Honest Government & Open Government
We will end the Republican culture of corruption and restore a government as good as the people it serves, starting with real ethics reform.
The Democratic Party is committed to real ethics reform and meaningful campaign finance reform that protects our rights and ensures that elected officials act ethically -- not just within the law, but within the spirit of the law. Democrats offer an aggressive reform package to reverse Republican excesses and restore the public trust.
We are committed to immediate change to lead our country in a new direction, to put an end to Republican business as usual, and to make certain our nation's leaders serve the people's interests, not special interests. For us, this commitment spans our lifetime, as we were elected to represent the people, not the powerful.
Our goal is to restore accountability, honesty and openness at all levels of government. To do so, we will create and enforce rules that demand the highest ethics from every public servant, sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, and establish clear standards that prevent the trading of official business for gifts.
On the same day John McCain gave a speech aimed at repositioning himself as a "moderate" for the general election by claiming to be a "conservationist," the Washington Post highlights Senator McCain's true priorities.
'You Scratch My Back I'll Scratch Yours' McCain pushed key land deal for fundraiser:
The Coconut Rd. earmark is gaining more and more attention. I've focused on some of the Republican infighting over who is to blame. The Anchorage Daily News, though, makes a more important point -- that there are still a lot of unanswered questions that Rep. Don Young has failed to address.
Republican Party infighting over Coconut Rd:
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain will stand by the statements he makes.
Smooth: At his health care policy event yesterday at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Florida, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was introduced by the institute's chairman, former Republican senator Connie Mack. But, as Hotline reports, Mack...
Even as John McCain and the Republican Party resort to baseless legal complaints and blatant distortions to avoid defending McCain's willingness to keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years, new video
emerged today that shows John McCain once "rejecting the very policy he urges today." McCain's campaign is arguing that he has not changed is view, and that he has always advocated a long-term troop presence in Iraq similar to that in Germany and South Korea.
John McCain says that, if elected president, he would nominate Supreme Court justices in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito.
Early in the Republican primary season, John McCain stated that he would not fly on corporate jets, nor would he enlist the aid of his wife's wealth to the campaign. According to the New York Times on Sunday, John McCain "frequently" flew on a corporate jet owned by a company headed by wife, Cindy, and paid a fraction of the actual cost.
Today John McCain, the ninth richest member of Congress, again showed the American people that his call for openness and accountability in government applies to everyone but himself.
For weeks now, John McCain has broken campaign finance law by going over the spending limits that he agreed to when he opted into public financing in order to secure a loan and get his name on the ballot in several states.
We've gone over this before, but Media Matters "Action Network" illustrates it so nicely. You'll want to check out this graphic showing the many lobbyists and former lobbyists on board the McCain campaign, which is more than any other candidate in the race.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain's biography tour will give voters a picture of McCain's true values.
John McCain is traveling the country on a biographical tour, but here's one stop his campaign won't celebrate: the Keating Five. (April 2 marks the 21st anniversary of the group's first meeting.) McCain and four other senators interceded on behalf...
Lobbyist Doug Davenport is joining the McCain campaign as one of the ten, decentralized, regional campaign managers. Davenport is one of the founders and current chief lobbyist for the DCI Group. Lobbyist staffers: cheaper by the dozen.
A while back we filed an FEC complaint against John McCain, asking them to investigate whether the McCain campaign was on the verge of violating the spending limit law he agreed to when he became eligible to receive matching funds.
John McCain sent an e-mail message to supporters offering a chance to ride the "Straight Talk Express" with the Arizona senator -- a spot typically reserved for lobbyists. My campaign has come up with an opportunity for a supporter to...
McCain's numerous lobbyist connections raise some eyebrows:
The Democratic National Committee announced today that Senator John McCain will appear in a series of debates to be broadcast on www.mccaindebates.com. The one candidate in this debate who could beat John McCain, is John McCain himself.
In an effort to burnish his foreign policy credentials, John McCain made a taxpayer-funded campaign swing through Europe and the Middle East this week. But the trip was not the success the McCain campaign had hoped for.
It's never a good idea.
From CNN, via Cliff Schecter's blog:
Today's McCain Myth: McCain would have an open and transparent presidency.
In February, John McCain stood in front of the cameras and addressed a lobbying scandal by claiming that "at no time have I ever done anything that would betray the public trust or make a decision which in any way would not be in the public interest or would favor anyone or organization."
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain is an impartial watchdog in the Air Force tanker deal.
Despite John McCain's claims that the lobbyists don't have any influence on him, the Associated Press today reports that the lobbyists running McCain's campaign lobbied on behalf of a European company that won a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract.
We know McCain's campaign is filled with lobbyists. We know at least one of those lobbyists does his lobbying work from inside of the so-called "Straight Talk Express."
Two this week alone.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain doesn't do political favors for friends.
Yet another lobbyist.
An article in the Wall Street Journal today highlighted some big flip-flops in McCain's record that I think are pretty striking in how clearly shameless they are.
The Washington Post "fact-checker" takes on McCain's statement that he's the only candidate who doesn't take money from special interests -- a claim they conclude is clearly false.
Today on CNN's Late Edition, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean highlighted John McCain's hypocrisy on the campaign trail. Citing McCain's efforts to skirt the same campaign finance laws he once championed and his failure this week to denounce John Hagee who has made discriminatory comments, Chairman Dean contended that John McCain "has not made a case for his honesty."
White House staffer Timothy Goeglein has admitted to plagiarism, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports:
McCain's ethics woes throwback to Keating scandal:
George Will's column this morning in the Washington Post details the hypocrisies of McCain's do as I say, not as I do record on lobbying and campaign finance reform. Though McCain has spent his career trying to cast himself as a "reformer," Will calls McCain a "situational ethicist regarding 'big money' in politics" who "seems sincerely to consider it theoretically impossible for him to commit the offenses of appearances that he incessantly ascribes to others." McCain will have trouble overcoming his ties to lobbyists and dodging of the very campaign finance laws he once championed, both of which seriously call his integrity into question.
After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain's campaign has been truthful when talking about his withdrawal from the matching funds program.
It turns out McCain's campaign misled reporters about their Kentucky ballot application.
Facing questions about whether the campaign leveraged eligibility for public matching funds to gain access to the ballot in several states, the McCain campaign yesterday sunk to a new low. For days the McCain campaign has been playing fast and loose with the facts surrounding McCain's FEC violations. On a call with reporters yesterday, the McCain campaign erroneously stated that the campaign was getting on the Kentucky ballot by collecting signatures. [Wall Street Journal, 2/27/08]
This time, they're breaking their promise to Congress to try to restore the emails from 2001 to 2003, when White House officials were using RNC email accounts to do government work -- which is supposed to be done using government email accounts that are subject to public records requests.
McCain's no-good very-bad week continues, as his placement on the Ohio ballot raises questions. The New York Times put it this way:
After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain has not benefited from the FEC's matching funds program.
Watch Governor Howard Dean's appearance on MSNBC this afternoon. Chairman Dean discusses, among other things, the DNC's FEC complaint filed against John McCain's lobbyist employment program presidential campaign....
John McCain's attempt to skirt federal election law is starting to catch up to him. Word of the FEC complaint filed by the DNC yesterday was all over the news. McCain claimed that his campaign did exactly what Governor Dean...
Washington, DC - After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.
Enjoy this video the Democratic Party put together. Imagine somebody's ethics problems being so troubling that he can be lectured about it by Bush, of all people.
"In the 2006 Senate report concerning Abramoff's activities, which McCain spearheaded, the Arizona Republican conspicuously left out information detailing how Alabama Gov. Bob Riley was targeted by Abramoff's influence peddling scheme."
As John McCain faces renewed questions about his ties to lobbyists, the New York Times this weekend examined McCain's role in keeping a loophole open that benefited a company that lobbied him. McCain's image as a reformer who can take the influence of money and lobbyists out of Washington has been seriously undercut by letters he wrote to the FCC while serving as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee that reveal he threatened to overhaul the FCC if they closed the loophole that helped the client of a lobbyist-friend. This, along with other legal and ethical issues that have resurfaced this week have raised new questions about McCain's integrity.
Today we're filing a complaint with the FEC against John McCain's campaign. In the complaint, we ask them to investigate whether the McCain campaign is about to violate the spending limit law he agreed to when he became eligible to receive matching funds.
What is it with ethically-challenged Republican leaders getting standing ovations?
The DNC announced today that it will file a complaint with the FEC against John McCain's campaign Monday, calling on the FEC to investigate whether the McCain campaign violated or is about to violate the law by ignoring the spending limit agreement and other conditions Senator McCain agreed to when he became eligible to receive federal matching funds. According to McCain's latest campaign filing, he has already spent $49.6 million and given that a month has passed, he has exceeded or is about to exceed the approximately $56.8 million spending limit.
As was mentioned earlier, Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Flagstaff, Ariz.) was indicted on a series of charges, including extortion, surrounding a land deal. It just so happens that Renzi and Republican presidential nominee John McCain are described by their local paper,...
Ayensa Millan, a 24 year old community activist and DNC State Party Partnership staffer in Arizona, will deliver the Democratic Hispanic Radio Address this Saturday. Millan will discuss her impressions from meeting with Hispanic voters in Arizona and their disappointment with Senator John McCain's betrayal on the issue of immigration and his promise of a third term of George W. Bush's failed policies.
Goodbye, credibility.
There isn't any other way to describe it, really, reading the latest Washington Post piece detailing why McCain team is shockingly tied to Washington lobbyists. And should he become the next president of the United States, then we've got something else on our hands...
Today's McCain Myth: Despite having a record number of lobbyists on his staff, John McCain can be trusted to reduce the influence of money and lobbyists in Washington.
For once, George Bush got something right. From the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000: Texas Gov. George W. Bush, abandoning all pretense of running a nice-guy front-runner campaign, lashed out at John McCain's reform credentials today, charging...
Define irony: Last night, the New York Times published an article chronicling John McCain's unethical run-ins over the years, and alleging that he may have aided a telecommunications lobbyist with regulators while chair of the Senate Commerce Committee. Springing into...
After casting himself as a "Maverick" in 2000, the new John McCain is walking in lockstep with President Bush, pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party, and embracing the ideology he once denounced. On the campaign trail McCain has callously abandoned many of his previously held positions, even contradicted himself, in a blatant attempt to remake himself into a candidate Republicans can accept in 2008. So just who is the real John McCain? The Democratic National Committee will present a daily fact aimed at exposing the man behind the myth.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain is a reformer who can be trusted to reduce the role of lobbyists and campaign cash in Washington.
Duke Cunningham briber, Bush Pioneer, and defense contractor Brent Wilkes is actually kind of lucky that he's only getting 12 years in prison, thanks to the new ruling by the judge in the case.
Pure coincidence, I'm sure. From Think Progress: In October 2006, President Bush authorized the construction of a 700-mile border fence between the United States and Mexico. Now, however, the Department of Homeland Security’s construction plans are facing opposition from Texans...
The latest, from CREW, on what they claim are over 10 million White House emails not properly saved:
John McCain's principles took another hit this weekend. While McCain has tried to convince voters that he stood up to the Republican culture of corruption in Washington, McCain showed his true colors by trying to advance his political career by cozying up to Karl Rove.
On Fox News Sunday this morning, President Bush expressed his confidence that John McCain will offer a third Bush term, and made it clear he'd be "glad to help [McCain] if he's the nominee" assuring Chris Wallace that McCain is "absolutely" a conservative. [Fox News Sunday, 2/10/08]
MSNBC's Dan Abrams takes a look at what passes in President Bush's 'Justice' Department with Georgetown Law School professor, Jonathan Turley....
Either John McCain's shameless pandering knows no bounds or the Double Talk Express runs on ethanol. During his remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference today, Campaign McCain tried to proclaim himself a consistent conservative by claiming to have campaigned against ethanol subsidies in Iowa. But in what Fortune magazine called "a flip-flop so absurd it'll be a wonder if it doesn't get lampooned by late-night comedians" the Real McCain pandered to Iowa Republicans: declaring himself a "strong" ethanol supporter and calling it "a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects." [Fortune, 10/31/06]
John McCain turned himself into the Republican Party's establishment frontrunner yesterday, but he did it by turning himself against his past principles, and ditching his credibility as part of a do-anything-to-win strategy. As he has done with other issues he once championed like campaign finance reform, McCain abandoned his position on immigration to save his campaign, and just last week admitted he would vote against the immigration bill he personally co-sponsored in 2006. Asked by Janet Hook of the LA Times during the debate from California last week if his "original proposal came to the Senate floor, would you vote for it?" McCain admitted under pressure, "no, I would not." [CNN debate, 1/30/08; http://youtube.com/watch?v=PgvFkICnRoo]
Trying to cement his place as the Bush establishment candidate, John McCain turned his back on his principles with a do-anything-to-win strategy that includes ignoring his past rhetoric on pork projects and the influence of lobbyists to benefit his presidential campaign. An independent review conducted by the advocacy group Public Citizen and released earlier this week "found that McCain has more bundlers -- people who gather checks from their networks of friends and associates -- than any other presidential candidate from either party." The review noted that "McCain has at least 58 federal lobbyists raising money for his campaign." [washingtonpost.com, 01/29/08]
You remember those robocalls on Huckabee's behalf that Huckabee criticized? Well, it turns out that he has accepted contributions from that same group:
I suppose this means his office is no longer "happy as a clam."
Last night's debate was yet another reminder of why smooth talking Mitt Romney keeps wracking up the silver and bronze medals, but just can't seem to make it across the finish line. After losses in almost every critical state heading up to next Tuesday, Romney's campaign has apparently decided that his last hope is to try to re-brand himself yet again -- this time as an "authentic conservative."
The Los Angeles Times reports that the head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel wrote to Attorney General Mukasey that the Justice Department "repeatedly 'impeded'" his investigation into the polarization of the department under Alberto Gonzales.
Huckabee's ever-growing list of ethics complaints gets a little bit longer:
In an interview with National Journal, former Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, confirmed the use of waterboarding as an interrogation tactic by the Bush administration.
Down in the southwestern desert, Arizona Democrats drafted an FEC complaint against Rep. John Shadegg (R-Phoenix, Ariz.) on the grounds that his re-election campaign is skirting donation limits through his political action committee (PAC).
You might remember Brent Wilkes, the defense contractor convicted of bribing Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham. Well, now it appears that federal probation officials have recommended that he serve 60 years in prison.
This morning, Mike posted the video of former Gov. Mitt Romney's meltdown when confronted by a reported from the Associated Press on the inconsistencies with Romney's rhetoric and his ties to lobbyists. Romney says that he "doesn't have lobbyists running...
Smooth talking Mitt Romney is at it again. Yesterday, Romney was caught on tape playing semantics with an Associated Press reporter over the role of lobbyists in his campaign. Romney grew visibly irritated when the reporter challenged his claim that he did not have lobbyists running his campaign or sitting in on strategy meetings, despite the fact that veteran Republican lobbyists like Ron Kaufman, Barbara Comstock and Al Cardenas have served as high-profile advisors and strategists since he announced his candidacy. [Associated Press, 1/17/08]
The Government Accountability Office questions the numbers used by the Bush administration in their report that graded whether or not Iraq had met certain "benchmarks."
Mike Huckabee recalls the tale thusly: "At a campaign stop in Michigan yesterday, a woman came up to me and said 'I don't have any money but I want to give you something for the campaign.' Then she reached out to me and gave me a gold ring."
Maybe it was the strain of doing three debates in five days, or the pressure of facing a second must-win primary in a week, but last night John McCain took his "do anything to win" campaign mentality to a new low.
Still under a corruption investigation for his role in a lobbying scandal, Republican Congressman John Doolittle announced he's retiring from Congress at the end of this term.
The White House now has five business days to tell the court whether their backup system for emails -- which ensures they aren't deleted -- has the alleged millions of missing emails they're required to keep.
President Bush reappointed Richard Stickler, the former industry executive-turned-Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) head that mishandled the response to the Crandall Canyon mine collapse last August. Meanwhile, the MSHA missed the deadline for finalizing new safety standards.
Over at TPM, Josh Marshall flagged down an article giving some rough details about how the Justice Department allegedly slowed down a probe into the New Hampshire phone jamming scandal.
"...more extensive than Bush administration officials have acknowledged."
For the past couple years, CREW has been fighting the White House for what they believe are public records -- when Jack Abramoff and conservative religious leaders visited the White House.
We've done a couple of these today, highlighting the awards to be given tomorrow by Talking Points Memo; here's one more, the big prize for Best Scandal - General Interest.
Tomorrow Talking Points Memo will unveil the winners of the Golden Dukes (aka "the Dukeys") -- awards given for corruption and scandal in government.
Rudy exaggerated his record on his US Attorney service:
Maybe Huckabee was just helping to spread the giving spirit throughout the year. But apparently, as governor, Huckabee thought it was better to receive -- thousands of dollars worth of gifts from donors, staff and appointees -- ignoring the obvious ethical concerns.
Tomorrow Talking Points Memo will unveil the winners of the Golden Dukes (aka "the Dukeys") -- awards given for corruption and scandal in government.
"Rudolph W. Giuliani’s consulting firm was hired in 2002 to help a Florida company build its business under a contract that called for Mr. Giuliani’s firm to be paid in part for lining up work with the federal government and other clients, company records show."
Giuliani continues to offer questionable excuses on Judi security expenses:
Now that Scooter Libby dropped his appeal, the White House can no longer use the excuse that there's an ongoing criminal proceeding to avoid answering questions about their role in leaking the identity of a covert CIA agent. That's still not stopping them from trying anyway.
For years the Bush administration refused to discuss their actions surrounding the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, claiming that an "ongoing investigation" prevented it. When Libby was found guilty on counts of perjury and obstructing justice, they said...
Giuliani won't release client list or cut ties with his firm.
During his first appearance as a presidential candidate on NBC's Meet the Press this morning, Rudy Giuliani continued his refusal to fully disclose his business dealings and connections to shady figures.
As he hunkers down with his advisers today and prepares for his appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, Rudy Giuliani should finally answer questions he has been dodging for months.
The response is two-fold. One, confirm/deny nothing. Two, attack the messenger (CREW). First, there's this WH claim (emphasis mine):
