How much does a scandal cost?
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Fri Apr 27, 2007 at 09:26:28 AM EST
Have you ever wondered what exactly embattled, scandal-ridden politicians have to pay in legal fees? The Washington Post has a partial list of legals fees for the first three months of 2007 alone:
RNC: $500,000 last month alone. No official statement, but it's known that the RNC is still paying bills concerning the New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal.
Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL): $4,800 paid and $5,149 unpaid legal bills. The FEC has cited his 2004 campaign for problematic contributions to the tune of $800,000.
Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL): $70,000 paid and $20,000 unpaid bills. Two words: Mark Foley.
Mark Foley himself: more than $200,000. And much more to come, I'm sure.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH): $52,533. Well, this is news to me. Boehner has a long-running lawsuit against Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) stemming from an illegally-recorded phone call.
DSCC: $50,466. They say this is their normal quarterly retainer for help complying with election laws.
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI): $75,000. His office says they don't know what these legal fees are for. Yeah, that sounds strange to me, too. If you know anything about this, fill us in in the comments.
Former Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT): $120,000 from his leftover campaign funds. No concrete details, but Burns has long and storied ties to Jack Abramoff.
Former Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA): $132,025. The FBI is investigating contracts Weldon's daughter received while he was in office.
Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA): $13,516 so far. And sure to skyrocket.
An Ominous Turn for House Ethics Reform
By James Benton
Posted on Fri Feb 02, 2007 at 03:32:56 PM EST
Last month, the House was quick to claim victory on a package of ethics reforms it adopted as part of their much-ballyhooed "First 100 Hours." But as Congress began significant debate on Iraq and 2007 and 2008 appropriations, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) dealt a tough blow to further ethics reforms.
They did so by naming an ethics task force that is to recommend, by May 1, whether the House can enforce its own ethics rules. The alternative would be to create some outside office to carry out ethics enforcement and investigations.
Independent enforcement is a no-brainer. In two words: Mark Foley.
He gets super-super buddy-buddy with House pages not even half his age, members know what he's doing and ignore it FOR YEARS, and when the scandal erupts, the Ethics Committee can't find ANYONE to punish?
Hastert, Reynolds Testify in Foley Inquiry
By James Benton
Posted on Wed Oct 25, 2006 at 03:00:35 PM EST
With elections less than two weeks out, Washington these days is fairly quiet as all of the House and a third of the Senate has gone home to campaign.
About the only members left in town these days are the ones testifying to the House Ethics Committee as it investigates former Rep. Mark Foley's digital wooing of House pages.
Yesterday, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-IL, and Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-NY, went before the committee. Hastert became the first Speaker to go before the committee since Newt Gingrich did in 1997 during its investigation into Gingrich's book deal.
Reynolds, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, appeared before the committee just before Hastert. Reynolds has said he personally told Hastert that Foley had sent suspicious e-mails to a teenager in Louisiana. Hastert has said he didn't recall that conversation.
Boehner on the Record
By Mike Surrusco
Posted on Fri Feb 03, 2006 at 10:28:33 AM EST
This is an excerpt from "John Boehner: For a Majority That Matters," January 9, 2006: So I'd offer a few thoughts for how to respond to the Abramoff scandal: What Abramoff and his colleagues have admitted to doing is already illegal; the allegations against House colleagues, if proven, are already impermissible under House rules. True. My only question is: if proven by whom? The ethics committees? This scandal has been going on for more than a year and neither one has done bupkis. So what if House Members have done impermissible things, no one is going to file an ethics complaint or conduct an investigation. This is how the feds got involved. We should think seriously about bringing greater transparency to the lobbying industry. Anyone - anyone - can call himself or herself a lobbyist, recruit clients, and make appearances on their behalf on the Hill. Clearer standards and greater transparency would promote greater institutional integrity and protect us against those in the industry who put their own short-term interests against the public trust. Also true. Of course, it takes two to tango. Many of us have served in state government, which have their own systems in place for ensuring integrity in public office. We need to take full advantage of their experience with these systems and how they've worked. Accordingly, I'd convene a task force of current House Members who have previously served in state government to identify best practices currently in place at the state level. Great! Let me take this opportunity to point out that according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, more than 30 states have independent ethics oversight of the legislatures. I would include that among the best practices. Will they?
John Boehner
By Mike Surrusco
Posted on Thu Feb 02, 2006 at 01:55:36 PM EST
New Republican Majority Leader.
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