The Daily Muck

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Congressman in Abramoff Probe Says He Won’t Resign
“Rep. John Doolittle, bucking pundits in The Wall Street Journal, The Sacramento Bee and other newspapers, said Thursday that he wouldn’t resign his seat in the House of Representatives because investigators were looking at his wife and him in the ramped-up federal corruption investigation arising out of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. ‘There is no way I am stepping down,’ Doolittle declared in a telephone news conference with California reporters. ‘I am not resigning. Absolutely not.'” (McClatchy Newspapers)

Ex-Aide Could Be Liability for Doolittle
“As Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) awaits prosecutors’ next move in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, his future is tied to that of a former aide who also worked with Abramoff. Kevin Ring, Doolittle’s one-time legislative director, quit his lobbying job last month, the same day FBI agents raided Doolittle’s Virginia home.” (Associated Press)

Sex, Fraud, Sorcery?
“It was revealed yesterday that Stuart Bowen Jr., the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), whose responsibilities include uncovering misspending of Iraqi and U.S. funds, is now under investigation himself. From what I hear, the investigation, based on a complaint that former SIGIR employees filed last year with the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency, concerns possible misspending by Bowen himself. Bowen is also accused of lesser crimes like dating on government time. A second senior SIGIR employee is accused of cooking the books as well as sorcery and sexual harassment.” (Harper’s)

Wolfowitz Attacks Bank Rules as Panel Closes Investigation
“World Bank directors put the finishing touches on their report into the pay raise for Paul Wolfowitz’s companion as the agency’s president blamed ‘ambiguous rules’ for his involvement in her promotion. The panel, led by Dutch representative Herman Wijffels, is scheduled to deliver its report to the full 24-member board next week. Wolfowitz, back from an education conference in Brussels, will have a chance to present his response at the same time.” (Bloomberg)

FBI to Examine LA Immigration Rally
“After days of watching from afar news footage showing his city’s police officers wielding batons and firing rubber bullets into a crowd at an immigration rally, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa decided to cut short a trade mission to Mexico to deal with fallout from the violence. Meanwhile, the FBI said Thursday it would open an inquiry into whether the officers’ conduct violated citizens’ civil rights.” (Associated Press)

McKay Made Firing List in March ’05
“Former U.S. Attorney John McKay’s name was on a list of federal prosecutors to be fired in March 2005, 18 months earlier than previously reported, according to a document released by the House Judiciary Committee today. And during a hearing in the nation’s capital, a committee member suggested McKay might have made the list, drawn up by the attorney general’s then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, for requesting “some action” by the Justice Department with regard to the unsolved 2001 killing of Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Wales.” (The Seattle Times)

Rule Change Allows Congressional Pilots to Fly Again
“House Democrats reopened portions of their ethics package late Wednesday night, carving out exemptions for Congressional pilots who were inadvertently grounded from flying their private airplanes in January. The flap over airplane use had been a source of frustration for Democratic leadership and the roughly half-dozen Congressional pilots who use private aircraft to shuttle around their often vast rural districts.” (Roll Call)

DC Law Firm Suspends Woman Who Worked as Escort
“A legal secretary at one of Washington’s most prominent and well-connected law firms, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, has been suspended after telling her bosses she secretly worked at night for the escort service run by the so-called D.C. Madam, Jeane Palfrey. The woman both serviced clients and, at times, helped to run the business, Palfrey told ABC News in an interview to be broadcast on “20/20″ Friday.” (ABC’s The Blotter)

Suspected DC Madam Has Fled Before
“Deborah Jeane Palfrey was blunt at times, rambling and conspiratorial at others in a 1991 letter explaining to a judge why she jumped bail and skipped out on her trial for prostitution-related charges in California. Now, 16 years later, prosecutors fear history will repeat itself now that a judge has rescinded a requirement that Palfrey submit to electronic monitoring while she is free on pretrial release.” (Associated Press)

Late Addition: Because you can’t get enough of this scandal.

“Miz Julie” Speaks: Inside DC’s Most Notorios Escort Service
“In a recent interview with ABC News, Deborah Jeane Palfrey talks about her now-infamous escort service. ‘There was never an age limit. I hired women well into their 50s,’ Deborah Jeane Palfrey told ABC News. ‘They were some of the most popular women on staff.'” (ABC’s The Blotter)

Latest Muckraker
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: