Corruption Digest - January 19, 2005

As my new book Hostile Takeover prepares to be released in the Spring, here is your January 19, 2006 briefing on how America's political system is being sold to the highest bidders. To sign up to receive the Corruption Digest in your email box, just go to www.davidsirota.com and enter your email address on the righthand side.

WHITE HOUSE CORRUPTION
Knight Ridder newspapers reports "for the second straight day, the White House refused Wednesday to say who among its staffers met with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff or whom the recently convicted felon was representing when he visited the executive mansion." The Associated Press in May of 2005 reported that "In President Bush's first 10 months, GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the new administration." The White House also refused to disclose whether there are pictures of Abramoff and Bush meeting. Roll Call reports that "in a briefing with reporters, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D) said that he and his Democratic colleagues were planning new efforts 'in the next 24 hours' to compel the Bush administration to release details about who in the administration had meetings with Abramoff. Reid said that they planned to ask the Secret Service, under the Freedom of Information Act, to divulge when Abramoff went to the White House. UPI reports that Bush aides are frantically "trying to identify all photos that may exist of showing the president and lobbyist Jack Abramoff together."

CONGRESSIONAL CORRUPTION - REPUBLICANS
The GOP's much touted lobbying/ethics "reform" package introduced earlier this week was immediately exposed as a sham by the Washington Post. The paper reported that the proposal allows "members of Congress and their staffs [to] travel the world on an interest group's expense and eat steak on a lobbyist's account at the priciest restaurants in Washington - the only requirement would be that whenever a lobbyist pays the bill, he or she must also hand the lawmaker a campaign contribution. Then the transaction would be perfectly okay."...Roll Call reports that "even as the candidates for House Republican leadership posts try to top each other over who will crack down harder on lobbyists, they are leaning on their extensive networks of K Streeters for help with winning votes in the Republican Conference." In the case of the leading candidate, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), "GOP leadership aides said the most visible outside help is coming from Gregg Hartley" - top lobbyist for Cassidy & Associates. Hartley "is often seen roaming through Blunt’s office area, meeting with the Missouri Republican or his staff, using the elevator located in the Speaker’s suite or talking with aides in the conference room." Such integration of corporate lobbyists into legislative business is par for the course for Blunt - the Washington Post reported in 2005 that during the push for a round of massive new corporate tax cuts, "the task of rounding up the votes was delegated by Blunt's whip operation to a coalition of lobbyists, all of whom had clients with huge stakes in the outcome."...Montana Sen. Conrad Burns (R) has spent the better part of the last two weeks denying that he is involved in any way in the ongoing federal corruption investigation of GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Billings Gazette recently reported that Burns said last week, "Let me tell you that right now very clear: I am not under investigation." But as the Missoulian now reports, Burns former chief of staff has confirmed Burns' office is formally under investigation. For his part, Burns is headed back to Washington to hold a birthday bash for himself at the lobbying firm of Cassidy & Associates, using the occasion to shakedown more corporate lobbyists for cash, according to the Missoulian (you can see the invitation to the event here).

CONGRESSIONAL CORRUPTION - DEMOCRATS
Democrats yesterday unveiled their lobbying/reform package, but as the LA Times reported "the only way Congress can truly change how lobbyists deal with lawmakers is if it also enacts campaign finance reform — a provision missing from both parties' plans." Knight Ridder newspapers noted that because both party's "plans would leave unchanged the flow of money to political campaigns" it is "unclear if the Democrats could successfully cast themselves as offering a clear alternative to a country that, as of now, thinks both parties are corrupt." And sadly, the Democratic plan still leaves open gaping loopholes. For instance, "Democrats would ban more gifts to lawmakers, but Republicans would ban more junkets."...In New York, Democrats are pouncing on GOP Rep. John Sweeney for holding a fundraiser in Park City, Utah with a drug industry lobbyist...The Hill Newspaper reports that the business-funded Club for Growth has agreed to shower Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX) with cash as a payoff for Cuellar's support for the corporate-written Central American Free Trade Agreement...Similarly, Rep. Greg Meeks (D) is being rewarded by Big Money interests for his support of CAFTA at an event with the Chamber of Commerce. In response, New York's Working Families Party has announced it will picket the event.

STATE CORRUPTION
In Texas, the Associated Press reports Democratic legislators called on Gov. Rick Perry (R) to cancel a taxpayer-funded contract with an Abramoff and Delay-connected lobbyist. Drew Maloney, DeLay's former chief of staff, was one of two lobbyists hired by Perry to represent the state in Washington, D.C. "Once awarded his $180,000-a-year contract, Maloney made more than $75,000 in contributions to Republican campaigns, both nationally and in Texas," according to the AP. This follows a story earlier this week by the Houston Chronicle providing more details about the Texas Republican leadership siphoning off taxpayer money to Abramoff-connected lobbyists...In Ohio, the Columbus Dispatch reports that DNC Chairman Howard Dean "unveiled a package of ethics reforms yesterday at the Statehouse" calling Ohio the center of Republican corruption. Gov. Bob Taft (R) recently "became the first Ohio governor convicted of a crime in August when he pleaded no contest to failing to report free golf outings and other gifts."...In his State of the State address this week, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) demanded his legislature pass previously-introduced legislation creating publicly financed state elections.

THE CORRUPTION INDUSTRY
The Hill Newspaper reports that "aides to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) facing imminent unemployment can expect soft landings" on K Street now that they have to vacate their leadership office jobs...The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that former lawmakers who sold off their experience to corporate bidders and became lobbyists aren't worried about the slate of "reforms" being proposed by either party - a key signal that, despite the rhetoric, it will be business as usual in Washington.

CORPORATE CORRUPTION
The Financial Times reports that the Supreme Court is about to "close the courtroom door on a form of big class action lawsuit brought by investors" against company management, further insulating executives from consequences for their corrupt behavior. This ruling follows congressional passage in the 1990s of the "Private Securities Litigation Act" designed to limit shareholder lawsuits against companies. As one market analyst noted, that bill "paved the way for corporate chieftains basically to lie without fear of being sued."

THE "HOW CAN THEY SAY THAT WITH A STRAIGHT FACE" FILE
In perhaps the most comedic line reported yet in the corruption scandals, Roll Call reports that "An architect of the K Street Project, Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, said he agrees with Democrats that lawmakers should not base their official actions on who gives them campaign money or on what lobbyists a group employs." Unsaid, of course, is the fact that buying influence with corporate cash is exactly what Norquist's entire career has been about.

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