“Everybody knew that Judicial Watch had gotten the shaft. It just wasn’t clear how. Well, here’s how: the Secret Service doesn’t have the records – the White House does. That’s because the Secret Service transfers their more comprehensive visitor logs, called WAVES (Workers Appointments and Visitors Entry System) records, to the White House every 60 days.” TPM‘s Paul Kiel explains why the Secret Service records of Abramoff came up basically blank. (Via Now This.)
Category: GOP Culture of Corruption
We’re talking about ethics.
Grinding into action, oh, at least 18 months late, the House Ethics Committee begins investigations into Bob Ney and Duke Cunningham, as well as Dem William Jefferson.
Hard Time for Tobin.
As a follow-up to a story last month, three GOP political operatives are found guilty of violating communications law for clogging NH phone banks in 2002. (Among them is James Tobin, the guy who called the White House 22 times during the misdeed, and who will now serve 10 months for his role in the scheme.) “[T]he case has drawn complaints even from Republicans. By covering Tobin’s legal fees, ‘the GOP appears to sanction and institutionalize corruption within the party,’ Craig Shirley, of Shirley & Banister Public Affairs, recently wrote in a commentary.”
Ayes for Ney / Straight Pork Express.
How deep runs the culture of corruption among the GOP? While House Republicans have been sniping at their Senate colleagues of late, most of them have nothing but praise for “dead man walking” Bob Ney. When Ney — despite having four big-name witnesses arrayed against him — recently vowed not to resign his seat, “an overwhelming majority of the members present, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), gave Ney a standing ovation.” And, in related news, The Hill finds that the anti-earmark provision of the recent phantom reform bill is riddled with loopholes big enough to drive a pork-truck through.
Landing more fish.
The myriad inquiries into Republican corruption, particularly those involving the network of convicted felon Randy “Duke” Cunningham, start circling a few more names this week. FBI agents searched the home and office of Dusty Foggo, the former #3 man at CIA (handpicked by Porter Goss) who’s been rumored to be a major reason for Goss’ downfall, this morning. Similarly, and apparently as another tangent to the Cunningham case, the Justice Department has begun investigating House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA), and particularly his relationship to a lobbying firm specializing in earmarking. Is Duke the new Casino Jack?
Abramoff the Record.
Not a smoking gun just yet…The Secret Service logs obtained by Judicial Watch reveal only two short White House trips taken by Casino Jack, one in 2001 and one in 2004. “The White House said last week that the Secret Service’s logs documenting Abramoff’s entries into the executive mansion complex might not reveal all meetings. ‘I don’t know exactly what they’ll be providing, but they only have certain records and so I just wouldn’t view it as a complete historical record,’ spokesman Scott McClellan said.” Ok, then, I won’t.
I’d like to buy a Volz.
As the Bunk would say, this is great po-lice work. Prosecutors flip another Casino-Jack-implicated GOP congressional aide in Neil Volz, former chief of staff to Delay/Abramoff flunky Bob Ney, meaning that — despite handily winning his Ohio primary last week — the “Mayor of Capitol Hill” is as good as gone. “Volz…is the fifth cooperating witness, including Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty and agreed to provide evidence against Ney in the ongoing criminal investigation.”
Closure for Karl?
All the t’s have been crossed and Novaks have been questioned…Now, according to the Post‘s Jim Vanderhei, Plamegate prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s extended investigation of Karl Rove is nearing resolution. “Rove expects to learn as soon as this month if he will be indicted — or publicly cleared of wrongdoing — for making false statements in the CIA leak case, according to sources close to the presidential adviser. An indictment would be devastating to a White House already battered by low poll numbers, a staff shake-up and a stalled agenda.”
No Love for Libby.
“I’m just not going to let this case turn into a judicial resolution of the legitimacy of the war or the accuracy of the president’s State of the Union address.” The verdict isn’t it yet — still, it seems Plamegate Judge Reggie Walton is not amused by the Libby defense’s recent attempts at graymail.
Goss Begone.
As y’all have probably heard by now, controversial CIA chief Porter Goss was forced to quit his post yesterday, no doubt to much rejoicing at Langley. “As the normally mild-mannered Ivo Daalder, a former staff member at the National Security Council under Bill Clinton, put it, ‘Porter Goss was such an absolute disaster for the agency and our national security that his departure comes not a day too soon.’” Goss chalked up his abrupt dismissal as “just one of those mysteries,” but other reports suggest the real reason — bribes, poker, and prostitutes — is less mysterious than it is just plain unsavory. “‘It’s all about the Duke Cunningham scandal,’ a senior law enforcement official told the Daily News in reference to Goss’ resignation.” As for his replacement, Dubya has tapped former NSA chief Michael Hayden, which may mean the warrantless wiretaps may soon get another hearing in the Senate.