William Jefferson

Jefferson Sentenced To 13 Years For Corruption

Zachary Roth | November 13, 2009, 6:08PM

Fmr. Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA)

Former Louisiana congressman William Jefferson was sentenced this afternoon to 13 years in federal prison for his conviction on public corruption charges.

Prosecutors had asked for up to 33 years. Jefferson's lawyers argued for less than 10.

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Census Bureau

Investigators Probing Whether Sparkman Manipulated Death Scene For Insurance Scheme: Report

Zachary Roth | November 13, 2009, 2:46PM

Bill Sparkman

The probe into the death of Census Bureau worker Bill Sparkman continues -- and authorities may now be considering a whole new theory of the case.

Two law enforcement sources tell the AP that investigators are considering whether Sparkman committed suicide, but intentionally made it look like murder in order to allow his son to make a life insurance claim. Most life insurance policies don't cover suicides, at least within a certain time frame after the policy begins.

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Gerald Walpin

AmeriCorps Official Urged Colleague To Destroy Docs On Walpin Firing

Zachary Roth | November 13, 2009, 2:11PM

Gerald Walpin

An AmeriCorps official urged a colleague to "destroy" documents relating to the controversial firing of the agency's inspector general, according to emails obtained by a conservative news site. AmeriCorps says the request was made out of concern for the independence of the IG's office, after documents on the firing were mistakenly sent its way. But news of the episode is giving new life to a story the Obama administration had hoped was dead.

Yesterday, CNSNews.com, a conservative news site, published an email exchange it obtained through a FOIA request related to the firing this summer of Gerald Walpin as inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service. Walpin, backed by the conservative media, has claimed that he was dismissed for zealously pursuing an Obama ally for financial misconduct, and is now suing AmeriCorps over the firing. The administration has said concerns about Walpin's performance and temperament led to his removal.

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Burrowing

Obama Admin. Cracks Down On Burrowing -- Right Cries Foul

Zachary Roth | November 13, 2009, 12:33PM

In what may be another small dose of that precious change we can believe in, the Obama administration is taking steps to crack down on one of the Bushies' favored tactics for politicizing government: burrowing.

In the waning days of the Bush administration, we told you about some political appointees who had landed career jobs, with civil-service protections, at their departments -- allowing them to continue to exert influence under the new government, and making them difficult to remove. In fact, the Bushies were far from the first group to try this. The Washington Monthly's Charles Peters, who has chronicled the workings of the federal government since the 1960s, used to call it the "headless nail" phenomenon.

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Tea Party Express

Party Foul! Tea Partiers Eat Their Own In Bitter Internal Feud

Zachary Roth | November 12, 2009, 5:08PM

The Tea Party movement is being ripped apart by bitter internal rancor, highlighted by a lawsuit against a former leader, vituperative name-calling, and charges of financial mismanagement and corruption.

As we told you this morning, board members for the Tea Party Patriots (TPP) this week filed suit against Amy Kremer, a former TPP leader who fell out with the group over her involvement with a rival Tea Party faction, the Tea Party Express. And on Tuesday, a judge granted a preliminary injunction, ordering Kremer to return control of the TPP websites to the board, and to stop representing herself as a TPP spokeswoman.

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Joe Klein

Moderator: Klein, Kirchick 'Went At Each Other From The Get-Go'

Zachary Roth | November 12, 2009, 12:25PM

Jaime Kirchick and Joe Klein

A raging expletive-filled shouting match between Time's Joe Klein and The New Republic's Jamie Kirchick, written up by the Washington Post, has been gripping the blogosphere.

And now we've gotten a few more choice details from the man who moderated Tuesday's panel discussion on ""The Pro-Israel Lobby and the Media," at which the war of words took place.

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Amy Kremer

Former Tea Party Leader Says Ex-Comrades Are Suing Her

Zachary Roth | November 12, 2009, 11:10AM

Amy Kremer

The Tea Party movement is in danger of being ripped apart by internal rancor.

For months, the Tea Party Patriots have been embroiled in a dispute with a former leader, Amy Kremer, over her involvement with the Tea Party Express, a rival faction of Tea Partiers which the Patriots see as inauthentic and overly tied to the GOP.

And now Kremer has revealed that TPP is suing her.

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ACORN

ACORN Suing U.S. Over "Unconstitutional" Defunding Bill

Zachary Roth | November 12, 2009, 10:22AM

ACORN is suing the U.S. government over a law passed recently by Congress that bars the controversial community group from receiving federal money.

In a complaint filed this morning in U.S. District Court in New York, ACORN charges that the law is unconstitutional, because it's a bill of attainder -- that is, it targets a specific individual or group for punishment.

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Condi Rice

Rice: New Consulting Firm Will Help U.S. Companies In "Key Emerging Markets"

Zachary Roth | November 12, 2009, 8:48AM

Fmr. Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice and Fmr. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley

Condoleezza Rice responds to our report from yesterday that she's starting a strategic consulting firm with Stephen Hadley, the RiceHadley Group.

In a statement to TPMmuckraker, Rice's chief of staff, Colby Cooper, said:

Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley, along with Anja Manuel, have recently founded a small strategic advisory firm focused on helping U.S. companies doing business abroad -- especially in key emerging markets like China, India, Brazil, the Middle East and others. In addition, Dr. Rice remains on the faculty of Stanford University and the Hoover Institution.

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Condi Rice

Rice And Hadley Look Set To Launch Consulting Firm

Zachary Roth | November 11, 2009, 3:18PM

Fmr. Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice and Fmr. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley

Two top Bush administration officials whose reputations for strategic acumen were badly damaged by the disasters of the Bush years may be about to market their expertise to private-sector clients.

In September, the RiceHadley Group LLC was registered as a business in California, under a San Francisco address. According to a source, the venture is to be a "strategic consulting" firm, headed by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and will be launched imminently.

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Rick Perry

Perry Appointee In No Rush To Wade Back Into Willingham Case

Zachary Roth | November 10, 2009, 4:23PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

The Texas prosecutor appointed by Governor Rick Perry to chair a state forensics commission won't say when, if ever, his panel will hear from an arson expert who had been scheduled to testify about a flawed arson investigation that may have led to the death of an innocent man.

Asked, during a state Senate hearing, about when the Texas Forensic Science Commission would hear from nationally recognized expert Craig Beyler, John Bradley declined to give a specific answer.

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Tea Parties

Tea Party Leader Launches PAC To Back Small-Government Candidates

Zachary Roth | November 10, 2009, 1:20PM

A leading Tea Party activist is launching a political action committee to back candidates who run on a limited-government platform -- perhaps the most serious effort yet to to channel the Tea Partiers' grassroots energy toward electoral politics.

Eric Odom, a conservative online organizer who played a key role in sparking the original Tea Party movement this spring, is unveiling Liberty First PAC. The goal, said Odom in an interview with TPMmuckraker, is to raise $1 million to defeat incumbents who supported health-care reform -- which he called "very dangerous to the fabric of this country" -- and to elect a new crop of lawmakers committed to small-government principles in 2010.

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William Jefferson

Feds Want Jefferson To Serve Up To 33 Years

Zachary Roth | November 9, 2009, 4:05PM

Fmr. Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA)

Federal prosecutors want former congressman William Jefferson to serve up to 33 years in prison.

Court documents filed by the Feds today, and reported by Roll Call, state: "The Probation Office has calculated the Sentencing Guidelines for Congressman Jefferson ... in a guideline range of 324 to 405 months or approximately 27 to 33 years of imprisonment."

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American Petroleum Institute

Greenpeace Keeps Heat On Newsweek Over Climate Change Event With Oil Lobby

Zachary Roth | November 9, 2009, 2:20PM

Jack Gerard, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute

Newsweek is continuing to draw scrutiny for an upcoming event on global warming that the magazine plans to co-host with an oil industry lobby group.

Last week, we reported that Newsweek and the American Petroleum Institute are teaming up to put on a panel discussion entitled "Climate and Energy Policy: Moving?," which will be moderated by Howard Fineman, and will feature API CEO Jack Gerard. API is a major Newsweek advertiser, and the two outfits have collaborated on several similar events -- all on the record -- in recent years.

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James Thurber

Did Thurber Ever Sign On As Bonner's Ethics Adviser?

Zachary Roth | November 9, 2009, 12:07PM

Jack Bonner, Bonner & Associates, and James Thurber, American University

Did American University professor James Thurber ever sign on to act as an independent ethics adviser for astroturf lobbyist Jack Bonner, in the wake of the scandal over those forged letters to lawmakers on climate change? The two principals can't seem to agree.

Thurber has now backed out of the gig, after an ad he ran in Roll Call praising Bonner raised questions about how independent he could truly be. But how firm was the arrangement in the first place?

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John Ensign

Ensign No Longer At C Street: Report

Zachary Roth | November 9, 2009, 10:04AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) had some good times and some bad times at the Christian home on C Street that he's lived in since 1995. But now, reports the Las Vegas Sun, he's moved out.

According to the paper, Ensign was not pushed out, but rather left on his own, out of a desire to spare the house's residents any further unwanted publicity. The New York Times had reported late last month that, according two of the senator's friends, he was making plans to move out.

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