The Orange County Register’s Brian Joseph exposes how overlapping laws allow California state lawmakers to leverage their tax-free travel allowance to buy homes, secure tax deductions and sometimes pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit. “This legal patchwork has created a benefit legislators in other states rarely see and blurred the lines between allowance [...]
Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
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Palin e-mails reveal a powerful ‘first dude’
February 8th, 2010 
coulterj MSNBC.com investigative reporter Bill Dedman revealed the influence of Todd Palin, the husband of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, during Palin’s time as governor. MSNBC.com staff combed through nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails to show Todd Palin involved in a judicial appointment, monitoring contract negotiations with a public employee union and passing “financial information marked marked ‘confidential’ from his oil company employer to a state attorney.”
Former governor failed to report gift of $50,000 golf club dues
August 21st, 2009 Beth Andy Curliss of The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) reported that former North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley got at least $50,000 in free golf dues from an expensive club near Raleigh and did not report the gift on the required disclosure forms. The News & Observer’s continued coverage of Gov. Easley has led to federal and state investigations the former governor.
Healthcare lobbying face to face
June 30th, 2009 Meganm A new NPR investigative series, Dollar Politics, opened with an introduction to the lobbyists positioning themselves in the national healthcare reform debate. The Web site for the stories asks NPR’s audience to help connect names to lobbyists shown in a panoramic photo from a recent senate committee meeting.
Lobbyists can spend unlimited amounts to honor lawmakers
June 8th, 2009 Beth Gregg had stake in aid for base
February 27th, 2009 admin President Barack Obama’s former nominee to become commerce secretary, Sen. Judd Gregg, steered taxpayer money to his home state’s redevelopment of a former Air Force base even as he and his brother engaged in real estate deals there, an Associated Press investigation found. Gregg has collected at least $240,017 to $651,801 from his investments there, [...]
Tags: Teachers supported Prop 8 while their union opposed the measure
February 20th, 2009 Beth A report by NPR’s Robert Benincasa shows that California’s teachers’ union was giving money to oppose Proposition 8 while members of the union were making donations to support the ban on gay marriage.
Lobbyists spent $12.8 million courting Texas lawmakers
January 27th, 2009 Beth According to a report in the Houston Chronicle, lobbyists spent more than $12 million in the last four years wining and dining Texas lawmakers and other state workers, including trips to pricey resorts across the country.
Illinois gala for Obama supported by lobbyists he banned from donating to campaign
January 20th, 2009 admin Supporters from Barack Obama’s home state held a celebration this week that was paid for, in part, by the same lobbying firms the president-elect banned from donating to his campaign and inaugural committee, Bloomberg’s Jonathan D. Salant and Kate Andersen report. Seven firms that earned a total of at least $30 million in lobbying [...]
Obama found support in Oklahoma’s urban precincts
November 26th, 2008 Beth Oklahoma voters gave Republican Sen. John McCain one of his largest margins of victory over Democrat Barack Obama in the presidential election earlier this month. But an analysis of precinct results from across the state by The Oklahoman shows Obama claiming heavily populated urban areas and pockets of support in eastern Oklahoma. McCain outpolled Obama [...]
