Growing discomfort in Congress with the private financing arms race
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 07:32:12 PM EST
(Psst! We're raising money right now to Get it Straight in 2008, so please chip in! Here's one of many reasons why...) The big scandal news yesterday was Brent Wilkes, the lobbyist who "engineered the biggest bribery scheme in congressional history" with former Rep. Duke Cunningham, getting convicted on a perfect 13-for-13 counts of conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and wire fraud.
Cunningham and Wilkes are despicable characters who defrauded taxpayers for personal gain. They're not the norm, at least not in my view, but they help make the case for full public financing of Congressional races as in the Fair Elections Now Act.
But what's more important in the long run is the fact that regular members of Congress, the majority of whom intend to serve the public interest (unlike Cunningham), are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the current campaign finance regime and its demands of almost nonstop fundraising. As it gets worse, which it will, the case for public financing gets better.
I mostly look at this from an outsider's perspective, but after a couple meetings with members of Congress recently, I think it's worth exploring the promise of these changes among insiders, particularly the members of Congress themselves.
John Doolittle - now with twice the scandal!
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Tue Jul 10, 2007 at 05:01:06 PM EST
Here's an interesting AP article I almost missed, laying out the strange position Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) finds himself in.
You know about the one the FBI is actively investigating him for - $5000/month from Jack Abramoff to Julie Doolittle for questionable consulting work while the gentleman from California was ushering Abramoff's pet issues and projects through Congress.
And then there's the other scandal, the bribery case that's already landed ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA) in prison:
Jack Abramoff is obviously cooperating with investgators
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 05:31:45 PM EST
Jack Abramoff is yakking away - at least, that's the implication the Sacramento Bee gives in an excellent article summarizing the sudden flurry of Abramoff-related activity around the country.
"It's not clear to me or my lawyers exactly what they're doing," Doolittle said Thursday of his own case.
Really? This might clarify some things for you, sir:
The flurry of activity can be traced to the federal courthouse in Miami, where prosecutors revealed last month that they're prepared to reduce Abramoff's sentence for fraud in connection with his purchase of a fleet of gambling ships.
Prosecutors said he had more to tell about Washington corruption, and they were offering a lower sentence as an elixir to lubricate his tongue.
Seems to have worked, no? Since Bob Ney went to prison, nothing much had been happening in the investigation. Then, all of a sudden in the last couple of weeks we get:
- Rep. John Doolittle's (R-CA) home is raided.
- Kevin Ring, former aide to Doolittle and close friend of Abramoff's, resigns from his law firm.
- Mark Zachares pleads guilty to conspiracy with Abramoff.
- Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) announces he's being asked questions about an Abramoff-funded golf trip he took in 2003 - the same trip Zachares was on.
- Reports surface that Ed Buckham, former aide to Tom DeLay and lobbyist extraordinaire, may be nearing charges, which chould ensare DeLay. Buckham could also be a link between the Abramoff investigation and the Duke Cunningham bribery case (see also Brent Wilkes).
The common denominator? Jack Abramoff.
Yep, he's talking.
Private companies got $5.6 BILLION in earmarks in 2005
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Fri Apr 27, 2007 at 10:47:46 AM EST
From USA Today:
Congress steered $5.6 billion to private companies in 2005 -- more than state and local governments combined -- through its power to add special-interest items to spending bills, a new government database shows.
The database, completed by the White House Office of Management and Budget this month, identifies nearly 15,000 earmarks totaling almost $19 billion.
About $37 million of that money went to companies tied to the bribery scandal of former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), who is now serving eight years in prison. Another earmark is the $18 million defense contract Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) inserted for defense contractor PerfectWave, whose owner, Brent Wilkes, has pleaded innocent to federal charges of bribing Cunningham.
Can I repeat that amount? $5.6 BILLION! That's such an immense amount of money, it's no wonder a large chunk of it was misappropriated - either accidentally or on purpose - or misrepresented or outright stolen.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Thu Apr 19, 2007 at 11:33:35 AM EST
Oh, man, is the heat up on John Doolittle, even more than we speculated about earlier this week.
On the same day Kevin Ring, Doolittle's former Legislative Director, resigned from his law firm amid Justice Department inquiries, Rep. Doolittle's house was raided by the FBI. The Congressman's office maintains that the focus of the raid was Doolittle's wife Julie, whose ties to Abramoff have been under investigation for some time.
From Roll Call (sub. req'd.):
On Wednesday evening, Doolittle issued a statement standing behind his wife.
"My wife has been cooperating with the FBI and the Justice Department for almost three years and that cooperation is going to continue in the future," Doolittle said.
"I support my wife 100 percent and fully expect that the truth will prevail."
And this is not going to make the GOP leadership happy:
The news could present a political problem for Boehner and Cole, because the two leaders have been particularly forceful in sending the message to their colleagues that ethical and legal scrutiny will not be tolerated in the new minority. Republicans lost in 2006 due, in part, to the relentless stream of scandals coming from their side of the aisle in the 109th Congress.
To be fair, though, this really is just a continuation of the Abramoff scandal, not an entirely new one. More details inside about the Doolittle household's ties to Jack Abramoff...
"Transactional lobbying" the name of the game
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 01:15:35 PM EST
Transactional lobbying, noun. 1. Providing a campaign contribution to a lawmaker in exchange for a political favor. 2. The exchange of check-containing envelopes between lobbyists and politicians linked to Congressional earmarks. see also: quid pro quo, bribery.
You may have seen the much-talked-about article in the New York Times about Brent Wilkes, the defense contractor who (along with Mitchell Wade) has been named in the bribery scandal that forced the resignation and plea deal of former Representative Duke Cunningham. If you haven't, check it out - it's a disturbingly open account of how business is accomplished these days in Congress.
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