Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington -

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Ben Fortney — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:43:41 -0400

RANGEL HIT WITH 13 ETHICS CHARGES

pbjork — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 14:41:04 -0400

30 Jul 2010 // By Paul Kane and Ben Pershing // Washington Post - The House ethics committee charged Rep. Charles B. Rangel with 13 separate violations of House rules Thursday, saying his various financial dealings broke the "public trust." The long-awaited release of the charges against Rangel at an afternoon hearing was the first formal step toward a possible ethics trial in mid-September. More»

A "contentious" two-year battle to get to the Rangel ethics trial

crew — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:14:15 -0400

Yesterday, the House Ethics Committee laid out the charges against Rep. Charles Rangel. It's looking like there will be a trial will be held in September. But, we're also getting the back story on how this process evolved. It took two years -- and it wasn't easy:

Documents released Thursday evening show that Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and an ethics panel investigating him were constantly at odds over the last two years.

The contentious relationship between the 20-term lawmaker and the ethics committee that concluded Rangel had violated House rules sheds new light on why a settlement wasn’t reached before Thursday’s public hearing.

It is clear from the documents that there was an adversarial relationship between the former Ways and Means Committee chairman and the ethics panel.

No deal. NY Times reports Rangel will stand trial

crew — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:20:07 -0400

Another breaking developmental. Now, it appears Rangel will stand trial:

The House ethics committee laid out 13 charges of House rules violations against Representative Charles B. Rangel on Thursday, and began the process for a rare public trial on the charges.

The move came after Mr. Rangel, a veteran congressman, failed to reach a settlement to avoid the rare and potentially embarrassing proceeding before the committee gathered at 1 p.m.

Mr. Rangel’s lawyers continued to hope they could still settle the case.

Rangel's ethics hearing delayed. CNN reports possible settlement

crew — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:21:01 -0400

There have been numerous reports over the past few hours about the pending ethics trial of Rep. Charles Rangel. The latest, from CNN, indicates that a settlement has been reached:

A New York Democratic colleague of Rep. Charles Rangel said Thursday that Rangel and the House ethics committee are "close to a settlement" involving Rangel's alleged violations of House rules.

Earlier, Rangel said he doesn't plan to attend an ethics committee hearing, where the allegations were to be made public.

The committee delayed the start of the hearing without giving a reason, increasing speculation that lawyers for Rangel might be trying to reach a deal with the panel to avoid the public airing of the veteran legislator's alleged wrongdoing.

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Ben Fortney — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:21:40 -0400

Shelby's Pork Parade

Ben Fortney — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:06:47 -0400

Alabama’s senior Senator Richard Shelby (R) takes great care of his former staffers… and their high paying clients too. CREW researchers found eight former Shelby staffers who have left his office to join or create lobbying firms and nearly $267 million in federal earmarks going to clients of former staffers since Fiscal Year 2008. In return, lobbying firms and clients have donated almost $1 million to his campaign committee and leadership PAC since 1999. Meanwhile, the lobbying firms employing former staffers of Sen. Shelby have collected over $10 million in lobbying fees from the former staffers’ clients since 2007.

Unfortunately, as CREW uncovered in our previous Pork Parade project, this is business as usual in Washington. Too many members of Congress use the federal treasury as a personal checking account to support their friends, family and favorite donors.

CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said:

"Sen. Shelby, like Rep. Murtha before him, takes trading earmarks for campaign dollars to a level most members of Congress can only dream about. Like Murtha, Shelby earmarks for the benefit of his former staffers turned lobbyists. It seems pork barrel spending knows no party limits." Sloan also noted, "Ironically, Shelby has been quick to condemn the Obama administration for its spending. It's always the other guy who is wasting our hard-earned taxpayer dollars."

John Bresnahan and Manu Raju covered CREW’s report in Politico today:

“In a mix of revolving-door and campaign finance politics, the same organizations that have enjoyed Shelby’s earmarks have seen their lobbyists and employees contribute nearly $1 million to Shelby’s campaign and political action committee since 1999, according to federal records.”

“Shelby, elected to the Senate in 1986, has long been one of the most prodigious earmarkers in Congress, and he’s unapologetic about sending money back home.”

Get all the details here, in CREW’s study, Senator Shelby’s Pork Parade (.pdf)

While CREW’s work was exhaustive, we may not have discovered all the former Shelby staffers-turned-lobbyists, earmarks or sources of campaign cash. Let us know if we missed something by emailing CREW’s research team.

Shelby's headshot

Ben Fortney — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:05:50 -0400

Bill to end "secret holds" on Senate calendar, which means a floor vote is coming

crew — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:47:35 -0400

The practice of "secret holds" could face a vote in the Senate sometime soon. The votes are there, based on the public commitments made:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) added a bill to eliminate the practice of secret holds on nominees to the Senate calendar on Wednesday.

Reid added Sen. Ron Wyden's (D-Ore.) legislation to do away with the longstanding Senate tradition of being able to anonymously halt a president's nominees in the Senate.

Adding the legislation to the calendar has the effect of moving the legislation closer to the point where Reid could bring it up for a vote.

If Reid does bring it up, it appears that he may have the votes to do away with the practice after Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) lobbied Senate colleagues to end it. Sixty-seven votes are needed to change Senate rules, and McCaskill, as of late June, had said she'd gathered 68.

Wonder if anyone will filibuster this legislation.

Rangel confirms negotiations underway for settlement of ethics case

crew — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:49:59 -0400

The House Ethics Committee will release its report on Rep. Charles Rangel, which will set in motion the trial against the NY Congressman. But, yesterday, Rangel confirmed that there's a possibility of a deal:

Veteran Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of New York confirmed Tuesday that his lawyers are discussing a possible settlement with lawyers for the House ethics committee that would avoid a public hearing this week on ethics allegations against him.

"Negotiations are much like the arc of legislative conferences, and that is until everything is agreed upon, there's absolutely nothing agreed upon," Rangel said while leaving the House floor after several votes.

He declined to talk about any details of the negotiations handled by his legal team, saying he was not participating in the talks himself.

Earlier, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said it was up to Rangel to decide whether to resign over the pending ethics allegations.