Former Gregg staffer caught in lobbying probe
The Associated Press – Wed., Feb. 4, 2009

WASHINGTON – A former congressional aide to Commerce Secretary-nominee Judd Gregg has been caught up in a long-running investigation into a Capitol Hill lobbying scandal.

A person familiar with the case confirmed Wednesday that “Staffer F” in court documents is Kevin Koonce, who worked as legislative director in Gregg’s Senate office from 2002-04. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is still under investigation.

Staffer F was cited in a guilty plea last week by Todd Boulanger, a former deputy to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In federal court, Boulanger admitted he plied the staffer with front-row tickets to a hockey game, meals and drinks and other tickets to a baseball game, and in exchange received favors in spending legislation.
The total value of the gifts Staffer F took from Boulanger exceeded $10,000, court papers said.
The biographical details about Staffer F contained in court documents — his job title at the time in the Senate office — correspond to Koonce’s.

Koonce has not been charged with any crime. He now works at a private firm, Sorini Samet & Associates LLP.
After several attempts by The Associated Press to reach him, Koonce replied to an e-mail Wednesday, saying only that he was on personal leave.

A spokesman for President Barack Obama, who on Tuesday appointed Sen. Gregg, R-N.H., to serve as Commerce secretary, declined to comment. Gregg’s spokeswoman, Andrea Wuebker, had no immediate comment.

Abramoff, once a top GOP lobbyist, is now in prison and has cooperated with the Justice Department to help convict more than a dozen people, including former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles, and a number of former lobbyists and Capitol Hill aides.

Boulanger was the most recent ex-lobbyist to fall, pleading guilty Friday to lavishing a number of congressional staffers with gifts similar to those he gave Staffer F, including an all-expense-paid trip to the World Series.

As part of the plea documents, prosecutors said Staffer F tried to help insert spending measures and add other amendments to legislation for Boulanger’s clients. Later, the staffer asked Boulanger if he could “score some hockey tickets,” and Boulanger got him front-row seats.

Boulanger later got the staffer box tickets to see the Baltimore Orioles, but Staffer F wanted more.

“Could you make sure there’s beer this time,” he wrote in an e-mail. I “mean, the red sox, crab cakes, and fillet mignon’s were nice but … haha.”

Later, Boulanger sent an e-mail to Abramoff expressing confidence that the senator for whom the staffer worked would give them a favor. “Easy money,” Boulanger wrote, adding that the aide “practically lives in our various suites. We are shady.”

According to his biography on the Web site of Sorini Samet & Associates, Koonce was a negotiator for the U.S. trade representative prior to working for Gregg. Koonce also worked for six years as a legislative assistant to former Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., in the 1990s. Koonce graduated from Denison University and received a law degree from Catholic University.

Do politicians try and live above the law? Well, it seems like not paying your taxes, employing illegal immigrants, extortion and bribery are alive and well in all political bodies in our country. Are we receiving the political leadership we deserve because of our apathy and failure to get involved in government? No matter what political party, age demographic or position a certain politician holds, it seems like corruption is rampant. Yes, politics has always been corrupt to some extent. But so is Wall Street, the medical industry and other industries in our nation. Corruption is not limited to politics. BUT I dare say there is much more corruption among our leaders who are supposed to take oaths of integrity, honor and dignity.

Just look at yesterday:
Daschle withdraws from Secretary of Health and Human Services position, since he did not pay taxes to the tune of $128,000. And, then claims “I did not know” – c’mon give me a break. That argument means you are either ignorant or arrogant. You signed the return, or you are responsible for what your Accountant does. It’s really that simple. Ask any American who does pay all of their taxes. We apparently pay more attention than you do…

Ironies of irony? Why, after all the slams at Bush and his administration, is the American public having to be subjected to this by a group claiming to be representing change? If this was Bush, he would be crucified for making stupid selections. But,Obama will get a pass for now. Don’t get me wrong: I voted for Obama and I want a new culture in DC. BUT then Obama has to break away from the Olde Guard and forge a new one – because the Olde Guard is too entrenched (in his own party) in what he campaigned against. Daschle epitomized all that is wrong with politics. Let him make his millions in the private sector, schmoozing and calling in old favors in DC for lobbyists. Or writing books, hitting the lecture circuit or rubbing elbows with the Saudis’.

Change? – Yes, but then recruit new private sector blood into politics. Out with the Olde Guard, in with the New.

Posted: Wednesday, July 30, 2008

In a serious blow to one of the most powerful members of the U.S. Senate, Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, was indicted on corruption charges for failing to report $250,000 in gifts from oil companies.

The New York Times: “The indictment of a sitting senator, particularly one of Mr. Stevens’s seniority and stature, reverberated swiftly and ominously through the Capitol, in no small part because of the political implications. Democrats already had high hopes that they would win more seats in November. They now control the Senate by a razor-thin 51 to 49, thanks only to two independents who vote with them. As far-fetched as it might seem, some Democrats have started thinking aloud that they may be able to win nine more seats in November, bringing them a filibuster-proof majority of 60.”

Stevens professed his innocence. “With the indictment, Stevens, an icon in Alaska politics, becomes by far the most powerful politician charged in the broad, four-year federal investigation into public corruption in the state. To date, three state legislators, a high-level official in Gov. Frank Murkowski’s administration, two businessmen and a lobbyist have been convicted, while two legislators are awaiting trial.”

Just how much trouble is he in for re-election? Um, a lot. “Stevens, who has never had a close election race since being appointed to the Senate in 1968, says he’s innocent and will fight the charges. His campaign is expressing confidence, and even detractors concede his reservoir of loyalty in the state. The question is whether a federal corruption indictment is enough to poison that goodwill.”

“It’s too late for Stevens to withdraw his name from the Aug. 26 Republican primary ballot, even if he wanted to. But if he won the primary and then resigned, the state Republican Party could pick his replacement for the November general election.”

More: “David Dittman, an Anchorage pollster and political consultant working for the Stevens campaign, said voters were already aware of the investigation and anticipating something would happen. The indictment is almost ‘old news’ now, Dittman said. He emphasized Stevens was charged with filing false disclosures rather than taking bribes. ‘In my view, if this is their best shot, it’s not good, but there’s not a whole lot there,’ he said.”

And: “As for the GOP primary, developer David Cuddy has been running second in polling. GOP consultant Marc ‘Hellenthal said Cuddy would be the odds-on favorite for the Republican nomination but has run a lackluster campaign so far. He said a wild card is Alaska political newcomer Vic Vickers, owner of a Florida-based maritime company, who said Monday he plans to spend $750,000 of his own money on winning the primary. ‘If a guy is going to spend $750,000, you can’t ignore him, and it’s not like Dave (Cuddy) is a household name,’ Hellenthal said.”

Attorney general’s comments follow charges against Puerto Rico’s governor
The Associated Press
March. 28, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO – Attorney General Michael Mukasey vowed anew Thursday to crack down on crooked politicians and public officials, dismissing critics who accuse the Justice Department of letting partisan loyalties interfere with corruption cases.
Mukasey’s comments came hours after prosecutors charged Puerto Rico’s Democratic-leaning governor in a campaign finance probe that began more than two years ago.
Additionally, Mukasey said that a multibillion-dollar overseas contracting loophole that was quietly slipped into Justice Department plans to protect taxpayers’ money “shouldn’t happen.”
All were part of the attorney general’s rhetorical assault on public corruption, which he called one of his top priorities.

“It’s often in the interest of someone to charge politicization whenever a prominent public figure is investigated or prosecuted,” Mukasey said during a noontime speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. “I find it notable that they make these accusations in the media, rather than before a court.”

Earlier, during an interview with The Associated Press, Mukasey said corruption has “a cost beyond dollars and cents — it undermines the whole idea of government.”
Because of corruption, Mukasey said, “people can’t have confidence that government’s being done honestly.”

Numerous corruption cases
The Justice Department has brought numerous corruption cases over the last several years targeting Democrats and Republicans alike. In 2006, the latest data available, Justice prosecutors charged nearly 1,200 federal, state and local government employees in public integrity cases — a 20 percent increase from a decade ago.

During his speech, Mukasey pointedly spoke of charges brought against two former Republican congressmen: Randy “Duke” Cunningham of California and Bob Ney of Ohio. He did not mention charges brought hours earlier against Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila, who faces 19 counts in a campaign finance probe. Twelve others associated with Acevedo’s Popular Democratic Party also were indicted Thursday.

Other high-profile lawmakers facing Justice Department charges include Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., in a land scam case, and Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., for allegedly taking bribes. Also under scrutiny by the FBI or congressional investigators are at least eight current House and Senate lawmakers. Democrat Eliot Spitzer resigned as New York’s governor earlier this month after a federal wiretap caught him arranging trysts with a prostitute.

Part of the Justice crackdown on corruption focuses on waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars spent on pricey government contracts. To that end, Mukasey told AP that the Justice Department is actively working to have a loophole exempting overseas contracts stripped from tough new rules to force private companies to report internal evidence of fraud.

The Bush administration added the loophole after the rule was first proposed by the Justice Department.
“Our position is it shouldn’t happen,” Mukasey said. “My understanding is we are doing whatever we can do at this point to show that we are opposed to it.”

Year of turmoil
Mukasey took over the Justice Department in November following nearly a year of turmoil there over whether nine U.S. attorneys and career prosecutors were hired or fired because of their politics. The scandal ultimately led to the resignation of the attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, and Mukasey has been intent since then on rebuilding the Justice Department’s image as fair and independent.
He also sought to quell suspicions over whether the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles meant to disband that office’s cadre of public integrity prosecutors when he reassigned them to other units. Mukasey described the move as little more than an office restructuring. “To take that as a signal that the Central District of California is out of the public corruption business I think is absurd,” Mukasey said. “I didn’t read it that way and … that’s not the life truth of it.”

Disclosures show how his name, connections helped him lead lavish lifestyle
By David D. Kirkpatrick      The New York Times      Mon., Feb. 2, 2009

WASHINGTON – Tom Daschle, the former Democratic Senate leader, had been voted out of office. His close friend Leo Hindery, a Democratic donor and media mogul, was out of a job too, having just sold his latest company, Yes Networks.
So in early 2005 the two men decided to team up. Mr. Daschle agreed to become the founding chairman of “a world-class executive advisory board” of “industry and regulatory experts” for a new investment firm run by Mr. Hindery, according to a news release announcing its inception and seeking investors. The Daschle-led board, the release said, would help provide a “collective depth of industry knowledge and expertise that will allow us to pursue unique and high-value opportunities.”

In addition to lending the prestige of his name, Mr. Daschle traveled to help raise money from investors for Mr. Hindery’s new venture, said Jenny Backus, a spokeswoman for Mr. Daschle. And in exchange, over the next four years the firm compensated Mr. Daschle with over $2 million, and Mr. Hindery lent Mr. Daschle the use of a chauffeured limousine in Washington.
Ms. Backus said that when Mr. Hindery was not in Washington he lent his car to Mr. Daschle as a favor to a friend.
The partnership has now come back to haunt Mr. Daschle, with the disclosure that he had failed to pay $128,000 in taxes on the car and driver Mr. Hindery’s firm provided him, threatening to derail his confirmation as secretary of health and human services.

Beyond the ramifications for Mr. Daschle’s ascent to the cabinet, the disclosures about Mr. Hindery and the many clients Mr. Daschle advised on public policy offers a new window into how Washington works. It shows how in just four years an influential former senator was able to make $5 million and live a lavish lifestyle by dint of his name, connections and knowledge of the town’s inner workings.

There is no evidence that Mr. Daschle pulled strings for Mr. Hindery. Indeed, Mr. Hindery’s firm appears to have had few interests before the government. But interviews and a review of public documents show that in his work for a Washington law firm, Mr. Daschle did take on an array of clients seeking influence with the government, including concerns involved in Indian gambling, ethanol, health care, telecommunications and federal contracting.
At least one, the nonprofit student loan company EduCap, may pose new problems for Mr. Daschle. The Senate Finance Committee said it was trying to determine whether trips to the Bahamas and the Middle East provided to Mr. Daschle by the company should also have been reported as income.
Ms. Backus said that the trips predated his work for EduCap, that he traveled at the request of a different charity, and that his accountants say he handled the trips appropriately.
Affiliated with the firm Alston & Bird, Mr. Daschle has operated in the gap between the popular understanding and legal definition of a lobbyist. There is no evidence that he directly sought to influence his former colleagues or other government officials in ways that would have required him to register as a lobbyist or could have run afoul of the restrictions on former lobbyists entering the Obama administration. But the rules still left plenty of room for him to advise businesses seeking to influence the government or to profit otherwise from the fame and insights he acquired in public life.

“Did he attempt to influence? Maybe,” said Thomas Susman, an official at the American Bar Association and author of its lobbying manual. “Did he advise others in the business of influencing? Probably. But he wasn’t a lobbyist.”

Ms. Backus said Mr. Daschle provided clients with advice based on years of public service. But she said he also gave the same insights free to the One campaign and the liberal Center for American Progress, as well as to his students at Georgetown University.

Aides to President Obama said on Sunday that they still expected Mr. Daschle to win confirmation. The Senate Finance Committee will meet on Monday to discuss the nomination.

What expertise Mr. Daschle contributed to Mr. Hindery’s firm is hard to determine. The firm, Intermedia, has hired no federal lobbyists and it mainly invests in media businesses — the television program “Soul Train,” for example; cable networks devoted to gospel music or hunting and fishing; and the Christian publisher Thomas Nelson — with few interests before the government.

Mr. Hindery, who sought the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee in 2000, could not be reached for comment. Other firm executives did not return calls. Former Senator Bob Kerrey, another board member, did not respond to an e-mail message.

Former Senator Slade Gorton, a Washington Republican who also joined the board, said in an interview on Sunday that the other members received $100,000 a year in compensation, mainly for attending quarterly meetings about the state of the firm.

The Senate Finance Committee expects to disclose this week the results of a two-year investigation into the possibility that Mr. Daschle’s client EduCap abused its tax-exempt status by providing lavish entertainment and travel to its officers and their guests, including Mr. Dashcle. Mr. Daschle is an old friend of Catherine B. Reynolds, EduCap’s chief executive.

Another client paying for his policy advice was UnitedHealth, a giant insurance company with many issues pending before the Department of Health and Human Services. About a third of its $81 billion in revenue last year came from federally regulated sales of Medicare Advantage and Medicare supplement and prescription drug plans.

The company boasted in its annual report that “one in five Medicare recipients participates in a UnitedHealth Group Medicare program.” (Mr. Daschle has said he will recuse himself from matters involving former clients.)

Two of the clients Mr. Daschle disclosed involved Indian tribes: the Great Plains Indian Gaming Association, and the law firm Fredericks Peebles & Morgan, which represents Indian tribes in legal and government-relations matters involving gambling, health care and other issues.

Another was Perry Capital, a firm that specialized in handicapping the completion of mergers, many of which required federal approvals.

Several other clients or employers have stakes in federal support for the production of ethanol, an alternative to petroleum popular in farm states but controversial among environmentalists. Mr. Daschle received fees as a director of Prime BioSolutions and the Mascoma Corporation, which are involved in ethanol production, and he sold policy advice to the Governors’ Ethanol Coalition and the Renewable Fuels Association. Other clients were investment companies with stakes in federal environmental policies, and one, Crown Consulting, specialized in work for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Mr. Daschle was also a director of the Mayo Clinic. Although he did not officially lobby for the hospital, he did lend his voice to its cause in at least one notable battle. (As a director, Mr. Daschle received free medical care from the clinic, and for that he paid taxes, his spokeswoman said.)

Over the last few years, the clinic paid several Washington lobbyists to help beat back a $2.5 billion government loan for a company from Mr. Daschle’s home state, South Dakota, that wanted to operate a freight rail line near the clinic’s headquarters in Rochester, Minn.
To much criticism in his home state, Mr. Daschle sided with the clinic, calling it “an American treasure.”
“I don’t think the Mayo Clinic is asking too much,” he told The St. Paul Pioneer Press. The Federal Railroad Administration killed the project last February.
Robert Pear and Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed reporting.
This article, “In Daschle’s Tax Woes, a Peek Into Washington,” first appeared in The New York Times.

Examples of lawmakers who have sponsored earmarks for private companies and received campaign contributions from them and, in some cases, their lobbyists.

Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio
Hobson, a member of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, obtained a $2.4 million earmark last year for the Greentree Group of Beavercreek, Ohio, for a digital information sharing system. Greentree Group executives, their families and consultants have donated $43,350 to Hobson since 2000, reports The Columbus Dispatch.

Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-Ind.
Visclosky, a member of House defense appropriations subcommittee, sponsored a $2 million earmark to 21st Century Systems last year for a virtual fence demonstration project. 21st Century has opened offices in Visclosky’s district. Its executives have contributed more than $27,000 to Visclosky in 2007-2008. The company’s Washington lobbyist is the PMA Group, a major appropriations lobbying shop whose associates have his campaign more than $45,000 in 2007-2008. The Indianapolis Star reported that Visclosky also helped Applied Global Technologies obtain a $2 million earmark for video teletraining for the military. Three Applied Global Technologies executives, including Executive Vice President Mike Garvey, each gave Visclosky a maximum $2,300 contribution.

Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan.
Tiahrt co-sponsored an $8.3 million earmark for Marine Corps UC-12 replacement aircraft built by Hawker Beechcraft Corp. in Wichita. Company executives have contributed $11,750 to Tiahrt this election cycle.

Reps. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., and Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J.
Since 2003, Andrews — and in some cases LoBiondo — sponsored $24.4 million in federal contracts to Gestalt LLC for work on speedy analyses of ships spotted at sea and teaching robots to work together. Executives of Gestalt contributed more than $14,000 to Andrews since 2002, and $2,500 to LoBiondo. Employees from Gestalt’s lobbying firm, American Defense International, delivered another $11,000 to Andrews and $5,750 to LoBiondo, reports the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill, N.J.

Rep. Tim Holden, D-Pa.
Holden earmarked $3.2 million to Reading-based Fidelity Technologies for the Call for Fire Trainer, a training simulator to help “forward observers” conduct calls for fire missions. The family of its founder, Jack Gulati, has contributed $10,000-plus to Holden’s re-election campaigns over the past six years. Employees of Fidelity’s lobbying firm, PMA Group, have donated $63,225 to Holden campaigns since 2002, the Allentown Morning Call reports.

Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa.
Murphy provided a $1.6 million defense bill earmark to EDO Corp. for “smart rack” weapons release systems that let fighter pilots fire various weapons or drop bombs at separate times. EDO’s political action committee gave Murphy $10,000, the Bucks County Courier Times reports. EDO also hired the PMA Group as its lobbying firm. PMA lobbyists and their spouses have given generously to Murphy, with contributions in the current election cycle totaling $18,500.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.
Miller delivered a $1.6 million for SecuriMetrics Inc., which manufactures biometric identification devices that use iris, fingerprint and facial recognition technology. Employees of SecuriMetrics Inc. have donated $16,090 to Miller and his political action committee since 2004, the Contra Costa Times reports.

Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga.
He won a $1.6 million earmark last year for Engineering and Software Systems Solutions Inc. for advanced coating technologies. Kingston has received more than $20,000 in campaign contributions this election cycle from company executives and their wives.

Source: The Associated Press

More than 11,000 “earmarks,” worth nearly $15 billion in all, were slipped into legislation telling the government where to spend taxpayers’ money this year, keeping the issue at the center of Washington’s culture of money, influence and politics. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said lawmakers could not possibly know what they were approving in the hastily completed spending bill, packed with “unnecessary, wasteful, run-of-the-mill pork barrel projects” amounting to “a slush fund for the appropriators.” In a lengthy statement submitted for the Congressional Record this week, McCain warned: “It will be a long time before all of the hidden provisions in this legislation are exposed.”

Congress has asked the Justice Department to investigate Alaska GOP Rep. Don Young’s $10 million earmark for a Florida highway interchange sought by a developer who gave him campaign contributions. Former Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., is embroiled in an investigation of earmarks for clients of lobbyist Bill Lowery, a former GOP congressman, who also have been generous campaign donors to Lewis. Once limited to the most senior and powerful lawmakers, or those on the Appropriations and Transportation committees, earmarking pet projects and grants mushroomed after Republicans took over Congress in 1995.

Estimates vary, but earmarks went from more than 1,300 projects worth nearly $8 billion in 1994 to a peak of nearly 14,000 projects worth more than $27 billion in 2005, according Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog group that opposes the practice.

Rep. Jim Walsh, R-N.Y., contrasts today’s earmarking culture to what existed before that. Most of the pet projects went to a small clique of spending barons headed by Appropriations chairmen like the late Rep. Jamie Whitten, D-Miss., who used to call up Cabinet officials to order up earmarks.

“We democratized it,” Walsh said. “We basically said, ‘We’re going to make this available to all the members.’”

But demand for earmarks skyrocketed, and more and more lobbying firms sought to buy in.

Democrats say they are cutting earmarks by more than 40 percent below the 2006 budget bills passed when Republicans ran Congress. As important, they say, are House and Senate reforms requiring sponsors of earmarks to disclose them. That’s made it easier for watchdog groups, reporters and the public to track the flow of lobbying influence and money. A Web site run by Taxpayers for Common Sense details earmarks, and one run by the Center for Responsive Politics tracks lobby registrations and campaign contributions.

Things may be changing. This year, freshman Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., gave back about $14,000 in contributions from people who had requested earmarks. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, told the AP that starting next year he’s going to stop asking for earmarks benefiting private companies. Few, however, expect the pay-to-play system to shut down.

“Hiring a lobbyist to try to get you an earmark is a pretty good investment, because you can get a 10-, 20-, 30-fold return without frankly all that much work,” said Anthony Nownes, a political scientist at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. “It’s a such a win-win situation for everybody. The legislator gets to tell his or her constituent that he or she quite literally brought home the bacon, the lobbyist gets to tell his or her client that they did the same thing, and the constituents get all the goodies.”

Like many of us, I voted for Obama expecting CHANGE in government. What has changed? Pork barrel bills? Nope, still have plenty of those. I expected him to show some level of courage and actually VETO bills that were full of favors and special interest. Why is it so  difficult to get accountability in government? They work for US and should be accountable to US. It enrages me to have massive layoffs, homes being lost and a banking sytem in a collapsed state and all our representatives in DC can do is MORE PORK BARREL SPENDING. They are so insulated, so elitist and so removed from reality and having to earn a living that I am very, very worried for our future.