Making Government Transparent and Accountable
The Sunlight Foundation uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable. Underlying all of our efforts is a fundamental belief that increased transparency will improve the public's confidence in government
The Sunlight Foundation Blog
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Politico looks at health care lobbyists-turned-staffers on the Senate Finance Committee with the aid of LittleSis. For a look at staffers-turned-health care lobbyists you can see our research here.
Former Abramoff lobbyist Kevin Ring is on trial in, perhaps, the most interesting corruption trial in Washington in quite some time. Neil Volz, another Abramoff crony and former staffer to Rep. Bob Ney, testified the other day and included tons of gory details:
Volz described his lobbying team’s practice of giving tickets, meals and drinks to public officials and staffers who were deemed valuable, as well as taking those individuals on trips.
“Really we just wanted to party,” Volz said about a trip he took to New Orleans with Ney, former Ney chief of staff Will Heaton, and other lobbyists. He said the group met a client and toured some homes, but those were not the main objectives of the trip, which he described as “part of the corrupt relationship” he had with Ney and his staffers.
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Volz described a discussion he had with Ring about “getting the joke,” a term used for a lobbyist getting a staffer to prioritize an issue because the lobbyist is “taking care of them,” after the Abramoff scandal began to surface in 2004.
“We thought, ‘Boy, it would be pretty difficult to defend the idea of getting the joke,’” he said of his conversation with Ring.
Over the weekend, the New York Times posted this great visualization of Clean Water Act violations and the lack of enforcement in all 50 states. One of the primary reasons why government data needs to be online and in accessible formats is for news organizations, designers and coders to create visualizations or databases that can concisely explain an issue, or reveal a problem, to the public at large.
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In Broad Daylight: Rangel’s Disclosure Discrepancies
Like a man sinking in quicksand, Rep. Charles Rangel continues, with every flailing day, to sink further as more discrepancies are revealed in his personal financial disclosures. New revelations show Rangel’s disclosures to be in complete disarray. Some assets and transactions are listed at high values one year and then listed at no value the next. The Associated Press compiled a list of the erratic disclosure listings.
The New York Times called on Rangel to temporarily step down from the chair of the Ways and Means Committee barring an ethics investigation. It looks like too many are having flashbacks to the Democratic scandals of the ’80s and ’90s that felled numerous congressional leaders.
The Washington Post takes a look at how business connections fuel bundled political contributions. One major Bush and McCain bundler, John Vogt, calls it the “favor arbitrage business,” where, “You’ve got to know who to ask, how to ask and more importantly, you have to be prepared to return the favor.”
Rep. John Doolittle has been under investigation for a long time – longer than this presidential election – and it looks like Kevin Ring’s indictment brings that investigation that much closer to his door step. Ring is accused of hiding Doolittle’s attempts to find a job for his wife from federal investigators. As McClatchy Newspapers reports, “[Ring's] apparent desire to protect the Doolittles is now figuring very prominently in his legal troubles.”
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In Broad Daylight: There Must Be Some Kind of Way Out of Here
If you’re a lawmaker, or former CIA official, caught in a corruption investigation there are many different ways to get out of trouble:
- “Graymail”: Under indictment and facing trial for corruption and fraud, K. Dusty Foggo, the former number three at CIA caught in the Duke Cunningham investigation, is threatening to reveal classified information related to terrorism in the trial. Prosecutors claim that Foggo wants to turn the trial into a referendum on the war on terror and portray himself as an anti-terrorism hero. K. Dusty Foggo: “Freedom isn’t free, it costs prostitutes for me. And then you get your classified government contracts.”
- “Deny”: Yesterday, TPM Muckraker reported that the indictment of Kevin Ring included information linking Ring’s actions to the office of Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico. Ring is alleged to have provided gifts, including tickets to basketball games, to a staffer in Wilson’s office. Wilson, who also received campaign contributions and a hosted fundraiser, issued a strong denial of any involvement in Ring’s activities.
- “Challenge”: Lawyers for Sen. Ted Stevens have issued a series of challenges and accusations against the government prosecution including a filing on Tuesday stating that the government refuses to turn over certain documents related to VECO CEO Bill Allen’s possible relationship with an underaged girl.
- “Wait it out”: Republicans are calling for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to remove Rep. Charles Rangel from his post as chairman of the House Committee on Ways & Means. Pelosi won’t budge and instead insists that the House Ethics Committee must first finish their investigation. The call for committee removal seems a bit premature, as I can only remember lawmakers removing themselves, or being removed, after an indictment, guilty plea, or, in the case of Alan Mollohan, when they are the chair of the Ethics Committee. However, I have little faith that the Ethics Committee wil conduct a full investigation by the end of the year.
- Also, CREW released their annual list of the 20 most corrupt members of Congress.
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Full Ring Indictment
The full indictment of lobbyist Kevin Ring is available here part 1, part 2 (via Letter of Apology).
As I pointed out in the previous blog post on Ring’s indictment, the labeled congressmen, Representative 4 and Representative 5, are former Rep. Ernie Istook and Rep. John Doolittle, respectively. The indictment clearly alleges that these two lawmakers willfully and knowingly accepted gifts and travel from Ring and Abramoff in exchange for favors, including the insertion of earmarks for the lobbyists’ clients. Doolittle is even alleged to have said that he felt like a “subsidiary” of Ring and Abramoff’s lobbying firm.
Ring was arrested yesterday and entered a plea of not guilty. The inevitable trial of Ring will likely delay further action against Istook and Doolittle, who, if the indictment is proven accurate are in a whole host of trouble. Ring was cooperating with the government in the investigation until he refused to plead guilty.
For all the gory details in the indictment, check out this ABC News piece.
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Yet Another Abramoff Crony Indicted
The Justice Department unsealed a ten-count indictment today against Kevin Ring, a lobbyist and former staffer to Rep. John Doolittle, in the on-going Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. According to a Department of Justice statement, Ring is charged “with conspiring with Abramoff and others to corrupt congressional and executive-branch officials by providing things of value to several public officials to induce or reward those who took official actions benefiting Ring and his clients.”
The statement also includes two unnamed congressmen, Representative 4 and Representative 5. Ring is alleged to have engaged in illegal conduct with the chief of staff to Representative 4, who is not identified as being either a current or former member of Congress. Previous indictments identify Representative 4 as former Rep. Ernie Istook. His chief of staff pleaded guilty earlier this year.
Representative 5, while not appearing in previous indictments, is readily identifiable. Ring is alleged to have lied about his knowledge of employment opportunities provided to the wife of Representative 5 by Abramoff. Only one sitting member of Congress fits this bill, and that is Ring’s former boss, Rep. John Doolittle.
One line in the statement possibly explains where this investigation is going next:
Ring and his coconspirators allegedly understood that the public officials to whom they provided things of value were failing to report those gifts as required and were filling out false financial disclosure forms, because to fill out the forms truthfully would reveal that they had accepted gifts in violation of ethical rules and federal law.
Looks as though investigators are going the Ted Stevens route in pursuing Tom DeLay (Representative 2), Tom Feeney (Representative 3), Ernie Istook (Representative 4), and John Doolittle (Representative 5).
