Showdown looms for financial reform

SOURCE: Victoria McGrane // Politico

9 Mar 2010 // If there were any question that the stakes are high for financial reform, consider this: Even the Defense Department is getting into the fight.

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Flake to offer measure on earmark guidelines

SOURCE: Susan Crabtree // The Hill

8 Mar 2010 // Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is trying to refocus public scrutiny on earmarks after a rash of scandals has plagued House Democrats.

Flake plans to offer a privileged resolution on the House floor this week that would ask the ethics committee to provide better guidance on accepting campaign contributions from entities requesting earmarks.

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Sen. John McCain wants J.D. Hayworth to reveal donors

SOURCE: Dan Nowicki // Arizona Republic

8 Mar 2010 // In an increasingly bitter Republican primary fight, Sen. John McCain is pressuring rival J.D. Hayworth to release the names of the benefactors who are helping Hayworth settle legal bills accumulated while preparing for a possible Justice Department investigation in connection with corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

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Ethics panel ‘covers’ for colleagues, critics say

SOURCE: Sylvia A. Smith // Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (IN)

7 Mar 2010 // WASHINGTON – Watchdog groups say the House ethics committee took a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil approach to a Hoosier congressman and the practice of lawmakers’ seeking government grants for their campaign donors.

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Thin wall separates lobbyist contributions and earmarks

SOURCE: R. Jeffrey Smith // Washingon Post

7 Mar 2010 // House Appropriations defense subcommittee member James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) works hard at fundraising: Two to three times a week, he telephones contributors to ask for more. More»

The nation's capital is one sorry spectacle these days

SOURCE: Steven Thomma // McClatchy Newspapers, as seen on MiamiHerald.com

7 Mar 2010 //

WASHINGTON -- Washington has its moments when the nation's capital shines for all the world to see. Inaugurations. The Fourth of July.

This isn't one of them.

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Democrats’ image taking hits

SOURCE: Sylvia A. Smith // Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (IN)

7 Mar 2010 // WASHINGTON – A rash of ethics lapses has given Democrats an election-year headache: how to convince skeptical voters that they’re any cleaner than Republicans they accused of fostering a “culture of corruption” in 2006.

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Rep. Eric Massa quits House over sex scandal: 'This ethics issue is my fault and mine alone'

SOURCE: Elizabeth Benjamin and Michael McAuliff // New York Daily News

6 Mar 2010 // Rep. Eric Massa caved to Democratic Party pressure Friday, announcing in a message awash with self-reproach and shame that he's quitting to avoid a sexual harassment investigation.

Massa, a western New York freshman, also insisted he's stepping down because of cancer, but ethics officials are looking into a male staffer's complaint he was made "uncomfortable" by Massa.

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