Second Ney Aide Subpoenaed
It’s the drip, drip drip that gets to a man: “A second member of embattled Republican Rep. Bob Ney’s staff has been subpoenaed to testify in the Justice Department’s investigation of influence-peddling in Congress,” AP reports.
“John Bennett, who works in Ney’s eastern Ohio district office, notified House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., of the subpoena with a letter read Monday into the Congressional Record.” That’s good news for Ney’s re-election campaign, right? (AP)
Pentagon Struggles With Cost Overruns and Delays
âItâs a perfect storm,â said Lawrence J. Korb, a former Pentagon assistant secretary, who served in the Reagan administration and is now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. âYou had this big buildup in military spending. That took a bubbling problem and made it worse. It made it more difficult to audit and keep track of what was going on. Itâs always been bad, but Iâve never seen it this bad.â (NY Times)
Defense Industry Moves to Kill McCain Amendment
“The defense aerospace industry is fighting to kill Senate legislation that seeks to curb the rising costs of weapons systems.
“The provision, crafted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and adopted as part of the Senateâs 2007 defense authorization bill, calls for the Pentagon to award fixed-price contracts for the research and development stage of major weapons systems.” (The Hill)
GOP Hopes for Quick Appeal in DeLay Campaign Case
“Republicans may need a quick court ruling that former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) is ineligible to run for Congress if they are to have a shot at retaining his seat in November.
“A prolonged lawsuit probably benefits DeLayâs opponent, former Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas), who could move forward with his campaign while Republicans try to figure out if DeLay has to remain on the ballot.” (The Hill)
DeLay Asks to Buy Replica George Washington Desk from His Former Hill Office
Ironically, the desk — valued at $14,000 — may not be for sale. (The Hill)
White House Asks for Dismissal of NSA Wiretap Suit
“The Bush administration on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping program, arguing that defending the four-year-old wiretapping program in open court would risk national security. In arguments before U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit, the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday renewed its call for a court order that would force the government to suspend its program of intercepting without a court order the international phone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens.” (Reuters, AP)
Online Wagering under Attack in Congress
“Gamblers who prefer their laptops to blackjack tables won’t like what Congress is doing. On Tuesday, the House plans to vote on a bill that would ban credit cards for paying online bets and could padlock gambling Web sites. The legislation would clarify existing law to spell out that it is illegal to gamble online. To enforce that ban, the bill would prohibit credit cards and other payment forms, such as electronic transfers, from being used to settle online wagers. It also would give law enforcement officials the authority to work with Internet providers to block access to gambling Web sites.” (AP)
Internet Poker Could Net US Billions in Tax: Study
“Regulating Internet poker could bring the U.S. government some $3.3 billion in taxes annually, according to a study to be released on Tuesday, ahead of an expected debate over legislation to ban online gambling.” (Reuters)
Ann Coulter Teetering On The Edge
“Not long ago I noted that The Shreveport Times was thinking of dropping Ann Coulter’s column. Today the paper reports that since this announcement the paper has been “buried alive under an avalanche” of emails about whether or not to dump her. The paper adds that it has “yet to make a decision.”” (Horse’s Mouth)
Lobbying Dollars
“PoliticalMoneyLine.com reports that federal lobbying totaled $1.2 billion in the last half of 2005, the first time such expenses have exceeded $200 million a month. For the full year, federal lobbying topped $2.36 billion, according to the Internet tracking service.” (Wash Wire)
Karl Rove Spins on Plame Questions
“[Aspen Institute President Walter Isaacson] posed the question in the same way [Bill] Clinton had Friday night. Issacson, parroting Clinton, pointed out that if a member of the Clinton administration had outed a CIA officer, “You’d be sending people to demand impeachment. You’d be playing it better than the Democrats can play it against you.” Rove then said that after a “careful, thoughtful, aggressive investigation,” then the person responsible should be fired. “Have confidence in the process,” he said. But Isaacson continued pressing on the issue asking, “Don’t you have some regrets about that? That was [a] regrettable event.” “I’m going to respect the fact that there’s an ongoing case,” Rove said, again to hissing from the audience.” (Aspen Times)
Giuliani Raises Money for Santorum
“Santorum, who polls show is running behind Democrat Bob Casey, is a firebrand conservative whose views on social issues like abortion strongly contrast with Giuliani’s. But Giuliani has been a dedicated ally, stressing Santorum’s commitment to national security affairs at a fundraiser for the candidate in mid-April.” (AP)
Democracy 21 Calls for Investigations into Representative Doolittle
“n a letter sent today to the House Ethics Committee, Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer called for an investigation into whether Representative John Doolittle (R-CA) violated House ethics rules by intervening in two case-specific matters pending at the Department of the Interior in support of lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s tribal clients during the same period that a company owned by Representative Doolittle’s wife received payments from Abramoff’s law firm, which inured to the personal financial benefit of Representative Doolittle’s family.” (Democracy 21)
Steele Fixes Photo Flap
After Democrats kicked up dust over Maryland GOP candidate for Senate Michael Steele’s use of a Rep. Steny Hoeyer (D-MD) pic, the Steele campaign has replaced it with a shot of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). “[D]efinitely a trade-up!â a Steele flack jibed. Why didn’t they have the McCain shot up in the first place? Do they use Howard Kaloogian’s old webmaster?
