by Frank James

Many people may not know (I didn't until a few minutes ago) that Gov. Rod Blagojevich's problems could potentially cost Illinois taxpayers significant money. How so? A Bloomberg report explains:

Fitch Ratings cut the credit rating yesterday on $19.1 billion of Illinois bonds because of concern the governor's legal woes will make it more difficult to deal with a $2 billion budget deficit.

Standard & Poor's has said it may lower the state's credit rating in response to Blagojevich's arrest, which would add millions of dollars to borrowing costs, according to Scott Burnham, a spokesman for Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias.

So not only is there a constitutional crisis in Illinois and the national problem that arises from Illinois having just one senator on Capitol Hill but there's this very real problem of the state having to pay more to raise money which suggests a real impact on an already strained state budget.

To quote Marvin Gaye, it "makes me wanna holler, throw up both my hands."

by John McCormick and Mike Dorning

As he hosted a gala celebration for some of his earliest and most loyal financial supporters Thursday evening, President-elect Barack Obama's aides released new information showing the magnitude of their feat: They raised nearly $1 billion for his campaign and other election-related efforts.

The stunning total includes already recorded and estimated fundraising for his campaign, national convention, transition and upcoming inauguration.

That sets a new and dramatically higher bar for future presidential candidates, radically changing the financial definition of a serious bid for the White House.

Roughly three-quarters of the money Obama raised was directly channeled to his campaign, a marathon that lasted nearly two years and ushered in an unprecedented level of national fundraising using old-school techniques as well as a cutting-edge, Internet-based operation.

A disclosure report filed late Thursday showed Obama raised $111 million from Oct. 16 through Nov. 24.

That brings his campaign total receipts to $770 million, easily more than the combined fundraising for the 2004 election by President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

by Andrew Zajac

Earlier this week, the Chicago Tribune reported on a mysterious pattern of donations to the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain and other, mainly Republican causes from Shi Sheng Hao, of Roselle, Illinois, and people related to him.

The story pointed out that Hao has business ties to the family of Gene and Nora Lum, who were convicted in a Democratic fundraising scandal in the 1990s, and who, it turns out, have kept a family hand in the political money business.

by Andrew Zajac

Companies affiliated with the family of Gene and Nora Lum, who were convicted of making illegal campaign contributions in a Democratic fundraising scandal a decade ago have donated at least $4,800 to the campaigns of Michael Brown, a candidate for Washington D.C. city council, who pleaded guilty in the same scandal.

Brown, the son of the late Ron Brown, a Clinton administration Commerce Secretary and one-time head of the Democratic National Committee, is seeking an at-large seat on the 13-member DC council.

Andrew Zajac

Today's Chicago Tribune features a story about a virtually unknown network of large donors to mostly Republican causes, including the McCain presidential bid.

The main donor, Shi Sheng Hao, lists an address in suburban Chicago and is the largest political donor in Illinois this election cycle who is not a self-funding candidate for office.

Hao, 64, is an intriguing character. He has the same name as a Taiwanese businessman who is embroiled in a legal dispute with Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson over a casino license in Macau. The Taiwanese Hao also has links to members of the Lum family, who were entangled in a high-profile Democratic fundraising scandal in the late 1990s.

While it's not known for certain if the two Haos are one and the same, a series of coincidences strongly suggests they are.

Judge for yourself by reading the story posted below.

by Mark Silva

"Terrorist'' versus corrupt banker:

In the game of guilt by association and mutual assured destruction that the two leading candidates for president appear poised to play, both campaigns are reaching back into the past to find someone who might stick to their rivals today.

But in the case of the McCain campaign's attack, running mate Sarah Palin has reached so far into the past of an associate of Democrat Barack Obama that it has no apparent relevance to the candidate himself, while the Obama campaign today plows an episode of influence-peddling in Washington in which Republican John McCain has admitted his own "poor judgment.''

Palin accuses Obama of "palling around with terrorists'' - one, actually, who isn't really a terrorist anymore, but happens to be a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and an author of educational reform books, William Ayers, who - four decades ago - took part in the radical anti-Vietnam war protests of the Weather Underground which he helped form, a group claiming credit for protest-bombings at the Pentagon and the Capitol.

Obama, who was eight years old at the time of those bombings, has denounced the past activities of the radical-turned-professor, and has served on civic boards in Chicago with him.

The Obama campaign's retaliatory attack today hits much closer to home for McCain, who in fact was embroiled in a scandal with four other members of Congress in the late 1980s - they became known as "The Keating Five.'' When Charles Keating, an Arizona homebuilder and banker who helped bankroll McCain's early campaigns, came calling for help with federal regulators cracking down on his savings and loan, McCain and others met with the regulators. McCain took part in just the first two meetings, and then stepped away as the severity of Keating's trouble grew clear, yet after the case of the senators' interference with regulators came to closure before the Senate Ethics Committee, McCain conceded: "I was judged eventually, after three years, of using, quote, poor judgment, and I agree with that assessment.''

Palin, the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee, insisted over the weekend that her campaign trail attacks against Obama for his association with Ayers are relevant because Ayers once hosted a small, meet-the-candidate event for Obama in 1995, early in his political career and donated $200 to Obama's state legislative camapign. Palin said in California on Sunday: "I think it's fair to talk about where Barack Obama kicked off his political career, in the guy's living room."

By that measure, then, it's certainly fair for the Obama campaign to talk about McCain's association with Keating, because Keating and associates raised $11,000 for McCain's first congressional campaign in 1982 and ultimately raised more than $100,000 for McCain's early political campaigns. McCain and his wife, Cindy, also had often been guests of the high-flying Arizona homebuilder, flying aboard his private jet to his vacation home in the Bahamas - trips for which the senator repaid Keating only after his problems with federal regulators surfaced.

"Charlie was a real go-getter,'' McCain has written in his 2002 memoir, Worth the Fighting For.

"On several occasions, he invited Cindy and me to his beautiful vacation retreat at Cat Cay in the Bahamas, flying us there, with out infant daughter, Meghan, and her nanny, on his private jet,'' McCain wrote with co-author Mark Salter, his chief of staff and speechwriter. "The place always seemed to have a huge, boisterous crowd in attendance... We would all crowd on his yacht, off for a day of swimming and snorkeling, and then return for another extravagant party with the best wine, food and entertainment available. They were memorable experiences, and even though our trips there would almost lead to my ruin, I would be lying were I to deny just how much I enjoyed them and how eagerly I awaited invitations to Charlie Keating's Shangri-La.''

For more detail on McCain and the Keating Five, see a summary from my book: McCain: The Essential Guide to the Republican Nominee, published by the Chicago Tribune and Triumph Books in September:

by Mark Silva

When the Democrats put Sen. Chris Dodd in charge of the powerful Senate Banking Committee, Connecticut's senior senator outlined "generally pro-industry positions, but pledging to put consumers -- and the long-term health of the economy -- first,'' colleagues at the Hartford Courant report in a review of Dodd's own fundraising..

"At the end of my tenure on this committee," Dodd said in early 2007, "I want it to be said that the safety and soundness of our financial institutions was not weakened on my watch."

"A year and a half later, Dodd acknowledges that the nation's finances are in an "economic maelstrom.''' note Matthew Kauffman and Jesse A. Hamilton, reporters at the Courant, a Tribune Co. newspaper. "And while Washington engages in an urgent search for after-the-fact fixes, there is also plenty of finger-pointing, and there are enduring questions about whether campaign cash -- millions and millions in campaign cash -- blinded Dodd and other overseers to the excesses of industry.

"Financial-sector firms -- mortgage firms, insurance companies, accountants, brokerage houses, hedge funds -- are among the most generous political donors in America, lavishing more than $1 billion on candidates this decade. And in Congress, few politicians have fared better than Dodd. During the past 20 years, PACs and employees of finance-related firms have contributed more than $13 million to Dodd's election efforts, including nearly $6 million in the past two years. Among members of Congress, only leading presidential candidates -- Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain and John Kerry -- have collected more money from the sector,'' they report.

" But now, some of Dodd's heartiest patrons have become the poster companies for the Wall Street implosion: AIG Insurance, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns. And although Dodd has emerged in recent weeks as a key player in efforts to stabilize the economy, the five-term senator is also facing criticism that he and others in Washington did too little, too late to rein in those generous companies before the crash.''

"We have a system where the special interests that give the most money tend to get policies out of Congress that are beneficial to them," said Mary Boyle, a spokeswoman for Common Cause, a nonpartisan advocacy group. "What we need is a system where the public is the beneficiary, and not special interests."

See the full report on Banking Chairman Dodd and the banking industry's money.

by Andrew Zajac

All over New York, investment bankers are preparing to open tins of cat food for supper tonight and what does some jokester do but make light of their plight.

Some people have no shame:

URGEN MESSAGE FROM NIGERIA, ER, AMERICA

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

The Democratic National Committee's anti-McCain press kit lampooning his defense of Bermuda as a tax haven. Photo provided by the DNC.

by Frank James

Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee launched a coordinated campaign yesterday to zing Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain for comments he made that were supportive of Bermuda as an off-shore tax-haven.

The goal: to portray McCain as a friend to wealthy corporate CEOs and tax avoiders to weaken the Arizona Republican's claim to be a populist reformer. It was an obvious attempt to tap into the growing hostility towards Wall Street among voters.

The Obama campaign released a TV ad based on an article that appeared in Bermuda's Royal Gazette newspaper chronicling McCain's visit last year to the British colony.

The Arizona Senator, who spent three days on the Island this week meeting business and political leaders, said he understood the concerns of the insurance and reinsurance sectors about draft legislation proposing a clampdown on US business operations in so-called tax havens.

He told The Royal Gazette: "The industry, the re-insurance that's had such phenomenal success has been good for both nations. I would oppose any measures that would upset that."

McCain later received campaign contributions from insurance interests the Obama campaign links to that visit.

by Frank James

The $700 billion Wall St. bailout proposal is still only in the discussion stage and already it's probably making money for some people, the financial-industry lobbyists who bill by the hour.

Lobbyists, both the ones who charge by the hour and the salaried ones are reportedly working around the clock to make sure their clients get their interests taken care of in whatever legislation grows from the Bush Administration proposal.

According to a Roll Call story:

"Everybody's chasing down rumors," the lobbyist said. "We're worried about everything. ... It's a one-week marathon, not a sprint."

Added an in-house lobbyist with a financial services firm: "Never in all my life have I had to work like this. Things are moving so fast. We are getting documents at 4 o'clock in the morning."

An area drawing the most furious lobbying is around Sen. Christopher Dodd's desire to modify the bankruptcy law to allow courts to reduce homeowners' mortgage debt, a practice called "cram downs" as in "we'll let judges cram down the throats of lenders reductions in the housing loans they hold and thus their profits."

Bankers successfully blocked such provisions from the bankruptcy reform law Congress passed in 2005 and ever since then have resisted consumer advocates' attempts to get "cram downs" into federal law.

Now, the proposed bailout has given another opening to Dodd and others who've wanted distressed homeowners to have the ability to have their mortgages reduced during bankruptcy proceedings.

This has thrown many bank industry lobbyists in Washington into overdrive.

Here's an excerpt from The Hill newspaper:

One congressional reaction that emerged -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd's (D-Conn.) response to the rescue package -- wasn't favorable to many of K Street's banking clients, who oppose one provision in particular: giving bankruptcy judges the power to lower mortgages for distressed homeowners.

by Andrew Zajac

Charles Black Jr., a top adviser to the McCain campaign, has been the subject of unflattering ads in recent days by the Barack Obama campaign connected to his lobbying for Chinese and Russian oil companies.

But Black's largely-overlooked lobbying for a Russian think tank closely linked to the Kremlin may be more intriguing, and more instructive in understanding the limitations of current lobbyist disclosure laws.

In 2005, Black (pictured with McCain, left, aboard McCain's campaign plane in an AP photo by Mary Altaffer) signed up to lobby for the awkwardly named Center of the Development of Information Society, headed at the time, by Leonid Reiman, the telecom minister for then-president Vladimir Putin.

Black's firm, BKSH & Associates Worldwide, was paid $50,000 for eight months work, but it's not clear from disclosure what, if anything, the firm did for the money.

By Andrew Zajac

A Chicago lawmaker making a list of the most corrupt members of Congress.

Imagine that!

But there it is, the name of Democrat Daniel Lipinski, a first-timer in the annual "Most Corrupt Members of Congress" report issued today by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Lipinski earned the dishonor for employing Oak Lawn village trustee Jerome Hurckes, who, CREW claims, is functioning as an unregistered lobbyist and may also be attempting to circumvent congressional staff restrictions on outside income, among other alleged misdeeds.

Hurckes was a top staffer to nine-term Rep. William O. Lipinski, who retired and passed both his southwest side seat and his key lieutenant on to his son in 2004.

by Frank James

Here's a way of analyzing campaign contributions that makes for sort of a dog-bites-man story--Republican Sen. John McCain has received much more in campaign contributions from professional sports-teams owners and their families than Sen. Barack Obama, according to a story in Politico.com.

McCain has raked in $3.2 miliion from sports team owners, more than five times the amount Obama received.

This seems unsurprising since sports-teams owners are obviously very wealthy businesspeople who inhabit a world populated mainly by individuals who appreciate candidates with low-tax, light-regulation stances.

The relevant point is made by Bob Johnson, owner of the NBA Charlotte Bobcats and a former Hillary Clinton supporter who, after she quit the campaign, starting contributing hugely to Obama.

"I don't think there's any correlation between being a sports owner and supporting John McCain. I think there's a correlation between being a businessman and supporting John McCain," said Johnson.

As for the owners of the Bobcats' NBA opponents, Johnson said they seldom talk politics, except to joke about it. "Some NBA owners are Republicans. Some NBA owners are Democrats," he said. "But one thing they have in common is they're all businessmen."

by Frank James

The good-government group Taxpayers for Common Sense has been all over the Sen. Ted Stevens story and has been providing very useful information about his almost superhuman ability to bring home the bacon to Alaskans.

According to TCS, over the last four years, the freshly indicted senator has gotten or helped to obtain earmarks for $3.2 billion which translates to $4,872 for each Alaskan.

That compares with a $263 per capita national average. So Stevens, as an important member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has done a lot for Alaska and also the Defense Department, the other recipient of his earmarking largesse.

Thus, a lot of people stand to miss Stevens, whose ability to steer money has been greatly diminished if not completely hamstrung.

TCS provides an Excel spreadsheet that allows you to see the many earmarks.

And here's TCS's press release:

Taxpayers for Common Sense has released the last four years of earmark data for Alaska to help create an understanding of how powerful Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) has remained as an appropriator. The new research has found that Senator Stevens has secured or played a significant role in securing more than 891 earmarks worth $3.2 billion, which comes to $4,872 per capita over the last four years. This is more than 18 times the national average of $263 per capita for the same four years.

While some might believe that Alaska will take a big hit in earmarks, it is likely that Senator Stevens' long shadow and close friendships, particularly with Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), will ensure Alaska continues to get more than its fair share.

by Andrew Zajac

What is it about Democratic Ways and Means Committee chairmen?

The current ethics fix Charles Rangel finds himself in recalls the downfall of Chicago's Dan Rostenkowski, who in 1996 was sentenced to 17 months in prison on various corruption counts including fraud and embezzlement.

Rangel (pictured here) is a long way from being accused of a crime -- he brought his purported peccadillos to the House ethics committee and that may be the end of the story, since the ethics panel is better known for wrist-slapping than for requesting criminal investigations.

Still, there's a similarity here in the larger-than-life personas of the two men and in their roots in corruption-fueled big city machine politics. And in the piddling scale of their transgressions relative to their massive clout.

by Mark Silva

There's all kinds of gracious hospitality surrounding a presidential nominating convention, and the giants of the troubled home mortgage industry - poised for some federal bailouts - say they're obligated to some parties already promised.

Yet they will lower their entertainment profiles considerably, asserting that they will have no "roles'' at the conventions.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plan to spend "undisclosed'' sums wining and dining "Washington bigwigs'' at the Democratic National Convention in Denver at the end of August and at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis in early September, FOX Business Network's Adam Shapiro reported on Cavuto last night.

FOX tells us that a Fannie Mae spokesperson told Shapiro, "We will no longer have a role in the Democrat or Republican convention events, including the Housing Industry reception. We will fulfill financial obligations that were made previously but we will not make any additional commitments going forward."

And Doug Duvall, a spokesman for Freddie Mac said, "We committed to sponsor these events a year ago. Freddie Mac will not have a presence at the conventions."

Shapiro asked how much Freddie Mac plans to spend to lobby politicians at the political party events to which Duvall responded, "We won't discuss that, why should we?"

The parties are important to interests such as National Association of Realtors and National Association of Home Builders. The Independent Community Bankers of American, ICBA, which is also a sponsor, issued a statement saying, "Homeownership is something that should be celebrated in America. What better venues to highlight the benefits of homeownership than the respective national party conventions."

by Frank James

House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Charlie Rangel's sparring match with reporters today who questioned him about the propriety of his involvement in fundraising for a City College of New York center bearing his name was worth watching.

Rangel clearly was angry about a story he believes isn't a story. In a nutshell, his position is that the letters his office sent out on congressional stationery were merely form letters. More importantly, they didn't solicit any money, they merely tried to helpful in encouraging meetings between the foundations and the CCNY. Furthermore, the Charles B. Rangel Public Service Center was named by the school's board, not himself.

Beyond that, he emphasized, these were non-profit foundations he was trying to get together with college officials, not corporations with business before his Ways and Means Committee.

A rankled Rangel tried to turn the tables on Washington Post reporter Christopher Lee, usually never a good media strategy since a rank-and-file reporter is no match for one of the nation's most powerful men who looked like he was bullying the reporter.

But Rangel clearly felt he was more sinned against than sinning. Here's a snippet of a transcript provided by the Washington Post:

First of all, I normally advise people, as I have been advised, not to respond to these allegations that I abused my congressional discretion in writing on behalf of a school institution named after me because it would blow over; or, as more often I've advised members, that remember you don't have as much ink as the printers do.

Rangel then announced he was making an exception, however:

So one of the things that I would use, hoping that it might catch on, is that I'm going to see how much damn ink The Washington Post has.

So to that extent they -- another potential headline is, "Rangel Insists That the Ethics Committee Investigate the Unfounded Charges," because, first of all, nobody that can read is going to bring any charges against me, including The Washington Post, which, of course, I encourage them to do it, because then they have to follow their own foundless story, and at least that gets some coverage on this in The Washington Post.

by Frank James

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is talking this morning about ethics concerns over his role in soliciting funds for a center named for him at the City College of New York, the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Policy.

Rangel, with his sand-papery voice, is one of the best verbal counterpunchers on Capitol Hill. But it's going to take all his skills to beat back the appearance problem he has now. Indeed, as good as he is, he may not be able to pull it off.

The Washington Post has reported that Rangel wrote letters on his official stationery soliciting funds for the center from corporate-related entities. What's giving many people pause is that Rangel's committee, nearly always described as the powerful W&M Committee, writes the nation's tax laws and corporate types often beseech it for special tax considerations.

Ethics experts and government watchdogs say it is troubling that one of the nation's most powerful lawmakers would seek money from businesses that have interests before the committee he leads. Rangel's panel has broad jurisdiction over tax policy, trade, Social Security and Medicare.

"In the 38 years that I've been down here, I don't think there has ever been any challenge, real or unreal, to my integrity as it relates to fundraising," he said. He added: "If it was an ethical problem, I wouldn't do it."

by Mark Silva and updated with followup.

Stephen Payne, a significant fundraiser for President Bush's election and reelection campaigns, certainly didn't know he was being videotaped when he suggested that he could arrange some meetings with Vice President Dick Cheney and others in the Bush administration with a big donation to the Bush presidential library.

And Payne, a Houston-based lobbyist and longtime Bush-backer who has served as a volunteer travel-advance planner for White House trips abroad, later told the Sunday Times of London, which today reported on the videotaped meeting between Payne and a Kazakh exile in London purportedly seeking some high-level contact with the Bush administration for a friend back home, that he certainly intended no "quid pro quo.''

For its part, the vice president's office says today that the lobbyist certainly does not arrange meetings for the vice president - though Payne did take part in advance travel planning for the vice president's trip to Kazakhstan in May 2006. And a spokesman for the Bush presidential library says today that the library certainly does not condone any contributions in exchange for anything, and Payne was not making any solicitations or representations on the library's behalf.

"It would be like, maybe a couple of hundred thousand dollars, or something like that, not a huge amount but enough to show that they're serious,'' Payne suggested of the library donation in the meeting videotaped by the newspaper.

Payne, who told the newspaper that he intended nothing untoward, maintained today in a statement delivered to the Tribune that he has been the victim of a "confidence game'' played by the British newspaper, which has taken his comments out of context in a bid to "entrap'' him.

In his discussions with the Kazakh exile, Payne said in his statement today: "I did mention that they might be able to make donations to think tanks, foundations, and/ or President Bush's library because the first President Bush accepted foreign donations -- but I was clear that much ground work would have to be done to make a... donation acceptable to the library foundation. Indeed, I noted that to the best of my knowledge, the decision even to accept any foreign contributions for the library was still unknown.''

He said he had also made it clear "in this conversation and in subsequent e-mails that any donations would need to be completely transparent and open to public scrutiny.

"It is clear that the Times attempted to entrap me into alleging that an illegal relationship could be established,'' Dos says in his statement, maintaining that the e-mails show that it was Dos who attempted "to establish a quid pro quo and my consistent responses that there could be no quid pro quo.''

Payne has provided a copy of his e-mail correspondence here: Payne emails.pdf

And his full statement is available here: Payne statement.pdf

The story starts in London, where the Sunday Times surreptitiously took part in a hotel meeting with Payne, who proudly displayed some photographs on his personal organizer: Pictures of Payne uprooting dead trees side by side with President Bush at his ranch in Texas, skeet- shooting next to Dick Cheney and mugging for the cameras with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

by Amanda Erickson

Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) made at least $1 million last year, according to financial records released Monday, while the campaign of another Illinois Democrat, Rep. Danny Davis, paid his wife Vera $13,000 for unspecified work.

The annual disclosure forms filled out by lawmakers--which include information on their assets, mortgage payments, debts and investments--offer a glimpse but not a precise picture of their financial affairs because the forms require officials to list only income ranges.

Some interesting tidbits:

• Bill Foster (D - Ill.) sold Electronic Theatre Controls Inc., the theater lighting company that he started with his brother at age 19, for between $1 million and $5 million last year, and promissory notes from the sale may eventually net him another $5 million to $25 million.

•The report of Democratic Rep. Rahm Emanuel shows that a family member invested between $1,000 and $15,000 in Wal-Mart, the retail giant that has drawn the ire of those protesting its treatment of workers.

A spokesman for the congressman said the investments were made by Emanuel's wife, Amy Rule, with her income. "She has some of her own individual assets, including this investment," said Emanuel spokesman Nick Papas.

• Rep. Davis won $5,000 in a lottery last year. It's unclear how the lucky congressman spent his winnings.

See the full story here.

by Frank James

It's probably safe to assume that Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican, knows he wasn't one of the "Friends of Angelo," as in Mozilo, the former chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial.

That's because Hensarling is calling for a congressional investigation into members of Congress who might have received preferential treatment on mortgages from Countrywide.

As Portfolio magazine first reported, Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad were among the FOAs who apparently got discounts on VIP loans from Countrywide.

Both senators have said they were unaware that they were being favored with preferential treatment, with Conrad, according to NPR, going so far as giving $10,000 to Habitat for Humanity, the amount he calculates he unknowingly saved when Mozilo waived closing points on his loan.

Hensarling and Washington watchdogs are calling for a congressional probe in order to examine just how widespread the practice was, just how many lawmakers were FOAs.

But the odds of such a probe are long. It may not just be Democrats that get embarrassed (only Democrats who've been involved so far, including James Johnson who recently left Sen. Barack Obama's campaign) but Republicans too.

Here's a snippet to that effect from Politico.com:

by Frank James

The National Republican Congressional Committee is hitting Sen. Barack Obama and congressional Democrats for hypocrisy, noting the contradiction between Obama vowing that he and the Democratic National Committee will not take lobbyists' money while Hill Democrats will.

What really has Hill Republicans fuming is how congressional Democrats are using Obama and his message of "change" to help raise money but parting company on the whole lobbyist-money issue.

Here's the top of a NRCC press release:

Washington - Despite their well documented opposition to Barack Obama's policy of refusing lobbyist donations, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is ramping up their fraudulent 'change' rhetoric by using their nominee as a front man to disguise their agenda of empty promises in a fundraising plea.

While the Democratic National Committee (DNC) followed Obama's lead and promised to refuse lobbyist donations, the DCCC - which is housed in the very same building - declined to do so. Ironically, Obama is now fundraising on behalf of the committee...

And here, also from the press release, is a statement from NRCC Press Secretary Ken Spain:

"It is the height of hypocrisy for Barack Obama to solicit campaign contributions on behalf of the very same campaign committee that opposes his position of refusing lobbyist donations," "It appears that Democrats want to have it both ways; they want to run on a platform of so-called 'change' while simultaneously shaking down Washington lobbyists before they bash them on the campaign trail."

by Mark Silva

Our friends at Federal Strategy Group, a Washington-based lobbying firm, like to collect Quotes of the Day. They think they have found one here:

In light of Sen. Barack Obama's refusal to accept contributions to his presidential campaign from registered lobbyists -- though law firms that employ lobbyists are OK, and a lot of lobbyists' wives may be making donations this year -- and in light of the DNC now taking up the policy of its presumptive presidentiial nominee, the words of one Washington lobbyist and Democratic donor stand out:

"Simply by virtue of the fact that you happen to be a registered lobbyist in Washington, your standing as a Democrat is somehow diminished."

That's Larry O'Brien, founder of the OBC Group and longtime top donor to Democratic committees and candidates reacting to the Democratic National Committee's decision to ban donations from lobbyists and PACs (Roll Call newspaper, June 9).

That's probably the idea.

by Frank James

Thomas Jefferson famously warned an earlier generation of Americans against "entangling (foreign) alliances." Now Sen. John McCain may be seeing the wisdom of that as applied to his own campaign aides.

The Wall Street Journal reports today that the lobbying firm co-owned by Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, consulted with a Ukrainian political party supported by the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. It just so happens that McCain supports a different political party.

This latest lobbyist eruption comes shortly after two other McCain aides, also lobbyists, departed his campaign after it became public knowledge that they had lobbied on behalf of Myanmar's military government. That government was radioactive even before its inhumane response to the humanitarian needs of its population following Cyclone Nargis drew world outrage.

McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said Mr. Davis receives no income from Davis Manafort, although he still owns a share of the firm. "He earns no money from their activities while he is on leave," Mr. Rogers said.

Working for foreign interests is legal, but it can be politically hazardous for lobbyists and the politicians they advise. The issue is becoming harder for politicians to avoid because globalization has made such work lucrative, drawing some of Washington's best political talent.

by Mark Silva

Hand it to David Paterson.

The lieutenant governor, soon-to-be-governor, of New York.

He will step in Monday for Gov. Eliot Spitzer, resigning after the revelation this week that he has been a frequent-flier in a high-flying prostitution ring.

So, at Paterson’s first Albany press conference as governor-select today, where he offered sincere regret for the personal tragedy that has befallen his friend and predecessor – and said, that "it is time to get back to the business of the state’’ and start hammering out a new budget – Paterson was asked if he has consorted with any prostitutes.

“Only the lobbyists,’’ Paterson replied, tongue firmly in cheek.

Getting down to the state's business, Paterson said, this weekend he will have “high-end executive officials’’ in his office working on a new budget.

Better that than the “high-end’’ folks with whom Spitzer has been dealing.

by Mark Silva

While everyone works at counting people in on the list of clients for Emperors Club VIP -- Client No. 9 reportedly Eliot Spitzer, governor of New York, Client No. 6 reportedly the Duke of Westminster -- our friends over at the Sun-Times have counted one out: Michael Jordan.

Columnist Michael Sneed: "Just who is Client No. 10?

"Who is the procurer of prostitutes from Chicago who is mentioned anonymously in an unsealed FBI affidavit filed by the feds detailing operations of the Emperors Club, a sex-for-hire shop that allegedly ensnared embattled New York. Gov. Eliot Spitzer?

"Answer: It's not basketball legend Michael Jordan, according to Jordan's attorney Frederick Sperling...In order to end rumors that unnamed Client No. 10, who requested an Emperors Club prostitute for March 4 in Chicago, may have been Jordan, Sperling tells Sneed: "I have just received confirmation from Assistant U.S. Attorney Rita Glavin in New York that our client Michael Jordan is neither a subject nor a target of this investigation."

Case closed.''

by Mark Silva

The governor of New York had some royal company in the Emperors Club, according to reports from the British press: The Duke of Westminster, worth some 6.6 billion pounds.

The British tabloid, The Sun, seems to revel in "the mega-rich Duke of Westminster allegedly (using) the same escort agency as Eliot Spitzer to arrange romps with tarts.'' The headline? "Duke Booked VIP Tarts.''

"Lithuanian Zana Brazdek said he paid her £2,000 after booking her by email through the London office of Emperors Club VIP,'' the Sun reports. "She was told what to wear for the two-hour visit to his posh pad in central London.

"The aristocrat – Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 56 – is one of Britain’s wealthiest men.''

"Zana, 27, said: “He asked how long I’d been with the agency. I told him he was my first job and he seemed pleased... He was quite happy with the way I looked as he hadn’t seen a picture of me when he ordered me. He told me he had used the agency before. It had been recommended.”

The ever-observant folks at The Huffington Post have noted, however, that references to the duke by name had been removed from other more august British papers' accounts of "Client No. 6."

As the Times reports it: "Emperors Club VIP has many clients around the world but one British-based customer is attracting more attention than most. Named in documents filed with a US court as “Client 6”, he paid £500 to a prostitute known as Astrid in London on January 12.

"The pair met at about 9 am at an undisclosed location for about an hour. After the appointment Astrid said that “everything was fine” but Client 6 called the company to say that, while she 'was very nice' -- 'next time he wanted to see someone else,' the documents show.''

(Photo of Duke of Westminster: The Sun)

by Andrew Malcolm

Turns out, some Obama PAC money came from PACs.

Before he ostentatiously stopped taking money from political action committees to run for president, Sen. Barack Obama quietly took money from political action committees.

As a presidential candidate, Obama claims to be an outsider eager to shake up the Washington establishment by refusing to accept donations from political action committees and Washington lobbyists. This year, they're the bad guys.

But this wasn’t always the case.

Back in 2005 and 2006, Obama raised $123,283 from other political action committees and put them into a political action committee of his own. He called it Hopefund.

by Mike Dorning

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama released an updated list of his top fundraisers today that dislcoses new information on their activities and shows heavy backing from hedge-fund managers, financial industry executives and private investors.

The list of "bundlers"--so called because they gather up contributions into large bundles--provides slightly more detailed disclosure for amounts of money each fundraiser has produced than his opponents offer.

The updated list, posted on his campaign web site, covers fundraising through the third quarter of the year and lists the amount of money each has raised in broad ranges. Other identifying information such as their cities of residence and employers are not listed but in many cases can be determined by independently searching Federal Election Commission donor records for the campaign.

by Mark Silva

The National Journal is reporting today that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson is under investigation by the agency's inspector general, the FBI and the Justice Department over his involvement in the awarding of contracts.

The report is posted online today and published in the Oct. 6 issue. The reporter is Ed Pound.

See the report here in the Swamp as well:

HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson with President Bush at a Rose Garden announcement of proposed relief for homeowners facing mortgage foreclosure. HUD photo.

by Mike Dorning

In a preview of Barack Obama's fundraising performance and a last-minute effort to rev up contributions during the final week of the third-quarter fundraising period, the Illinois senator is claiming his presidential campaign has added some 75,000 donors since the end of the last financial reporting period for candidates on June 30.

In an e-mail to supporters today, Obama claims 333,851 people have now donated to his campaign since its inception, for a total of 472,613 donations. The campaign is trying to motivate supporters to break a goal of 350,000 donors providing more than 500,000 contributions by Sept. 30.

"We're facing a hard deadline in less than a week," Obama writes. "The financial reports filed after September 30th will set the tone for the last 100 days before people start voting and caucusing. The numbers will be a signal to voters in the crucial early states that our movement has the support it takes to win."

The campaign is also trying to motivate new donors with a promotional program in which established donors are offering to match contributions from new donors.

When Jon Stewart had Barack Obama on his show in November 2005, Stewart asked about Obama's colleagues in the Senate: "Is there somebody who you just thinkk 'Man, that guy, he can't even read.'" Obama replied: "There are a couple guys where you do sort of think: How did you get here exactly?" Comedy Central photo.

by Mike Dorning

Barack Obama isn't waiting for his appearance on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" next Wednesday to use the invitation as a chance to expand his following.

Campaign manager David Plouffe sent out an e-mail to Obama supporters just a few minutes ago offering an all-expenses-paid trip to the popular comedy show's taping as a prize in a contest to recruit new donors to the campaign.

In a twist on the kind of recruiting promotions regularly empoyed by health clubs, anyone who recruits a new donor by the end of the week will be entered in a drawing for a pair of tickets to the shows taping: one for the supporter who recruits the new donor and one for the donor he or she recruits.

It's the latest example of the kind of mass-marketing fundraising incentives in the current presidential campaign that has candidates' appeals for donations sometimes reading like they might have come from Ed McMahon of Publishers Clearinghouse.

by Mike Dorning

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has raised more than $9 million during the past three months, a fundraising pace that has slowed since the first quarter of the year but is likely to sustain his place among the three Democratic candidates with the greatest financial strength.

About an hour before the midnight deadline that ends the second-quarter reporting period for campaign contirbutions, the Edwards campaign sent out an e-mail to supporters announcing the candidate had achieved the $9 million goal he set for himself earlier during the week.

Still, the total was well short of the $14 million he raised during the first three months of the year.

by Mike Dorning

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged Friday to limit lobbyist influence and secrecy in regulatory policy-making that he said has fostered a “second Gilded Age” of political dominance by powerful business interests.

Obama argued in a speech delivered in the early primary state of New Hampshire that undue influence of wealthy corporations has contributed to the income gap between rich and poor and frustrated attempts to address issues such as high prescription drug costs and global warming.

“The people I’ve met across this country don’t just want reform for reform’s sake,” the Illinois senator said. “They want reform that will help pay their doctor’s bills, or ensure that their tax dollars are spent wisely, or put us on the path to energy independence. They want real reform and they’re tired of the lobbyists standing in the way.”

Posted by Frank James at 9:10 am CDT

Another terrible, horrible, no good, very bad news day for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Yesterday it was the Washington Post report that two new books about her by respected investigative journalists portrayed her in unflattering ways.

Today, both the New York Times and Washington Post have front-page stories about Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton jetting around the world on a private jet belonging to infoUSA.

That company finds itself embroiled in controversy, partly because of a shareholder lawsuit that alleges that the company's founder and chief executive, Vinod Gupta, a friend and contributor to the Clintons who slept in the White House Lincoln Bedroom during the Clinton presidency, has wasted corporate assets with such flights and other luxuries of questionable business value. Like a yacht named "American Princess" docked in the Virgin Islands with an all-female crew.

Incidentally, one of the best parts of the Times story is a quote from a hedge fund executive who said:

“When the C.E.O. of a publicly traded company can say with a straight face that the shareholders benefit from having a yacht with an all-female crew stationed in the Virgin Islands, then you’ve got a problem.”

Then there's the shareholders' unhappiness with the more than $2 million the company paid the former president between July 2003 to April 2005, and more millions of dollars after that, for what the hedge funds suing the company claim are very nebulous consulting services.

But that's not all. This is the very same infoUSA that has come under the scrutiny of Iowa's attorney general and other authorities for selling personal information to criminals who used it to bilk seniors like a 92-year old World War II widower whose was wiped out by the criminals.

That's Iowa, as in the Iowa caucuses, the traditionally important contests for those trying to win their party's presidential nominations. The state that effectively ended Howard Dean's 2004 presidential aspirations. You get the drift.

To get back-to-back bad news days like this is obviously the stuff of campaign nightmares. The only good news for the New York senator in this is it's May and not December of 2007. There's time to recover.

Posted by William Neikirk at 1 p.m. CDT

Bill Thomas has found a job.

You remember him? Once he was a household name in this town. California Republican big-wig, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, a suffer-no-fools-gladly, take-no-prisoners kind of guy who helped get Bush's tax cuts passed.

He wasn't the most liked member of Congress, but he got things done. Now he's going to have to make nice to the members as a lobbyist.

Posted by Mike Dorning and John McCormick at 6:30 am CDT.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama took in more money in contributions for the presidential primary than any other candidate during the first three months of the year. But front-runner Hillary Clinton still has the financial advantage, with a bigger bank balance, thanks to a transfer from funds left over after her Senate re-election campaign last year.

Though late in preparing for a presidential bid compared to his rivals, the $24.8 million in contributions that Obama raised for the primary comfortably exceeded $19.1 million that Clinton raised, despite the former first lady's well-established network of donors and supporters.

Still, Clinton has the bigger war chest. The New York senator reported $24.1 million available for her primary campaign, bolstered by $10 million from her Senate re-election campaign. She also raised an additional $6.9 million that only can be used in a general election campaign.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 12:10 pm CST

Several former Clinton Administration officials were among the contributors who attended a Barack Obama fundraiser on Thursday night at the Bethesda, Md., home of Reed Hundt, who was Federal Communications Commission Chairman during the Clinton Administration.

William Kennard, who also chaired the FCC during the Clinton Administration, was an official "host" for the evening. A campaign spokesman declined to provide an estimate of money was raised at the event.

Richard Clarke, author and counter-terrorism coordinator for the Clinton Administration and early Bush Administration was among those who contributed at the fundraiser, said an Obama insider.

Amb. Charlene Barshefsky, who was U.S. Trade Representative during the Clinton Administration, was among the Obama donors at the event. Miriam Sapiro, a counselor to Clinton on Balkans policy who helped negotiate the 1995 Dayton Accords, was an official "co-host."

Posted by Mike Dorning at 11:34 am CST.

The explanation and supporting documentation that Barack Obama has provided so far for a $100,000 investment he made in two companies backed by major campaign contributors leave open lingering issues about the selection of the stocks and the timing of their purchase.

An article in today's Tribune outlines some of the unresolved questions about Obama 's investments in two speculative stocks with business interests influenced by the government: AVI BioPharma, a biotech company, and SkyTerra Communications, a satellite communications company.

Obama said he was not involved in choosing the stocks and that they were held in a "quasi-blind trust." But his campaign so far has declined to identify the broker who chose the stocks and the sole document the campaign has released concering the investments is the trust governing the investments.

However, the stocks selected are peculiar given the investment strategy set out by the legal document governing the trust.

Posted by David Lightman of the Hartford Courant at 8:27 a.m. CST

WASHINGTON -- Sgt. Richard Ford's sister wasn't home, so John Larson left a message.

The congressman sat alone in his second-floor Main Street office in downtown Hartford on Thursday and talked to Vanessa Migliore's message machine.

It was a difficult call. It had to be. The 1st District Democrat tried to express his sorrow, anger and discomfort over the death of Ford, the Connecticut National Guard soldier who died Feb. 20 of combat injuries in Baghdad.

"You and your family are in my prayers," he told her. "Thank you so much for all the sacrifice." He talked about the importance of "duty and service," and said Sgt. Ford had served in a "patriotic and honorable" way.

And he assured the family that a flag would fly over the U.S. Capitol in Sgt. Ford's honor, and that the flag would be delivered to their East Hartford home. Ford is to be buried today at Arlington National Cemetery.

Posted by William Neikirk at 6:20 a.m. CST

Do you remember the Watergate scene when Deep Throat advised Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward how to crack the scandal? "Follow the money," he said.

We should all take heed to that advice if we are to understand this past week's political events. The spat between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was not merely about Hollywood mogul David Geffen's sharp criticism of Hillary; it was about the fact that former Clinton supporter Geffen had hosted a big fund-raiser for Obama.

It was partly a territorial thing dealing with greenbacks. If you were General Motors, how would you feel about Toyota grabbing your market share, especially if Toyota dealers started bad-mouthing your product and your company?

Posted by Mike Dorning at 1:50 pm CST.

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is already tapping its well-established network of small-dollar donors with an Internet-based campaign to raise $1 million in one week.

An e-mail sent out about an hour ago under the name of political strategist James Carville showed that the campaign had already raised $285,332 for its "One Week, One Million" fundraising campaign.

"Our 'One Week, One Million' campaign will send a clear message: Hillary won't back down, and we've got her back," Carville write in the e-mail.

Expect many more of such Internet fundraising campaigns in the year ahead. With this year's campaign expected to be the most expensive ever and the cost of an e-mail fundraising plea virtually free, candidates and their surrogates will be frequent visitors to the in-box of anyone who gives their e-mail address to a political campaign.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 12:19 pm CST

You never know who you'll run into in a bar. Particularly, the sleek, glamorous bar at the Beverly Hilton, a landmark show-biz hotel that served as the Western White House when President John F. Kennedy was in town and now annually hosts the star-studded Golden Globe awards.

Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the celebrity-politician of the moment, held a fundraiser at the hotel Tuesday evening that had the Hollywood elite passing through the hotel's elegant marble lobby. Flashes popped as tourists spotted Jennifer Anniston walking through in a black leather jacket and black slacks. Eddie Murphy, Ron Howard, the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines, Ben Stiller and Stephen Spielberg were just a few of the others who attended.

Well, after several hours of standing outside the fundraiser and celebrity- spotting, a group of reporters retreated to the hotel bar, as reporters on the road generally do after stories are filed and the day's work is done.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 6:30 am CST.

Barack Obama the presidential candidate made his Hollywood debut Tuesday night.

At the Beverly Hilton, site of the Golden Globe Awards, the stars of the entertainment world came out for a $2,300-per-ticket campaign fundraiser with the political celebrity of the moment.

There was no red carpet. But flashes popped in the hotel lobby as tourists spotted Jennifer Aniston entering.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 6:05 am CST.

Here's one way to boost book sales: Barack Obama's Senate re-election campaign spent more than $24,000 on copies of the Democratic senator's best-selling new memoir, "The Audacity of Hope."

The campaign listed the purpose of the expense as "books for supporters" in a campaign finance disclosure report filed on Wednesday covering activities during the final three months of last year.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the campaign purchased the books from Random House under a special arrangement in which the senator did not receive royalties for the sales.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 7:20 pm CST.

Hotel and real estate heiress and prominent Chicago liberal fundraiser Penny Pritzker will lead the national fundraising campaign for Barack Obama's presidential bid.

Pritzker, whose personal fortune last year was estimated at $2.1 billion by Forbes magazine, will be national finance chairman for the Barack Obama Presidential Exploratory Committee, the campaign announced on Wednesday evening.

She joins a campaign whose backers include such other prominent billionaire investors as Warren Buffett and George Soros.

Penny Pritzker is among a trio of cousins who manage the family businesses of the Pritzker family, Chicago's richest family. Their corporate empire, estimated to be worth $15 billion, includes the Hyatt hotel chain and the Marmon Group of manufacturing companies

Posted by Christi Parsons at 4:02 pm CST

More than a dozen former members of Congress have felony convictions on their records but are still receiving taxpayer-funded pensions, and House members think that’s a crime.

On Tuesday, they voted unanimously to strip officials of their public retirement benefits upon conviction of official wrongdoing, including bribery and conspiring with foreign interests.

At present, only a conviction of a crime like treason or espionage requires forfeiture of a congressional pension, which means that lawmakers with other serious offenses on their rap sheets continue to draw benefits.

Post by Mike Dorning at 10:28 am CST.

The coming presidential election appears set to become the most intense political fundraising competition ever. And most serious candidates will devote much of their time in 2007 to accumulating a warchest to start the presidential primaries.

For a serious primary campaign, the "ante" is $50 million raised by 2007 of Dec. 31, said one adviser to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Several serious candidates already have set a target of raising a minimum of $100 million in advance of the first presidential caucus next January.

The "money primary" of 2007 will shape the field of candidates that voters choose from in 2008. An article in today's Tribune excerpted below offers a look at the reasons why money is playing a larger role in presidential politics today and how candidates will be chasing dollars.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 10:00 am CDT

The University of Chicago Hospitals has offered its explanation for a large jump in salary it gave to the wife of Sen. Barack Obama two months after he took office. Michelle Obama's pay nearly tripled when the medical center promoted her to vice president for external affairs in March 2005.

The story below from this morning's Chicago Tribune offers greater detail:

Employer: Michelle Obama's raise well-earned

By Mike Dorning, Washington Bureau. Tribune staff reporters Bruce Japsen and David Mendell contributed from Chicago

Hospitals spokesman John Easton said Obama's salary was in line with the compensation received by the not-for-profit medical center's 16 other vice presidents.

Posted by William Neikirk at 3:04 p.m. CDT

During a weekend trip from Washington, D.C. to Irvine, Ky. for a high school reunion, I began to take note of gasoline prices. I filled up in Arlington, Va., paying $2.29 a gallon. I filled the tank again in Ashland, Ky., just across the road from an Ashland Oil refinery, and paid $2.07 per gallon. I stopped in Morehead, Ky., for the night, where the lowest price was $1.95 a gallon. On my way home, I filled up at Harrisonburg, Va., where the price was $1.99 a gallon.

At my reunion, several of my classmates said they thought the decline in oil prices represented manipulation by the oil companies to help the Republicans retain control of Congress in November. The notion of political manipulation is a fairly strong one in America these days, since the prices of oil and gasoline have plummeted in recent weeks. A recent Gallup Poll showed that 42 percent of those questioned believed the drop in prices was political in nature.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 10:05 am CDT.

It turns out Barack Obama's first year in the Senate was a very good year financially, for his wife as well as the newly elected senator. Michelle Obama received a promotion from her employer, the University of Chicago Hospitals, that nearly tripled her salary a few months after her husband took office.

Information on the Obama family's tax returns was released yesterday, as described in the below article from this morning's Chicago Tribune.

In big jump, Obamas earn $1.67 million


By Mike Dorning
Washington Bureau

Shortly after Obama took office, his wife, Michelle, received a promotion from her employer, the not-for-profit University of Chicago Hospitals, nearly tripling her earnings to $316,962 from $121,910 the previous year.

Posted by Frank James at 2:10 pm CDT

Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) who pleaded guilty in federal court today on public corruption charges related to Jack Abramoff, the disgraced and convicted former lobbyist, was living quite large, according to court documents released by the Justice Department today.

For instance, A foreign businessman who wanted Ney’s help in obtaining U.S. export licenses gave Ney thousands of dollars in gambling chips the congressman could use in a British casino the businessman owned.

(U.S. Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher, center, flanked by Michael A. Mason of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, left, and Earl E. Devaney, of the Interior Department, prepares to speak at the Justice Department on Rep. Bob Ney's, R-Ohio, guilty plea to corruption. AP Photo/Chris Greenberg)

Posted by William Neikirk at 1:15 p.m. CDT

It seemed like a simple piece of legislation. Sens. Barack Obama, Illinois Democrat, and Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, two men at opposite ends of the political spectrum, joined in sponsoring it. But it was difficult to pass.

All it would do is establish a federal, searchable computer database of $1 trillion in federal grants, contracts, loans, and "earmarks" or special spending advocated by individual members of Congress. (Earmarks usually go by another name--pork). You could type in "Halliburton" and all its contracts would come up. Similarly with "Planned Parenthood" or "Sierra Club."

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Friday, August 4, as collected by the Associated Press.

The Labor Department is releasing its July unemployment report this morning.

2 p.m. JACKSON — Scheduled sentencing before U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III for Vernon Jackson, a technology executive who pleaded guilty to paying more than $400,000 in bribes in connection with a congressional corruption case.
Location: Courtroom 900, U.S. District Court, Alexandria, Va.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 11:07 am CDT.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has amassed a fortune of more than $6 million after entering Congress 19 years ago a man of modest means, with a net worth of no more than $290,000.

A $2 million profit Hastert recently made on the sale of land near a federally funded highway project which he championed recently has stirred controversy.

In light of the controversy, the Tribune examined Hastert's financial dealings over the years and how he has accumulated his wealth in a front-page story. The first few paragraphs of the article follow:

Good morning.

Here are a few Washington events of note for Monday, June 19, as collected by the Associated Press.

9 a.m. - 11 a.m. GERALD FORD-TRIBUTE — National Archives tribute to the former president with ``President Ford’s Washington and the World.’’
Location: McGowan Theater, National Archives.

2 p.m. JUDICIARY — The Senate Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship Subcommittee is holding a hearing on immigration enforcement in the workplace and lessons learned from the 1986 legislation. The witnesses are Stewart Baker, Department of Homeland Security; Julie Myers, Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Dept. of Homeland Security; Martin Gerry, Social Security Administration; Richard Stana, GAO; C. Stewart Verdery, former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security; Cecilia Munoz, National Council of La Raza.
Location: Room 226, Dirksen.

10 a.m. REAL ESTATE PRICING — Consumer Federation of America releases report on how the real estate brokerage industry functions as a price-setting cartel.
Location: National Press Club, 14th and F Sts. NW

7 p.m. PRESIDENT’S DINNER — The National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee hold the President’s Dinner.
Location: Washington Convention Center, Mt. Vernon Square.

Posted by Frank James at 4:05 pm CDT

The race card was played very artfully Thursday night after House Democrats voted to kick Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) off the House Ways and Means Committee because of the ethical and legal cloud hanging over him.

It happened while Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, talked to the press after House Democrats’s vote against Jefferson. Because the decision to bounce Jefferson was made under no known rule, Watt could only imagine what some voters (read African American voters) might conclude.

Posted by Frank James at 12:24 pm CDT

Now that Rep. William “Cold Cash” Jefferson (D-La.) has been booted off the House Ways and Means Committee, does that mean it’s time to let the “culture of corruption” slogan roll, the theme Democrats hope to successfully attach to Republicans in November's mid-term elections?

Maybe, if voters thought that Democrats were inherently less corruptible than Republicans. But it’s likelier that voters have a more sophisticated view and see corruption as having more to do with power than party.

Posted by Frank James at 12:34 pm CDT

One of the most powerful posts in Congress is Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, the panel that decides how taxpayer dollars are spent.

Rep. Jerry Lewis, (R-Calif.) who holds that post, has come under the scrutiny of federal investigators now examining the links between lawmakers, their staffs, lobbyists and money.

Posted by Marni Goldberg at 6:05 p.m. CDT

A study released today found that members of Congress and their staffs accepted nearly $50 million worth of expense-paid travel over a 5 1/2-year period from corporations, trade associations and other private groups, many of them with interests before Congress.

The report was compiled by the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, along with two media organizations, American Public Media and Northwestern University’s Medill News Service. They examined more than 25,000 pages of disclosure documents covering about 23,000 trips from January 2000 to June 2005.

Posted by Mark Silva at 5 pm CDT

When your Justice Department has raided the office of a congressman, executing the first search ever conducted in a Capitol office, and the Republican speaker of the House and Democratic minority leader join forces to protest the intrusion as a violation of separation of powers, and the speaker says the Justice Department is attempting to "intimidate'' him for protesting the search, your next move might just be a 45-day sealing of the material obtained to give everyone a chance to cool off.

That's what President Bush did today, "In the Matter of the Search of Rayburn House Office Building Room Number 2113,'' the office of Rep. William Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat accused by the FBI of stashing bundles of cash in his home freezer. The president issued the following order today:

Posted by Frank James at 8:00 am CDT

Rep. William Jefferson's (D-La.) press conference Monday afternoon didn’t leave reporters much to work with.

Jefferson, the target of a federal corruption investigation for alleged bribe-taking, told reporters that he couldn’t talk about the facts of the case on the advice of his lawyer.

Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 12:47 pm CDT

This afternoon, the Ohio Democratic Party announced that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will be the featured speaker at the state's biggest fundraising dinner of the year.

Add it to the list.

So far this year, in addition to campaigning for other Democrats from coast-to-coast, the junior Illinois senator has headlined Demomcratic dinners in Connecticut and Minnesota. Nebraska and West Virginia are on the upcoming list.

Good morning.

Here are some Washington events of note for Monday, April 10, as culled from the Associated Press.

Congress is on a two-week spring break.

Vice President Cheney is on the campaign trail, speaking on behalf of congressional candidate Van Taylor in Waco, Texas, and for Sen. Jim Talent in Missouri.

Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 9:54 am CST

It's primary day in Texas, where former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay faces the first test from voters in his district after falling from power last year in a Congressional corruption scandal.

The Texas Republican, who has presided over many a tough fight in Washington, is not accustomed to much competition at home in Sugar Land. But DeLay faces three GOP challengers in today's primary.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 1:34 pm CST

So how has the Internet and online activism changed the high-stakes contest to fund presidential campaigns?

A survey released today by political scientists at George Washington University takes a stab at answering that question. The key conclusion: that the Internet has helped level the playing field between large-dollar donors and small-dollar donors. Online activism may already be diminishing the tremendous political clout enjoyed by long-term, big-dollar donors who move in social circles close to campaign leaders and candidates. The Internet has made it easier for less politically experienced potential donors to link up with candidates they support and also made it easier for ordinary people to reach out to persuade others to join their causes.

Posted by Michael Tackett at 4:10 pm CST

The guest at lunch was one of those sleazy, despicable Washington lobbyists. The restaurant was one of those typical Washington expense-account clip joints where food is art, the portions are scant and the prices are merely obscene.

He had attained the rank of national pariah and scourge on democracy in the typical way: tours of duty on several campaigns, time served in the White House and hours logged as a top staffer on Capitol Hill -- followed, of course, by the well-worn path to the lucrative lobbyist shop.

Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 1:39 p.m. CST

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) came face-to-face this afternoon for the first time since a spicy letter over ethics reform started a tempest on Capitol Hill.

McCain walked down the hallway of the Russell Senate Office Building, with Obama following behind a minute or so later. When they walked into the ornate hearing room, a bank of cameras awaited, snapping away as McCain and Obama dutifully mugged for the photographers.

Posted by Frank James at 6:25 pm CST

Apparently feeling like the victim of a congressional ambush, Sen. Barack Obama wrote a respectful response to the scathing letter from his colleague Sen. John McCain.

As I wrote in an earlier posting, McCain sent Obama a letter today essentially calling the Illinois senator a rank political opportunist, though not in those words.

Posted by Frank James at 5:42 pm CST

Fellow Chicago Tribune reporter Jeff Zeleny talked with Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Sen. Barack Obama who, as reported in an earlier posting, was skewered by Sen. John McCain who apparently felt Obama misled him about the Illinois senator's intentions to pursure bipartisan lobbying reform.

Zeleny tells me Gibbs expressed surprise over the tone of the McCain letter that came out of a meeting the two senators and eight others had last week. He said Obama remained interested in achieving ethics and lobbying reform.

“If Sen. Obama wasn’t serious about a bipartisan solution,” Gibbs told Zeleny, “he wouldn’t have gone to the meeting.”

Posted by Frank James at 4:42 pm CST

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has apparently just been introduced to the infamous temper of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)

In a flaming letter, McCain accuses Obama of “disingenuousness” for allegedly backing out of a commitment he made to McCain to participate in a bipartisan effort at lobbying reform.

Posted by Frank James at 3:05 pm CST

The Center for Responsive Politics just issued a press release about its analysis of the money raised to date for the 2006 House races, as reported to the Federal Election Commission. It indicates that three of the top 15 congressional money raisers so far are from Illinois.

Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), former House majority leader, topped the list at nearly $3 million. Number two was Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), the speaker of the House at $2.6 million, the top fundraiser in the Illinois delegation.

Posted by Frank James at 4:05 pm CST

Having just picked Rep. John Boehner, the Ohio Republican, as their new majority leader, House Republicans trying to unearth themselves from the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal now have an interesting challenge ahead of them--portraying Boehner as the champion of reform.

Boehner, a former plastics and packaging company president who's been in Congress since 1990, and led the House's Republican Congress in the 1990s, has not exactly been known as the very model of a congressional reformer.

Posted by Frank James at 2:01 pm CST

Should lobbyists be able to pay for the travel, food and hotel rooms of members of Congress or their staffs who are invited to conferences to hear first hand the concerns of those the lobbyists represent?

For many citizens, especially after the scandal involving convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the answer might seem like a no-brainer. No.

But not so fast, say lobbyists who are out making a case for such trips. And it’s a case worth listening to.

(Take the poll: Should lobbyists be able to pay for the travel, food and hotel rooms of members of Congress or their staffs?)

Posted by Jill Zuckman at 12:50 pm CST

In the game of one-upsmanship over who is taking lobbying reform most seriously, the prize must surely go to Rep. Ray LaHood, the Republican from Peoria.

Most lawmakers are trying to prove their bona fides by introducing legislation to clean up the increasingly uncomfortable relationship between members of Congress and members of the K St. lobbying corridor.

Posted by Frank James at 5:01 pm CST

A small item in The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire caused a serious double-take. It reported that Washington lobbyists were helping the Congressmen in the race for House Majority Leader.

This was intriguing. With the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal yet swirling around the capital and talk of lobbying reform all the rage, it suggested members of Congress still didn't get it.

Posted by Frank James at 12:15 pm CST

One of Washington's best perks is that if you're in the right job or know the right person, you can get invited to an official White House event and have your photograph taken with the president. There are plenty of people around town, including journalists with such photos (I think I've got five spanning two administrations.)

So it struck many folks around here as odd when the White House was asked if disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff had ever met the president and, if so, was there a photo of such a meeting that White House spokesman Scott McClellan's line was something like: we're looking for it.

Evidently, the White House can't be looking that hard. Washingtonian magazine reports that it has seen photos of the president and Abramoff, that there are at least five such photos.

Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 8:41 am CST

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), still playing the role of chief Democratic salesman for ethics and lobbying reform, has accepted a spot in the weekend's biggest political venue: NBC's "Meet The Press."

Agreeing to appear on the Sunday talk show underscores the point that Obama's approach to year No. 2 will be markedly different than his first year in the Senate when he purposefully laid low to let others speak on the party's behalf.

Posted by Frank James at 4:30 pm CST

We warned you the phrase "culture of corruption" would figure prominently in the congressional Democrats speechifying today when they rolled out their lobbying reform proposals. We counted the phrase nine times, sometimes with the word "Republican" before it. Four Democrats spoke, the Senate and House minority leaders, Sen. Harry Reid, (D.-Nev.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D.-Ca.), respectively. Illinois's own Sen. Barack Obama and Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York.

Reid used COC four times, Pelosi three and Slaughter twice. Obama did not utter it. We're not sure what that means. Maybe congressional freshmen don't get to use it.

What follows is a transcript of the Democratic speeches:

Posted by Jeff Zeleny at 1:27 pm CST

The Democrats, intent on attemping to seize the upper-hand on the ethics debate, launched a full-blown production at the Library of Congress today. As they unveiled their plan to try and brand Republicans as running a "culture of corruption," they turned to music.

As dozens of Democratic members of Congress filed into the Great Hall of the Jefferson Building at the Library of Congress, soft orchestral music reverberated through the marbeled room. It's the theme for their mid-term election strategy. Sen. Barack Obama stood at the podium - in front of his ranking colleague Sen. Dick Durbin - as the face of the reform effort We'll be writing more in tomorrow's newspaper......