12/11: Ethics Probes May Saddle Democrats in 2010
The House ethics committee investigation of Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is likely to extend well into 2010, according to sources familiar with the probe, meaning that the fate of the powerful chairman of the Ways and Means Committee could become a major political issue for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and the Democratic leadership during a difficult election year.
12/9: Justice Department Subpoenaed in New Black Panthers Case
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, frustrated by the Justice Department’s failure to explain the dismissal of charges against New Black Panther Party members who disrupted a Philadelphia polling place during last year’s elections, has subpoenaed the department demanding records showing how the case was handled.
10/30: Accidental Disclosure
House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.
The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer.
10/30: Report: Dozens in Congress Under Ethics Scrutiny
Nearly half the members of a House panel in control of Pentagon spending are under scrutiny by ethics investigators in Congress, The Washington Post reported Friday, citing a leaked confidential House ethics committee report.
Investigations by two separate ethics offices include an examination of Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.,chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on defense, and six other lawmakers and their relationships with an influential lobbying firm, the newspaper said.
10/27: Working Families ‘Scam’ to Boost Pals
The labor-backed Working Families Party has engaged in “an audacious scheme to violate the law” to help the party’s favored political candidates get elected, a sweeping new lawsuit charges.
The first-of-its-kind suit says the WFP created a political outfit, Data and Field Services, that it is using to “circumvent state election and local campaign finance laws.”
10/6: Coburn: I’ll Tell Ethics Committee About Ensign
Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn suggested Tuesday that he’s willing to testify before the Senate Ethics Committee about the sex scandal surrounding his Republican colleague John Ensign.
When Ensign admitted this summer that he’d had an affair with a staffer, Coburn said that he would never reveal what he and Ensign said to one another about the affair.
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10/5: The Case Against Charlie Rangel
On April 9, 1965, a 34-year-old lawyer named Charles Rangel took out a low-interest mortgage to renovate his childhood home — a row house on West 132nd Street that he had just inherited from his grandfather.
The $39,350 loan came from a New York City program to develop low-income housing. Rangel and his sister Frances were to use the money to turn the family home in Central Harlem, which Rangel affectionately called Buckingham Palace, into six apartments.
9/30: Defunding ACORN Faces Surprise Hurdles
Congress is rushing to defund the controversial group ACORN, but its efforts might have unintended consequences: Some argue that one version of the effort violates the Constitution, while a growing chorus says a second measure is so broad that it could block major contractors such as the Boeing Co. from getting government jobs.
The Senate has twice adopted amendments cutting off funding for the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. The House has separately passed the “Defund ACORN Act,” which goes beyond ACORN to prohibit funding for any organization that has filed fraudulent paperwork with the government or violated campaign finance laws.
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9/29: Fund-Raiser Hsu Sentenced to 24 Years on Campaign-Finance Violations
A federal judge sentenced former Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu to more than 24 years in prison for violating campaign-finance laws.
Mr. Hsu was sentenced Tuesday at a federal court in Manhattan.
His donations became an embarrassment for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign. His arrest led Ms. Clinton to return more than $800,000 to donors linked to Mr. Hsu.
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9/25: Reid Blocks ACORN Probe
ACORN — the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — is stinking up Washington.
And this is far more significant than if a suspiciously large number of operatives for a purely “private” outfit had been found systematically bending and breaking the law, because ACORN receives and spends taxpayer money — lots of it — and had carried the imprimatur of official partnerships with the IRS, the Census Bureau … the kind of “cred” that in the political world comes only from “who you know.”
Yes, ACORN has friends in high places — friends who are still stonewalling attempts to trace where all that tax money went … perhaps because they know who still has cookie crumbs all over their hands.
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