The Daily Muck

In the middle of an FBI interview in August 2005 when his New Orleans home was raided, representative William Jefferson (D-LA) dialed the House general counsel’s office. Jefferson also received calls on his cellular phone, including one from someone who is now identified as “Lobbyist A” in the federal indictment against Jefferson. Recent FBI testimony about these calls – intended to show that Jefferson was not subjected to coercive interrogation – did not clarify whether the calls came before or after the FBI found $90,000 in Jefferson’s freezer. (The Hill)

Oregon pollster Bob Moore, whose company Moore Information has been linked to complaints about push polls relating to presidential candidates Mitt Romney and John McCain – agreed yesterday to appear in a New Hampshire court – but only to fight a subpoena, not comply with one. Moore said in a statement that his company “has never, currently does not nor will ever engage in push polling” and his attorney calls the investigation “baseless.” (AP)

When former representative Mark D. Siljander (R-MI) was first elected to Congress he believed that he won because “God wanted me in” and he frequently sported a “Jesus First” button. Now Siljander has become the first former member of Congress to be indicted for conspiring with an Islamic terrorist group. The government alleges that Siljander received $50,000 from an Islamic organization to lobby Congress to keep that organization off the list of terrorist organizations and that money was stolen from the U.S. Agency for International Development and that Siljander lied to federal agents about his involvement. (Washington Post)

A new report from the Government Accountability Office is questioning the effectiveness of two decades of U.S. sanctions against Iran. While the report concludes that more study is needed to be able to determine the full effects of the sanctions, it does note that Iran’s leaders, helped by rising oil prices and increasing trade with other Asian countries such as China, have found “workarounds” that help insulate them from the full force of the sanctions. (McClatchy)

A September 2007 report touted by the White House claimed that the Iraqi government was making “satisfactory progress in allocating funds to ministries and provinces.” However, the Government Accountability Office disputed this assertion yesterday and alleges that the Iraqi government had allocated only 4.4% of their budget by last August (the White House claimed it was 24%) and that allocations are now only reaching 8% (the State Department claims that in the next month or two the allocations will reach 60%). (Washington Post)

House Deputy General Counsel Kerry Kircher has denied Florida law enforcement officials from accessing former representative Mark Foley’s (R-FL) government computers because it would violate the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution. (ABC’s “The Blotter”)

Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party has appealed to the U.N. to investigate Bhutto’s murder. Bhutto’s lawyer has criticized Pakistan’s own probe of the assassination and notes that a British team of experts from Scotland Yard are operating under a limited mandate. (AFP)

A Democrat’s proposal in the House of Representatives to create an independent Office of Congressional Ethics is mired in a partisan stalemate. House Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) will not bring the bill to the floor until she knows how the Republicans will vote, yet House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has refused to reveal his intentions until the bill is introduced. (Politico)

Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) may be facing a strong electoral challenge for the first time in his brief congressional career. When Lipinski succeeded his father Bill, who had held the seat for over 20 years, in 2004 and again when he was re-elected in 2006, he faced Republican fields that included candidates picked by his own allies. This year, however, one of his opponents in the Democratic primary, Mark Pera, is asking questions about his relationship with his father, who is both a lobbyist for the transportation industry and a consultant on Lipinski’s payroll. (Chicago Sun-Times)

One of the nation’s largest veteran’s charity groups – Help Hospitalized Veterans – is under Congressional investigation for its shady practices. The organization, whose founder Roger Chapin recently fled to evade a federal subpoena, paid $3.8 million in salary and benefits to its founder and his wife between 1997 and 2005, and gave more than $19 million in contracts to a prominent conservative commentator and consultant. Today, Chapin will appear before Congressman Waxman’s (D-CA) committee. (Washington Post)