Nancy Pelosi is draining the swamp of corruption.

strtrcr50 · Oct 30, 2009

Wait a minute. No she isn't. Looks like it takes a republican..

Jeff Flake to Nancy Pelosi: Strip PMA Group earmarks.
Citing the revelation of an ethics review of senior defense appropriators, a leading House earmark critic has asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to eliminate more than 70 projects — totaling nearly $200 million —- for former clients of a now-defunct lobbying firm with close ties to the powerful lawmakers.

“I respectfully request that all of the no-bid contracts in the form of House earmarks for former clients of PMA be stripped from the pending fiscal year 2010 defense appropriations conference report,” Rep. Jeff Flake wrote to Pelosi (D-Calif.), Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) and the top Republican on the committee, Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) in a letter released to POLITICO after it was sent. “There is simply no defensible reason to allow no-bid contracts for former clients of a lobby firm embroiled in an ongoing scandal currently under investigation.”

Flake’s request, which refers to earmarks for former clients of the defunct PMA Group lobbying firm, is the first fallout from the revelation on the Washington Post Web site Thursday night that ethics investigators has been looking at the actions of seven of the 16 members of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, including the five most senior Democrats on the panel and the top Republican, Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.).

The PMA Group, stocked with former employees of defense appropriators, specialized in winning defense-bill earmarks for its clients. A review of the fiscal 2008 defense appropriations bill by the watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense found nearly $300 million in earmarks for PMA Group clients.

Its political action committee, its lobbyists and executives of its client companies served as a ready fundraising base for the senior defense appropriators and their allies in Congress, funneling millions of dollars of campaign contributions to lawmakers over the course of the last decade.

At the center of the setup was Paul Magliocchetti, a former Appropriations aide with close ties to Defense Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.). His colleagues at PMA included aides with strong ties to Defense Subcommittee members Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), Jim Moran (D-Va.), and Norm Dicks (D-Wash.).

The FBI raided Magliocchetti’s office and home, precipitating the disbanding of PMA Group at the end of last year. Federal investigators are looking into whether he illegally used “straw donors” to exceed limitations on campaign contributions.

In addition to those members, the ethics committee is also looking at Defense appropriators Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Bill Young (R-Fla.) and Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), though they have not previously been linked PMA and may be under review for other matters.

Moran and Kaptur have both talked with the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, which has the power to investigate complaints lodged by members of the public. The House’s ethics panel – called the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct – cannot accept complaints made by anyone other than House members.

Flake has been the leading critic of PMA and tried several times earlier this year to get the House to force the ethics committee to investigate the relationship between earmarks and campaign contributions.

Ultimately, Democratic leaders had the House refer a non-binding resolution to the ethics committee this summer, giving cover to party members who didn’t want to vote against a probe.

“[N]o one can deny the cloud that the PMA scandal continues to cast over this institution,” Flake wrote in his letter, which was copied to Ethics Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and the panel’s ranking Republican, Jo Bonner of Alabama.

Jeff Flake to Nancy Pelosi: Strip PMA Group earmarks - Jonathan Allen - POLITICO.com
Lobbyists--check
No bid contracts--check
Front page articles on CNN and MSNBC--

strtrcr50 · Oct 30, 2009

Hmm.. Look. A little more swamp draining..

Congressional ethics report leaks, revealing names
LARRY MARGASAK

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Internal investigations into the conduct of over two dozen House members were exposed in an extraordinary, Internet-era breach involving the secretive process by which Congress polices lawmaker ethics.

Revelations of the mostly preliminary inquiries by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct , also known as the Ethics committee , and a panel that refers cases to it shook the chamber as lawmakers were immersed in a series of scheduled votes Thursday.

The panel announced that it was investigating two California Democrats , Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson , even as its embarrassed leaders took pains to explain that several other lawmakers' names should not have been revealed and they may have done nothing wrong.

The committee said it was investigating whether Waters used her influence to help a bank in which her husband owned stock, and whether the couple benefited as a result. Separately, the panel is looking into whether Richardson failed to disclose required information on her financial disclosure forms and received special treatment from a lender.

Ethics chairwoman Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., went to the House floor to announce that a confidential weekly report of the committee from July had leaked out in a case of "cyber-hacking."

A committee statement said that its security was breached through "peer to peer file sharing software" used by a junior employee who was working from home. The employee was fired.

The fired employee was allowed to work on the document at home but was responsible for keeping it secure, said a House staff member with knowledge of the events, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss it.

The employee didn't realize that the file saved on a hard drive could be downloaded to another computer using the same file sharing software, according to the staffer. He said there is no indication that the individual accessing the document was looking for ethics committee material.

The July report contains a summary of the committee's work at the time, but Lofgren said no inferences should be made about anyone whose name is mentioned.

The committee typically makes a public announcement about its activities only when it begins an investigation of potential rule-breaking, which is conducted by an investigative subcommittee whose members also are made public.

However, the weekly reports include a summary of the committee's work at an earlier stage, when its members and staff scrutinize lawmakers to see whether an investigation is warranted.

The Washington Post reported in its online edition Thursday that the document was disclosed on a publicly accessible computer network and made available to the newspaper by a source familiar with such networks.

The Post reported that more than 30 lawmakers and a few staff members were under scrutiny, including nearly half the members of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.

The previously disclosed inquiry involves lawmakers who steered appropriations to clients of a now-defunct lobbying firm and received campaign contributions from the firm and its clients.

The names included three lawmakers previously identified in the inquiry: the chairman of the defense subcommittee, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.; and Reps. Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., and James Moran, D-Va.

The Post said others whose names were in the report included Reps. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., and Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan.

The committee, however, has not announced an investigation of any of these lawmakers.

Waters is the No. 3 Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee and chairwoman of its subcommittee on housing. She has been an influential voice in the committee's work to overhaul financial regulations.

Waters came under scrutiny after former Treasury Department officials said she helped arrange a meeting between regulators and executives at OneUnited Bank last year without mentioning her husband's financial ties to the institution.

Her husband, Sidney Williams, holds at least $250,000 in the bank's stock and previously had served on its board. Waters' spokesman, Michael Levin, said Williams was no longer on the board when the meeting was arranged.

Waters has said the National Bankers Association, a trade group, requested the meeting. She defended her role in assisting minority-owned banks in the midst of the nation's financial meltdown and dismissed suggestions she used her influence to steer government aid to the bank.

"I am confident that as the investigation moves forward the panel will discover that there are no facts to support allegations that I have acted improperly," Waters said in a statement.

The committee unanimously voted to establish an investigative subcommittee to gather evidence and determine whether Waters violated standards of conduct.

The committee said it would investigate "alleged communications and activities with, or on behalf of, the National Bankers Association or OneUnited Bank" and "the benefit, if any, Rep. Waters or her husband received as a result."

The committee also voted unanimously to investigate whether Richardson violated House rules, its Code of Conduct or the Ethics in Government Act by failing to disclose property, income and liabilities on her financial disclosure forms.

The investigation also will determine whether Richardson received an impermissible gift or preferential treatment from a lender, "relating to the foreclosure, recission of the foreclosure sale or loan modification agreement" for her Sacramento, Calif., property.

Richardson said she has been subjected to "premature judgments, speculation and baseless distractions that will finally be addressed in a fair, unbiased, bipartisan evaluation of the facts."

"Like 4.3 million Americans in the last year who faced financial problems because of a personal crisis like a divorce, death in the family, unexpected job and living changes and an erroneous property sale, all of which I have experienced in the span of slightly over a year, I have worked to resolve a personal financial situation," she said in a statement.

The committee ended an investigation of Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., and released a report finding no ethical violations. It investigated whether Graves used his position on the House Small Business Committee to invite a longtime friend and business partner of his wife to testify at a committee hearing.

Congressional ethics report leaks, revealing names | AP | 10/30/2009
Go get those evil republicans Maxine Waters and John Murtha.

jikelly · Oct 30, 2009

As if republicans were above corruption. Please wake up.

strtrcr50 · Oct 30, 2009

jikelly said: ↑

As if republicans were above corruption. Please wake up.

Didn't say they were. Don't take the easy way out. Don't you remember Nancy saying she was going to drain the swamp of republican corruption? Looks like she should have started in her own backyard.

jikelly · Oct 30, 2009

strtrcr50 said: ↑

Didn't say they were. Don't take the easy way out. Don't you remember Nancy saying she was going to drain the swamp of republican corruption? Looks like she should have started in her own backyard.

She probably should have started with herself for that matter. There is a problem with our politicians.

Venom351R · Oct 30, 2009

jikelly said: ↑

She probably should have started with herself for that matter. There is a problem with our politicians.

There is also a problem with SCIU and ACORN and dead people voting for democrats. Yes corruption is on both sides, if I had to pick which side was worse I would say its our current party in control.

Dusstbuster · Oct 31, 2009

If Nancy Pelosi or Barney Franks airplane crashed I would throw a party, that's Nancy Pelosi summed up to me in a nutshell.

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Nancy Pelosi is draining the swamp of corruption.

strtrcr50 New Member

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Dusstbuster I love meat more than anything! I just have a spec

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