Defense Nominee’s Business Ties Raise Concerns
“In the 14 years since he left government, former CIA director Robert M. Gates has jetted cross-country to advise 10 different companies, assessing issues as varied as Saudi oil drilling, mutual fund performance and restaurant sales at Romano’s Macaroni Grill. . . .
“[A]s Gates awaits Senate confirmation as President Bush’s secretary of Defense, ethics watchdogs worry about the revolving door between government and private business that allowed Gates to align himself with defense contractors, investment houses and a global drilling company involved with Vice President Dick Cheney’s former employer, Halliburton Co.
“Companies with which Gates has been affiliated have secured hefty no-bid Pentagon contracts, and “you have to wonder if these companies will continue to get around bidding requirements once Gates is secretary,” said Alex Knott, political director of the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based watchdog group.” (LATimes)
Kolbe Seeks Advice on Legal Bills for Foley Scandal
‘Rep. Jim Kolbe [R-AZ], who has come under scrutiny by the Justice Department and House ethics committee for his role in the Congressional page scandal that brought down former Rep. Mark Foley [R-FL], has asked the Federal Election Commission for permission to use campaign funds to pay for any legal bills related to the case.
“This comes as both Democratic and GOP leaders privately prepare for the release of a report by the ethics committee on its Foley investigation, possibly as early as this week.
“Kolbe has retained Reginald Brown of the law firm WilmerHale to represent him in the DOJ and ethics committee investigations. Brown is a former associate White House counsel with strong ties to senior Bush administration officials.
“Kolbeâs campaign made the request to the FEC in late October, but the commission has not yet ruled on the issue.” (Roll Call)
NH GOP to Pay $125K to Dems for Phone Jamming
“Both sides are claiming victory in the GOP phone jamming settlement in New Hampshire. The Democrats say the Republicans paid three times in Friday’s cash settlement to end a Democratic lawsuit, in defending the charges and last month at the polls.
“The Republicans say, without admitting liability, they are paying a fraction of the $4 million the Democrats were going after.
“Republican operatives have admitted hiring a telemarketing firm to make hundreds of phone calls that jammed get-out-the-vote phones on Election Day in 2002.
“In the settlement, the state Republican Party will pay Democrats $125,000 over five years, beginning at the end of next year. The Republicans maintained they should only have had to pay about $4,000, the cost of rental and use of the phones.” (WLBZ Bangor)
Reid Turns to Old Senate Ethics Bill
“Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D-NV] plans to begin his legislative push for a lobbying and ethics overhaul with a GOP-authored bill that was derided by outside watchdog groups as unacceptable, which may set up a showdown with House Democrats over how far reforms should go.
“The proposal Reid plans to dust off passed the Senate in the spring with wide bipartisan support, then stalled when Senate Republican leaders could not agree with their House counterparts on how to iron out differences between their packages.
“But the Senate-passed bill was opposed as too weak by such reform advocates as Sens. John McCain [R-AZ], Russ Feingold [D-WI] and Barack Obama [D-IL] as well as by advocacy groups.
“It also falls short of changes envisioned by a plan jointly proposed earlier this year by Reid and incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-CA]. That plan gathered support from most Senate Democrats and is the blueprint Pelosi is using to craft legislation in her chamber.” (Roll Call)
Massive Terror Screening Draws Outrage
‘A leader of the new Democratic Congress, business travelers and privacy advocates expressed outrage Friday over the unannounced assignment of terrorism risk assessments to American international travelers by a computerized system managed from an unmarked, two-story brick building in Northern Virginia.
“Incoming Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont pledged greater scrutiny of such government database-mining projects after reading that during the past four years millions of Americans have been evaluated without their knowledge to assess the risks that they are terrorists or criminals….
“The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these risk assessments, which the government intends to keep on file for 40 years. Some or all data in the system can be shared with state, local and foreign governments for use in hiring, contracting and licensing decisions. Courts and even some private contractors can obtain some of the data under certain circumstances.” (AP)
On Tape: An “Enemy” Interrogation
“Lawyers for ‘enemy combatant’ Jose Padilla claim he is so disoriented from three years of isolation and aggressive interrogations that he is now mentally ill. In new court filings, Padilla’s lawyers also assert for the first time that Padilla’s interrogations were taped, thereby providing a potentially extensive video record of how the government treated a man once considered a dangerous Qaeda operative.
“U.S. officials have denied Padilla’s claims that he was mistreated after he was thrown into a U.S. naval brig on orders from President Bush in June 2002. ‘It is our policy to treat all detainees humanely,’ said Pentagon spokesman J. D. Gordon. (A Justice spokesman declined to comment on the new claims about Padilla’s mental state or the existence of tapes.) But the disputes about Padilla’s treatment have raised issues that are likely to come up in future prosecutions, whether in regular criminal courtsâwhere Padilla is due to be tried early next yearâor in military commissions where the Bush administration plans to prosecute Qaeda figures.” (Newsweek, NYTimes)
Pentagon Puts Gitmo Court Project on Fast Track
“The Pentagon is invoking emergency authority to expedite funding of a war-crimes-court compound at its Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval base, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England has informed Congress.
“Defense spokesmen would not say when, if ever, the Pentagon had last invoked similar authority. Nor would they specify which military construction already approved by Congress would be frozen to fund the court project, which could cost as much as $125 million, according to U.S. government documents.” (WPost)
La. Rep. Tries to Save Political Career
“Embattled U.S. Rep. William Jefferson [D-LA] hunted for votes among churchgoers Sunday as he headed into the final week of a campaign to hold onto his seat and salvage his political fortunes.
“FBI raids on his homes and his congressional office, including allegations in an FBI affidavit that he hid $90,000 in bribe money in a freezer, have left Jefferson vulnerable for the first time since he won the seat in 1990….
“In Saturday’s runoff, Jefferson faces a stiff challenge from state Rep. Karen Carter, a Democrat and well-financed and energetic lawyer hoping to become the first black female from Louisiana to ever hold a seat in Congress. The runoff is one of the nation’s last unresolved elections.” (AP)
Libby Trial May Discuss Terror, Nukes
“Former White House aide I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby says that during the investigation into the leak of a
CIA agent’s identity he was preoccupied with terrorist threats, Iraq’s new government and emerging nuclear programs in Iran, Pakistan and North Korea.
“Court records released Friday offered the first glimpse of the type of classified information Libby wants to share with jurors at his upcoming perjury and obstruction trial….
“Libby’s bid for classified information is significant for two reasons. If the government decides the material Walton orders released cannot safely be made public, the case could be dismissed. If the case goes forward and the evidence is allowed, the trial could offer a behind-the-scenes look at the White House in the early months of the war in Iraq.” (AP)
U.S. Counterterror Tactics Often Foiled in Europe
“[T]he United States has struggled to deal with Islamic militants who are allowed to live freely in Europe despite being labeled serious security risks. Others have included radical clerics in London and supporters of the Hamburg cell responsible for the Sept. 11 hijackings.
“But. . . U.S. tactics in confronting those militants have sometimes backfired, giving ammunition to critics who accuse the Bush administration of skirting the law or relying on questionable evidence.” (WPost)
Next Chairman for Intelligence Opposed War. . .
“Representative Nancy Pelosi, the incoming House speaker, sent a strong new signal on Friday that Democrats intend to confront the White House by naming a Texas congressman who opposed the war in Iraq as the next chairman of the House intelligence committee.
“This choice, of Representative Silvestre Reyes to head one of Congressâs most important committees, ended weeks of closed-door lobbying and public posturing among Democrats who had been competing for the post. By choosing Mr. Reyes, a former Border Patrol agent and Vietnam combat veteran, Mrs. Pelosi passed over the panelâs top Democrat, Representative Jane Harman of California, a more hawkish figure who voted to authorize the war in Iraq and a political rival with whom Mrs. Pelosi has long had a stormy relationship.” (NY Times)
. . . But Reyes Is No Stranger to Scandal
“Reyes has been linked to past controversies. The inspector general of the government’s General Services Administration looked into the serious failures of a $239 million network of cameras and sensors along the Mexican and Canadian borders, an investigation that focused in part on the contractor’s employment of Reyes’s daughter Rebecca.
“Reyes has been a key backer of the system and its contractor, International Microwave Corp. Shortly after its 1999 contract award, the firm hired Rebecca Reyes to serve as a liaison to what was then the Immigration and Naturalization Service. She ultimately became IMC’s vice president for contracts. IMC also hired her brother, Silvestre Reyes Jr., as a technician on the program, known as the Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System, or ISIS.
“Rep. Reyes said that he never interceded on his daughter’s behalf or with U.S. officials to help her company win a contract, and that he backed the firm’s search for funding only because he supports the system of border sensors and cameras. And, he said, the investigation was concluded with no charges of improprieties by the company, his daughter or himself.” (WPost)
GSA Chief Seeks to Cut Budget For Audits
“The new chief of the U.S. General Services Administration is trying to limit the ability of the agency’s inspector general to audit contracts for fraud or waste and has said oversight efforts are intimidating the workforce, according to government documents and interviews.”
“GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan, a Bush political appointee and former government contractor, has proposed cutting $5 million in spending on audits and shifting some responsibility for contract reviews to small, private audit contractors.” (WPost)
Guantanamo Inmates Turn to Freed Fellows
“Like more than a hundred enemy combatants held without charges at the Navy’s Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Hamid Al Razak of Afghanistan turned to a fellow prisoner for legal help.
“His bid for help unleashed a federal judge’s condemnation of the U.S. government’s detention policies.
“Dozens more held at Guantanamo, cut off from the outside world and lacking English language skills or any knowledge of the justice system, are still seeking representation from other detainees — who are either free now or have access to an attorney.” (AP)
FEC Advances Ideas for Improving Procedures
“In what likely will be one of its final policy moves of the year, the Federal Election Commission last week unveiled a trio of long-awaited enforcement-related proposals that may dramatically alter the commissionâs ability to process its caseload, for better or for worse.
“At a Nov. 30 meeting, the bipartisan commission unanimously agreed to seek public feedback on a program that would allow campaigns and others under FEC investigation to request an in-person hearing before the commission, at which individuals or their lawyers would be able to give oral arguments, prior to a determination by agency lawyers whether the law was broken.
“Although the FEC is not obligated statutorily to hold such hearings, election lawyers have long argued that under the current system the agency may be infringing on the due- process rights of suspected election-law violators by not providing an opportunity for them to argue their cases directly to the commissioners, who are nominated by GOP and Democratic leaders.” (Roll Call)
Feds Indict Daley Campaign Worker
“Pressing forward with their investigation of Mayor Richard Daley’s political machine, federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Friday against a campaign coordinator in the powerful Hispanic Democratic Organization.
“John Resa, 48, an employee with the city’s Water Management Department, was charged with lying when he told a grand jury that he had not sought city jobs to reward campaign workers for HDO.
” Prosecutors alleged that Resa regularly lobbied his superiors in HDO–including a former high-ranking city official–to get jobs, promotions and other benefits for his political workers. He pleaded not guilty Friday morning.” (Chicago Tribune)
Corruption Hits Cities in L.A.’s Shadows
“A string of gritty suburbs in the shadow of Los Angeles has produced a growing parade of public officials jailed for corruption, and prosecutors say illegal schemes on a scale more commonly associated with big Eastern cities have devoured tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.
“The latest to be led away in handcuffs is the former treasurer of South Gate, sentenced this past week to 10 years in prison.
“Already known for clotted freeways and fading neighborhoods, the area south of Los Angeles now is drawing additional notoriety for thieving, bribe-grabbing public officials.
“With little civic involvement by residents and only glancing media scrutiny, the cities ‘essentially laid themselves open for corruption, not through any fault of anybody’s, but more or less through some sense of benign neglect,’ said Jennifer Lentz Snyder, an assistant head deputy in the Los Angeles County district attorney’s public integrity division.” (AP)
