Free Republic

A joint investigation by the Washington Examiner and the nonprofit watchdog group Judicial Watch found that former President Clinton gave 215 speeches and earned $48 million while his wife presided over U.S. foreign policy, raising questions about whether the Clintons fulfilled ethics agreements related to the Clinton Foundation during Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state. According to documents obtained by Judicial Watch and released Wednesday in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act case, State Department officials charged with reviewing Bill Clinton's proposed speeches did not object to a single one. Some of the speeches were delivered in global hotspots...

When the business man rebukes the idealism of his office-boy, it is commonly in some such speech as this: "Ah, yes, when one is young, one has these ideals in the abstract and these castles in the air; but in middle age they all break up like clouds, and one comes down to a belief in practical politics, to using the machinery one has and getting on with the world as it is." Thus, at least, venerable and philanthropic old men now in their honoured graves used to talk to me when I was a boy. But since then I...

Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is claiming that Cuban intelligence operatives may have planted reports that he patronized underage prostitutes. According to a Washington Post story on Monday by Carol Leonnig and Manuel Roig-Franzia: The alleged Cuba connection was laid out in an intelligence report provided last year to U.S. government officials and sent by secure cable to the FBI's counterintelligence division, according to the former official and a second person with close ties to Menendez who had been briefed on the matter. The Post apparently did not have a copy of the "report," nor could it verify its existence. To...

As we pause to celebrate the birth of this blessed nation, many among us are sad and even disgusted over what has happened to it. Millions of Americans who have known “the old America”—the one they were born in and grew up in—feel a deep disappointment that their grandchildren will not grow up to know the country that valued morality and biblical ethics. From the White House to the schoolhouse, we see forces that reject biblical values. From our government, we even see the outlawing of the name of Jesus from public prayers, especially from the military, which owes all...

Rep. Charles Rangel has barely wrapped his primary victory speech and already faces a new ethics charge — that he failed to properly disclose an all-expense-paid trip to China as part of his required financial filings. His camp is already rushing to amend the financial documents, the New York Daily News reported. But the oversight is especially notable for Mr. Rangel in that he has a history of ethical missteps that included a 2010 censure by the House for taking a trip to the Caribbean on corporate donor dime. This China trip came in August. Mr. Rangel was one of...

The environmental agency is having trouble locating emails belonging to a former agency employee and pulling information from his crashed hard drive, House members revealed Wednesday while questioning Administrator Gina McCarthy at a hearing on complaints of mismanagement. “What is it with bureaucrats and public employees … the hard drives crash?” asked Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.). He and others on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee questioned McCarthy about missing information related to the committee’s investigation into the potential environmental impact of a proposed gold and copper mine in the Bristol Bay watershed in Alaska. “It sounds like we have...

Hillary Clinton's successful 1975 legal defense of an accused rapist has surfaced again with the victim, angered over a tape of Clinton chuckling over her courtroom tactics in the case, lashing out at the potential Democratic presidential candidate. "Hillary Clinton took me through hell," the victim told the Daily Beast in an emotional interview published today. The woman said that if she saw Clinton today she would say, "I realize the truth now, the heart of what you've done to me. And you are supposed to be for women? You call that [being] for women, what you done to me?...

The smoking gun in the IRS targeting scandal could be found in the Senate, one advocacy group says, pointing out a correspondence it believes pressured the tax agency to impose extra scrutiny on conservative groups as part of a Democratic election strategy in 2010 and 2012. The Center for Competitive Politics, which opposes campaign finance restrictions and other limits on political speech, filed a complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics against nine Democratic senators, most notably Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin of Illinois and Carl Levin of Michigan, for repeated lobbying of the IRS to probe conservative groups. It also...

Tea Party Patriots has filed a complaint against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) with the Senate Ethics Committee to protest his repeated attacks against Charles and David Koch. Jenny Beth Martin, the co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, filed the complaint, charging Reid with “unlawfully and unethically targeting private citizens.” The complaint further states that Reid “has misused Senate staff or resources to engage in partisan campaign activity in violation of federal laws and Senate rules.” Reid has repeatedly slammed the Koch brothers, two of the richest men in the world, for funding attack ads against Democratic candidates. Americans for...

Yesterday we were the first to report that none other than Vice President Joe Biden's son was joining the board of Ukraine's largest gas producer. It appears to have signaled peak crony capitalist as the new went viral with almost complete disdain. There was one defender though... as The Washington Examiner reports, The White House brushed off questions about any ethical issues as Jay Carney snapped "Hunter Biden and other members of the Biden family are obviously private citizens, and where they work does not reflect an endorsement by the administration or by the vice-president or president." As The Washington...

**SNIP** “The current political climate has opened windows to reflect and drive cultural changes that would never have been possible a decade ago,” said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) in announcing the proposals. “This is an opportunity to reiterate why we choose to run for office, to serve the public, and to reaffirm our commitment to political reform.” A trio of Republican Senators called the proposals “window dressing” and said they would introduce legislation to double prison sentences, to up to eight years, for any elected official convicted of bribery or selling votes. "While we appreciate some of...

Texas has a part-time legislature, and inherent in any state with a part-time legislature is the potential for conflicts of interest. Unless a legislator is personally wealthy, they must hold a job, which inevitably leads to their consideration of a bill that impacts their industry or company directly. Texas ethics laws are lax and have loopholes. Legislators rarely recuse themselves on votes. It is one thing for that to happen with one of 150 Texas House members or one of 31 Texas senators. For governor, candidates should be held to a higher standard. The contrast on ethics could not be...

(CNN) -- A spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid dismissed as "meritless" an ethics complaint filed Wednesday by Republicans that charges the majority leader improperly used his government-funded website and Twitter account for partisan political purposes. At issue are Reid's ongoing attacks against Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers who are spending millions through their organization Americans for Prosperity to defeat Democratic candidates this campaign cycle. Some of Reid's comments, which he has made in speeches on the Senate floor and elsewhere, also appeared on his senate.gov website and on his official Twitter account. "Senate rules are clear: Senators and...

Republican Party of Louisiana files formal complaint against Senator Harry Reid BATON ROGUE, La, April 23, 2014 — The Republican Party of Louisiana filed a formal complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics against Senator Harry Reid on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. The subject of the complaint was “Senator Harry Reid’s Use of Tax Payer Resources for Campaign Purposes” and dealt with the use of Senate staff and facilities for support of political candidates and for campaign programs defaming the Koch brothers with false and misleading attack ads in the last election cycle.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The California State Senate held an "ethics refresher course" for its members after federal indictments were issued against two senators and a third was convicted. Senate leaders are hoping to regain the public's trust. The purpose of the course is to teach members and their staffs to avoid potentially compromising situations. It's the latest in a series of moves by senate leaders aimed at putting political distance between them and their colleagues facing criminal charges. The leader of California's state senate stopped all regular business on Wednesday so everyone could go "back to school" in a...

Obama EPA’s Monstrous Human Experiments Posted By Matthew Vadum On April 4, 2014 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency has been subjecting unknowing human guinea pigs to high levels of carcinogens and potentially lethal pollutants in order to justify tough new air quality standards. To make matters worse, EPA has been carrying out these egregiously immoral and unethical human experiments in which subjects are made to inhale freshly pumped-in diesel truck exhaust fumes without advising them of the risk to their health. Such EPA-funded studies have reportedly been carried out at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill,...

President Obama was swept to office amidst his pledge that he'd run the "most transparent administration in history." A new report out finds that he hasn't even run the most transparent administration since the previous one. The Associated Press analyzed the federal government's own Freedom of Information Act data and found that federal agencies under President Obama have been as uncooperative as ever: More often than ever, the administration censored government files or outright denied access to them last year under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, cited more legal exceptions it said justified withholding materials and refused a record...

Cheating scandals have recently rocked the Air Force and Navy and the resulting press coverage has, unfortunately, stained the honor and the integrity of the entire military. The majority of Americans have faith and pride in the men and women who selflessly serve this nation. The negative press doesn’t represent the overwhelming majority of service members. Recent scandals may be an indication of a systemic problem within the forces. Service members are expected to have honor and integrity and are the only individuals associated with the government who have the trust and respect of the American people. But reports of...

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews announced Tuesday that he is resigning from Congress after more than 23 years, a decision that could short-circuit a House Ethics Committee inquiry into whether the New Jersey Democrat used campaign donations for personal purposes. Andrews, who previously aspired to higher office, said the inquiry was not a factor is his resignation, which is effective Feb. 18. He is taking a job running the governmental affairs unit of a Philadelphia law firm where his wife has worked. …

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas citizen filed a complaint before the Texas Ethics Commission Monday afternoon, alleging that State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) knowingly misrepresented her assets on her annual Personal Financial Statements. The complainant, Lou Ann Anderson of Temple, alleges that Davis failed to disclose her ownership of stocks and mutual funds, capital gains made on the sale of those mutual funds, interest earned on several bank accounts, and professional ties to registered lobbyists associated with a law firm at which she is employed. Davis allegedly failed to make these financial disclosures on three of...