The Daily Muck

The mass exodus of lobbyists from Sen. John McCain’s campaign staff continues, as Randy Scheunemann of Orion Strategies jumped ship after records showed he represented the countries of Macedonia, Georgia and Taiwan from 2003 to March 1, 2008. Scheunemann was McCain’s top foreign policy adviser, and stayed on-staff even after the campaign couldn’t pay him late last year. (USA Today)

Ever since he took over as defense secretary for Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Gates has voiced his desire to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. But Tuesday in front of a Senate hearing, Gates said closing the legally-ambiguous prison won’t happen anytime soon since the government is “stuck in several ways.” One of the main concerns of the U.S. government is that around 70 prisoners have been cleared to go home, yet either their home government won’t take them back, or the U.S. is afraid their home government would “let them loose once we return them home,” Gates said. (Reuters)

A new indictment was handed down against the CIA’s former No. 3 official, Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, in a spinoff of the scandal involving former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA). In addition to the original corruption charges, Foggo was indicted on allegations of accepting “sexual companionship” bribes in exchange for helping Brent Wilkes land cherry government contracts. (Associated Press)

The Detroit City Council voted to remove scandalized Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick early this month. Now the office of Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm will review the move, possibly bypassing the laborious effort of removing him through legal processes. Kilpatrick and his former aide Christine Beatty are currently under scrutiny for perjury, criminal misconduct and obstruction of justice involving a whistleblower lawsuit. (Associated Press)

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) still refuses to shut down his earmark-reform Web site that violates House rules. But the House Administration Committee, after first calling Boehner on the site three months ago, has yet to take action to enforce the ruling. The site’s content politicizes earmark-banning, which is legal for a representative’s own Web site, but not an official House Web site. (Roll Call sub. req.)

A congressional staffer that worked for multiple members of Congress was found to be embezzling money from office accounts. Now the House Inspector General and the Chief Administrative Officer are seeking stricter rules on “shared” employees. (Roll Call sub. req.)