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EDITOR'S NOTE: Late yesterday, Byron York reported that the court which oversees independent counsel David Barrett has ordered the release of Barrett's report on the Henry Cisneros investigation. The report has been finished since August 2004, but some Clinton-era officials, apparently worried that the report would cast them in a negative light, have filed a number of secret motions with the court to delay its release. Yesterday, after Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley asked the court for a copy, the judges issued a decision that would release part of the report to the public, and all of the report to...

Release of Cisneros Report Ordered Bloomberg News Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Page A11 A federal appeals court ordered the release of a final report yesterday in a decade-long investigation of former Housing and Urban Development secretary Henry G. Cisneros. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in an order that the time has come for independent counsel David M. Barrett to end the inquiry, which has cost more than $21 million, government records show. **SNIP** The probe continued as Barrett sought to determine whether anyone in the Clinton administration obstructed his investigation of...

There is major news in the fight over the report of independent counsel David Barrett's investigation into the Henry Cisneros matter. Late today, the three-judge panel overseeing Barrett ordered that parts of his report be released to the public -- and that all of the report be given to Congress. "The Court orders that the independent counsel, with all deliberate speed, prepare for release and make release of the now pending Final Report, except for that portion designated as Section V," the order says. It is not clear what is contained in Section V, but it is known that several...

BARRETT BREAKTHROUGH? [Byron York] In the Senate tonight, a major development in the struggle to make public the final report of Independent Counsel David Barrett, the man whose investigation of former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros began in 1995. The Senate voted to cut off funds to Barrett's office -- he has spent about $20 million on the investigation -- but more importantly, lawmakers required that Barrett's report be released to the public within 60 days of final passage of the law. The report has been finished since late last year, and its release has been delayed by lawyers for Clinton-era...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate decided Thursday that it was time to close to a decade-old, $20 million investigation of former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros - years after Cisneros received a presidential pardon. The amendment to a spending bill, approved by voice vote, would require that the report of Independent Counsel David Barrett be made public within 60 days, and that the independent counsel close his office within 90 days after the report is published. ``The American taxpayers have spent a lot of money on this report and they deserve the right to see it,'' said Senate Finance Committee...

What don't David Kendall, the law firm of Williams & Connolly, and clients such as Hillary Rodham Clinton want the public to know? We'd have thought that question would be on more Washington lips as the report of Independent Counsel David Barrett languishes under seal at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Barrett is the fellow who began investigating a tax-fraud case involving former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros but expanded his probe to include alleged abuses by the Clinton Justice Department and IRS. Yet instead of exhibiting any curiosity, the press corps is again writing its...

WASHINGTON - The independent counsel investigation that led to the conviction of a former Clinton administration housing chief could come back to haunt Sen. Hillary Clinton. The Daily News has learned that lawyers are fighting to suppress a potentially embarrassing final report from the probe that found Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros lied to the FBI about paying $250,000 in hush money to his ex-mistress. Cisneros paid a $10,000 fine after he was found guilty in 1999 and was later pardoned by Bill Clinton. And though neither Hillary Clinton nor her husband was targeted by independent counsel David Barrett, his 420-page...

McALLEN — Former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros and New Orleans Saints executive Rita Benson LeBlanc dashed through South Texas on Wednesday, stopping briefly in three cities to urge business leaders to buy sponsorships and tickets for the Saints' three games in the Alamodome this season. Giving boilerplate speeches in Corpus Christi, Laredo and McAllen, the duo drew enthusiastic applause from audiences eager to demonstrate to the NFL that South Texas can support a team. "Our message is don't underestimate us," said Terry Carter, chief executive officer of the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce. "The demographics are good, the population...

My translation of the breaking news: 15 de septiembre de 2005 Jictzad Viña, Miss Sucre (province) is the new Miss Venezuela 2005, a young woman full of security, elegance, grace and beauty who happened to convert in her 22 years into one of the most beautiful women in Venezuela. At 7:00 p.m. the contest began, in the majestic cupola of the Poliedro of Caracas, to a new version of the contest more hopeful for the year in Venezuela and the world, the election of Miss Venezuela. They all were accompanied by a great technical and artistic display to reproduce a...

Spending Continues on Cisneros Probe Despite Democrats' EffortsBy Suzanne Gamboa Associated Press Writer Published: May 23, 2005 WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress has refused to halt spending on a decade-old investigation of former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros despite Democratic senators' attempt to stop it. Independent Counsel David Barrett said much of the spending goes to overhead costs, such as rent, which is required by law to ensure the independence of his probe. A Senate provision that would have ended spending on the probe next month was killed during closed-door negotiations on a broader bill paying for U.S. operations in Iraq and...

This goes back maybe two weeks ago. There was an attempt in a piece of Senate legislation to shelve forever a scandal involving the IRS and Henry Cisneros and a number of other things. Well, enough attention was called to this that it has failed, the effort to cover it up has failed. (story) "A Senate rider inserted in an emergency appropriations bill in the dead of the night, which would close a rare window into political foul play at the Internal Revenue Service, was quietly removed Tuesday in Senate-House negotiations. That offers full disclosure of a major scandal that...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Senate rider inserted in an emergency appropriations bill in the dead of the night, which would close a rare window into political foul play at the Internal Revenue Service, was quietly removed Tuesday in Senate-House negotiations. That offers full disclosure of a major scandal that has been percolating for a decade. The rider would have de-funded the investigation begun in 1995 of then-Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros by Independent Counsel David Barrett. The amendment was sponsored by three highly influential Democrats, purportedly to stop leakage of federal money in a run-on program and end persecution of a...

A Senate rider inserted in an emergency appropriations bill in the dead of the night which would close a rare window into political foul play at the Internal Revenue Service was quietly removed Tuesday in Senate-House negotiations. That offers full disclosure of a major scandal that has been percolating for a decade. The rider would have de-funded the investigation begun in 1995 of then-Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros by Independent Counsel David Barrett. The amendment was sponsored by three highly influential Democrats, purportedly to stop leakage of federal money in a run-on program and end persecution of a no-longer-prominent Democratic politician....

Woman Allegedly Attacked Man With Hammer Over An Affair POSTED: 4:53 pm MDT May 4, 2005 UPDATED: 8:04 pm MDT May 4, 2005 QUESTA, N.M. -- Deputies arrested a New Mexico state senator's wife for an attack on her husband. Patsy Cisneros, 50, wife of Sen. Carlos Cisneros, allegedly attacked the senator with a hammer Monday night, claiming he was with another woman. He says the woman was just a guest. It happened at a cabin in Questa. According to a statement of probable cause, Patsy Cisneros admitted to going to the cabin with her sister and hitting her husband...

Senators Byron Dorgan, John Kerry and Richard Durbin pulled a fast one last week on their congressional colleagues. They tried to bury forever documents alleging that senior government officials tried to transform portions of the IRS and the Justice Department into a goon squad for attacking political enemies and aiding political friends. Naturally, they didn’t declare their intentions openly. Instead, Sen. Dorgan attached an innocent looking amendment to the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill that will fund government operations after September 30. The last-minute amendment read: “At the end of the bill, add the following: “SEC. __ . (a) None of...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Wednesday morning that he'll press for the release of findings by independent counsel David Barrett, whose probe into former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros reportedly concluded that Clinton officials at the Internal Revenue Service conducted politically motivated audits of White House enemies. "I believe the investigators should be permitted to complete their work and to issue their final report," Sen. Frist told syndicated radio host Tony Snow, who had asked if he would guarantee the report's release. "I'm pressing the conferees on the supplemental bill to take that amendment out," the Republican leader added. Frist...

Senators Byron Dorgan, John Kerry and Richard Durbin pulled a fast one last week on their congressional colleagues. They tried to bury forever documents alleging that senior government officials tried to transform portions of the IRS and the Justice Department into a goon squad for attacking political enemies and aiding political friends.

Top Democrats are reportedly trying to deep-six the findings of an independent counsel probe into former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros that uncovered evidence the Clinton White House used the Internal Revenue Service to audit political enemies. The probe's final report – now in the hands of a three-judge panel – reportedly says that the Clinton IRS "sometimes audited Clinton critics without good cause," according to the New York Daily News. Independent counsel David Barrett launched his investigation in 1995, based on evidence that Cisneros had lied about payments to his mistress. The probe expanded into a broader...

...Henry Cisneros...pleaded guilty ...to lying to FBI investigators ... about hush payments to a former mistress, on which ...he hadn't paid ... taxes. ...the special counsel report ...still hasn't been made public... a rash of news stories and editorials are urging Independent Counsel David Barrett to wrap up his investigation... without releasing his findings. ...Senator ...Dorgan ...Kerry and ...Durbin are trying to ...de-fund Mr. Barrett immediately. This would have the practical effect of making sure that Mr. Barrett's report never sees the light of day. After 10 long years and $21 million, don't ...taxpayers deserve to see what the special...

Perhaps you remember Henry Cisneros. He's the former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development who pleaded guilty in 1999 to lying to FBI investigators during his pre-appointment background check about hush payments to a former mistress, on which it also happens he hadn't paid the requisite taxes. -snip- With Mrs. Clinton likely to run for President in 2008, all of this obviously bears on the character of her potential Administration. (Bill Clinton pardoned Mr. Cisneros in 2001.) But just as important is the rare look the report may provide of how the IRS can be manipulated for political ends. This...