Lawmaker’s Files Sought by Grand Jury
“A federal grand jury has subpoenaed congressional records from Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) as part of an escalating Justice Department corruption probe aimed at determining whether Weldon used his influence to win favors for family members, people familiar with the investigation said.
“The previously unreported subpoena was issued by a grand jury in Washington before the November election, although it is unclear when Weldon received it.” (LATimes)
Report Says TSA Violated Law
“Secure Flight, the U.S. government’s stalled program to screen domestic air passengers against terrorism watch lists, violated federal law during a crucial test phase, according to a report to be issued today by the Homeland Security Department’s privacy office.
“The agency found that by gathering passenger data from commercial brokers in 2004 without notifying the passengers, the program violated a 1974 Privacy Act requirement that the public be made aware of any changes in a federal program that affects the privacy of U.S. citizens. . . .
“The finding marks the first time that the Homeland Security Department has acknowledged that the problem-plagued Secure Flight program has violated the law.” (WaPo)
Court Weakens McCain-Feingold On Issue Ads
“The U.S. government may not ban genuine issue advertisements before an election that are not intended to influence voters, a court ruled on Thursday in allowing an anti-abortion group’s three broadcast ads.
“The 2-1 ruling handed a victory to a group called Wisconsin Right to Life in its challenge to a key part of a 2002 federal campaign finance law that seeks to limit the influence of money in politics.
“At issue was the part of the law that bans groups from using unrestricted money to run ads that name candidates two months before a general election or one month before a primary election.
“The group argued the ban could not be applied to its three broadcast ads in 2004 critical of Sen. Russell Feingold’s record on vote-blocking filibusters for judicial nominees.” (Reuters)
Virgil Goode Stands Firm
“A congressman said Thursday that he will not retract a letter warning that unless immigration is tightened, ‘many more Muslims will be elected’ and use the Quran to take the oath of office.
“Republican Rep. Virgil Goode triggered angry responses from a civil rights group and some colleagues with a letter this month to constituents concerned about a decision by Rep.-elect Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress, to use the Quran when he is sworn in.
“‘I will not be putting my hand on the Quran,’ Goode said at a news conference Thursday at the Franklin County Courthouse.
“Goode, who represents Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, said he is receiving more positive comments from constituents than negative.” (AP)
A Feud Over Bush’s Pick
“President Bush quietly appointed television sitcom producer Warren Bell to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting this week, overriding opposition from public broadcasting advocates who fear the outspoken conservative will politicize the post.
“Bell’s nomination had been stalled since September because of concerns about his qualifications among several members of the Senate Commerce Committee, which must approve nominees to the board of the CPB, the private nonprofit that distributes federal funds to public television and radio stations. . . .
“[Bell’s] appointment was condemned Thursday by some members of the Commerce Committee who said that Bell’s lack of public broadcasting experience and his partisan writings for the conservative National Review made him an inappropriate choice.
“‘This appointment by the Bush administration makes it clear that they simply don’t care about the integrity or quality of our public broadcasting system,’ said Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.).” (LATimes)
Campaign Consultants and Lobbyists â The Same People?
“The results vary. A Native American chief gets a West Wing meeting to fight for tribal status. Forty-story condominium buildings that will transform the San Francisco skyline are approved. Congress earmarks $239 million for a new bridge over the Mississippi. Copper mining representatives meet White House staffers to discuss acquisition of national forest land.
“But the lobbyists fronting these causes all have one important advantage in common: They helped the public official they lobbied get elected. They were political consultants who traveled with the candidate or gave strategic advice on media campaigns, fundraising or get-out-the vote efforts.
“Top advisors get to know candidates and can become privy to closely guarded secrets. Relationships are forged in the war-like, us-against-them, sleep-deprived atmosphere of a campaign. Consultants who also lobby then have a unique opportunity to trade on this personal capital when pushing the interests of their other clients for new laws, government approvals or funding.
“An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity found that increasingly campaign consultants are turning to lobbying once elections are over. And unlike federal legislators and their staff members, who are required to wait a year before lobbying former colleagues, consultants are not bound by rules slowing down the so-called ‘revolving door’ between doing campaign work and lobbying.” (Center for Public Integrity)
Nuclear Regulators: Workers At NY Plant Fear Retribution On Safety Concerns
“Some workers at a nuclear power plant complex just north of New York City are reluctant to raise safety concerns because they fear retribution, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday.
“During an inspection of the Indian Point complex in September, ‘We found out that there were workers who perceived that they would be treated negatively by management for raising issues and consequently some of the workers expressed reluctance to raise issues under certain circumstances,’ said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan.
“‘We refer to it as a chilling effect, a situation when workers do not feel comfortable raising safety concerns,’ Sheehan said.” (AP)
Powerful Interests Ally to Restructure Agriculture Subsidies
“The farm bloc is an efficient, tightknit club of farmers, rural banks, insurance companies, real estate operators and tractor dealers. Many of its Washington lobbyists are former lawmakers or congressional aides. Harnessed to dozens of grass-roots groups, such as the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Cotton Council and the USA Rice Federation, farm-state lawmakers — the “aggies,” as they call themselves — fight with the fervor of the embattled.
“About 1.2 million farmers and farmland owners got $15 billion in income support or price guarantees in 2005, according to a Washington Post analysis of Agriculture Department payment records. The benefits are heavily tilted to large commercial farmers growing a few row crops in a handful of states. But the money also is widely distributed to a middle group of more than 130,000 farms, each receiving $25,000 to $100,000. The federal dollars ripple through local economies, adding to purchasing power at stores and businesses — and creating a political constituency for the programs.
“The farm bloc, says former congressman Cal M. Dooley (D-Calif.), now an executive with a food industry trade group, is ‘committed and focused.'” (WaPo)
IRS Spending Less Time On Big Businesses
“The Internal Revenue Service has cut deeply the time that it spends auditing the nationâs largest corporations, according to data made public yesterday.
“The figures, obtained by Syracuse University researchers, showed that the I.R.S. had reduced the time spent on each audit by 21 percent in the last five years, to 958 hours from 1,210 hours. At the same time, the number of actual audits, which had increased in the last two years, has fallen back to the level of 2002.
“The Syracuse researchers said the data raised questions about statements by Mark W. Everson, the I.R.S. commissioner, that he had increased enforcement of the tax laws in the last three years.
“I.R.S. officials said, however, that while the hours devoted to each audit had fallen, the number of additional tax dollars recommended per hour of audit had more than doubled from 2002 to 2006, to $6,500 an hour. The government data is based on fiscal years, which end Sept. 30.” (NYT)
Cali Consumer Group Critical Of Arnold, Legislators’ South America Trip
“A consumer group on Thursday likened a two-week South American trip taken by legislators, state regulators and the governor’s chief of staff to luxurious congressional junkets arranged by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
“But the head of the nonprofit group that paid most of the costs said the visit to Brazil, Argentina and Chile in November was a vigorous study tour that focused mainly on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and was not a vacation.
“‘It was very ambitious,’ said Patrick Mason, president of the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy. ‘We had to get up at 6 most mornings. We were traveling.’
“The foundation, whose members include corporations, labor unions and environmental groups, finances conferences and annual overseas trips for legislators and other state officials that look for ways to solve problems facing the state, Mason said.
“This year’s trip began two days after the Nov. 7 election and wrapped up Nov. 22, although some participants had a later departure from California and some stayed in South America after the tour was over, Mason said.
“Participants included Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, Susan Kennedy, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff, and representatives of the state Energy Commission and Public Utilities Commission.
“Sens. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, Mike Machado, D-Linden, and George Runner, R-Lancaster, and Assembly members Rick Keene, R-Chico, John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, Lloyd Levine, D-Sherman Oaks, Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, and Lori Saldana, D-San Diego, also went along.
“The group included representatives of Chevron, the California Farm Bureau Federation, the California Conference of Carpenters, Southern California Edison Co., Sempra Energy and the Natural Resources Defense Council, as well as spouses or partners of several of the travelers, including those of Kennedy and Nunez.” (AP)
Refugees Shut out by War on Terrorism
“The first time they came for her, the Colombian guerrillas shoved the 31-year-old nurse blindfolded into the back of a green Renault sedan. Her kidnappers took her to a house and forced her to treat one of their commandants, who was writhing in pain from a bullet wound to the leg.
“The woman said she was abducted seven more times in 1997 and 1998 to give medical care to Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia members. They warned her not to go to the police. “I know you have a daughter,” one man said, prodding her with a gun. In 2000, after her cousin was tortured and killed, she fled. Now she is in Northern California, working as a nurse and raising her daughter.
“Today, her hopes of staying in the U.S. have run smack into the war on terrorism. The Department of Homeland Security rejected her asylum claim. Their reason: By giving the guerrillas medical care â willingly or not â she was supporting terrorism.” (LATimes)
Media-Sourcing Debate on Deck at Capitol
“The Bush administration is increasingly at odds with some Republicans over its efforts to make journalists reveal confidential sources.
“The controversy is reaching a flashpoint in San Francisco, where the Justice Department is expected to file papers today urging that two San Francisco Chronicle reporters face jail if they refuse to reveal their source for confidential grand-jury proceedings concerning baseball slugger Barry Bonds’s alleged use of steroids.
“The issue also is expected to re-emerge on Capitol Hill next year, where two influential Republicans, Sen. Richard Lugar and Rep. Mike Pence, both of Indiana, plan to reintroduce legislation limiting the government’s power to force journalists to disclose confidential sources. Many Democrats, whose party will control Congress next year, also support extending protection to reporters’ sources and are expected to co-sponsor the legislation.” (WSJ)
Conservative Group Names Most Corrupt Lawmakers
“The advocacy group Judicial Watch released a list today of ‘Washington’s ‘Ten Most Corrupt Politicians’ for 2006.’ . . .
“This year, according to the group, six of the most corrupt Washington politicians were Republicans whose names are often identified with the scandals widely believed to have contributed to the Democratic victory in the November midterms: Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Rep. Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham (R-CA), Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX), Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), Rep. Denny Hastert (R-IL), and Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH).” (Raw Story)
In New York, Hevesi To Reportedly Resign
“The state’s chief financial officer, Comptroller Alan Hevesi, plans to resign to avoid an indictment for using state employees as his wife’s chauffeurs, a law enforcement official familiar with the case said Thursday.
“The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is in the hands of a grand jury, said Hevesi was “definitely reaching an agreement” with Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ office “to step down to avoid being indicted.”
“A leading state Democrat also said on condition of anonymity that Hevesi was expected to resign Friday and plead to a minor felony charge at most.
Hevesi spokesman David Neustadt had no comment Thursday.” (AP)
