The 2008 Republican and Democratic conventions were underwritten by hefty contributions from the institutions and individuals at the center of the country’s financial crisis, according to a report released Wednesday by the Center for Responsive Politics and the Campaign Finance Institute. Insurance giant AIG, which has since received more than $150 billion in federal money, gave $1.5 million; mortgage company Freddie Mac, now a government enterprise, donated $500,000. In all, the donations come to about $14 million. (Wall Street Journal/Politico)
The Supreme Court could hold former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller responsible for abuse of Muslim and Arab detainees in the days after September 11, 2001, if Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani Muslim held in solitary confinement in Brooklyn for 6 months, wins the case he has brought against the officials. Iqbal must prove that Ashcroft and Mueller are responsible for his treatment. On Wednesday, the justices “offered no clear indication” that it would stop Ashcroft and Mueller from being named in the suitaccording to the AP. (NYTimes/AP)
Part of the proposed auto bailout plan would reinstate a tax loophole, Silo, which allows companies to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes. The I.R.S. outlawed the shelter in 2004. A version of the bill passed the House Wednesday, though its fate in the Senate remained uncertain. (New York Times)
North Dakota, Louisiana, and Alaska, finish first in the race to be most corrupt state in the Union, according to a USA Today analysis of per capita public corruption convictions. Illinois — home to the governor that allegedly tried to sell a Senate seat — enters the list at 18. (TPM’s own most scandalous awards will be announced next week.) (USA Today)
The Senate strengthened oversight of the Treasury’s bailout Wednesday in a bill that gives Neil Barofsky, the program’s internal inspector, the authority to investigate the use of bailout money and hire auditors. It also allocates funding. (Reuters)
U.S. automaker Chrysler and its majority owner Cerberus Capital Management LP are refusing to make public the company’s recent financial statements, writes Bloomberg News columnist Jonathan Weil, despite their demand for bailout funds. (ProPublica/Bloomberg)
Relatives of 9/11 victims that have criticized the government’s handling of terrorism prosecutions accused the Bush administration of barring them from attending military tribunals in Guantanamo for that reason. The Pentagon said the five attendees were chosen by lottery from 113 people. (AP)
Alaska GOP Rep. Don Young, who will be the second most senior member of the House next year, lost his senior position on the powerful House Natural Resources Committee, fallout from the federal investigation into his fundraising activities. Since 2007, the investigation has cost Young $1.1 million. (Anchorage Daily News)
