Free Republic

Self-serving speech I was in attendance last Saturday at the commencement activities at the University of Washington. I was both embarrassed and angered by the pontification and obvious self-importance of Rep. Dicks. Never could I have imagined a commencement speaker at a major university being booed and heckled while speaking to the graduates. Then again, I could never have imagined anyone giving such a self-serving, self-glorification speech as he did. A speaker at such an event is supposed to inspire the graduates who are now going out into the world to seek their own destiny. They did not come to...

A lingering football injury from his college days played a part in 6th District U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks’ decision to not seek re-election to a 19th term this year — and will play a role in what he does with his life after Congress, he said Friday.

I am pleased to report that Republican candidate Doug Cloud has finally brought down Democrat Congressman Norm Dicks, ranking Democrat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Scandals surrounding Norm Dicks are long, and deep. However, it was a Freedom on Information request by Doug Cloud, involving FBI files from the lobbyist PMA Group that finally caused Dicks to step aside. Here is a bit of background on the now defunct PMA Group: In return for campaign contributions, PMA group clients received over $200 million in contracts.In November, 2008 FBI agents raided PMA's offices and removed records of the firm's political...

Olympia's Democrats threw a huge childish hissy-fit on Friday, stomping their feet, spitting venom and bile, holding their breath and turning blue ... all because (gasp!) they didn't have the votes but Republicans did -- and they're still pouting about it. In November, if Democrats lose their majorities in the state House and/or state Senate and/or lose the governorship, it'll be because they deserve it based on Friday's childish hissy-fit. In multiple floor speeches, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown could not have been more patronizing, superior, holier-than-thou and condescending. Wants-to-replace-congressman-Norm-Dicks-who's-retiring Derek Kilmer nearly bawled like a little baby girl --...

If you want to find out what happened with Solyndra you have to follow the money. I did. The half billion dollars of taxpayer dough that is probably lost in Sol came from the Federal Financing Bank (“FFB”). It’s worth a look at this bank to see what else is going on. FFB is a bank that is owned and controlled by the US Treasury. The chairman of the Board is the TSec. (Tim Geithner). With the (big) exception of the Post Office all of the loans at FFB are guaranteed by government agencies. Technically speaking, FFB has no risks...

[...]Take AT&T, for example. The telecommunications giant is pushing for the supercommittee to increase wireless spectrum, reform corporate tax and minimize government regulation. The company, which is also in the midst of fighting for its merger with T-Mobile, bundled $71,000 for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee through the first six months of this year and $20,750 last year for Washington Sen. Patty Murray, who co-chairs the supercommittee and runs the campaign arm that is charged with maintaining a Senate majority next November. In fact, Murray received the most bundled contributions of any individual supercommittee lawmaker since last year, also taking...

Some of the nation's top defense contractors have helped sponsor an annual congressional charity tennis tournament in the nation's capital that is a pet project of Rep. Norm Dicks, senior Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. The Washington state lawmaker is an avid tennis player and helped create the tournament, in which corporate sponsors and invited members of Congress can play tennis with professional tennis legends while raising money for charity. Mr. Dicks, who at one time described himself as the third best tennis player in Congress, helped push for a 7,500-seat tennis stadium in the late 1980s in...

Rep. David Obey’s retirement announcement wasn’t even official before the competition began for his Appropriations chairmanship. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) will make a run for the gavel, sources close to the lawmaker told POLITICO, putting him in a potential competition for that chairmanship with Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.). “Fattah is very interested in setting spending priorities that would focus on education, health, [and] urban and rural communities, and sees the chairmanship as an opportunity to articulate those priorities in a way that defends the Democratic majority in the House,” said one source. Obey (D-Wis.) announced Wednesday that he will not...

Washington Rep. Norm Dicks, shown here shaking hands with actor Chris Klein, has effectively taken over control of the House defense appropriations subcommittee and is expected to be voted its next chairman following the unexpected death of John Murtha, a democratic house leadership aide told The Cable. "Mr. Dicks is now acting chair of defense appropriations and likely will be approved by the caucus for it permanently, should he choose that over [his current chairmanship of] the interior subcommittee," the aide said. That confirms the somewhat less definitive statements by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-MD, who told reporters Tuesday,...

Dems cleared in PMA lobbying scandal By Susan Crabtree - 12/18/09 04:49 PM ET At least three Democratic lawmakers have been cleared of any wrongdoing after an initial investigation into their ties to PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm. Reps. John Murtha (Pa.), Jim Moran (Va.) and Norm Dicks (Wash.) recently received a letter from the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) informing them that it found no need for further inquiry into the PMA-related allegations. The board of the OCE on Nov. 30 voted unanimously to recommend that the full ethics committee dismiss the charges, according to a letter to...

Congressman Norm Dicks has never been shy about accepting campaign donations from favor seekers. Now the FBI is investigating one of Dicks' most generous donors — the powerhouse lobbying firm PMA Group. Questions have been raised about whether some PMA-related campaign contributions were actually given by the people listed as donors. For example, thousands of dollars in contributions to Dicks, Washington Sen. Patty Murray and other lawmakers came from a sommelier and a golf-club employee who were identified as PMA officials on some campaign-finance reports. The investigation has prompted some lawmakers to distance themselves from the PMA-related contributions. Murray said...

The Associated Press and United Press International are reporting that another Democratic hawk, Norm Dicks (D-Washington), has changed his position on the Iraq war. They are both quoting from and referencing a Seattle Times article first published about 16 hours ago entitled “Defense hawk Dicks says he now sees war as a mistake.” Yet, they are conveniently ignoring previous statements made by Dicks concerning the war that were also reported by the Seattle Times. Today’s article stated: “Dicks now says it was all a mistake — his vote, the invasion, and the way the United States is waging the war."

The political recriminations from the cliffhanger passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement last week are even worse than we thought. Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, is contemplating revenge against the 15 Democrats who had the nerve to vote for hemispheric growth and progress. The San Francisco Democrat called a caucus gripe session in the wake of last Wednesday's vote, and an article in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call suggested that Democrats who voted yes may lose their favorite committee assignments. Our John Fund reports on OpinionJournal.com that Democratic leaders are especially mad at two Black Caucus...

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) voted 14-1 Tuesday night to oppose the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), with four Texans abstaining and one voting against the position. The four who abstained — Democratic Reps. Charles Gonzalez, Ruben Hinojosa, Solomon Ortiz and Silvestre Reyes — are all publicly undecided about the sweeping trade agreement, but pro-CAFTA forces have said they believe they have secured the support of Ortiz and Reyes. keri rasmussen Rep. Charles Gonzalez was one of four Texas Democrats to abstain. The CHC will circulate its opposition statement this morning and make it public later in the afternoon,...

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, Democrats in Congress are beginning to find out. Rep. Norman Dicks, D-Wash., has reimbursed the Spectrum Group, a defense lobbying firm, $571 for food and lodging in Fort Lauderdale in February, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Tuesday. It is against House rules for a lawmaker or staffer to accept gratuities from lobbyists, though non-profit groups may pay for their travel expenses. The Associated Press reported the same day that expenses for a trip Reps. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., took to the Northern Mariana islands in 1996 were paid by Jack Abramoff,...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said Tuesday he has paid $571 to a lobbying firm that had paid for a trip he took to a military conference in Florida. Dicks said he made a mistake by allowing the Spectrum Group, a defense lobbying firm, to pay for his lodging and meals during a two-night stay in Fort Lauderdale in February. He is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, which plays an influential role in defense spending. He called the violation unintentional, adding that he corrected the error after it was brought to his attention by a...

Lobbying firm paid for part of Dicks trip Congressman calls it honest mistake; he pays back $571 By CHARLES POPE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT WASHINGTON -- Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., allowed a lobbying firm to cover part of the cost of a trip he took to a military conference three months ago, a violation of House ethics rules that he says has now been corrected. Dicks took full responsibility yesterday for initially allowing the Spectrum Group, a defense lobbying firm to pay for his lodging and meals during a two-night stay in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in February. Dicks, who as...

Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) Had Lobbyists pay for Trip Mon May 02 2005 09:40:10 ET The controversy over lobbyist-funded Congressional travel has brushed yet another Member. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) took a five-day jaunt to Miami in February. The original travel disclosure Dicks’ office filed with the House Clerk listed the sponsor as the Spectrum Group, a defense lobbying firm in Alexandria, Va. That would be a violation of House Rules, ROLL CALL reports on Monday. And in recent days, Dicks’ office has appended two “corrections” to its initial filing. The upshot is that Dicks, who sits on the House...

<p>This is the informed opinion of Washington Democrat Norman Dicks, just back from visiting Iraq, as expressed to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at a House hearing this week on the Bush Administration's request for $87 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan. Given most reporting on these subjects of late, his optimism struck us as news.</p>

Top Capital Hill military money man visits 101stby Pfc. Thomas DayMOSUL, Iraq (Sept. 28, 2003) -- Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-CA, chairman of the House Military Appropriations sub-committee, led a nine-member congressional delegation Sunday to meet constituents fighting with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.The delegation included GOP Texans Henry Bonilla and Kay Granger, fellow Republicans John Shimkus (IL), George Nerthcutt (WA), and Don Sherwood (PA). Democrats Tim Holden (PA), Norm Dicks (WA), and Ellen Tauscher (CA) made the trip a bipartisan affair.Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus, 101st Airborne Division commanding general, who has hosted a number...