Free Republic

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The state has for years diverted as much as $750 million annually from a "dedicated" tax fund intended for bridge and highway maintenance and repair, using the money instead to cover unrelated budget costs, state Sen. Thomas Libous said Tuesday. "We're raiding the fund and that's wrong," the Broome County Republican said in announcing a bill with bipartisan support to end the practice. "I've been saying that for three years ... but now it's a matter of public safety." He said the $3 billion fund created in 1991 now pays for dozens of budget items not...

Google tried to silence lawmakers and pushed -- at times with a heavy hand -- to influence legislation designed to bring the company to Caldwell County. The company demanded that legislators never speak its name, and had them scolded when word of its interest in North Carolina leaked out, according to records made public this week. As work proceeded on the bill to remove much of its tax burden, Google threatened to end negotiations because legislative staff didn't write exactly what it wanted. State Commerce Secretary Jim Fain was asked to "prevail upon" the bill writer. Indeed, the first set...

Top multinationals caught up in Chinese graft probe (AP/chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2007-01-20 14:14 Shanghai authorities have detained 22 company executives, some working for major multinationals such as McDonald's and Whirlpool, in connection with a bribery investigation, local reports said Friday, citing a police notice. The probe comes amid a wider crackdown on economic crimes and a citywide probe into corruption allegations against top city leaders that resulted in the ouster of Shanghai's Communist Party secretary, Chen Liangyu. Foreign companies are facing increased scrutiny over compliance with government regulations, with powerhouses like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., for example, installing labor unions. The police...

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The battle to represent hurricane-battered New Orleans in Congress should turn on which candidate can best help rebuild the city but the buzz is about how $90,000 in cold hard cash ended up in the Democratic incumbent's freezer. Until the FBI found the money wrapped in foil as part of a sting operation in May, eight-term congressman William Jefferson seemed certain to be re-elected on November 7 to represent Louisiana's 2nd district, much of which lay under water after Hurricane Katrina hit in late August 2005. Jefferson denies wrongdoing but the investigation into whether he took...

UNITED NATIONS Secretary-General Kofi Annan has refused to fill out a newly minted U.N. financial disclosure form, rejecting advice of his inner circle that doing so would send a good signal as the U.N. seeks to counter allegations that it is closed to public scrutiny, U.N. officials said Thursday. The U.N. unveiled new rules last year that tightened staff financial disclosure requirements in effect since 1999. Annan is not required to fill out the form because he is technically not a staff member. Nonetheless, two U.N. officials told The Associated Press that several of Annan's top aides had recently urged...

Islamic nations are ranked as among the world's most-corrupt and the fight to tackle the scourge could be tough due to poverty and poor governance, Malaysia's prime minister said on Monday. Taking his anti-corruption message to the rest of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) nations, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who chairs the group, said there were no quick fixes to completely eradicate the problem. "I am deeply saddened to note that Muslim countries, as a group, do not rate very highly when it comes to perceptions of corruption," he said at the opening of the group's first forum on...

BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston's $15 billion "Big Dig" was meant to inspire awe, an engineering marvel on scale with the Panama Canal that would thrust U.S. cities into a new era. ADVERTISEMENT Instead, it faces a crisis of public confidence after a fatal tunnel collapse that could derail plans for other U.S. urban mega-projects. With 7.5 miles of underground highway and a 183-foot (56 meter) wide cable-stayed bridge, the Big Dig replaced an ailing elevated expressway to fix chronic congestion and reunite downtown Boston with its historic waterfront neighborhoods. But cost overruns, leaks, delays, falling debris, criminal probes and charges...

The suicide of ailing UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Denice Denton – a pioneer among women scientists – was a wrenching personal tragedy. Unfortunately, however, Denton's death is now being used by another former UC executive to suggest sexism and homophobia helped fuel the bitter controversy of the past year over UC's extravagant, arguably illegal, compensation policies. Denton was one of many UC officials of both sexes to draw fire – in her case because UC spent $600,000 renovating her Santa Cruz home (including a $30,282 dog run for her pets) and hired her longtime partner, Gretchen Kalonji, to a $192,000-a-year...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could find a lot of reasons why the Legislature turned away his public works plan, but Paul Folino wasn't one of them. Folino's participation wasn't happenstance. His informal lobbying is just one example of the close and beneficial relationship Schwarzenegger shares with Folino and the rapidly expanding political action committee he helped establish, the New Majority. Members of the centrist group have donated or raised more than $10 million for the Republican governor's political ventures. And the New Majority is pushing to expand its influence. The group, which has about 250 members and funnels roughly $7.5 million...

At one level, the United Nations is merely the latest variant on the Congress of Vienna held almost two centuries ago—a venue where the great powers sit down to resolve the problems of the world to their mutual satisfaction. Unfortunately, unlike Lord Castlereagh, Prince Metternich and Talleyrand, none of whom would be asked to audition for a “We Are The World” charity fundraising single, the UN has become the repository of all the West’s sappiest illusions of one-worldism. Let me give an example. Nearly three years ago, the space shuttle Columbia crashed, and Katie Couric on NBC’s Today show saluted...

The general manager of a shipping company based in the United Arab Emirates has made an extraordinary claim at the oil-for-food inquiry. The executive said the British embassy, US Navy and the Royal Navy were all aware of kickbacks to Saddam Hussein in 2001. The statement from Michael Wallbanks, the general manager of P&O Nedlloyd only arrived at the commission this morning. He said that when he arrived in Dubai in 2000, he became aware that Iraq imposed a 10 per cent tax on all goods shipped to the country. The commission was told that most exporters chose to...

Everyone seems to agree that Congress needs to clean up earmarks, the special pork projects members of Congress secure often without hearings, notice or even disclosure of the direct recipient. Rep. John Boehner, the new House majority leader, laments that Congress has "become addicted to earmarks as if it were opium." President Bush belatedly told the nation in his State of the Union address that "the federal budget has too many special-interest projects." Fine rhetoric, but if something drastic isn't done, earmarks will largely survive the calls for reform. Alaska's Sen. Ted Stevens, who has spent 37 years in Congress...

WASHINGTON — A bill for busing evacuees from New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was $32 million more than it should have been, and the government paid it without question, the Transportation Department inspector general said Friday.

A federal grand jury indicted the former top executive of the San Diego pension system, its lawyer and three former trustees on conspiracy and fraud charges yesterday in the opening salvo in the federal government's latest corruption probe at City Hall. Law enforcement sources said the indictments are the first part of a far-reaching criminal investigation that could stretch into the highest levels of a city government already reeling from multiple scandals. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shane Harrigan, who announced yesterday's indictments, said the actions of the defendants not only jeopardized the pension fund, but "the financial stability of the city...

DAVID H. Brooks, the Long Island bullet-proof vest tycoon who spent $10 million for his daughter's bat mitzvah bash on Saturday, is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Brooks gained notoriety when it was revealed he had hired Aerosmith, the Eagles, Stevie Nicks, 50 Cent, Ciara, Kenny G and Tom Petty to play at a party for his 13-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, on both floors of the Rainbow Room. Brooks' company, DHB, a defense contractor that makes bullet-proof vests for the U.S. military, has been the subject of several class-action suits stemming from a government recall of its body...

Rep. Alan Mollohan (W.Va.), the top Democrat on the House ethics committee, has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and gifts to a family foundation from MZM Inc. and another firm that did business with MZM. The former owner of MZM, Mitchell Wade, is at the heart of the recent scandal that toppled ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.). The Californian pleaded guilty last week to accepting $2.4 million in bribes, fraud and tax evasion charges. The donations to Mollohan were perfectly legal. But the fact that the top ethics cop for House Democrats received significant sums from the...

SACRAMENTO — “So you’re a reporter,” the salesman said as we sat in the little room. He was just trying to break the silence as we waited for his boss to come back and tell me that my offer for their overpriced car was too low. “What’s it like down there at the Capitol,” he asked. “Is it just all corruption?” That was several weeks ago. But I thought about the salesman when I read about Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham pleading guilty to taking at least $2.4 million in bribes. Probably no one is more representative of middle America than...

POWAY, Calif. (Dec. 7) - Federal agents gave reporters a peek Tuesday at about 40 pieces of antique furniture accepted by a former congressman as part of $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors seeking government business.

POLL HERE: http://www.wwltv.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25953 Please excuse the subject, this is a call to action, it was meant to get YOUR attention. Read on while witholding judgment. Citizens of Louisiana, WE THE PEOPLE need easier and more effective methods and administrative and legal procedures and remedies to remove elected, appointed and other public officials and employees, IN ALL BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT, from their positions of trust (GIVEN TO THEM BY THE PEOPLE of our good and historic state) when they are involved of suspected or proven undesirable activity. The endless days of graft, corruption, miscondcut, looking the other way, making perpetual excuses...

Cronies' deals may have put GIs at risk By George E. Condon Jr., Copley News Service WASHINGTON - Rep. Randy Cunningham's dramatic fall from power represents more than just a historic case of personal corruption unprecedented in the long history of the Congress. It is also betrayal on a grand scale. Cunningham betrayed his friends, his constituents, his colleagues and, certainly most important, the U.S. combat troops he so loudly championed. By steering contracts vital to the Iraq war effort to cronies, he may have put those troops at greater risk by judging contracts more for what they would do...

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has asked committee attorneys to review former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's work on the panel to ensure he didn't improperly influence committee actions or decisions. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., ordered the review after learning of Cunningham's guilty plea Monday to charges of corruption and tax evasion for taking $2.4 million in bribes, mostly from two defense contractors, in exchange for steering government business their way, said committee spokesman Jamal Ware. Hoekstra also ordered Cunningham's access to classified information terminated immediately, Ware said Wednesday. "He believes these concerns are incredibly serious, and that there...

The difference between Randy "Duke" Cunningham and many of his Congressional colleagues is one of degree, not kind. He is an extreme manifestation of a corruption pervasive in Congress, a crookedness that spreads with the size of the federal government. Had Cunningham just waited a little while and become a defense firm lobbyist, he could have received his Rolls-Royce, yacht, and Louis-Philippe commode legally. In Washington, D.C., cause and effect are never examined honestly. Politicians are expert at bemoaning a troubling effect even as they deepen its cause. So while the Democrats crank up their "culture of corruption" campaign and...

Some of the payments accepted by Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham as detailed in his plea agreement: • $200,000 toward the purchase of his Arlington, Va., condominium. • $140,000 to a third party for the "Duke-Stir" yacht, which was moved to his boat slip for his use. • $16,867.13 to a marine services company for repairs to his own yacht, the "Kelly C." • $12,000 paid to an antique store for three night stands, a leaded glass cabinet, a washstand, a buffet and four armoires. • $6,632 paid to a furniture store for a leather sofa and a sleigh-style bed. •...

JUST ANOTHER POWER GRAB by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher November 10, 2005 In what is but yet another pathetic power grab attempt by the shamelessly corrupt United Nations, they are seeking to control the Internet as part of the agenda to be discussed at the World Summit on the International Society in Tunisia next week. The group currently holding control over operation and efficiency of the Internet is ICANN - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - which is in large part controlled by the United States and loosely supervised by the U.S. Commerce Department. Prior to...

Louisiana governor blasts feds over out-of-state rebuilding contracts. Hundreds of people rallied at the state Capitol Saturday, pushing state officials to give more hurricane reconstruction work to Louisiana residents. “This is not just a New Orleans struggle,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who spoke along with the Rev. Al Sharpton. “Our nation’s character is on trial. This is our nation’s challenge.” The storms left as many as 296,000 Louisiana residents without jobs, costing $300 million in unemployment benefits, state officials say.

Although Syrian troops have withdrawn from Lebanon, their departure is little more than a symbolic acknowledgment of Lebanese sovereignty, extracted under enormous pressure from the international community. They had not been directly involved in policing the country for nearly a decade, and their number had already dwindled in recent years from a peak of over 40,000 down to 14,000. The backbone of Syria's power in Lebanon — its intelligence apparatus — has merely gone underground. The assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in February and the murders of prominent dissidents Samir Kassir and George Hawi in June suggest that Syria remains as capable as ever...

It is one of the secrets of the Beltway: Washington loves disasters. With large-scale disasters, government expands, its friends get wealthy and citizens become as docile as kittens. That is why Congress calls it "disaster relief" — the relief is from the usual restrictions on revenue spending and individual responsibility.

CHICAGO - The biggest corruption trial in Chicago in decades opened Wednesday with a federal prosecutor launching a blistering attack on former Gov. George Ryan, saying he betrayed the public's trust by taking cash and gifts to help insiders land lucrative state contracts. "The fix was in in Illinois government," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon. The verbal pounding brought Ryan defense attorney Dan K. Webb to his feet to demand a mistrial the minute Fardon sat down. The request was denied. Ryan, 71, is accused of giving a lobbyist friend, Larry Warner, free rein to steer contracts to his...

With all the pitfalls President Bush has navigated in five tumultuous years, the one worry he has rarely confronted is rebellion in his own ranks. But House Republicans, his rock, are increasingly restive about the effect that the president’s expansive plans for rebuilding the Gulf Coast could have on the nation’s already massive budget deficits. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the prematurely white-haired leader of the House conservative caucus, set the stage for a tense week for the two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue when he declared Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that to offset the cost of Katrina relief, “We've got...

The Clinton top collected 1,25 billion dollars of gifts New York - former American president Bill Clinton closed Saturday the alternative top with that of UNO which it had chaired for Thursday in New York. Some 1,25 billion dollar of gifts will have been joined together there for various international causes. The world Initiative Clinton (cgi) brought together leaders of the whole world, businessmen, environmentalists or dignitaries religious. It made it possible to collect nearly 200 promises of gifts. "I am satisfied with what we carried out here", Clinton declared. "But I hope that you leave from here with...

09-02-05 - New Orleans - New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin, after detailing ongoing operations to restore the city's infrastructure and outlining plans for reconstruction, announced that another tradition of New Orleans and Lousiana politics that took a hit with the arrival of Hurrican Katrina and the break in the levees holding back Lake Pontchartrain would be re-established temporarily off-site and away from the current mayhem."People who know and love New Orleans, this great, great city. They know New Orleans for many things. Our music, our food, our friendly people.... crime perhaps. But everyone knows when you think about New Orleans...

The report, obtained by The Times-Picayune before its official scheduled release Monday, details broad and deep abuse of an unchecked system. It highlights six employees who pulled in between $22,434 and $42,484 in stipends during calendar year 2004, including the system's math curriculum chief, Mary Thompson. Thompson received $38,677 in extra payments, which she approved herself. She also approved $35,677 in stipends for her daughter-in-law, Trina Thompson, a teacher, mother and graduate student who claimed to have done all the stipend-paid work at home. Mary Thompson, according to the report, wasn't eligible for a single stipend payment under system policy....

August 16, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan ordered a massive investigation of the entire U.N. procurement division yesterday amid growing concerns about corruption and irregularities in the awarding of U.N. contracts. In yet another major organizational shake-up in response to the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, the embattled Annan placed the procurement office under the authority of U.N. Controller Warren Sachs, pending the outcome of a probe into the agency, which awards contracts worth billions of dollars. The United Nations said in a statement that Annan ordered the probe "due to the seriousness of the situation" raised by last...

Housekeeper at UW has backup job System president's employee guaranteed an academic spot By CHASE DAVIS cdavis@journalsentinel.com Highlighting what critics called the pervasiveness of backup appointments across the University of Wisconsin System, officials confirmed Friday that President Kevin Reilly's own housekeeper holds one of the controversial positions, although Reilly has said he learned of it only recently. Section: State politics UW spokeswoman Kate Dixon confirmed Friday that Mary Lou Gritzmacher, the housekeeper at Reilly's official residence, was among the UW staff and administrators guaranteed a backup job - a three-year academic staff position. The parameters of that job are unclear....

08/05/2005 -- 18:12(GMT+7) Ha Noi, Aug. 5 (VNA) - Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has directed the State administrative sector to tighten discipline and order and said that fighting bureaucracy, corruption and wastefulness is an urgent task at present. The PM made the instruction at a ceremony held in Ha Noi on August 5 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to receive the Order of Golden Star and celebrate the State administrative sector's 60th foundation day (August 28). At the presentation ceremony, PM Khai said the ministry should focus its efforts on improving the quality of public employees, and speed...

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 29 - As he campaigned for the presidency in 2002, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva boldly pledged to clean up the sordid politics of Brazil. His, he vowed, would be an ethical, honest and moral government the likes of which Brazil had never seen. That pledge helped him win the votes of more than 50 million Brazilians and a sweeping mandate. But now, in a gloomy echo of what has happened time and again across Latin America, Mr. da Silva's government is mired in the biggest, most audacious corruption scandal in his country's history. A congressional...

July 20, 2005 -- Education spending per New York City pupil jumped more than 15 percent in the last five years, a new report shows. According to the city's nonpartisan Independent Budget Office, per-student spending in the city shot up to $14,642 this past school year, from $12,673 in 2000-01.

RANGEL'S SOLICITATION Rep. Charles Rangel has written to lobbyists who represent corporate interests before the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, where he is the ranking Democrat, asking for contributions from $1,000 to $10,000 "to underwrite" his 75th birthday party. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and retired Gen. Wesley Clark will address the event starting at 6 p.m. Aug. 3 at the Tavern on the Green in Manhattan. "I would like to be able to list your name on the invitation," Rangel said in his solicitation. He admonished the lobbyists to "fax the attached response sheet back to my office as...

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - The politician who accused Brazil's governing party of paying bribes to win votes testified before Congress Tuesday that top presidential aides knew about the payoffs. Workers Party officials distributed cash to congressmen, "often arriving at predetermined locations with two huge suitcases full of cash," said Rep. Roberto Jefferson. Jefferson, leader of Brazil's Labor Party, said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's chief of staff and finance minister were aware of the bribes but did nothing to stop them. The monthly "allowances" of more than $12,000 came to an end after Jefferson said he informed Silva,...

Lawmakers taken into custody by federal, state agents May 26, 2005 ‘Tennessee Waltz’ nabs six with one more arrest expected Updated: May 26, 12:29 p.m. An unprecedented FBI white-collar sting on four state lawmakers, one former lawmaker and two others brought Tennessee into the national spotlight Thursday as a host of politicians were arrested by state and federal agents on allegations of bribery and extortion. Operation Tennessee Waltz, a two-year investigation spawned by a citizen tip, included agents in Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville who formed a fake company and enticed these suspects into allegedly taking bribes to sell surplus computers...

A group of upset students officially launched a petition against U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Saturday, denouncing the University's decision to honor him as the 2005 Commencement speaker. Calling Annan's selection "inappropriate and appalling," the petition describes the chief of the world's largest governing body both a "polarizing figure" and an "incompetent leader." The group calls itself "Kofi Off Campus" and says the petition is a local response to an independent investigation that issued contentious conclusions about Annan's role in the United Nations' scandal-plagued oil-for-food program. Though investigators ultimately declared that the secretary-general did not have knowledge of the problems, group...

California Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) intervened in a dispute with regulators to help a West Hollywood company maintain lucrative billboards on freeways in Los Angeles and Orange counties, records show. Perata intervened in 2001 the day after the company, Regency Outdoor Advertising Inc., reported giving a $25,000 campaign contribution to a Perata-backed initiative. The company's co-owner said the contribution came in response to a request from the senator. Later, as the senator and his aides made inquiries with the California Department of Transportation on Regency's behalf, the firm gave an additional $300,000 in contributions and free advertising...

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs have called for member states to be clearer on how they spend EU money, asking for a new annual list to name and shame countries with the worst record on missing funds. While giving the green light to the bloc's budget for 2003 - which was not signed off by the EU's Court of Auditors for the 10th year in a row - the Parliament attached a resolution urging member states to use EU taxpayers money more responsibly. The resolution says that member states, "do not always give the same attention to the spending of...

The French judge who first uncovered the corruption scandal engulfing the country's most senior politicians has claimed that bribery and cronyism are still rife at the highest levels of government. Eric Halphen, whose investigations into kickbacks from public works programmes led to a number of President Jacques Chirac's closest allies going on trial last week, said that the prosecutions "in no way" signalled an end to the corruption that has blighted French politics for decades. Mr Halphen, who retired from the judiciary three years ago in protest when Mr Chirac was granted immunity from prosecution, laid some of the blame...

NEW CASTLE, Pa. - First, county Treasurer Gary Felasco hadn't paid his property taxes for years. Then, his county cell phone number turned up on a Web site promoting sex parties. The local newspaper conducted a sting: They called the number at "Jeannie in the Bottle" and got directions from someone named Gary to an Ohio hotel where a swingers' party was advertised. Outside, they snapped a picture of Felasco's van. A year later, Felasco is still Lawrence County treasurer — angering colleagues and befuddling residents.

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was "shocked" by an independent enquiry that found unethical behaviour by the official who ran the oil-for-food programme in Iraq, his chief of staff said. The enquiry said the official, Benon Sevan, solicited allocations of Iraqi oil from the Baghdad regime of Saddam Hussein and had got questionable cash payments but stopped short of saying he had taken bribes. Mark Malloch Brown, Annan's chief of staff, said disciplinary proceedings had been started against Sevan, although it was unclear what measures could be taken because Sevan has already resigned from the United...

WASHINGTON - It came as little surprise last week when Doris Matsui announced, four days after her husband's funeral, that she would run for his seat in Congress. If the widow is successful in succeeding her late husband, Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-Calif.), she will join a long list of lawmakers to follow relatives into office.

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

ADLAI STEVENSON once argued that a politician is a statesman who “approaches every question with an open mouth”. If the performance of Jan Egeland, of the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, is an indication, the same is true of those paid by the United Nations. A week ago, despite just one day having passed since the Asian tsunami, with the reported death toll one tenth of what it is now believed to be, and ignoring the fact that public holidays are never the easiest times to start organising an aid effort, Mr Egeland saw fit to dismiss...

Changing of the guard (Giant Casino Coming To Town) Mackenzie vows new openness in city dealings Sunday, December 19, 2004 By Clark MasonTHE PRESS DEMOCRATcmason@pressdemocrat.com Jake Mackenzie: Rohnert Park's new mayor, wearing a kilt in a nod to his Scottish heritage, represents the power shift on the City Council that occurred when voters ended its developer-friendly majority.Zoom Photo Newly selected Mayor Jake Mackenzie wore a kilt and tie for his swearing-in this past week, but it was the ceremonial dagger attached to his calf that raised more eyebrows. "We let you in with that?" one city staffer jokingly asked. As...