Back in 2005-2006, I put a lot of effort into blogging against Richard Pombo (R, CA-11). Kossacks who came on board after the midterms might not be familiar with his name. Suffice it to say that his vanquishment (thanks to Pete McCloskey & Jerry McNerney and thousands upon thousands of donors and volunteers) was one of the sweetest victories in the Democratic wave that retook the House.
Pombo's a lobbyist now, and is busy trying to promote new oil development. He's turned up again, now associated with some misleading astroturf. That's not new for him: what's new is the fresh chorus for new oil development on all fronts. This time, oil shale in Colorado. As if there weren't tons of new drilling and despoilment going on already under Cheney's energy plan.
John McCain has an undeserved reputation as a maverick. The hype is overwhelming. For many, the great gap between his actual record and the myth he’s carefully crafted is too much to take in. They would rather embrace the myth than confront the truth. Reality hurts their brains. And yet, I am afraid that I have to hurt the brains of McCain’s media sycophants—like the equally ancient David Broder—just a bit more.
Inside the beltway McCain gets a lot of praise and credit for the exposure and investigation of the Abramoff Scandal. It is undeserved.
When it comes to the Abramoff Scandal, the real work has been done by some fine investigative reporters and the Department of Justice. I’ll also give props to the various Congressional Committees that have revealed very narrow slices of information and several thousand pages of documents, but none of these Congressional-based inquirers could be called a full investigation of the scandal. That has not happened and it may never happen.
The reason is John McCain.
He morphed a nascent investigation into a cover-up and went on to embrace Abramoff’s most corrupt cronies.
A Siegel posted an informative diary on Tuesday, but it was lost amidst the North Carolina/Indiana primary results. 28 members of the House have banded together to oppose the Clinton/McCain plan for a gas tax holiday. A 29th, Rep. Mark Udall (running for Senate in Colorado) has issued his own statement:
Senator Clinton claimed yesterday that I either stand with her on this proposal or stand with the oil companies. To that I say: I stand with the families of Colorado, who aren't looking for bumper sticker fixes that don't fix anything, but for meaningful change that brings real relief and a new direction for our energy policy. We can't afford more Washington-style pandering while families keep getting squeezed.
Since Hillary's still campaigning on this hare-brained scheme, it's worth looking into related energy policy a little. There's some Clinton-era oil revenue issues worth revisiting. We might find better sources for revenue from the oil companies there than the "windfall profits" tax Hillary has put forth.
Dan Lungren (R CA-03) continues to have an abysmal voting record on the environment. Lungren just received a shameful 5% rating from the League of Conservation Voters. I wonder how he scored so "high" with his continued voting for the Bush Party line? Now that the Republican registration margin over the Dems in his congressional district is the lowest in CA (less than 5%), this seat is more vulnerable than ever! Will Lungren be the next Pombo?
Former Congressman Richard Pombo is alleged to be urging John Doolittle (CA-04) not to stand for re-election. For the good of the Republican party. At first blush, this sounds like something from The Onion. But it's not - it's from that Washington insider paper, The Hill:
According to three well-placed Republican sources, former Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) — who lost his seat amid ethics allegations — has called on longtime friend Doolittle to not seek reelection in the interest of keeping the district a GOP stronghold. In the last Congress, Pombo was a panel chairman while Doolittle was a member of GOP leadership.
Since 1999, I’ve been researching sweatshops, human trafficking, trade, globalization and a Culture of Corruption flourishing in Washington DC. My entry point into this study of human darkness was the sweatshops and labor abuse in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a US Territory in the Western Pacific. I’ve documented this work in a long series of Diaries.
The CNMI abuse has reached a new level of villainy in the face of Congressional Action: H.R. 3079 in the House and S. 1634 in the Senate. These bills have some flaws, but it is critical they pass as soon as possible. Every delay prolongs the abuse, but more on that in a moment.
This is the first installment in what I hope will be an illuminating short series on a hot-button issue that has come and gone - and has now come back with a vengeance. Previous diaries by Land of Enchantment and EZ Writer have touched on the activities of Charles Hurwitz and his Maxxam corporations in connection with congressional GOPers John Doolittle and Richard Pombo. Those stories grew out of a broad and decisive struggle that began in the mid-80s and culminated in the late 90's to save the last unprotected remnant of California's magnificent 2,000-year-old ancient redwood forests. To understand the current situation, a bit of context is in order.
I came over here today because I was PO'd at Harry Reid. I wanted to make another of my infrequent posts. But, before I did, I stopped on the front page and read through recent posts / comments.
Because my intent was to point out that Reid is all astroturf, I particularly noted the post Blue in NC by Anglico. It struck a chord. I clicked "Recommend."
That is the question Andrew Leonard is asking at Salon. Inhofe is the No 1 apologist for the oil industry and global warming doubter. Now, he is after keeping NIH research locked up under private copyright for years.
It was possible to take down Pombo. That is my district (CA 11) It should be possible to take down Inhofe. One person commenting at Salon mentions a State Senator named Rice. Is there a movement behind him? What is the best way to be helping? Does anyone know who jeanmac is that made that comment at Salon? It sounds like she has her head on the right way.
In an FEC report released this week, former Republican Congressman Pombo admitted that he cheated on his tax return, and will pay the Social Security and Income taxes he owes on $18,752 his wife took as "compensation" from his "campaign" account for 2004.
In calendar year 2003, the candidate's spouse issued checks payable to herself totaling $58,623. These payments were reported as either salary/compensation or as reimbursement of various expenses. However, it appeared that $18,752 represents the personal use of campaign funds or additional salary. In response to the interim audit report recommendation, RPC provided an amended Form 1099 (Miscellaneous Income)
for calendar year 2003 showing the additional $18,752 in compensation previously omitted; indicated that an amended tax return would be filed; and, filed amended disclosure reports. Pombo FEC Audit Findings
In an FEC report today former Republican Congressman Pombo has admitted that he cheated on his tax return and will pay the Social Security and Income taxes he owes on $18,752 his wife took as "compensation" from his "campaign" account for 2004.
In calendar year 2003, the candidate's spouse issued checks payable to herself totaling $58,623. These payments were reported as either salary/compensation or as reimbursement of various expenses. However, it appeared that $18,752 represents the personal use of campaign funds or additional salary. In response to the interim audit report recommendation, RPC provided an amended Form 1099 (Miscellaneous Income)
for calendar year 2003 showing the additional $18,752 in compensation previously omitted; indicated that an amended tax return would be filed; and, filed amended disclosure reports. Pombo FEC Audit Findings
Three streams of thought have been occupying my time since Yearly Kos.
One, ending the abuse on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), has been a project of mine for almost a decade. My friend, Wendy Doromal has been working on this since the 1980s. Over the weekend, she posted her first Diary at Daily Kos. She posted links to her July 2007 status report on current conditions on the CNMI for the workers along with video of many workers and their second class US Citizen Children. Read her Diary, her reports and take action—I’ll have details on the jump.
YKos also started some interesting discussions for next steps in taking this Country back and building a lasting Progressive agenda. I’ve been involved in a couple of these.
One is focused on the 2008 election. Let’s call this PomboSwarm 2008.
The other is focused on the long haul. Let’s call this The Clean Supply Campaign.
Both of these ideas are being formed and shaped. I’m excited about them and I think it would be great to get some feedback.
About a month ago, dday wrote a terrific, snarky diary about partisan use of the General Services Administration in support of beleaguered Republican Congressional members in last fall's election:
Like poor Lurita Doane who has searched and searched her memory about a meeting with the GSA exhorting them to use the office to help Republican candidates in 2006, and could only remember that there were cookies at the meeting. Now, if she were Proust, that remembrance of madeleines would have set off a rich tapestry of remembrances of things past. But she's not, she's a Republican afflicted with this scourge of memory loss.
We shouldn’t be surprised to learn that it wasn’t just the GSA who was playing this game. How about right inside the White House, involving Sara Taylor and Karl Rove? That’s what Congressman Henry Waxman’s looking into now.
To put it simply: First there's Jerry McNerney. Then, too, there's Nick Rahall. The former took Pombo's House seat (CA-11) away from him in last November's election (with our help). And because the Democrats took the majority in the House, Nick Rahall took over the Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee. Both are standing up for what's right in ways Pombo's never dreamed of. A couple of those "improvements" came to light in the last week, so I thought it was time to write a diary highlighting a couple of small, concrete changes for the better.
These guys may not be perfect, and we can find things to complain about them. But both are so much better than what they've replaced. It's good to keep that in mind. Details below the fold. And will be pleased to hear in the comments about other specifics we can be glad for.
I have to give credit where credit is due. This weekend dengre continued the long, drawn out story of one of the worst periods of corruption in the history of Congress. And, in his typical style, he gives full credit to Josh Marshall and the hard workers at TPM/TPM Muckraker for their following the story of Alberto Gonzales and the political firing of a group of prosecutors.
And, it typical fashion, I will continue to point out that Jack Abramoff was not the sole source of sleaze in Washington and that the Republicans are not the only party that has sleazy members.
Former Representative Pombo, who worked with the public relations firm, Pac/West Communications to support a $3 million contract from the Alaska state government "to coordinate a campaign for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration", is now heading a so-called, "grassroots" pro-property rights and anti-environmental lobbying group.
According to data compiled by the Campaign Finance Analysis Project, Pombo has, during his congressional career, collected more than $800,000 from agriculture, timber and fishing interests. The building industry has given him $205,000; oil and gas, $169,000; mining, $55,000; and casinos and gambling, $147,000.
-LA Times, February 2006
And Pombo, named "the most dangerous man in Congress" by environmental groups in the U.S., is not done yet. As noted in a recent press release, the new organization he is heading intends to support the Clean Air Act (whatever that would mean in this case) and fight for "environmentally sound energy development". Hmmm...could we be looking at that nuclear energy solution boasted in part five of Denier-a-palooza ?
Remember the Hurwitz caper? While the rest of the country was busy watching the Florida election spectacle in December 2000, Doolittle and Richard Pombo were busy undermining an FDIC investigation into one of Tom Delay's Houston buddies, Charles Hurwitz.
Hurwitz is back in the news, and it's about those redwood forests again. Pete McCloskey, former Republican Congressman, is on the case. Last spring he ran as a Republican against Richard Pombo in CA-11, and was instrumental in bringing Pombo down. McCloskey, long-time land use attorney, has filed suit regarding logging practices in the the Headwaters stand of old-growth redwoods.
Join us on April 27th for a very special Blue House at the Brew House Blograiser to benefit the campaigns of Representative Jerry McNerney (CA-11) and Lt. Col. Charlie Brown (soon to replace John Doolittle as the representative of California's 4th District). This is a production of California's blogger community (and our now moth-infested pockets), and we encourage everyone to come out and enjoy great food, delicious San Diego microbrews, and a big step towards making California even more Blue!
