The Daily MuckWith funds from Congress’s $700 billion bailout up for grabs, lobbyists are scrambling to influence the allocation of the money, which was originally intended to help banks. Their first stop is to Jeb Mason, a 32-year-old ex-underling of Karl Rove, who is the Treasury’s business liason. (New York Times)
The Wall Street Journal suggests that the new president may retain controversial intelligence policies, pointing to centrist advisers from both Democratic and Republican camps and a recent vote supporting an expanded surveillance law. (McClatchy/Wall Street Journal)
Intelligence officials say FBI Director Robert Mueller and CIA Director Michael Hayden, whose support for surveillance and interrogation programs placed them in the center of disagreements about the Bush administration’s handling of the War on Terror, believe they will be replaced by the Obama team, a move supported by some Congressional Democrats. Both men say they would remain at their posts if given the opportunity. (Washington Post)
But until Obama takes over, Bush remains in charge of Guantanamo, and moderates within the administration may be gaining ground in the debate about Guantanamo, reports the LA Times. The paper publishes part of a previously undisclosed letter from earlier this year which urges Bush to set more limits on interrogation practices in Guantanamo. (LA Times)
New rules about what role lobbyists can play in the Obama transition take a softer line than the president-elect did during his campaign. Obama had initially said he would ban lobbyists from the White House entirely. Yesterday transition aide John Podesta said they could work on the transition but would be ineligible to work on issues they had lobbied for in the past year.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), who, at a congressional hearing last month, outed AIG’s first luxurious junket, has called for CEO Edward Liddy to resign, following reports of another, this one to Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in Arizona. Since September, the troubled insurance firm has secured more than $150 billion of federal money. The company, which says it has canceled 160 events, maintains that the retreat is being misrepresented and was financed primarily by product sponsors. (ABC)
Former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), who resigned in the wake of allegations that he had exchanged salacious e-mails and IMs with underage male pages, gave his first public interview to the AP since the scandal. FBI and Florida investigations ended without criminal charges. Foley said the boys were close to adulthood and told the AP he was breaking his silence to apologize to his constituents–who just saw Foley’s replacement, Democrat Tim Mahoney, lose his seat due to his own sex scandal. (AP)
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has cut all funding for ACORN, a non-profit advocate for low-income groups. ACORN has been accused of financial irregularities and was the target of election-season attacks, with Republicans accusing the group of engaging in voter fraud and successfully pushing for an FBI investigation. There were essentially no cases of actual voter fraud stemming from fake registrations submitted by ACORN. (Boston Globe)
