The Daily Muck

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

On the Diamond, Republicans Taunt Jefferson
The annual congressional baseball game was last week. And despite the taint of scandal enveloping the GOP side of the Hill, Republicans taunted Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) with jeers of “cold, hard cash! Cold, hard cash!” when he came up to bat, Roll Call‘s Mary Ann Akers reports.

Jefferson came in as a pinch hitter in the 7th inning. He hit a pop fly, which was easily caught. His spokeswoman later denied the taunting affected his performance — he couldn’t hear it, she said. (Roll Call)

Spy Agency Sought U.S. Call Records Before 9/11, Lawyers Say

From Bloomberg News:

The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.

The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation’s largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers….

The NSA initiative, code-named “Pioneer Groundbreaker,” asked AT&T unit AT&T Solutions to build exclusively for NSA use a network operations center which duplicated AT&T’s Bedminster, New Jersey facility, the court papers claimed. That plan was abandoned in favor of the NSA acquiring the monitoring technology itself, plaintiffs’ lawyers Bruce Afran said.

Close Ney Aide Subpoenaed
Campaign manager Matthew D. Parker is one of Ney’s top aides. And the two appear to be close: The men own houses on the same street in Ohio. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Ohio’s Ney Stuck in Wait-And-See Game
“There’s often a caveat these days when Ohio Republicans talk about re-election prospects for their embattled congressman, Bob Ney. As state Rep. Clyde Evans put it at a recent GOP barbecue, ‘Unless he’s indicted, I think he’ll do very well.'” (USA Today)

Facing Probe, CA Congressmen Won’t Share Earmark Lists

Reps. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) and Ken Calvert (R-CA) declined a request from a Southern California paper to list the requests they made for earmarked funds this year. Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) declined similar requests. (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

California Tracked Protesters in the Name of Security
“Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office in charge of protecting California against terrorism has tracked demonstrations staged by political and antiwar groups, a practice that senior law enforcement officials say is an abuse of civil liberties.” (LAT)

Hiring Federal Lobbyists, Town Learns Money Talks
“Cities and towns — and school districts and transit authorities and utility agencies — across the country are increasingly putting lobbyists on retainer to leverage their local tax dollars into federal tax dollars.” (NYTimes)

Schwarzenegger Orders Release of Reports
“Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered the release of intelligence reports prepared for the state Office of Homeland Security, a move administration officials say will quell complaints that California engaged in widespread monitoring of political protests.” (AP)

NYT: Bank Program Not News to Terrorists
“Published reports that the U.S. was monitoring international banking transactions were not news to the terrorists who were its target because the Bush administration had already “talked openly” about the effort, The New York Times’ top editor said Sunday.” (AP)

War on Terror Ruling Worries GOP Lawmakers
Two Republican senators said Sunday that Congress must rein in the Supreme Court ruling that international law applies to the Bush administration’s conduct in the war on terror. Thursday’s Supreme Court decision embracing Article 3 of the Geneva Accords in the military commission case of Osama bin Laden’s former driver strikes at the heart of the White House’s legal position in the war on al-Qaida. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the second-ranking GOP leader in the Senate, said the 5-3 court decision “means that American servicemen potentially could be accused of war crimes….The Geneva Convention’s Article 3 is “far beyond our domestic law when it comes to terrorism, and Congress can rein it in, and I think we should,” said Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., assigned as a Reserve Judge to the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals. Graham spoke on “Fox News Sunday.” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., also expressed concern about the decision, saying it “is somewhat of a departure, in my view, of people who are stateless terrorists.” (AP)

15 Judiciary Democrats Seek Hearings on Guantanamo
Fifteen Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee have asked the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to conduct hearings after last week’s Supreme Court decision which overturned the Bush Administration’s Military Tribunal requirements. (Raw Story)


Schedule Set in Texas Redistricting Case

“A federal panel gave both sides in Texas’ redistricting fight two weeks to propose fixes to a congressional district whose borders were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.” (AP)

Judge Waits To Decide Libby Delay Request
“A federal judge plans to wait until late August to decide whether to delay former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s trial on perjury and obstruction charges in the CIA leak investigation.” (AP)

Munitions Found in Iraq Renew Debate
Walter Pincus reports on the House Armed Services Committee hearings last week and the push by Republicans to claim that WMD really were found. (WaPo)

Two Views of Terror Suspects: Die-Hards or Dupes
“The seven men who were arrested here last week on terror charges were shown Friday on undercover videotapes solemnly reciting oaths of loyalty to Al Qaeda, repeating the words that an F.B.I. informant had given them to say…. Lawyers for some of the men said in interviews this week that their clients knew little about Mr. Batiste’s plans to attack the Sears Tower. Some of the lawyers criticized the new evidence presented Friday as a sign that the government had largely concocted other parts of the case and had lured the men into doing more than they would have on their own.” (NYT)

Congress Targets Social-Networking Sites
“Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat, originally proposed legislation in April that would require Internet service providers to retain activity logs to aid in criminal investigations, including ones involving child abuse. Now DeGette and some of her colleagues in the House of Representatives are suggesting that social-networking sites should be required to do the same thing. ” (CNET)

Feds Taking Longer to Answer FOIA Requests
“Citizens, groups and corporations are putting in fewer requests for information from the federal government, but it’s taking longer to get an answer and they get turned down more often, a study reported Friday.” (AP)

Conservatives Press to Defeat ‘527’ Group Reform
“Two years ago, Republicans were organizing against new, loosely regulated political groups that were raising money to attack President Bush. Now, illustrating how roles often reverse in politics, some of the party’s conservative activists are trying to stop legislation that would choke off those groups.” (WSJ)

Lawmakers Seek Action After Ruling on Detainees
“Democratic leaders argued on Sunday that the Supreme Court’s rebuke of the Bush administration last week underscored the costs of President Bush’s “unilateral” approach to the fight against terrorism.” (NYTimes)

DeLay Has $1.4 Million in Trial War Chest
“Tom DeLay has raised more than $330,000 [for his legal defense fund] since Jan. 1 and has nearly $1 million in unpaid legal bills. DeLay is free to use the remaining balance in his congressional campaign fund — listed at more than $1.4 million on March 31 in his last quarterly report — for his defense.” (Houston Chron)

White House: Washington’s Frequent (Freebie) Fliers
“As Congress debates a crackdown on members’ and their staffs’ accepting travel paid for by outside interests, newly filed records show Capitol Hill lawmakers aren’t Washington’s only frequent fliers. According to filings with the Office of Government Ethics, White House staffers have accepted nearly $135,000 in free trips since November 2004. Among those picking up the tab: some of the president’s top business supporters, including the National Association of Manufacturers, and dozens of conservative and religious groups, among them the Southern Baptist Convention, Focus on the Family and the Federalist Society.” (Newsweek)

Guam Governor Praises, Disputes DoJ Report
Some comedy from Guam – Carl Gutierrez was delighted with the DoJ IG’s finding that former US Attorney Frederick Black was wrong when he alleged that he was replaced because of his work against Jack Abramoff. Black, remember, conducted a huge investigation of Gutierrez’s administration. But Gutierrez disputes the part of the report that implicates him in colluding with Abramoff to oust Black. Did I mention that he’s making another run for governor there? (PDN)

Katrina Looters Get 15 Year Sentences
15 years for looting a liquor store…. Meanwhile two men working as contractors on Katrina work in Mississippi received a sentence of one year for bribing an official. (TalkLeft)

Right-Wing Host Details Desired Execution of NYT Editor Bill Keller
I’ve been conducting a rather bracing on-the-record email interview with Melanie Morgan, the sometime guest on MSNBC and right-wing talk show host on San Francisco’s KSFO-FM. She has graciously offered me some, shall we say, clarification of her remarks to the effect that she’d happily countenance the slow and agonizing execution of Bill Keller over his decision to publish the big Times piece on the U.S.’s secret financial surveillance program. (Horse’s Mouth)

GOP’s Kean Plans ‘Swift Boat’-Style Film
Republican Tom Kean Jr.’s campaign plans a “Swift Boat”-style film accusing his Democratic rival of involvement in a New Jersey mob-connected kickback scheme despite public records and statements disputing that claim. (AP)

Dems Try to Enacy Lobby Reform Via Rules Change

In a bid to salvage some progress from the fizzling drive to overhaul lobbying and ethics laws, Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold (Wis.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) are pushing their colleagues to adopt as a rules change a slate of reforms from a package the Senate passed months ago.

A resolution the pair introduced late last week would immediately ban gifts, meals and tickets from lobbyists, require pre-approval for privately funded trips and expand revolving-door prohibitions, among other items.

(Roll Call)

Right, Left Push for Opennness in Government Spending
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is the latest champion of the idea that details of government spending should be easily accessible by voters. (NYTimes)

MZM Manager Accused Of Violating FEC Rules
“The director of a defense contractor’s office in Martinsville, Va., was accused yesterday of illegally funneling campaign donations to Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. (R-Va.), an act that the contractor has said was meant to obtain Goode’s help in arranging defense funding for his company. A federal court filing by the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Kenneth L. Wainstein, said that Richard A. Berglund, a facility manager for MZM Inc., had violated the Federal Election Campaign Act by “aiding and abetting” a scheme by MZM’s owner to donate the funds in the name of others.” (WaPo)

Lowery Firm Won Job without Low Bid
” San Bernardino County officials say they hired a Washington lobbying firm now under investigation through an open and competitive process and not because of its relationship to Inland Rep. Jerry Lewis. Before the county selected Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton & White in 2002, the firm received favorable reviews from aides to three Inland lawmakers, including Lewis’ chief of staff. But it did not get the highest marks on internal county evaluations of the 14 candidates and was not the cheapest, recently released county documents show.” (PE)

Redlands Considers Change of Lobbyist from Lowery Firm
” The Redlands City Council is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to seek a replacement for its lobbyist in Washington, D.C., a firm now under investigation. Redlands began rethinking its 6-year relationship with the firm formerly known as Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton & White in mid-June at the request of Councilwoman Pat Gilbreath. A report issued Thursday by City Manager John Davidson refers to the firm dissolving and recommends that the city seek bids from a range of firms if it continues using a lobbyist. ” (PE)

VA Can Publicize Credit Monitoring Offer
“The Veterans Affairs Department is free to publicize a no-cost credit monitoring offer to veterans whose personal information was stolen, a federal judge ruled Friday….Attorneys in the class-action suit had argued that accepting the offer, which was advertised on the VA’s Web site, could hamper the veterans’ chances of winning more money in court.” (AP)

Latest Muckraker
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: