Kushner Companies Received Loans After White House Meetings

I actual had thought that I knew what I would be writing about in this post as I headed to mork yesterday morning. But then numerous things happened throughout the day.  Trump made statements that likely gave the NRA a stroke, Hope Hicks resigned as White House communications director after admitted she had told "white lies" for Trump, Walmart has stated it will not sell rifles to those under age 21, and then the bombshell that Jared "Prince Jared" Kushner's companies received hundreds of millions of loans following Kushner's meetings with individuals and businesses in his capacity as a senior White House official.  So much for Der Trumpenführer's claims that his family members have not benefited from his occupancy of the the White House.  And this after reports that four (4) different foreign countries viewed Kushner as particularly vulnerable to manipulation - think bribes and/or blackmail - which is why he was unable to get top secret security clearance. Here are excerpts from the Washington Post on Kushner's vulnerability:

Officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter. 

Among those nations discussing ways to influence Kushner to their advantage were the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and Mexico, the current and former officials said. 

It is unclear if any of those countries acted on the discussions, but Kushner’s contacts with certain foreign government officials have raised concerns inside the White House and are a reason he has been unable to obtain a permanent security clearance, the officials said.

And that was before today's revelations about the unusual loans made to Kushner companies in the wake of meetings at the White House.  Here are highlights from the breaking news piece in the New York Times:

Early last year, a private equity billionaire started paying regular visits to the White House.  Joshua Harris, a founder of Apollo Global Management, was advising Trump administration officials on infrastructure policy. During that period, he met on multiple occasions with Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, said three people familiar with the meetings. Among other things, the two men discussed a possible White House job for Mr. Harris.

The job never materialized, but in November, Apollo lent $184 million to Mr. Kushner’s family real estate firm, Kushner Companies. The loan was to refinance the mortgage on a Chicago skyscraper.

Even by the standards of Apollo, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, the previously unreported transaction with the Kushners was a big deal: It was triple the size of the average property loan made by Apollo’s real estate lending arm, securities filings show.

It was one of the largest loans Kushner Companies received last year. An even larger loan came from Citigroup, which lent the firm and one of its partners $325 million to help finance a group of office buildings in Brooklyn.

There is little precedent for a top White House official meeting with executives of companies as they contemplate sizable loans to his business, say government ethics experts.

“This is exactly why senior government officials, for as long back as I have any experience, don’t maintain any active outside business interests,” said Don Fox, the former acting director of the Office of Government Ethics during the Obama administration and, before that, a lawyer for the Air Force and Navy during Republican and Democratic administrations. “The appearance of conflicts of interest is simply too great.”

The White House referred questions to Mr. Kushner’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, who did not dispute that the meetings between Mr. Kushner and the executives took place. This blurring of lines is now a potential liability for Mr. Kushner, who recently lost his top-secret security clearance amid worries from some United States officials that foreign governments might try to gain influence with the White House by doing business with Mr. Kushner.

Investigators working for Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel looking into Russian interference in the 2016 election, have asked questions about Mr. Kushner’s interactions with potential investors from overseas, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Kushner’s firm has sought investments from the Chinese insurer Anbang and from the former prime minister of Qatar.

Mr. Kushner resigned as chief executive of Kushner Companies when he joined the White House last January, and he sold a small portion of his stake in the company to a trust controlled by his mother.

But he retained the vast majority of his interest in Kushner Companies. His real estate holdings and other investments are worth as much as $761 million, according to government ethics filings. They are likely worth much more, because that estimate has his firm’s debt subtracted from the value of his holdings.

Public filings show that Mr. Kushner still owns part of the company that received the Apollo loan. The loan was used to refinance a Chicago skyscraper that is the Midwest headquarters for AT&T. Mr. Kushner also still holds a stake in the entity that owns the Brooklyn buildings and received the loan from Citigroup. Mr. Fox, the ethics expert, said Mr. Kushner risked violating the regulations in his meetings with Citigroup and Apollo executives. All of the executives who met with Mr. Kushner have lots to gain or lose in Washington.

Apollo has sought ways to benefit from the White House’s possible infrastructure plan. And its executives, including Mr. Harris, had tens of millions of dollars personally at stake in the tax overhaul that was making its way through Washington last year.

Citigroup, one of the country’s largest banks, is heavily regulated by federal agencies and, like other financial companies, is trying to get the government to relax its oversight of the industry.

Shortly after Kushner Companies received the loan from Apollo, the private equity firm emerged as a beneficiary of the tax cut package that the White House championed. Mr. Trump backed down from his earlier pledge to close a loophole that permits private equity managers to pay taxes on the bulk of their income at rates that are roughly half of ordinary income tax rates. The tax law left the loophole largely intact.

I suspect that Prince Jared ma not be sleeping very well at the moment.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley’s Exploding Sex Scandal

As I have noted before, it is almost ALWAYS the "family values" Republicans who find themselves being exposed (and deservedly so) in sex scandals.  Whether it is cheating on the spouse with same sex paramours or getting caught in gay sex scandals like former Virginia 2nd District Congressman Ed Schrock, it's always these who bloviate the most about so-called Christian and family values who prove themselves to be nothing more than despicable liars and hypocrites.  A case in point is viciously anti-gay Alabama GOP Governor Robert Bentley who finds himself in a sex scandal.  Having lived in Alabama years ago, I know first hand that other than perhaps Louisiana, no one does scandal better than Alabama.  The Washington Post looks at Bentley's hypocrisy and who the scandal assumed a life of its own.  Here are excerpts:

Anyone who has doubts about the importance of journalists in 2016 need be acquainted only with the reporting team at AL.com, the largest statewide news organization in Alabama. The group's reporters cracked open a scandal involving their governor's alleged infidelity last week and have been covering the unpredictable fallout aggressively ever since.

This scandal didn't come to them overnight; they've been hearing rumors of an affair between Gov. Robert Bentley (R) and his top political adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, for months. The story finally broke open on March 22 when a fired top law enforcement official went on the record to AL.com's John Archibald about the alleged affair and offered proof. Faced with damning evidence of a taped phone conversation to a woman named Rebekah, Bentley has denied he had an affair, but few in a state accustomed to scandal believe him.

Alabama lawmakers, led by Republicans, are looking at ways to impeach him or set up a recall. An informal online AL.com poll found that 90 percent of about 30,000 respondents said Bentley should resign. Mason resigned Wednesday.

The story stretches far beyond sex, though. It's also connected to an ethics trial of the House speaker and a shadowy nonprofit that paid Mason's communications firm about $320,000 at the time of her resignation. As AL.com reporter Leada Gore said: "It's got every part of a scandal you could want."

[T]he speaker of the House, Mike Hubbard (R), is indicted on corruption charges. That has dragged on forever. So the governor has this old-time friend who was a legislator with him who he puts in charge of our state law enforcement agency. They get crossways -- which is an Alabama term you can use -- over the handling of an affidavit they are seeking related to the speaker's trial. The top cop says, 'I'm going to give this affidavit because I'm not going to lie to the grand jury about some of the things going on.' The governor supposedly told him not to. When Spencer Collier [the top cop] gave that affidavit, the governor fired him.

Then Spencer Collier became the first person willing to go on the record to say, 'Yes, there was an affair.' That's what happened last week that broke it all open.

Our state auditor has filed an ethics investigation, which in Alabama is extremely serious. There's also a state complaint saying he misused funds.

Mason has resigned her post. Her husband, who is a state employee -- of all things the director of the state faith-based initiative office -- is still there.

And then you get into all this crazy stuff. They all went to church together in Tuscaloosa. They've been asked to leave; he's no longer a deacon. We reported today her husband operated a separate communications company that was not on her ethics forms that received payments from the University of Alabama. And to make it even more of a tangled web, the chairman of the 501(c)(4) that the governor set up is the legal adviser to the board of trustees to the University of Alabama.   

Note the fact that the alleged adulteress' husband holds a "faith based" state office.   About the only thing more fun would be to find out that Victoria Cobb of The Family Foundation is engaged in a torid lesbian affair. :)

GOP Congressman Aaron Schock Hires Lawyers as Ethics Questions Grow

Republican Congressman Aaron Schock - who is widely thought to be a closeted gay - has growing problems as ethics concerns grow over Schock's billing private air travel and other perks to his congressional office and/or his campaign fund.  Now, Schock has hired hugely expensive Washington, D.C., legal counsel to defend him from the circling political and legal wolves.  I truly don't wish Schock ill, but if he's a closeted gay voting against gay rights, he will deserve going down in flames.  Politico looks at Schock's very costly move.  Here are highlights:

Rep. Aaron Schock has hired two prominent Washington defense attorneys and a public relations firm to respond to the swirling controversy and a potential ethics probe over how he has financed his lavish lifestyle.

The move by the embattled Illinois Republican comes amid continuing questions about his use of campaign and office accounts to pay for pricey travel and accommodations. His office has refused to respond to specific questions from POLITICO, including issues raised over the past week about a trip he took to London nearly four years ago as part of an annual event featuring Prince Charles.

Schock has hired William McGinley and Don McGahn of the Washington law firm Jones Day to lead his legal team. Veteran GOP communications operatives Ron Bonjean and Brian Walsh are helping manage his response, according to sources close to the matter.

Schock’s decision to hire outside help to manage the continuing fallout signals a new, more serious stage of the unfolding scandal. He has flown on private jets, stayed in five-star hotels and collected tens of thousands of dollars in mileage reimbursements from his campaign and the government. In addition, Schock used his campaign account last year to purchase a nearly $74,000 Chevy Tahoe that he uses while in the district.

POLITICO has repeatedly sought information regarding Schock’s trip in June 2011 to London. He stayed at Claridge’s, a five-star hotel where the least expensive rooms currently cost $500 per night. He also was scheduled to visit the city’s posh clothing stores and dined at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, according to the documents.

The trip, which included events organized by the nonprofit Prince of Wales Foundation, was not an official government trip and was not reported as a gift. Schock’s office would not say whether he paid for it. If he personally covered the cost of the trip, Schock would not be required to disclose it.

If it was a political excursion, Schock could have used campaign funds. However, the London itinerary does not appear to involve any congressional or political activities.

Scrutiny of Schock’s opulent and somewhat unusual spending has been mounting for weeks. It started when The Washington Post revealed that he had redecorated his Capitol Hill office to look like “Downton Abbey,” the PBS show about British aristocracy. Schock has publicly declared that he will cover the costs of that renovation.

On March 18, he left for a 10-day trip to Saudi Arabia, along with Republican Reps. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, that was paid for by Saudi Arabia’s antiquities and tourism commission. House members and employees may accept travel paid for by a foreign government without review by the ethics panel. But members must disclose such trips taken under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act on their annual financial disclosure forms.  Stutzman and Lummis listed the trip; Schock did not.

Presumed Closet Case, GOP's Aaron Schock Draws More Ethics Questions

Michelle Bachmann's lisping, limp wrist husband "Marcia" Bachmann represents one type of closeted gay.  GOP Congressman Aaron Schock represents the gym rat, style conscious type who wants to always be the center of attention.   Now, with his "Downton Abbey" office makeover gift and a questionable real estate transaction that sounds like something Bob and Maureen McDonnell might have engaged in, Schiock is getting more attention than he wanted.  The New York Times looks at his growing problems, including his now former aid who compared blacks to escaped zoo animals.  Here are highlights:

WASHINGTON — Aaron Schock was 27 years old, a fresh-faced and ambitious Republican from Peoria, Ill., when he joined Congress in January 2009. Today, Representative Schock has earned a reputation — not for legislating, but for his ripped ab muscles, shirtless poses, racy Instagram account and, now, a Capitol Hill office decorated like a drawing room from “Downton Abbey.”

But Mr. Schock’s troubles may go deeper than the blood-red color of his freshly painted office walls.

The congressman confessed Friday that he has “had better weeks.” Monday brought mocking revelations in the Style section of The Washington Post that a firm named Euro Trash had donated the office makeover — complete with a crystal chandelier, gilded mirrors and a spray of pheasant feathers. A government watchdog group promptly demanded an ethics inquiry. The congressman, now 33, said he would pay for the work.

On Thursday, Mr. Schock’s communications director, Benjamin Cole — at 38, the resident grown-up in the office — was forced to quit over racially charged Facebook posts comparing black people to escaped zoo animals engaging in “mating rituals.” 

By Friday, Mr. Schock was denying accusations that he had sold his home in 2012 to a political donor for more than its market value.

This is not the first time Mr. Schock has drawn unwanted attention. In May 2012, an independent congressional ethics board found “substantial reason to believe” Mr. Schock violated federal law in soliciting a $25,000 donation to a political action committee. The House Ethics Committee investigated but took no formal action.

The questions about Mr. Schock’s real estate transaction, first raised by the liberal-leaning website Blue Nation Review, involve the 2012 sale of his home in Dunlap, Ill., to a company linked to a contributor, Gloria L. Bahaj, whose husband, Ali, is a former executive at Peoria-based Caterpillar, the construction equipment giant.

According to Peoria County Assessor records, Mr. Schock sold the property for $925,000; the real-estate website Zillow estimated at the time of the sale that the property was worth $819,000. Mr. Schock told reporters in Peoria on Friday that he had built the home on speculation before coming to Congress, that the transaction was handled by a real estate agent, that he had never spoken to the buyer and that the sale price was “right in line” with comparable homes in the neighborhood.

Since 2008, campaign finance records show, Ali and Gloria Bahaj and Caterpillar have donated a combined total of at least $191,035 to Mr. Schock and his political action committee, the GOP Generation Y Fund.

Schock's new office look

Michele Bachmann Ethics Probe Deepens

I find Michele Bachmann to be a foul individual who worships bigotry and ignorance.  And like so many of the far right who wear feigned religiosity on their sleeves and make a public display of professed faith, the woman is a phony who thinks herself above the rules that govern others (she reminds me of Ken Cuccinelli).  Thus, it is delicious to see that the Congressional ethics probe into her failed presidential campaign is going to be extended even as the FBI conducts its own investigation of Bachmann.  The suspicion grows that her announced retirement may have been an effort to "get out of Dodge" before the other shoe dropped.  Here are excerpts from Politicususa:  

Rep. Michele Bachmann might not make it to ‘retirement,’ in 2014 as the House Ethics Committee has launched an investigation into possible ethics violations surrounding her 2012 presidential run.

[W]hat it means is that the Office of Congressional Ethics found something that is worthy of investigation by the full House Ethics Committee. It is not surprising that they found something. The FBI is already investigating Bachmann and her presidential campaign for secret payments made to Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson in exchange for his help in support in the 2012 Iowa caucuses. 

The suspicion has long been that Bachmann’s “retirement” was done in order to head off the federal investigation, the Iowa state investigation, and the House Ethics Committee investigation. Bachmann thought that if she “retired” maybe these legal issues would go away, and allow her to make a political comeback in a couple of years. This is the reason why Bachmann refuses to close the door on potentially running for office again someday.

Bachmann could be looking at expulsion. However, expulsion requires a 2/3 vote in the House, and it is unlikely that enough Republicans would vote to kick her out. The other penalties like censure, reprimand, or a fine are relatively minor, and only require a majority vote.

It looks like Michele Bachmann’s plan to make this all go away by quitting, oops, I mean “retiring” is not working out the way that she wanted it too. If it is revealed and proven that Bachmann was directly connected to the crimes committed, losing her House seat could be the least of her problems. 

I hope the woman goes down big time.  She needs to be driven into the political wilderness permanently.

Bob McDonnell (and Ken Cuccinelli) Should Come Clean on Lavish Gifts

There's nothing like ending your term as governor plagued by ethics questions.  Ditto for running a gubernatorial race with the same cloud over your head.  But that is where Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli find themselves.  Not that anyone should be surprised, especially in the case of Cuccinelli who always sees himself and his views above the rules that apply to everyone else.  For all it efforts to depict itself as a genteel state, the truth is that corruption is rampant, especial sine the disclosure laws concerning gifts to politicians has few limits and if nothing else can be circumvented by the donor simply claiming that the gift was given to a family member, not the elected official himself or herself.  The Washington Post blasts Bob McDonnell for his continued efforts at subterfuge to avoid coming clean about lavish gifts.   By the time he is done, it will be the lies and dishonesty which will be a bigger problem for McDonnell if he tries to satiate his yearnings for higher office.  Here are highlights from the Post's main editorial:

IT’S A FAIR GUESS that companies based in Virginia launch thousands of new products each year. Precious few of them get to mark the event with a luncheon hosted by Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) at the Executive Mansion in Richmond or are treated to a personal plug by his wife.

A notable exception is Star Scientific Inc., based in the Richmond suburbs, whose chief executive, Jonnie R. Williams Sr., has lavished tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts on Mr. McDonnell and his political action committee since before he became governor.

Under Virginia’s financial disclosure laws, politicians such as Mr. McDonnell may accept cash and gifts in virtually any amount; they must simply disclose any donation of more than $50. The idea is that full transparency will act as a brake on largess that looks too much like outright bribery. But in the case of Mr. McDonnell and his benefactor Mr. Williams, even those extravagantly permissive laws proved too onerous.

As The Post’s Rosalind S. Helderman reported, Mr. McDonnell failed to report a $15,000 gift from Mr. Williams that covered most of a catering bill for food and flowers at his daughter Cailin’s wedding nearly two years ago. He also issued a misleading statement about the nature of the gift.

Documents subsequently obtained by The Post show that Mr. Williams’s “gift” covered about three-quarters of a $19,400 catering contract that Mr. McDonnell himself signed, annotated and started to pay, to the tune of $8,000 in deposits. About two weeks before the June 2011 wedding, Mr. Williams stepped in with his $15,000 check to cover the balance due — and more.

Any reasonable person looking at those facts would conclude that Mr. Williams’s check was a gift to the governor. Mr. McDonnell, a lawyer renowned for his attention to detail, was astute enough to amend the catering contract to insist on a refund if the wedding reception was canceled due to an act of God or death. He was presumably also astute enough to remember that he had signed the contract and was on the hook for the balance.

Have other gifts been directed to the governor’s family? Mr. McDonnell, taking cover behind the disclosure law’s loophole, isn’t saying.

That’s a miscalculation. If he wants to get in front of what is rapidly becoming a scandal that threatens to engulf his last year in office, Mr. McDonnell should come clean with more answers than he has provided so far.

Cuccinelli has also been on board the Star Scientific gravy train of gifts and needs to come completely clean on all of the largess that has been directed his way.   Cuccinelli likes to depict himself as a paragon of virtue, but the reality is that he looks more like a sleazy pimp.  Ditto for Bob McDonnell.

Democrats Demand Cuccinelli Resign Over Star Scientific Scandal; Did McDonnell Lie About Star Scientific Gift?

It seems that Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli and Bob McDonnell are becoming increasingly ensnared in the web of conflicts of interest and failures to disclose financial interests and gifts.

I noted the other day how the Virginian Pilot ran a scathing editorial calling for Ken Cuccinelli to resign from the office of attorney general.  As noted before, Cuccinelli has been ripping of Virginia tax payers and using state employees as campaign workers - not to mention drawing his own salary while spending almost all of his time campaigning.  Now, with the Star Scientific scandal picking up steam, it is even more appropriate that Cuccinelli resign.  I suspect Cuccinelli will resist as long as possible so that he can maximize the money he rips off from Virginia taxpayers who have no desire to fund his campaign.  As Blue Virginia reports, some leading Democrats have had enough og Cuccinelli's sleazy conduct and are calling openly for his resignation.  Here are excerpts:

 "More than two weeks of news accounts have revealed that Cuccinelli neglected to disclose that he owned Star Scientific stock when they sued Virginia to avoid paying up to $1.5 million in taxes, failed to recuse his office from the case and bought more Star stock after the company filed their suit against the Commonwealth...McEachin, Toscano and Herring will call on Cuccinelli to put transparency and accountability ahead of his personal ambition and resign his office." A few more highlights from the call:

Charniele Herring: Cuccinelli was not elected to use his office as a platform for his personal and ideological agenda, but unfortunately that's what he's done in the case of Star Scientific and Jonnie Williams ("deep pocketed special interests"). So, we're calling on Cuccinelli step down as Attorney General immediately. 

Donald McEachin: This issue is not a partisan issue, it's a matter of what kind of leadership Virginians deserve in their Attorney General. These are not Democratic accusations against Cuccinelli, the news has been reported by the AP, Washington Post, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and the Virginian Pilot. Cuccinelli has put his personal and financial interest over the interest of Virginians. 

David Toscano: Cuccinelli's "inexcusable conflict of interest" with Star Scientific goes deeper than we knew a week ago. Now, given all that we know about this scandal, Cuccinelli must resign.

Besides being liars, these "godly" men also seem to have an affinity for enriching themselves via gifts from campaign contributors and those seeking political favors.  It looks like Bob McDonnell's ludicrous lie that a $15,000 gift was to his daughter, and not himself may be about to explode in his face. Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot on McDonnell's apparent lies:

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has said his daughter and her husband paid for their own wedding. So a $15,000 check from a major campaign donor to pay for the food at the affair was a gift to the bride and groom and not to him, and therefore did not have to be publicly disclosed under the law, the governor says.

But documents obtained by The Washington Post show that McDonnell signed the catering contract, making him financially responsible for the 2011 event. The governor made handwritten notes to the caterer in the margins. In addition, the governor paid nearly $8,000 in deposits for the catering.  When the combination of the governor's deposit and the gift from the donor resulted in an overpayment to the caterer, the refund check of more than $3,500 went to McDonnell's wife and not to his daughter, her husband or back to the donor.

The new documents suggest that the governor was more involved with the financing of the wedding than he has previously acknowledged.

The question of who was responsible for paying the catering bill is a key one because Virginia law requires that elected officials publicly report gifts of more than $50. The law does not require the disclosure of gifts to family members.

The comments came as McDonnell faces new questions surrounding his relationship with Williams and his company, which McDonnell and his wife showcased even as they received other gifts and campaign donations. The company has revealed it is the subject of a federal securities investigation.

Williams and Star Scientific provided McDonnell and his political action committee more than $120,000 in publicly disclosed political donations and gifts.

I suspect that right now Taliban Bob is perhaps wishing that he had had a little less upscale affair for his daughter.  He and Kookinelli may think that they are above the law, but time may prove otherwise. 

McDonnell and Cuccinelli's Star Scientific "Problem" Gets More Scrutiny

As noted in previous posts, the conservatives and GOP figures who love to wrap themselves in "godliness" and piety and respect for the law seem to be always among the first to see themselves as above the law.  Two top elected officials in Virginia are currently prime examples:  Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli who both seem to think disclosure requirements and typical conflict of interest rules do not apply to them.  Both men are entwined with a Virginia based company, Star Scientific, which seems only too happy to bribed McDonnell and Cuccinelli even as it is under investigation for securities laws violations.  Star Scientific makes for a strange bed fellow for those who proclaim their support for righteousness and integrity.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at the ongoing saga surrounding both of these hypocrites.  Here are excerpts:

JONNIE R. Williams Sr., chief executive of a Richmond-area company that once sold tobacco products and now peddles dietary supplements, is lionized locally as a renowned salesman — even though his firm has lost money for 10 years straight. His even greater talent seems to lie in cozying up to Virginia’s top elected Republicans and coaxing them to do his bidding.

In The Post last weekend, reporters Rosalind S. Helderman and Laura Vozzella detailed Mr. Williams’s efforts to cultivate Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, which have been repaid handsomely.    Starting when Mr. McDonnell (R) began running for governor five years ago, Mr. Williams, the chief executive of Star Scientific, has lavished him and his political action committee with gifts and services, including more than $100,000 in travel aboard his corporate jet.

For his part, Mr. McDonnell has hosted a reception at the governor’s mansion to help launch Star Scientific’s signature product, a dietary supplement of dubious scientific merit, and posed for a photograph with it; the governor’s wife, Maureen McDonnell, traveled to Florida to plug Star at a corporate event.

It’s unseemly. There’s nothing illegal or even highly unusual about corporations spending liberally to gain access to politicians. But the Williams-McDonnell symbiosis casts an unflattering light on Virginia’s anemic disclosure laws, which exempt gifts and donations of any size to a politician’s immediate family.  .  .  .  the effect is to encourage secret cash payments masquerading as “gifts” to a politician’s nearest and dearest.

The unseemly conduct doesn't stop with McDonnell.  The Post article continues with details on Cuccinelli's glaring conflicts of interest:

Ms. Helderman and Ms. Vozzella also reported that state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) failed for almost a year to disclose his stock holdings in Mr. Williams’s company even as Mr. Cuccinelli’s office was involved in litigation with it. Mr. Cuccinelli also received thousands of dollars worth of gifts and services from Mr. Williams, including use of Mr. Williams’s home in the Richmond suburbs for lodging; the use of a lake house and boat; transportation to Kentucky; and a box of dietary supplements valued at $6,700 — a miracle drug, perhaps.

Given Mr. Williams’s sustained courtship, common sense and prudence suggest that Mr. Cuccinelli should have recused his office from defending Star Scientific’s lawsuit against the state. But, as is often the case with Mr. Cuccinelli, no such common sense and prudence prevailed.

Adding to the odor surrounding all this is the fact that Star Scientific, by its own account, is under investigation by federal prosecutors in Virginia for possible securities irregularities. It’s hard to suppress the thought that Virginians will be hearing more about this story in the future.

The Daily Beast also looks at this ethical mess.  Virginia doesn't need more of this kind of sleazy conduct.

Star Scientific Ensnares Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli in Ethics Questions

No one pretends to be more squeaky clean on ethical issues than conservative politicians and the "godly Christian" crowd.   Yet, time and time again, reality proves that things are very different from what these folks claim in all their prancing false piety.  Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli are cases in point as more information comes out about their cozy relationship with Star Scientific, a Virginia based company now focusing its efforts on supplements, that has been most generous to McDonnell and in which Cuccinelli has focused all of his investments.  Star Scientific is engaged in litigation with the Commonwealth of Virginia and Cuccinelli's refusal to get outside counsel raises very real conflict of interest issues as noted previously on this blog.  For McDonnell - who made national news last night - the Star Scientific saga is even messier.  A column in the Richmond Times Dispatch looks at the situation. Here are excerpts:

Bob McDonnell, the earnest-sounding kid from Fairfax County, is governor of Virginia, an office to which he vowed to bring the sensibilities of his middle-class upbringing. That included ethical straightforwardness. McDonnell is veering from it — again.


This time — as with last time and before that — McDonnell is tripping up over money. Again, it’s someone else’s. Again, it’s a large amount. Again, it’s perceived as having strings attached. Again, it’s explained away as much ado about nothing.

The latest: $15,000 from the politically active boss of Henrico County-based Star Scientific, Jonnie Williams Sr. The money paid for dinner at the Executive Mansion for about 200 guests at the 2011 wedding of McDonnell’s daughter, Cailin, to Chris Young.



The money, first reported by The Washington Post, was never disclosed by McDonnell because it was not a gift to him, the governor’s office said. Rather, it was for Cailin, who — unlike the governor — is not required by state law to provide an annual inventory of gifts, be it travel, entertainment or tchotchkes.

There are few requirements on disclosures by relatives. Officials must report investments and other holdings shared with members of their immediate family. They also must report paid positions, such as jobs and directorships, held by a spouse or child.

In addition to unnecessarily casting a pall over a joyous occasion, this episode of administration dissembling calls attention to Virginia’s porous ethics law. It relies almost entirely on self-policing, requiring elective and appointive officials and candidates to, in effect, tell on themselves.

Star Scientific has, over the past four years, supplied McDonnell and his political action committee with $108,500 in travel on the company jet, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. The firm and Williams have given McDonnell more than $9,600 in food, lodging and entertainment since 2011.

As a regulated venture, Star Scientific has issues not with the state government but with the federal government; specifically, an inquiry by the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia into the company’s stock transactions.

However, Star Scientific — much as other companies do in a state where the business of government is business — looked to Richmond for help. McDonnell played host at the Executive Mansion for the launch of a Star Scientific dietary supplement. First lady Maureen McDonnell talked up the product at an investors conference in Florida.

 The cozy relationship between Star Scientific and McDonnell is not an isolated example, especially of the headaches such entanglements have caused him.

This is a throwback to Old Virginia, when government was largely the purview of a privileged, well-mannered few — an “affluent minority,” as Times-Dispatch political reporter Jim Latimer put it. There were almost no official rules because gentlemen didn’t need them to know how to behave.

There's more, but you get the drift.

Michele Bachmann Under Congressional Ethics Probe

Even if today's Proposition 8 oral arguments left something to be desired, there are things to cling to in order to perk up one's morale.  One of them is news that Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann is under an ethics probe over allegations that she misused campaign funds in her failed (and delusional) presidential campaign.  There's no way of knowing the ultimate outcome, but one thing is certain: the Christofascists always think they are above the laws and rules that apply to everyone else.  A piece in The Daily Beast looks at the ethics probe.  Here are excerpts:

The Hindenburg. The Titanic. Michele Bachmann.  Eighteen months ago, the Minnesota House member was considered an unlikely but undeniable Republican rising star, winning the Iowa straw poll that unofficially begins the primary season. Today, she is embroiled in a litany of legal proceedings related to her rolling disaster of a presidential campaign—including an Office of Congressional Ethics investigation into campaign improprieties that has not previously been reported.

[F]ederal investigators are now interviewing former Bachmann campaign staffers nationwide about alleged intentional campaign-finance violations. The investigators are working on behalf of the Office of Congressional Ethics, which probes reported improprieties by House members and their staffs and then can refer cases to the House Ethics Committee.

Former staffers tell The Daily Beast that investigators have allegedly asked about allegations of improper transfer of funds and under-the-table payments actions by Bachmann’s presidential campaign, specifically in relation to the campaign’s national political director, Guy Short, and Bachmann’s onetime Iowa campaign chairman, state Sen. Kent Sorenson. Questions directly about Bachmann, they said, have been primarily focused on what she knew about those men’s actions and when she knew it.

The emergence of still another investigation tied to Bachmann’s presidential misadventure is the latest hit in what’s been a slow-motion crash for an unusually irresponsible politician who’d briefly emerged as a national figure with White House ambitions.

Embarrassments have become routine whenever she’s tried to forcibly reinsert herself into the national debate, as the sort of wild claims that helped make her reputation in the first place have increasingly been swatted down, even by fellow Republicans. In the last week alone she has been called out by Fox’s Bill O’Reilly for “a trivial pursuit” after dedicating much of her CPAC speech to what she called President Obama’s “lavish” lifestyle (in fact, the costs she cited are primarily related to Secret Service protection, and some of them were simply false). She followed that up with a reality-challenged rant on the House floor, calling for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act “before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens.”

Bachmann holds the distinction of having a higher percentage of statements analyzed by PolitiFact determined to be outright lies—or “Pants on Fire”—than any other politician, according to a survey by The Daily Beast

But what critics charge is a persistent truth-telling problem is the least of Bachmann’s worries now. Bills are piling up in an Iowa court case, Heki v. Bachmann, filed by another former Bachmann staffer, Barb Heki. That suit alleges that onetime state campaign chairman and state Senator Sorenson stole from her—and then used with the candidate’s knowledge—an email list of Christian homeschool families in Iowa. Heki’s accusation has been backed by a sworn affidavit by former campaign staffer Eric Woolson, who had also been named in the suit, though charges against him were dropped after he submitted his affidavit.

“She’s always been one of the most difficult members to work for—very high maintenance, almost demeaning to a point,” says another former staffer. “And that was amplified 10 times over due to the presidential campaign. It was like she was a different person. You didn’t recognize her. All I can tell you is that it was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. It was by far the most bizarre campaign I’ve ever been a part of.”

There is much more, but the take away picture is that Bachmann is a lying train wreck.  The pathological lying, of course is stereotypical "godly Christian" conduct.  I for one hope the allegations are validated and that Bachmann suffers some serious consequences.

Antonin Scalia, the Lawless Supreme Court Justice

Following his statements and opinions, I increasingly see Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as a menace to the nation.  The man is out of control and increasingly unhinged - in fact to the point where he thinks he is above any and all rules.  You might even say that he's become the Dick Cheney of the Supreme Court ranks except for the fact that even Cheney seems less crazy.  Scalia increasingly shows himself to be a political extremist and somehow thinks his personal beliefs trump the Constitution not to mention the long held views on judicial propriety.  A piece in The Daily Beast looks at this increasingly lawless justice.  Here are highlights:

It has been widely assumed—including by yours truly—that calling Supreme Court justices “politicians in robes,” as I did just last week counts as an insult. But as of Monday—almost surely before, but without any question as of Monday—Nino Scalia wants precisely to be thought of as a politician in a robe. No other reasonable conclusion can be drawn from his churlish and self-aggrandizing and probably unethical tirade against President Obama’s recently announced immigration policy. And while the court majority’s ruling (from which Scalia of course dissented) represents a pretty solid victory for the Justice Department, the narrow win for the state of Arizona on the controversial “where are your papers” part of the law makes it quite possible that these very issues will come to the court again, after Scalia has taken his political position. Just as Zola famously said “J’Accuse!,” I hope the liberal legal groups are already practicing saying “Recuse!”

As a rule, Supreme Court justices don’t comment much on current events (and if they do, they usually do so elliptically). As a rule, Supreme Court justices never comment on matters that they have reason to think might come before them.

But the rules aren’t for Scalia. He refused to recuse himself back in 2004 in the case involving the secrecy of Dick Cheney’s energy task force. He had, you’ll recall, gone hunting with Cheney (emerging, as far as we know, unscarred). I’m not naive enough to think for a second that Scalia’s personal loyalty to Cheney was purchased with a few rounds of duck ammo. After all, the case was the one in which Cheney asserted that he was in essence beyond the law’s reach, which is fine with Scalia if you’re a conservative, ducks or no ducks. And of course he and Clarence Thomas are somehow allowed to attend highly political gatherings put together by the Koch brothers too, without any consequences.

And what if, someday, the Obama immigration directive comes before the court? Even conservative blogger Ed Morrissey flagged this as problematic. 


The Court’s liberals are nicely old-fashioned that way. They believe in the small-r republican virtues (even, at times, when it’s naive to do so). But for the conservatives, and for Scalia most of all, legal propriety is absurdly quaint. He doesn’t answer to a nation. He answers to a cadre, a vanguard, of which he is a cherished member, which is about as likely to say no to him as the College of Cardinals is to the Pope, and to which all outside criticism is the chirping of crickets. The crickets will be chirping awfully loudly in the coming days, and I hope at least that this self-satisfied martinet gets an ear-splitting headache.

It is far past time that ethical constraints be placed on the justices, starting with Scalia, Thomas and Alito.

Cartoon of the Day - Gingrich and Why History is Important

I agree with the sentiment of this cartoon. It emphasizes why the knowledge of accurate history - and not just about what happened centuries ago - is critical. If the GOP did not celebrate ignorance and if the GOP base were capable of recalling what really happened, it would be impossible for Newt Gingrich to be where he is in the GOP primary battle to date.

Meghan McCain: Newt Gingrich Can’t Beat Obama

The GOP presidential nominee contest continues to provide entertainment even as it at times is horrifying to see just how low the Republican Party has descended into ignorance and bigotry. I'd be lying if I did not admit that I don't hope to see the GOP tear itself apart. In my view, it is the only way in which ultimately decent, rational folks can regain control from the Christianist/Tea Party base that is dragging the party downward. Inexplicable, Newt Gingrich is rising to front runner status, but many see this as disastrous if the party hopes to block Barack Obama from a second term. One Gingrich critic who represents what could in time be the new face of the GOP is Megan McCain, daughter of John McCain. In a column in The Daily Beast she lays out why Gingrich - should he be the GOP nominee - cannot beat Barack Obama. Her reasoning is on target. Here are some highlights:

[D]o you know one of the few things that can make me a cynic? Politicians with a history of ethically questionable behavior who miraculously reinvent themselves as the second coming of Ronald Reagan. Politicians with a history of corruption who think people who question their history “don’t have a clue” about America and what is right for our country. I am, of course, referring to Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich is the new flavor of the month, the current frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. He has seen such a dramatic surge in the polls, I’m actually scared. The idea of Gingrich becoming our nominee makes my stomach turn. What exactly are we doing as a party?

The primary process exists for voters to discover which candidate can best represent the party in the general election. So far, I have not heard one argument for how Gingrich could beat President Obama next year. Gingrich is a smart man and a talented politician. But he’s also a Washington insider, who served this country for 40 years with a track record of being a questionable character.

Democrats would love nothing more than for us to nominate Gingrich because all they will have to do is delve into his past for easy ammunition. If we nominate Gingrich, we lose to President Obama. In these tumultuous times, we need a leader who is stable and consistent. Gingrich is neither.

What Republicans need right now is a statesman and a real leader who will inspire America, not someone who reminds them of all the things they hate about Washington. The possible nomination of Gingrich makes it difficult for even a person like me to continue to be an optimist when it comes to politics and the future of the Republican Party. I don’t know what kind of choice I am being given if this election ends up between Gingrich and President Obama, because from my perspective, that is no choice.

The real question that looms is, why do Republicans continue to resist Mitt Romney? He is by no means a perfect candidate or politician (as much as we want our politicians to be infallible, they never are), but he is light-years less controversial than Gingrich.

I just hope the voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida wake up in time to realize this before it’s too late and we forfeit the election to President Obama and the Democrats.

Clarence Thomas' Wife Adds Reasons for His Removal From Supreme Court

Rather than being chastened by recent coverage of her inappropriate activities and her husband's failure to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars of income, fundie wing nut Virginia Thomas is adding more ammunition for the argument that Thomas needs to resign from - or if need be, removed from - the United States Supreme Court. Her overtly political conduct - not to mention financial gravy train from far right groups is likely a first for the spouse of a justice on the Court - a justice who, in my opinion, in addition to being on the borderline of active corruption is a mental midget to boot. At the rate things are going, Thomas needs to have his photo next to the term "conflict of interest." The situation is truly outrageous and something needs to be done since Thomas apparently sees himself as above the law and ethical considerations that held sway for many decades. Here are highlights from the New York Times on Virginia Thomas' latest improper conduct:
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The wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, who has raised her political profile in the last year through her outspoken conservative activism, is rebranding herself as a lobbyist and self-appointed “ambassador to the Tea Party movement.”
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Virginia Thomas, the justice’s wife, said on libertyinc.co, a Web site for her new political consulting business, that she saw herself as an advocate for “liberty-loving citizens” who favored limited government, free enterprise and other core conservative issues. She promised to use her “experience and connections” to help clients raise money and increase their political impact.
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Ms. Thomas’s effort to take a more operational role on conservative issues could intensify questions about her husband’s ability to remain independent on issues like campaign finance and health care, legal ethicists said.
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Arn Pearson, a vice president at Common Cause, a liberal group that has been critical of potential conflicts at the Supreme Court caused by Ms. Thomas’s work, said her new position, combined with Justice Antonin Scalia’s recent address before a closed-door seminar of the Tea Party Caucus, provided further evidence of “the politicization of the court.” “The level of bias we’re seeing is really troubling,” Mr. Pearson said.