in fines were accrued during campaigns. (Congressional Quarterly)

An FBI probe into Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL) has begun and will investigate whether the outgoing congressman is guilty of any wrongdoing for placing his then-mistress on the congressional payroll. Mahoney insists that he did nothing illegal. (ABC News)

California Attorney General Jerry Brown is suing the Bush administration in order to block midnight regulations that would curtail protections put in place by the Endangered Species Act. The new rules would, among other things, allow federal agencies to issue permits for mining and logging operations without the consultation of biologists. (Associated Press)

Read more »

The Federal Election Commission has deadlocked on a recommendation by its counsel to fine a group for illegal spending practices in the 2004 presidential election. The commission's 3 GOP members all voted against penalizing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for illegally spending money to attack Democratic Vice Presidential nominee John Edwards. Two of the Democratic members of the FEC charged in a "statement of reasons" that the decision by the GOP members undermines "the commission's prior enforcement efforts and the law itself." (Bloomberg)

Michael Bay, director of the movie "Transformers," will again team up with the Defense Department for filming of the sequel. The second "Transformers" movie will be "the biggest joint military operation movie ever made," according to Bay's liaison officer from the Army. The movie, which will feature a plethora of military vehicles, is currently being shot at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. (Wired)

The alleged fraud of Bernard Madoff will likely lead to greatly increased scrutiny of hedge funds. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) has announced a hearing to examine the alleged scheme and how it went undetected for so long. The likely result of congress' involvement, say experts, will be greater regulation for hedge fund of funds, which channel money to organizations like Madoff's and handle over 40 percent of hedge fund money. (Financial Times)

Read more »

The Washington Post chronicles yet another example of oversight of the bailout bill. Congress required that executives receive limited bonuses -- but only for those companies that receive federal money through the Toxic Asset Relief Program. Since the Treasury has shifted gears on how to use the money, the pay restrictions "are now all but gone," says Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). (Washington Post)

"The United States government has in place neither the policies and technical capacity nor the organizational structure that would be needed" to successfully rebuild Iraq, according to the draft of a lengthy government report obtained by the New York Times and ProPublica. When progress was slow, government officials invented evidence, such as inflating the number of Iraqi troops, the report finds. So far the effort has cost $117 billion and done little more than "restore what was destroyed during the invasion and the convulsive looting that followed." (New York Times/ProPublica)

The pharmaceutical company Wyeth has become the focus of an investigation by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) after it came to light that the company pays ghostwriters to author positive journal articles regarding its products. The inquiry focuses particularly on articles encouraging hormone therapy for menopausal women. (The New York Times)

Read more »

The Chicago office of Winston & Strawn has found itself the most recent addition to the list of complaints against Rod Blagojevich. Because of the lengthy ongoing federal investigation into the governor, Blagojevich's political fund is unable to foot the full legal bill; Winston & Strawn is now refusing to continue representation of their client. (WSJ)

The Portuguese foreign minister has offered his country as a place of asylum for at least some Guantanamo detainees and called on other members of the European Union to do likewise. U.S. officials have been hindered in their attempts to shut down the controversial program because of the question over where freed prisoners will go. (FT)

An investigation into misappropriation of campaign funds by a campaign staffer for Rep. Chris Shays' (R-CT) campaign is focusing on Shays' campaign manager, sources say. Accounting for the $3.6 million campaign has been incomplete, although an exact amount for missing funds has still not been finalized. Rep. Shays lost his bid for reelection in Connecticut's 4th congressional district. (Hartford Courant)

Read more »

The 2008 Republican and Democratic conventions were underwritten by hefty contributions from the institutions and individuals at the center of the country's financial crisis, according to a report released Wednesday by the Center for Responsive Politics and the Campaign Finance Institute. Insurance giant AIG, which has since received more than $150 billion in federal money, gave $1.5 million; mortgage company Freddie Mac, now a government enterprise, donated $500,000. In all, the donations come to about $14 million. (Wall Street Journal/Politico)

The Supreme Court could hold former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller responsible for abuse of Muslim and Arab detainees in the days after September 11, 2001, if Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani Muslim held in solitary confinement in Brooklyn for 6 months, wins the case he has brought against the officials. Iqbal must prove that Ashcroft and Mueller are responsible for his treatment. On Wednesday, the justices "offered no clear indication" that it would stop Ashcroft and Mueller from being named in the suitaccording to the AP. (NYTimes/AP)

Part of the proposed auto bailout plan would reinstate a tax loophole, Silo, which allows companies to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes. The I.R.S. outlawed the shelter in 2004. A version of the bill passed the House Wednesday, though its fate in the Senate remained uncertain. (New York Times)

Read more »

The House ethics committee will expand its investigation of New York Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel to include questions about his decision to support a controversial tax shelter. The loophole was supported by a company that donated $1 million to a project championed by the congressman. Rangel, the chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, already faces questions from the committee for failing to report income on a Caribbean villa and dodgy real estate dealings in New York. The latest allegations were reported by the New York Times in November. (AP)

Troubled insurance giant American International Group, the recipient of more than $150 billion in federal bailout funds, proposed "retention payments" to 38 top executives --whose salaries already range from $160,000 to $1 million -- of up to $4 million, the company confessed Friday in a letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD). AIG, the company that made headlines earlier this fall for a $443,344 trip to the St. Regis resort and a $343,000 hush-hush retreat to Arizona, has lost $37.6 billion this year, and owes more than $10 million, reports the Wall Street Journal. The government owns nearly 80 percent of the firm. (Bloomberg/Wall Street Journal)

The Minnesota Court of Appeals denied the appeal by Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) to withdraw his guilty plea in a sex sting case. Craig, who is accused of soliciting sex from an undercover officer in the bathroom of the Minneapolis airport, pleaded guilty in 2007 without consulting a lawyer. He attempted to retract the claim after his arrest became public, saying his plea had simply been meant to dispose quickly of the issue. Craig will retire from the Senate in January. (CNN)

Read more »

Embattled Rep. Don Young (R-AK) may have improperly spent $20,000 from his campaign account last quarter on a Seattle law firm, according to recent campaign filings. It is unclear whether the fees were related to the ongoing federal probe into Young or if they were for campaign-related expenses. FEC guidelines forbid candidates from using campaign funds for non-campaign related matters. Young, who is tight-lipped about the federal probe, has been under investigation by the Justice Department for over a year -- possibly related to his notorious earmarking. (Anchorage Daily News)

Sen.-elect Mark Begich (D-AK), who beat Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) in a week-long contested race in November, said he doesn't believe it is "appropriate" to send the 85-year-old Stevens to jail. Stevens, who was convicted on corruption charges in October, asked for a new trial on Friday. (AP/Roll Call)

Attorneys general will attend conferences this month funded by corporate sponsors that may have legal issues, including drug companies and tobacco firms. The financial ties "represent at least the appearance of a conflict of interest for the attorneys general, and could be improper," reports theKansas City Star. (Kansas City Star)

Read more »

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, mortgage giants whose financial collapse prompted a government takeover earlier this fall, hired a who's who of lobbyists to kill legislation that would impose more regulation. In 2006, Freddie Mac shelled out $11.7 million to lobbyists and consultants with ties to Republican lawmakers -- including former Minnesota Rep. Vin Weber and Susan Hirschmann, the former Chief of Staff to Texas Rep. Tom DeLay -- the most ferocious critics of the institutions. The organizations will be the topic of a congressional hearing tomorrow. (AP)

The government is gearing up in its case against the five Blackwater security guards charged with killing 17 Iraqi civilians in an unprovoked shooting in 2007. The guards, who face minimum 30-year prison sentences if convicted, will "surrender" in Utah, where one of them is from, in order, it appears, to have the trial take place in a gun-friendly environment. Meanwhile, the government is set to unveil the indictment today. A prosecutor in the case is also traveling to Baghdad this week to speak to people connected to the victims about the case. (AP/New York Times)

Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), who faces trial next year on 16 counts of corruption, lost his seat in a heavily Democratic district this weekend to a little-known Republican attorney Anh "Joseph" Cao, who will be the first Vietnamese American in Congress. The upset underscored "the unwritten rule that indictments kill the political careers of even the safest-seeming incumbents," reports The Hill. Jefferson achieved renown when federal investigators found nearly $100,000 in cash in his freezer, money allegedly taken from an FBI informant in a scheme to bribe a Nigerian official. (The Hill)

Read more »

Some things don't change. The Bush administration has just 46 days before its time expires, but that isn't stopping it from running roughshod over Congress in an effort to loosen environmental regulation. The Interior Department issued a new rule Thursday that prevents Congress from blocking the use of federal land for mining and drilling. The law, invoked just five times since its creation in 1976, was used this summer to place a moratorium on mining and drilling on lands near the Grand Canyon. (New York Times)

The Chicago Tribune reports on U.S. involvement in the indiscriminate roundup and imprisonment in the Horn of Africa of 100 people, including 22 women and children, who fled Somalia last year. The "snatch-and-jail operation," conducted in the name of anti-terrorism, captured some militants, but most of the detainees have been released without charge. Kenya and Ethiopia led the program, dubbed "Africa's Guantanamo," but European diplomats, human-rights groups, and detainees say the C.I.A. and F.B.I. interrogated many of the captives. (Chicago Tribune)

Arizona GOP Rep. Rick Renzi pleaded not guilty Thursday to new charges brought against him alleging that he participated in an insurance scam. He has already been indicted for using his legislative position to engineer a land swap. The new charges accuse Renzi of bilking $400,000 from clients of his insurance company. (MSNBC)

Read more »

The Texas Ethics Commission will hold a public hearing today to review the case of state Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht. Hecht, a Republican, is accused of receiving discounted rates in 2006 from the law firm Jackson Walker when he used the company to defend him before the Commission on Judicial Conduct for promoting the Harriet Miers nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court. Texas judges are forbidden from making public political endorsements. (Houston Chronicle)

Nevada Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, a Republican, was charged Wednesday with mismanaging a college savings fund when he was state treasurer." Krolicki, who has said he will challenge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2010, says the indictment is politically motivated. (USAToday)

Sixteen Indiana National Guardsmen sued defense contractor KBR Inc., a former Halliburton subsidiary, Wednesday for knowingly exposing its employees to toxic chemicals. Some of the plaintiffs now have health problems related to the exposure. This is not the first time the Houston-based company's treatment of employees has come to public attention. McClatchy reported Wednesday that a KBR subcontractor appears to be violating U.S. guidelines on human trafficking, living conditions, and pay in its treatment of 1000 Asian men it employs in Iraq. (AP)

Read more »

Birmingham mayor Larry Langford was arrested Monday on charges of steering sewer contracts to a friend while on the commission of Jefferson County, which is now near bankruptcy. The FBI handed down a 101-count indictment for the Democratic "Mayor LaLa" as well as Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount and lobbyist Al LaPierre, who both had posts in the local Democratic party, accusing the men of a "pay to play" scheme involving bribes of $12,000 watches and spa treatment. Langford, elected in March, has earned a reputation for an unorthodox approach to urban revitalization, which has included handing out a $10,000 contract to a 13-year-old girl interested in improving parks. (AP)

Trial opens at 10am today for the high-profile case that pits civil liberty groups against the Bush administration and telephone companies, who are being sued for illegally granting the government access to consumer records. Congress passed a bill in July that would give the businesses immunity, a move prosecutors say is unconstitutional. (Wired)

The indictments brought against Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales by a south Texas district attorney were dismissed yesterday on a legal technicality, with the judge ruling that "two alternate jurors had not been properly substituted." Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra, who had charges against him for extorting money from a bail bond company and using his office for personal business dismissed last month, had accused Cheney and others of prisoner abuse. The judge issued a warning to Guerra -- who will step down from his post in January -- to be more judicious in his criminal prosecutions. (AP)

Read more »

Former President Bill Clinton will disclose the names of over 200,000 donors to the William J. Clinton Foundation, which supports efforts to combat poverty, disease, and global warming, according to Democratic sources. Clinton has agreed to publicly reveal the names so that his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, will be able to serve as Secretary of State. President-Elect Barack Obama insisted on this disclosure to avoid charges of conflict of interest due to foreign donations to the foundation. (New York Times)

Despite Barack Obama's vows to avoid ties between his White House and the lobbying industry, Tom Daschle, his expected pick for Health and Human Services secretary, serves as a policy adviser for the lobbying firm, Alston & Bird, which represents interests in the health industry. Daschle has advised clients for the firm on health care issues, as the New York Times has also reported. The Obama team said Daschle's prior work would not present a conflict of interest. (Politico)

Christine Beatty, who had been accused of having an affair with Detroit's ex-mayor, pleaded guilty Monday to obstruction of justice during the investigation of their sex scandal. Beatty, who had served as chief of staff to Kwame Kilpatrick, now in jail, made a deal with prosecutors and will receive four months in prison. (AP)

Read more »