At least nine of the 12 U.S. House and Senate members of the budget-cutting supercommittee have scheduled corporate fundraisers this fall, reported The Washington Post, making it increasingly likely they will decide what cuts to make from government programs while taking donations from industry giants.
The Watchdog Institute, a nonprofit reporting center based out of San Diego State University, has released a report showing connections between a committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Koch brothers, Charles and David. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is chaired by Rep. Darrell More…
The Houston Chronicle reported late last night that Michael Bromwich — director of the newly formed Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which replaced the much-maligned Minerals Management Service — has imposed a wide-reaching conflict-of-interest policy on federal employees overseeing offshore drilling.
More on Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kans.). While he might be the darling of Sarah Palin and Tea Party groups in today’s Kansas GOP Senate primary, they can’t be thrilled about his long record with lobbyists and earmarks throughout his congressional career on the House Appropriations Committee.
Since the Obama administration doesn’t seem all that concerned about potential conflicts of interest of having private fund managers advising the government on its $1.25 trillion mortgage-backed securities purchase program while also investing in similar assets on behalf of private clients, the Project on Government Oversight sent More…
Via Glenn Thrush at Politico, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) is lashing out at recent reports revealing a bailout meeting she facilitated between Treasury Department officials and a minority-owned bank, in which her husband was a former board member and owned hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock.
The reports, More…
Here’s Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) last week criticizing the banks — and the lawmakers beholden to the banks — after controversial changes were made to a House housing bill: “These guys rule this place,” she said of the finance industry, according to The Associated Press.
And here’s The New More…
Following up on my earlier post about whether the Obama Justice Department really ought to be representing John Yoo — the notorious former Office of Legal Counsel lawyer during the Bush administration — Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a professor at Columbia Law School, More…
Politico reports a small-scale controversy has erupted over the Obama-Biden transition team’s announcement that former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) will serve as an “informal senior adviser” for the new administration’s move into the Pentagon.
Critics say that Nunn’s position as chairman of “public responsibilities” at General Electric, More…
rss