From the Fired Up! inbox:

Turn, if you will, to page B3B of today's (Feb. 1)  Wall Street Journal to see the full page ad, "2005 Businessmen of the Year." Observe the 1,800 or so names, grouped by state, who are hereby recognized by the Business Advisory Council and the National Republican Congressional Committee (which bought the ad) as leaders "who have successfully integrated business and financial success with the support of Republican ideals."

Thought I, naively, "the use of the term 'businessmen' must merely be a stylistic convention. Surely they found at least one successful business woman who coughed up enough bucks to join!"

 Nope. Nary a one, best I can tell. All guys.

February 2, 2006

Dear Rep. Boehner:

Congratulations on your election as Majority Leader.

You said during your campaign that you plan to bring reforms to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Given that statement, we felt compelled to write you regarding a matter of grave concern.

Recent news reports indicate that Rep. Tom DeLay will be assuming Rep. Duke Cunningham's seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

We find it unacceptable that a man under indictment for money laundering will be assuming such a powerful position, a position that Rep. Cunningham used to extract hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes.

It will be interesting to see if Rep. Roy Blunt's recent snub of the Republican Study Committee will cost him votes on Thursday.

According to Townhall.com, both of Blunt's opponents in the race for Majority Leader filled out the questionnaire sent to them by the RSC before meeting with the group earlier this week in Baltimore.  Only Blunt refused to answer the group's questions.
 

The LA Times has a very interesting story about the cozy ties between Rep. Curt Weldon, and a lobbyist from his hometwon of Media, PA.

The lobbying firm of Grimes and Young Inc. is not on K Street, famous address of some of the nation's most influential lobbyists. In fact, Grimes and Young is about a 2 1/2 -hour drive from the halls of Congress, in politically remote Media, Pa. (pop. 5,469).

The firm has no office. It has no website. It has only one lobbyist — Cecelia Grimes. And she's a real estate agent. Her resume shows no past experience working on Capitol Hill or for the federal government.

The name Howard Hills may or may not ring a bell to you.  Hills is a former Reagan administration official, worked on the transition team for the first Bush administration, and is a lawyer who has done work for various Pacific Islands over the last 20 years.  But Hills is most famous for work he never even performed.

According to an audit by the Office of Public Auditor on Guam, Hills is the Laguna Hills attorney who funnelled $324,000 to lobbyist Jack Abramoff for lobbying services that Abramoff performed on behalf of the Superior Court of Guam.  The payments were made in $9,000 increments in order to evade Guam's procurement statutes, and Abramoff never registered on behalf of the Superior Court of Guam, instead he registered as a lobbyist for Howard Hills.

Jarod Hill, of Oak Hill, left, and Joshua Stevens, of Chillicothe, were among several protesters who were out Friday afternoon to have their voices heard during Congressman Bob Ney's appearance in Chillicothe.

Check out the local coverage of Rep. Bob Ney's "I Am Not A Crook Tour."

The scene outside Renick's Family Restaurant Friday was in sharp contrast to the gathering in the banquet hall.

While supporters of U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Heath, cheered and spoke about his campaign for re-election inside, a group of residents protested outside.

Dressed in shirts that read, "Just say Ney to Bribes and Scottish Junkets," local representatives from a group known as Campaign for a Cleaner Congress handed out fliers while one member played the bagpipes. 

I wonder if that's how Bobby was hoping that would turn out?

According to the Saipan Tribune, Governor Benigno Fitial is seeking to recover millions in fees that the CNMI government paid to Abramoff's lobbying firms, Preston Gates, and Greenberg Traurig.

 The CNMI government is demanding full restitution from the lobby firms of Jack Abramoff following the latter's widely publicized federal felony conviction, threatening the companies with lawsuits if they don't reimburse the CNMI several millions of dollars.

Gov. Benigno Fitial asked lobby firms Greenberg Traurig L.L.P. and Preston Gates, Ellis & Rouvelas, Meeds to reimburse all monies the Commonwealth government paid for their services, saying that the positive benefits of those services have been undone by the wide scandal brought on by the criminal charges against Abramoff.

On Friday, we told you about a story on the front page of the Wall Street Journal about the cozy ties between Rep. Roy Blunt and K Street lobbyist, Gregg Hartley. Unfortunately, it was walled off behind the WSJ fee barricade. But now you can read it for yourself.

This story makes it very clear that Rep. Roy Blunt has replicated DeLay, Inc, the system engineered by Rep. Tom DeLay of integrating his official leadership operation with outside lobbying firms.

DeLay integrated his operation with the Alexander Strategy Group. That firm is now going out of business as a result of the indictments of DeLay and Abramoff, and there are undoubtedly more forthcoming.

According to a story in Monday's Washington Post, Rep. Roy Blunt is "stumbling" in his race for Majority Leader.

But supporters of Blunt's opponents say the acting majority leader has stumbled badly in recent days, as Boehner and Shadegg push to turn the leadership contest into a referendum on how seriously the party is taking a corruption scandal that has already led to the conviction of one Republican House member and former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. A vote for Blunt to succeed the indicted DeLay and, for that matter, Cantor to succeed Blunt as whip, would send precisely the wrong message, supporters of Boehner and Shadegg say.

GOP lawmakers today called on the Bush White House to reveal the contacts between Bush and felon lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

From the AP:

Republican lawmakers said Sunday that President Bush should publicly disclose White House contacts with Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who has pleaded guilty to felony charges in an influence-peddling case.

More:

"I'm one who believes that more is better, in terms of disclosure and transparency," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. "And so I'd be a big advocate for making records that are out there available."