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| Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, general chairman of the Republican National Committee, is facing fallout from a slew of irregularities related to his Senate campaign. In his squeaker 2004 race, Martinez accepted contributions over the legal limit and failed to properly disclose information about donations, according to an audit released last week by the Federal Election Commission. The audit is being used by Martinez's political opponents to question his leadership and could lead to a hefty fine. Mark Bubriski, a spokesman for the Florida State Democratic Party, called the violations "pretty big mistakes." "It seems like time and again, something is attributed to him that shouldn't have happened, and he blames his staff," Bubriski said, adding, "It really calls into question his leadership ability. What else is going to fall through the cracks?" But Martinez campaign spokesman Matthew Hunter predicted it won't hurt the senator's ability to raise funds for either his 2010 reelection effort or the RNC. "It's clear by the amount of funds that the RNC raised in the first quarter and the money that his campaign raised over the first quarter, and frankly over the last two years, that it will not have a negative effect on fundraising," Hunter said. Martinez's Senate committee raised $239,320 during the first three months of the year and finished the first quarter with $458,000 in the bank. The RNC, meanwhile, raised $24.6 million in the quarter, compared with $15 million raised during the same time by the Democratic National Committee. "He is a very effective representative of the Republican Party and will continue to be," Hunter said. FEC auditors found that Martinez's Senate campaign accepted contributions exceeding limits by a total of $313,235; failed to properly report funds raised by joint committees, as well as $162,014 raised in the days before the primary and general elections; and didn't do enough to collect information on donors' occupations and employers. Auditors noted the campaign committee has taken steps to rectify the violations. And Martinez issued a statement saying: "The campaign takes seriously the substance of the matter and made changes subsequent to that election to ensure full and timely compliance with all campaign finance laws in the future." The violations could result in a hefty fine if the FEC decides they're worthy of enforcement. The agency has grown aggressive of late. This month, it levied penalties of $120,000 on the committee for Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), $105,000 on the Colorado Democratic Party and $110,000 apiece on the Republican Issues Committee and Planned Parenthood's political action committee. Martinez, who was a member of President Bush's Cabinet, was elected RNC general chairman earlier this year. Though Martinez is the public face of the RNC, his party job mainly entails traveling the country raising money, not running its day-to-day operations. Those duties fall to chairman Mike Duncan, a lawyer schooled in the arcane world of campaign finance. |
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
RNC Chairman accused of finance irregularities
Friday, April 13, 2007
Education Chief Orders Ethics Check
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 13, 2007; A09
U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has launched reviews of the department's ethics and financial disclosure policies in response to questions raised through far-ranging investigations of the student loan industry, the agency said in a statement last night.
Spellings also asked for the resignation of Ellen Frishberg, director of student financial services at Johns Hopkins University, from a committee that is drafting new student loan regulations for the department.
Frishberg was suspended from her post at Johns Hopkins this week after revelations that she had received at least $65,000 from the private lender Student Loan Xpress for consulting fees and tuition.
The actions by Spellings are part of the fallout from an expanding probe of the $85 billion-a-year student loan industry.
Congressional Democrats and the New York state attorney general have recently stepped up their scrutiny of the complex financial ties among lenders, universities and government officials.
Last week, the Education Department suspended an official, Matteo Fontana, after revelations that he owned at least $100,000 in stock in the parent company of Student Loan Xpress while he helped oversee the student loan industry.
Last night, the department released Fontana's financial disclosure forms filed from 2002 through 2006. In those forms, he disclosed selling more than $100,000 worth of stock in that company, Education Lending Group, in 2004.
Despite that disclosure, Fontana continued to work in the Office of Federal Student Aid as a deputy general manager. Government regulations generally do not allow employees to work on matters involving companies in which they hold more than $15,000 worth of stock.
Spellings has ordered at least two attorneys to review every disclosure form filed this year.
Katherine McLane, an Education Department spokeswoman, said, "The department's ethics office is very clear with employees that the onus is on them to provide full and complete and up-to-date information on their financial holdings."
The matter is under investigation by the agency's inspector general and aides to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), education committee chairman.
Kennedy said in a statement last night: "The financial disclosure forms filed by Education Department official Matteo Fontana during his time at the department raise grave concerns about the effectiveness and impartiality of the ethics process at the department. The forms show that department officials were aware that Mr. Fontana held a significant financial interest in a company that he was charged with overseeing. Any American can tell you that this is dead wrong."
Fontana did not respond last night to telephone messages left at his home.
Before he went to the agency in November 2002, Fontana worked for 11 years as a director at Reston-based student loan giant Sallie Mae overseeing information technology staff, the filings show. His financial disclosure forms also indicate that he sold between $1,000 and $15,000 of Education Lending Group stock in December 2002. But the forms do not reveal that he held any shares in 2003. Then they show the larger sale in 2004.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Emergency meeting probes alleged RCMP cover-up
Canadian Press
OTTAWA — A Liberal MP is calling for a public inquiry into what he calls a “culture of corruption” in senior RCMP ranks amid allegations of obstruction and cover-up and the resignation of one senior Mountie.
Borys Wrzesnewskyj, a member of the Commons public accounts committee, says a full probe is needed after RCMP officers alleged fraud and abuse in the management of their pension and insurance plans.
A senior Mountie has stepped down and the committee was holding an emergency meeting away from public eyes on Thursday morning to plan its next steps.
RCMP Sergeant Natalie Deschenes said the deputy commissioner in charge of human resources, Barb George, offered to quit her post and the resignation was accepted. Ms. George had yet to be reassigned.
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A House of Commons committee will consider a motion Thursday to force ex-RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli and other former senior and current RCMP officers to testify after some of their colleagues alleged fraud Wednesday in the management of their pension plans.
The hard-hitting accusations came in testimony before the committee Wednesday, as serving and retired officers alleged that senior Mounties tried to block probes into management of the RCMP's pension and insurance plans.
In a scathing report last fall, Auditor General Sheila Fraser found millions in inappropriate charges to the pension and insurance plans.
Conservative MP and public accounts committee member John Williams said the panel expects former commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli to testify within a week.
Mr. Wrzesnewskyj said Thursday “the lid's off” now and more meetings must be held to set the stage for a full public inquiry into the matter.
“And then hopefully a public inquiry will do the digging that's required,” he said.
“This culture of corruption at the top echelons of the RCMP has to be addressed.”
Mr. Zaccardelli resigned as commissioner in December after delivering contradictory testimony to another Commons committee about the Maher Arar affair.
The former top Mountie was harshly criticized before the public accounts committee Wednesday.
“While trying to expose these wrongdoings, which were both criminal and code-of-conduct violations, I had face-to-face meetings and complaints up to and including Commissioner Zaccardelli,” Ron Lewis, a retired RCMP staff sergeant told the MPs.
“I was met with inaction, delays, roadblocks, obstruction and lies. The person who orchestrated most of this cover-up was Commissioner Zaccardelli.”
Mr. Zaccardelli told CBC News that the allegations were baseless, and that no money was missing from the RCMP funds.
The Mounties had asked Ottawa municipal police to conduct a criminal investigation of possible fraud, but Crown attorneys concluded in 2005 there was no point in laying charges because the evidence was likely too weak to obtain convictions.
Ms. Fraser said she was assured by the municipal police that there was no interference from the RCMP. But she also observed that the lead investigator reported directly to a senior RCMP officer, raising a potential public perception of bias.
At the public accounts committee, several officers testified they were stonewalled by more than one senior executive, including Mr. Zaccardelli, when they tried to raise questions about the pension and insurance plans with RCMP leadership.
“The RCMP has had a small groups of managers who, through their actions and inactions, are responsible for serious breaches in our core values, the RCMP code of conduct and even the criminal code,” said Chief Superintendent Fraser Macaulay.
He testified that he was transferred to work with the Defence Department for two years after he asked too many questions.
Sergeant Steve Walker said: “Every core value and rule of ethical conduct that I held to be true and dear as a rank-and-file member of the RCMP has been decimated and defiled by employees at the highest levels of the RCMP.”
Members of the committee appeared shocked by the allegations against the high-ranking members of the force.
“I'm a lawyer and I tell you they would be in court if it was anyone else, and packing a tooth brush for prison,” said Conservative MP Brian Fitzpatrick.
Said Liberal Shawn Murphy: “The cover-up is worse than the crime.”
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Senator Clinton's Lawyers Seek to Halt Fraud Suit
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
March 27, 2007
(CNSNews.com) - Attorneys for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) are trying to keep her out of a lawsuit that may ultimately force her to testify under oath about an alleged violation of campaign finance laws.
Washington lawyers David Kendall and Carolyn Utrecht and Los Angeles attorney Jan B. Norman -- all representing the apparent frontrunner for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination -- filed legal briefs Friday in the California Court of Appeals focusing heavily on the criminal background of plaintiff Peter Paul, the Hollywood businessman who is suing both Bill and Hillary Clinton and others.
Paul alleges that fraudulent actions by the Clintons and others cost him his multi-million dollar Internet venture. Paul claims to have been the largest contributor to Sen. Clinton's U.S. Senate campaign, spending $1.9 million to hold a 2000 fundraising gala attended by Hollywood celebrities including Whoopi Goldberg, John Travolta and Brad Pitt.
In return, Paul claims, then-President Bill Clinton promised to promote the firm. However, the president allegedly reneged on the commitment after his wife was elected in November of that year and used his influence to discourage others from investing in the firm.
In an effort to stay out of the suit, Sen. Clinton used a California statute intended to protect a political candidate's First Amendment rights from frivolous lawsuits. A California Superior Court judge dismissed her from the lawsuit on those grounds last fall, but Paul appealed in January, contending the California statute does not protect Sen. Clinton from alleged illegal activity.
The Friday brief was a response to the appeal.
"Plaintiff's alleged 'donations'...were extremely unusual," the Clinton team's response said. "Unlike typical campaign contributions, these donations supposedly had strings attached; [the] plaintiffs claim that he financed the tribute in exchange for one year of former President Clinton's services after he left public office in January 2001."
Oral arguments will likely be made to the three-judge panel this summer on whether to release Sen. Clinton from the lawsuit, with a decision expected soon after. But the entire case could go on for much longer.
The motion goes on to describe how Paul's venture (Stan Lee Media, which he entered with comic book mogul Stan Lee) "imploded," and "in the midst of the company's financial collapse, [the] plaintiff fled the United States for Brazil."
"Not surprisingly," the brief said, "no working relationship between the plaintiff and the president ever materialized." It then details how Paul was indicted for and pleaded guilty to manipulating the company's stock price. He had two previous felony convictions, pleading guilty to fraud in the 1970s and to a drug charge in the 1980s.
Paul's past is irrelevant at this stage in the case, said his attorney, D. Colette Wilson of the United States Justice Foundation in Ramona, Calif.
The argument before the court in determining if Sen. Clinton is protected by the anti-lawsuit statutes is based on the seriousness of the charges, she said. Paul's credibility is a matter that is subject for discussion in the course of a civil trial.
"They're saying, 'Do not believe anything Peter said because he is a felon,'" Wilson told Cybercast News Service Monday.
She said the allegations he is making are more than viable, adding that part of his contention was already backed up by results of his 2001 complaint to the Federal Elections Commission.
After investigating the matter, the FEC ruled that Sen. Clinton's 2000 campaign committee underreported cash it received at the fundraising event Paul sponsored and slapped the campaign committee with a $35,000 fine. The Clinton campaign committee also amended financial reports to show Paul's share of the production costs were understated by $721,000. The legal limit for an individual to contribute was $2,000 at the time.
The fallout from the Paul's Hollywood fundraising event also led to the federal indictment of David Rosen, Sen. Clinton's finance director, who was acquitted on charges of lying to the FEC.
The three attorneys who filed the brief could not be reached for comment Friday or Monday.
In a written declaration for the court filed on April 7, 2006, Sen. Clinton said, "I have no recollection whatsoever of discussing any arrangement with him whereby he would support my campaign for the United States Senate in exchange for anything from me or then-President Clinton. I do not believe I would make such a statement because I believe I would remember such a discussion if it had occurred."
Wilson called it a classic "non-denial denial."
"She really doesn't want to go on the stand," Wilson said, adding the senator's delay tactics could drag the case right into the 2008 election cycle. "The timing could end up particularly disastrous for Hillary."
Inside the Secretive Plan to Gut the Endangered Species Act
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is maneuvering to fundamentally weaken the Endangered Species Act, its strategy laid out in an internal 117-page draft proposal obtained by Salon. The proposed changes limit the number of species that can be protected and curtail the acres of wildlife habitat to be preserved." (Salon.com)
AG calls investigative evidence against Israeli President 'grave'
AG Mazuz calls investigative evidence against Katsav 'grave'
By Haaretz Service
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz indicated in remarks broadcast Tuesday that the evidence compiled in the criminal investigation of President Moshe Katsav was "grave," and that Katsav had made untrue statements in an impassioned television address in January.
Turning to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mazuz said that there was "significance" to the number of alleged graft affairs to which Olmert has been linked.
On January 23, Mazuz announced that he was considering indictment of Katsav on a range of charges including rape, sexual harassment, breach of trust, witness tampering, and fraud. Mazuz is to make the decision after holding a hearing for the president.
The next day, Katsav addressed the nation in a prime-time speech, in which he hinted that Mazuz had leaked information from a conversation between the two, violating a prior agreement to keep the content of the talk confidential.
"The statements are not true, untrue and inexact," Mazuz said in remarks broadcast on Israel Radio. "During that famous speech, the president said things which were untrue, on that subject and on other subjects."
Mazuz was speaking to Israel Channel 1 television's Politica program, which is to be aired on Tuesday night. Asked if was saying that Katsav was a liar, Mazuz responded:
"The investigative evidence is much graver than this remark or that, in this speech or that. Therefore, we wouldn't need to base our case on some comment or other in a speech."
As for Olmert, whom press reports have tied to a number of alleged affairs involving cronyism in job appointments and possible financial irregularities, Mazuz said "There is no doubts that there is significance to the quantity [of allegations], certainly when we are speaking of events of the same type, because they give a certain overall picture."
Katsav to be summoned for new questioning
Lawyers for Katsav, currently on a leave of absence while the investigation proceeds, have said that he would resign if a decision were made to bring him to trial.
Katsav will be summoned by police for additional questioning on Thursday, after a new complaint of sexual harassment was recently filed against him.
It appears that one of the women who had complained against the president in the past has recently complained of another harassment incident, which had not previously been made known to the police.
Mazuz approved the police request to summon Katsav for further questioning, although the complaint had been filed after a hearing was scheduled for the president on May 2.
Following the hearing, Mazuz will make a final decision on whether or not to indict the president.
The police investigation team notified Katsav's attorney Zion Amir of the additional interview yesterday and of the nature of the complaint, but did not provide details.
The president refused the police's demand to interview him at the police station or in a "neutral place." Mazuz then permitted the police to interview Katsav at the President's Residence in Jerusalem.
"This is very strange," Amir said yesterday. "The complainant will have to explain why she remembered now, close to the president's hearing, and whether anyone is behind this new complaint of hers."
Last week, Katsav petitioned the High Court of Justice, demanding that the state provide all materials collected in the investigation against him on suspicion of rape and other sexual assault charges.
Katsav's attorneys are questioning the legality of the president's investigation, claiming that all the material against him was illegally obtained.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Post-modern corruption in Israel
Israel
Last update - 09:00 23/03/2007
Post-modern corruption
By Gideon Samet
The crime stories at the top echelons are becoming totally bizarre. The record to date, a president suspected of rape, now seems to have been taken over by the story of Abraham Hirchson. The sins of Aryeh Deri, who only a few years ago occupied a strong place at the top of the hit parade, are nothing compared to his. The investigation of the finance minister looks like a late installment in a series where the scriptwriter goes crazy so that bored viewers won't leave. The fear is that in this situation the people in their living rooms won't get excited even if in the next installment the police commissioner is accused of pedophilia.
This is a penetration of post-modernism into the arena of corruption. As in the theory that rejects a distinction between high and low culture, it seems the criterion for examining the sins of senior officials is becoming blurred. Money in envelopes that, according to the suspicions, are transferred by an emissary to a Filipina worker in the finance minister's residence. The theft
of of tens of millions of shekels in the course of more than a decade. A suitcase of dollars for funding "Marches of the Living" to the death camps is seized on the way out of Poland. Is there no limit to the vulgarity of the scriptwriter?
Everything is presumed until proven. But until then, it is definitely becoming conceivable to investigators and to viewers of the cheap crime series that such things are possible. In a legendary anecdote from 40 years ago, an MK showed the education minister a police confirmation that he had emerged clean in an investigation. It's interesting that I don't have such a confirmation, said Zalman Aran, sarcastically.
Now anything goes. Crime reporters tell of the chairman of the Knesset Labor faction, Yoram Marciano, who is suspected of assault in a nightclub, that he doesn't know what they want from him and is threatening them even before receiving a note from the police. Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman removed himself from office in 1996 the moment the attorney general informed him of an investigation on the matter of false testimony to the police. Jackie Matza and Shula Zaken, the head of the Tax Authority and the prime minister's bureau chief, have been suspended from their jobs. Maybe because they don't have a bloc of supporters in the ruling party at a time when the prime minister himself, who is sitting on a cardboard chair, is stuck in investigations.
What has happened to allow the finance minister to remain in his job during a shocking investigation? Perhaps what has happened is that these investigations are no longer so shocking.
There is also a stench of post-modernism because this influential thesis despises what it has called the "super-text." It rejects unequivocal statements that try to dictate norms and decide what is permitted and what is forbidden. So that during the overly long period in which it has been flourishing at universities in the West, philosophy departments have removed Plato and Aristotle from the curriculum, for example, because they are considered white and arrogant tyrants of thought.
Although the criminal law is clear, the climate in Israel still favors blurred rules when it comes to people at the top. So that the question of whether Moshe Katsav has to leave the President's Residence during the course of the investigation remains hanging in the compressed air. And now the finance minister.
Of course he has to leave immediately. By the conclusion of the investigation. What, is there no life without Hirchson? This week Amnon Strashnov, the former district court judge and judge advocate general, proposed that no investigative proceedings take place against the prime minister ("by all the Lindenstrausses, the Yoav Yitzhakis") until he is out of office. This is folly
that is trying to turn the vagueness surrounding the status of VIPs under investigation into law. By nature, it is itself wrapped in amazing post-modernism. And will a finance minister under investigation continue? And a president?
So many people have been dragged into the investigation rooms that it seems as though we are really doing well. The opposite is the case. We are not doing at
all well if such a long line is forming there. Those who are panicking should take a valium. This matter has to be taken to the clear end, whether or not it is bitter.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Going to the dogs
Staggering along the road, I managed to utilise the last of my strength and flag down a passing taxi. Collapsing into the seat, I was immediately told: "Shut up - the news is starting". Happy to oblige, I fell silent and watched the driver's face contort in ever-deepening rage.
Switching off the stereo, he turned to me and spat: "They're all thieves, the lot of them." Assuming he was referring to the collective mass of Jerusalem cabbies, notorious for skinning tourists and immigrants like they were buffalo carcasses, I concurred, and waited for him to go on.
But no. Instead, his ire was aimed at the cabinet, parliament and state machine in general. Following the recent scandals engulfing the hierarchy, from the rape charges against the president to the S+M ambassador, and beyond, the public have been quick to condemn the ruling elite for their alleged misdemeanours. On top of that, yet another public strike yesterday - in protest at misuse of government funds and non-payment of salaries - brought home to roost once more the true extent of the corruption endemic in the system.
I was treated to an early-morning lecture from Ami the driver who, over the course of our 10-minute drive, proved once more that taxi drivers round here are - for better or worse - bang on the zeitgeist when given the opportunity to speak.
I told him that my mother shared his concern at the current state of affairs, even though she was all the way back in London. "She's a wise woman", said Ami. "I wish we could turn the clock back 50 years - there was a different spirit in this country back then. Today's society doesn't even compare".
"Look at us these days", he urged. "We've got no one decent to vote for any more. Instead we have MKs [Members of the Knesset] committing every crime under the sun. You name it, we've got it - rape, theft, harassment, bribery, and so the list goes on".
I interjected to ask if he though the level of corruption was worse here than in any other country.
"Of course there's sleaze outside Israel", said Ami. "But we hold the number one spot on the charts." With a rueful smile, he told me that the best on offer now is "to vote for the one who's committed the fewest crimes. There's no black and white any more, only different shades of black."
I suggested that maybe it's because we're all too worried about the security situation, and thus let other issues slide when really they ought to be of equal importance to the public.
"Yeah", said Ami, "maybe. But it's not as if we can even fight a war properly these days, is it?" - reflecting the general opinion that we had got a seriously rude awakening in last summer's war with Hizbullah.
Pulling up outside City Hall, where I was headed, he stopped the meter and continued his speech.
"What we need is a new generation. My one's finished, it's impotent. We need your generation to say 'we've had enough', and go back to socialist values". I nodded in agreement, though the chances of that happening are slim to none, in my opinion.
As I opened the door to get out, he grabbed my arm. "Look at the Ethiopians", he said. Here we go, I thought, the de rigeur cabbie racism ... But instead he directed his hostility to the Israelis who've "corrupted the poor Ethiopians".
"When they came here, they were all such good kids", he maintained. "But we've given them the wrong values - now they run around in miniskirts, getting drunk and imitating the worst of Israeli youth".
And with that, he flicked his dying cigarette into the street, and sped off to find the next punter upon whom to unload his woes.
Seth Freedman is a freelance writer and journalist based in Jerusalem. He grew up in London and worked as a stockbroker in the City for six years, before moving to Israel. He writes for falsedichotomies.com
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Follow the Cunningham $140,000 Yacht Bribe Money to Cheney's Office
Referring to the Bush administration’s purge of former San Diego-based U.S. attorney Carol Lam, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) questioned recently on the Senate floor whether she was let go because she was “about to investigate other people who were politically powerful.”
The media reports this morning that among Lam’s politically powerful targets were former CIA official Kyle “Dusty” Foggo and then-House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA). But there is evidence to believe that the White House may also have been on Lam’s target list. Here are the connections:
– Washington D.C. defense contractor Mitchell Wade pled guilty last February to paying then-California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham more than $1 million in bribes.
– Wade’s company MZM Inc. received its first federal contract from the White House. The contract, which ran from July 15 to August 15, 2002, stipulated that Wade be paid $140,000 to “provide office furniture and computers for Vice President Dick Cheney.”
– Two weeks later, on August 30, 2002, Wade purchased a yacht for $140,000 for Duke Cunningham. The boat’s name was later changed to the “Duke-Stir.” Said one party to the sale: “I knew then that somebody was going to go to jail for that…Duke looked at the boat, and Wade bought it — all in one day. Then they got on the boat and floated away.”
– According to Cunningham’s sentencing memorandum, the purchase price of the boat had been negotiated through a third-party earlier that summer, around the same time the White House contract was signed.
To recap, the White House awarded a one-month, $140,000 contract to an individual who never held a federal contract. Two weeks after he got paid, that same contractor used a cashier’s check for exactly that amount to buy a boat for a now-imprisoned congressman at a price that the congressman had pre-negotiated.
That should raise questions about the White House’s involvement.
UPDATE: Perhaps this was the “real problem” Sampson was referring to:
