Good morning . . .
Could there be other ethics problems for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX)? A report in the Sunday Washington Post says a 2000 plane trip to Scotland and London was charged to a lobbyist's credit card. The holder of the American Express card was Jack Abramoff, who at the time worked for the lobbying form of Preston Gates & Ellis. Abramoff is under a federal criminal investigation into his lobbying efforts.
The expenses on Abramoff's card were for plane tickets. Other expenses for the trip were billed to a second credit card registered to registered lobbyist, Edwin Buckham.
The Post report mentions two unnamed sources for the information which includes credit card receipts and invoices for the trip.
Under House ethics rules, lawmakers are prohibited from accepted the payment of trips and related expenses from registered lobbyists.
An attorney for DeLay says that DeLay's staff was aware that Preston Gates & Ellis were working on the arrangements for the trip but DeLay himself was "unaware" of the funding source. DeLay continues to believe the trip was funded by the National Center for Public Policy Research.
Perhaps, DeLay's attorneys are being a little disingenuous.
If the Post story is true, it is just one more problem for the Majority Leader that will lessen his ability to move the Bush agenda forward in the House. Perhaps, it is time for DeLay to take a step back, work through the ethics and other legal problems, and either resume his leadership role or resign.
Yahoo! News - DeLay Trip Charged to Lobbyist Credit Card- Report
--
It is one thing when a once-respected anchor attempts to change the course of a US presidential election with, obviously, forged documents. It is quite another things when the New Division at one of the world's most respected news organizations plants hecklers to change the course of an election.
That is the case in the UK. The BBC has admitted that it planted hecklers with microphones in a crowd listening to a speech from Conservative Leader Michael Howard.
The almost-monopoly network then taped the event emphasizing the hecklers instead of the speeches.
Guy Black, head of Communicators for the Conservative Party write to the BBC saying the hecklers began shouting slogans that were distracting and clearly hostile to the Conservative Party".
The BBC claimed that the "exercise" was part of a "completely legitimate programme about the history and art of political heckling" and said that other parties' meetings were being "observed". However, The Telegraph has established that none of Tony Blair's meetings was infiltrated or disrupted in similar fashion.
The Conservatives have called for an apology and an assurance that it will never happen again. Plus they have demanded the BBC never show the footage.
The BBC has promised to investigate "very fully." The BBC and other British broadcasters have a statutory duty to remain impartial during election campaigns.
I hope this investigation will not be the "whitewash" that the CBS investigation became.
Telegraph | News | Tory fury as BBC sends hecklers to bait Howard
--
Not everyone on Washington thinks John Bolton should not be confirmed as ambassador to the UN. The Democrats biggest problem is Bolton's management style. As noted here before, there are many bad bosses in Washington and elsewhere, Bolton may be one of them.
Over forty of Bolton's former colleagues at the American Enterprise Institute want to set the record straight.
IN a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, former colleagues defended Bolton's management style and conduct.
"We were colleagues of John Bolton during his tenure as senior vice president of the American Enterprise Institute from January 1997 through May 2001. We are writing to tell you and your colleagues that the various allegations that have been raised before your Committee, concerning Mr. Bolton's management style and conduct in other organizations and circumstances, are radically at odds with our experiences in more than four years of intense, frequent and continuous interaction with him."
The letter addressed to Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN) and ranking member Joseph Biden (D-DE), said Bolton was a demanding colleague al right - as demanding of himself as he was of others.
"Contrary to the portrayals of his accusers, he combines a temperate disposition, good spirit, and utter honesty with his well-known attributes of exceptional intelligence and intensity of purpose," his former AEI colleagues wrote.
Such a "rare combination" is a "highly desirable" attribute for the next U.N. ambassador, the letter said.
President Bush continues to support Bolton's nomination, calling him the right man for the UN job. A vote on the committee has been delayed until May 12.
Former Colleagues Defend Bolton's Management Style -- 04/25/2005
--
More later.
No comments:
Post a Comment