The Daily Muck

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) was penalized last year by the FEC for failing to disclose that his campaign fund went into debt for legal expenses related to the Mark Foley (R-FL) investigation. Hastert announced last year that he would retire from the House of Representatives. (Washington Post)

Politicians and lobbyists are already finding ways around the new ethics rules that took effect this year. And some new rules have not been implemented at all because of the battle in the Senate over nominees to the Federal Election Commission. (New York Times)

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) has not received replies to his requests from Bush administration officials asking for more information about allegations that female employees working for KBR, a government contractor, have been raped or sexually assaulted in Iraq. (ABC’s The Blotter)

Problems with new electronic voter registration databases could lead to the disenfranchisement of legal voters. A combination of human error and variation among the different databases may lead eligible voters to be dropped from the rolls because the data on their registration forms does not match exactly data in other government databases. (USA Today)

The appointment of Roger Wicker (R-MS) to the Senate has left an open seat on the House Appropriations Committee. No fewer than six representatives are competing for the position, including Jo Bonner (R-AL) a member of the ethics committee who has advocated bringing more transparency to the appropriations process. (CQ)

Some U.S. and U.K. officials are skeptical of Pakistan’s official explanations for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Scotland Yard announced that it will assist in the investigation, while Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) has called for the UN to create a special investigating commission. (Newsweek)