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| Kenyan Obama... |
 Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 11:58 am |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/30/AR2009103
001959.html
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.
The ethics committee is one of the most secretive panels in Congress,
and its members and staff members sign oaths not to disclose any
activities related to its past or present investigations. Watchdog
groups have accused the committee of not actively pursuing inquiries;
the newly disclosed document indicates the panel is conducting far more
investigations than it had revealed.
Shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday, the committee chairman, Zoe Lofgren
(D-Calif.), interrupted a series of House votes to alert lawmakers about
the breach. She cautioned that some of the panel's activities are
preliminary and not a conclusive sign of inappropriate behavior.
"No inference should be made as to any member," she said.
Rep. Jo Bonner (Ala.), the committee's ranking Republican, said the
breach was an isolated incident.
The 22-page "Committee on Standards Weekly Summary Report" gives brief
summaries of ethics panel investigations of the conduct of 19 lawmakers
and a few staff members. It also outlines the work of the new Office of
Congressional Ethics, a quasi-independent body that initiates
investigations and provides recommendations to the ethics committee. The
document indicated that the office was reviewing the activities of 14
other lawmakers. Some were under review by both ethics bodies.
On Friday, Melanie Sloan, the executive director of the watchdog group
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said she was
"pleasantly surprised" to learn that the ethics committee is
scrutinizing so many lawmakers, but she cautioned that launching an
investigation is only a start.
"The real question is whether any of the members under investigation
will ever be held accountable for their conduct," Sloan said in a
statement. "The committee's record on such matters is dismal."
A broader inquiry
Ethics committee investigations are not uncommon. Most result in private
letters that either exonerate or reprimand a member. In some rare
instances, the censure is more severe.
Many of the broad outlines of the cases cited in the July document are
known -- the committee announced over the summer that it was reviewing
lawmakers with connections to the now-closed PMA Group, a lobbying firm.
But the document indicates that the inquiry was broader than initially
believed. It included a review of seven lawmakers on the House
Appropriations defense subcommittee who have steered federal money to
the firm's clients and have also received large campaign contributions.
The document also disclosed that:
-- Ethics committee staff members have interviewed House Ways and Means
Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) about one element of the complex
investigation of his personal finances, as well as the lawmaker's top
aide and his son. Rangel said he spoke with ethics committee staff
members regarding a conference that he and four other members of the
Congressional Black Caucus attended last November in St. Martin. The
trip initially was said to be sponsored by a nonprofit foundation run by
a newspaper. But the three-day event, at a luxury resort, was
underwritten by major corporations such as Citigroup, Pfizer and AT&T.
Rules passed in 2007, shortly after Democrats reclaimed the majority
following a wave of corruption cases against Republicans, bar private
companies from paying for congressional travel.
Rangel said he has not discussed other parts of the investigation of his
finances with the committee. "I'm waiting for that, anxiously," he said.
-- The Justice Department has told the ethics panel to suspend a probe
of Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-W.Va.), whose personal finances federal
investigators began reviewing in early 2006 after complaints from a
conservative group that he was not fully revealing his real estate
holdings. There has been no public action on that inquiry for several
years. But the department's request in early July to the committee
suggests that the case continues to draw the attention of federal
investigators, who often ask that the House and Senate ethics panels
refrain from taking action against members whom the department is
already investigating.
Mollohan said that he was not aware of any ongoing interest by the
Justice Department in his case and that he and his attorneys have not
heard from federal investigators. "The answer is no," he said.
-- The committee on June 9 authorized issuance of subpoenas to the
Justice Department, the National Security Agency and the FBI for
"certain intercepted communications" regarding Rep. Jane Harman
(D-Calif.). As was reported earlier this year, Harman was heard in a
2005 conversation agreeing to an Israeli operative's request to try to
obtain leniency for two pro-Israel lobbyists in exchange for the agent's
help in lobbying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to name her
chairman of the intelligence committee. The department, a former U.S.
official said, declined to respond to the subpoena.
Harman said that the ethics committee has not contacted her and that she
has no knowledge that the subpoena was ever issued. "I don't believe
that's true," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, this smear has been
over for three years."
In June 2009, a Justice Department official wrote in a letter to an
attorney for Harman that she was "neither a subject nor a target" of a
criminal investigation.
Because of the secretive nature of the ethics committee, it was
difficult to assess the current status of the investigations cited in
the July document. The panel said Thursday, however, that it is ending a
probe of Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) after finding no ethical violations,
and that it is investigating the financial connections of two California
Democrats.
The committee did not detail the two newly disclosed investigations.
However, according to the July document, Rep. Maxine Waters, a
high-ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, came
under scrutiny because of activities involving OneUnited Bank of
Massachusetts, in which her husband owns at least $250,000 in stock.
Waters arranged a September 2008 meeting at the Treasury Department
where OneUnited executives asked for government money. In December,
Treasury selected OneUnited as an early participant in the bank bailout
program, injecting $12.1 million.
The other, Rep. Laura Richardson, may have failed to mention property,
income and liabilities on financial disclosure forms.
File-sharing
The committee's review of investigations became available on
file-sharing networks because of a junior staff member's use of the
software while working from home, Lofgren and Bonner said in a statement
issued Thursday night. The staffer was fired, a congressional aide said.
The committee "is taking all appropriate steps to deal with this issue,"
they said, noting that neither the committee nor the House's information
systems were breached in any way.
"Peer-to-peer" technology has previously caused inadvertent breaches of
sensitive financial, defense-related and personal data from government
and commercial networks, and it is prohibited on House networks.
House administration rules require that if a lawmaker or staff member
takes work home, "all users of House sensitive information must protect
the confidentiality of sensitive information" from unauthorized
disclosure.
Leo Wise, chief counsel for the Office of Congressional Ethics, declined
to comment, citing office policy against confirming or denying the
existence of investigations. A Justice Department spokeswoman also
declined to comment, citing a similar policy. |
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| Ian B MacLure... |
| Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:23 pm |
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Guest
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Kenyan Obama <kenyanobama at (no spam) yahoo.com> wrote in news:Xns9CB4985FF7918B47F18
at (no spam) 188.40.43.213:
Quote: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2009/10/30/AR2009103
001959.html
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.
5 of the 7 members of a House DOD subcommittee under investigation
are Dhimmicraps. Something like 70+%. ANd wasn't this supposed to
be "the most ethical Congress evah".
Small wonder Lofgren set DEFCON 2 when she found out about the leak.
IBM |
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