Sen. Chuck Grassley has asked the Treasury Department’s inspector general to investigate the potential conflicts of interest surrounding a change to bank merger tax code made as part of the bailout package. Grassley, the most senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, names one of Treasury Sec. Hank Paulson’s top aides, and questions whether his and others’ ties to Wells Fargo and Wachovia executives might have prompted the change, which pushed the controversial Wachovia buyout to Wells Fargo over Citi. The unprecedented leeway given to the Treasury Department to conduct the bailout has raised concerns among lawmakers and watchdog groups that there will not be sufficient oversight. (Financial Times)
Dan Rather’s multi-million dollar suit over the CBS investigation of his 2004 “60 Minutes” piece about President George Bush’s treatment in the National Guard has found evidence that the network wanted to pick people who would “mollify” the GOP to lead the investigation, which Rather says was politically biased. Notes from top CBS officials show that they considered well-known conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Matt Drudge. In the segment, Rather suggested that Bush had received preferential treatment in the National Guard; CBS later backed away from the report. The controversy led Rather to resign as anchor. (New York Times)
White House e-mails that went “missing,” among them some sought by prosecutors during the investigation of the Valerie Plame leak, could remain confidential, according to the Associated Press. The service reports that federal appeals court justices appeared unconvinced by arguments Friday that records that would explain the e-mails’ disappearance fall under the Freedom of Information Act. The suit was filed by the watchdog group Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington. The three judges hearing the appeal are Republican appointees. (AP)
The Pennsylvania attorney general is investigating the state GOP to determine if the party used a tax-payer funded database to target voters during the campaign. The inquiry is part of a wide-ranging probe into whether local leaders are improperly using state money to pay legislative employees for campaign work. (AP)
Top Florida Republicans are asking for the state’s GOP chairman to account for game tickets, trips to Disney World, and $682,000 of chartered planes, saying that the misspent funds could have been used to help John McCain. In a letter Thursday, one local Republican official asked for an audit of the party finances and raised general concerns about chairman Jim Greer’s spending. (McClatchy)
Twelve children under the age of 18 are being held in Guantanamo, according to figures from the Department of Defense, up from the eight reported in May to the United Nations. The Pentagon revised the figure Sunday after a human rights organization released an independent study last week, suggesting that a dozen of the captives were juveniles. (AP)
Rev. Al Sharpton, who sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2004, used $500,000 in illegal contributions to finance his campaign, according to a Federal Election Commission audit. It is not clear what the consequences of the finding will be. (Roll Call)
A top Interior Department official was sentenced to two years probation Friday, after he pleaded guilty to violating a federal conflict of interest law. Shortly before retiring, Jimmy Mayberry, an employee of the Minerals Management Service, which distributes federal oil and gas leases, ushered through a deal that funneled $1.4 million to the firm he joined after leaving the department. Mayberry is one of several employees in the same division exposed in an investigation of the office. (Washington Post)
The man at the center of the Trooper-Gate controversy was reassigned to desk duty last week, after the trooper service reported threatening phone calls. Mike Wooten, Gov. Sarah Palin’s former brother-in-law, entered the national spotlight this fall, when allegations surfaced that the Republican VP candidate had used her position to attempt to get him fired. Palin accused Wooten of, among other things, tasering her nephew. An independent probe concluded that she had violated state ethics laws in pressuring officials to axe Wooten. (AP)
