Unlike most of my countrymates who also want a trustworthy government, I watched yesterday's Delay events unfold with some regret. I am enamored with the symmetry of a House Leader, Senate Leader and White House all simultaneously under criminal investigation. That symmetry has been dashed for now, though I'm sure Roy Blunt will waste little time restoring it. In the meantime, I'll have to persevere...
I've added a table of contents and some html anchors to the version of Corruption News posted at Slingshot. It's getting unweildy in its length -- can any Republicans reading this please cut back on the pace a bit, just for my sake?
As always, I appreciate feedback, and I hope my work is useful.
Full News below the fold.
Tom Delay
As you may have heard, the existence of God was scientifically proven yesterday when a Travis County grand jury indicted Tom Delay on one charge of criminal conspiracy. Senate Rules forced Delay to resign his leadership position and vacate the Majority Leader's office. Speaker of the House Denny Hastert sought to temporarily fill Delay's position with California Congressman David Dreier, but a revolt of sorts from conservative House members and outside pressure groups scuttled Dreier's ascension. Roy Blunt became Majority Leader in his stead, and the House leadership has been thrown into turmoil.
Before looking at the details, I strongly recommend people check out Laura Rozen's Village Voice article on the case, as it's an excellent, comprehensive overview.
The Indictment. The Travis County grand jury indicted Delay over charges stemming from corporate funds that were illegally contributed to Texas Republicans late in the 2002 cycle. During the 2002 cycle, corporations, which are prohibited from directly funding Texas candidates by state law, contributed around $600,000 to TRMPAC, an entity set up by Delay. TRMPAC funneled at least $190,000 of that money to the Republican National State Elections Committee, which promptly gave the exact same amount of money to Texas state candidates. The basic facts of the case are not in dispute, just Delay's involvement.
The NYT's Anne Kornblut reports on the origins of TRMPAC, hatched in 2001 as a plot to take over Texas state politics.
Jesse Lee at the Stakeholder has the best roundup of yesterday's coverage.
The Offensive. Delay flatly denied the charge yesterday, but most of his energy was spent viscerally attacking Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle: "This morning, in an act of blatant political partisanship, a rogue district attorney in Travis County, Texas, named Ronnie Earle charged me with one count of criminal conspiracy -- a reckless charge wholly unsupported by the facts...This act is the product of a coordinated, pre-meditated campaign of political retribution -- the all-too-predictable result of a vengeful investigation led by a partisan fanatic." In rushing to destroy Earle, Delay has committed a serious political miscalculation, confirming that he arrogantly holds himself to be above the law.
John Bresnaham in Roll Call reports:
"DeLay's allies privately suggested that they would seek retribution against Earle, although DeLay himself will have no role in that effort. Charges of prosecutorial misconduct may be lodged against Earle, and a public-relations effort to discredit Earle personally had already begun on Wednesday, with GOP insiders repeatedly pointing out that Earle unsuccessfully attempted to prosecute Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) in the midst of the 1994 Senate race in Texas.
'Everything will be in play,' said one high-ranking House Republican aide. 'We will throw everything we can at Ronnie Earle.'"
Earle has not been shaken by the attacks, reports Ralph Blumenthal in the NYT. Earle: "Being called vindictive and partisan by Tom DeLay is like being called ugly by a frog." "I find they often accuse others of doing what they themselves do...And what else are they going to say?"
Delay's offense must overcome two obstacles. First, Earle has prosecuted more Democrats than Republicans. He certainly doesn't have the record of a "partisan fanatic." Second, the indictment came from the grand jury, not Earle. The evidence indicates that the grand jury actually pressured Earle into agreeing to the indictment, not vice versa. Neither of these facts will deter the GOP from hurling their verbal bombs, but both should reassure anyone interested in the reality of the situation.
The Succession. Patrick O'Connor in the Hill explains why Hastert wanted Dreier to temporarily serve as leader: "'The Speaker is backing Dave because he is capable, non-confrontational and safe,'" one knowledgeable GOP source said roughly an hour after the indictment was announced.
The source also said GOP leaders were installing Dreier in the role to head off a ruthless scramble for the post that could further divide an already fractious conference."
But the succession did not take place as planned. Ben Pershing of Roll Call has the best coverage of the succession battle:
Originally, leadership sources said, Hastert had considered installing Dreier in the Majority Leader position and leaving Blunt and Cantor where they were. But that plan ran into trouble early Wednesday afternoon when a group of conservative lawmakers expressed their strong opposition to handing the position to Dreier, who is a moderate on many social issues.
Republican leaders also heard a vocal outcry from outside conservative groups and activists who objected to Dreier's elevation.
Sources said that at Wednesday's weekly Republican Study Committee meeting, RSC Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) and a handful of other lawmakers said they would oppose Dreier when he came up for a vote in Conference. Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), according to sources, suggested that Pence should be Majority Leader.
Pence's office declined to comment on his statements during the meeting.
Wamp continued to agitate later Wednesday afternoon during the emergency GOP Conference meeting called to confirm Blunt to the Leader position. Wamp stood and announced that he had a letter signed by several other lawmakers calling for formal elections to be held to fill any open position, but his motion was not seconded.
Patrick O'Connor's Hill article reports that after Dreier's name leaked, "conservative activists from around the country flooded the Speaker's office with phone calls protesting the selection of Dreier, according to one leadership aide. Many of the callers protested his vote on a controversial stem-cell measure earlier this year." The real reason, though, appears to be the solidly grounded rumors about Dreier's sexuality. Steve, at The Washington Note,
writes with no hesitation that Dreier has been in a long term relationship with a man.
The Washington Post's Shailagh Murray and Jim VandeHei tell a somewhat different story, suggesting that Hastert changed course without prodding from his fellow Republicams: "As the conservatives met to vent frustrations and plot options, Hastert was changing course in a separate meeting on the second floor of the Capitol. Rep. Roy Blunt (Mo.), the majority whip, was making a personal appeal for the promotion. Hastert agreed, forestalling a possible revolt by conservatives, who regard Blunt as one of their own." They also report that Delay is not leaving the Majority Leader's offices, a claim most other reports contradict.
As things played out, David Dreier is a "liaison" for Blunt, the new Majority Leader. Blunt is both Majority Leader and Whip.
Roy Blunt.
Blunt is worse than Tom Delay. He is massively embedded in the K Street corporate lobbying community, and works endlessly both to advance their agenda on the Hill and to embed his cronies in their bowels. Roy Temple at Fired Up America has an excellent collection of background links on Blunt, and two telling articles from the past are here and here. The former is Thomas Edsall's May Washington Post article on "Blunt Inc.", which catalogues Blunts efforts to simultaneously dominate and enlist K Street. The latter is a June, 2003 Jim VandeHei piece on Blunt's efforts on behalf of Philip Morris.
FEMA, Hurricanes, and Civil Defense.
National Guard. The National Guard's commander, Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, told the defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee that the Guard "has only a third of the equipment it needs to respond to domestic disasters and terrorist attacks and will need $7 billion to acquire the radios, trucks, construction machinery and medical gear required," according to Scott Shane in the NYT. "General Blum said the problem had become acute as Guard units had deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, taking the newest equipment with them and then leaving it there for replacement soldiers to use."
Contracting Orgy. Griff Witte in the Washington Post reports that the House Energy and Commerce Committee heard yesterday from a panel of Inspector Generals who said that they could and would monitor Hurricane reconstruction contracts. Time Magazine reported over the weekend on the politicization of the federal inspectors general: "A study by Representative Henry Waxman of California, the top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, found that more than 60% of the IGs nominated by the Bush Administration had political experience and less than 20% had auditing experience-almost the obverse of those measures during the Clinton Administration."
Jeffrey Birnbaum chatted online at the Washington Post. I don't always think Birnbaum gets it, but he's still among the best reporter on the lobbying beat (in fact, he basically created the beat with his late eighties/early nineties books). For instance: "But K Street has changed tremendously. It now is much more powerful and what lobbyists want they get much more often than in the old days. Lobbyists are real players. Knowing what they know and what they want and what they are doing is essential to guessing how laws that impact us all will be changed or implemented. K Street is government street these days."
Environmental Destruction. The House GOP's efforts to use Katrina to roll back environmental protections "became ensnarled in a partisan debate Wednesday," reports Stephanie Cohen of Martketwatch. Yesterday's dispute was over oil refineries -- Republican Joe Barton wants to hand over at least three closed military bases to refiners for "geographic diversity," while Democrats want to establish a reserve of refined gas to even out supply disruptions. "Poorly thought out and poorly vetted efforts to pass industrial and ideological wish lists are not the way to respond to the actual energy issues raised by Katrina," said Dem. John Dingell.
Ellen Miller at TPMCafe has an excellent post on GOP Rep. Richard Pombo's scheme to sell a quarter of the National Park System off to the energy industry.
Insurance. Dean Starkman and Albert Crenshaw report in the Washington Post on the troubles that hurrican victims are having getting insurance adjusters to examine their claims. The enormity of the calamity, combined with still difficult conditions have resulted in significant delays in claim investigations.
Consumer groups, however, report hearing a range of complaints from policyholders. Among them: that insurers are sending inexperienced claims adjusters who are too apt to deny claims.
"They're hiring anyone with two legs," said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a San Francisco-based consumer group. "Of course, they're going to err on the side that things are not covered."
Insurers are not required to disclose how quickly they investigate claims or how many they deny. And totals of Katrina- and Rita-related complaints to state regulators are not yet available, making it hard to judge the extent of problems.
Business News
Vioxx. Merck & Co.'s lawyers have asked for a mistrial in the New Jersey case, claiming that a witness for the plaintiffs "unambiguously violated this court's ruling that Merck's voluntary withdrawal of Vioxx from the market is not to be discussed." The judge has not ruled on the request, and I've seen no discussion of the witness' testimony or how it may have prejudiced the trial.
AP reports that on the plaintiff's own testifimony, which was heard yesterday. "I'm not man enough to drag my own bags across the airport...I was bulletproof before," he said, describing his life after a heart attack.
Genentech. The Patent and Trademark Office rejected a patent application from Genentech, a leading bio tech firm, reports Andrew Pollack in the NYT. The preliminary ruling found the application was "double-patenting," basically a resubmission of an already patented technology to illicitly demand royalties from others using the technology. Reuters reports that the legal fight over the patent could take years, during which the patent will remain in effect.
Guidant. The FDA may have initiated a criminal investigation of Guidant, a manufacturer of "heart devices," reports Barry Meier in the NYT. Some of their devices, including implanted pacemakers and cardiac resynchronization therapy units, have electrical problems that can result in short circuits. Guidant has been cited and fined for failing to report problems with the devices to the FDA.
Fannie Mae. Dawn Kopecki in the WSJ reports that "investigators combing through Fannie Mae's finances have found new accounting violations, including evidence that the company may have overvalued assets, underreported credit losses and misused tax credits, according to people close to or previously involved in the inquiries."