Karl's Weird News

Dianne Feinstein: A Question of Ethics:

In the November 2006 election, the voters demanded congressional ethics reform. And so, the newly appointed chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is now duly in charge of regulating the ethical behavior of her colleagues. But for many years, Feinstein has been beset by her own ethical conflict of interest, say congressional ethics experts.

As chairperson and ranking member of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON) from 2001 through the end of 2005, Feinstein supervised the appropriation of billions of dollars a year for specific military construction projects. Two defense contractors whose interests were largely controlled by her husband, financier Richard C. Blum, benefited from decisions made by Feinstein as leader of this powerful subcommittee.

Suspected ‘D.C. Madam’ Pleads Not Guilty

A former escort service owner who has threatened to sell a list of 15,000 phone numbers from her client list to help her defense pleaded not guilty Friday to racketeering. Deborah Jean Palfrey, 50, of Vallejo, Calif., entered the plea in U.S. District Court. She was released but ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device.

Spitzer’s Secret Senate Slush Fund

Governor Spitzer is planning to funnel millions of dollars in borrowed state money to Senate Democrats, who have been secretly asked by the administration to submit their wish lists for local capital projects, according to lawmakers.

The move marks the governor’s boldest effort to solidify his influence over the Democratic conference, whose support he is counting on in the short term to give him an edge during negotiations, and in the long term to play an instrumental role in pushing through his governing agenda.

For the past month, Senate Democrats have been submitting the paperwork for tens of millions of dollars in grants unbeknownst to most other lawmakers. There is no written agreement between Mr. Spitzer and the conference; the administration discussed the possibility of funding Senate Democratic projects with Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, who passed on the message to conference members at a private meeting.

SHOCKING 200G HILL DEAL

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign reached a deal to pay a key South Carolina black leader’s consulting firm more than $200,000 just days before he agreed to endorse her run for president, it was revealed yesterday.

The arrangement involves South Carolina state Sen. Darrell Jackson, a well-connected African-American leader and pastor whose support is coveted by national campaigns.

McCain taps cash he sought to limit

Just about a year and a half ago, Sen. John McCain went to court to try to curtail the influence of a group to which A. Jerrold Perenchio gave $9 million, saying it was trying to “evade and violate” new campaign laws with voter ads ahead of the midterm elections.

As McCain launches his own presidential campaign, however, he is counting on Perenchio, the founder of the Univision Spanish-language media empire, to raise millions of dollars as co-chairman of the Arizona Republican’s national finance committee.

Kerry, Casey Benefit From Indicted Philly Pol’s Favors

A powerful Philadelphia politician charged with a litany of federal corruption offenses is accused of illegally using state government resources to help his political allies, including Democratic Sens. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and Robert P. Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania.

According to a 139-count federal indictment returned Tuesday, Vincent J. Fumo, an eight-term Democratic Pennsylvania senator, dispatched a state computer technician to help set up campaign operations for a 2004 presidential candidate, a 2002 Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate and a congressional candidate. And, the indictment charges, Fumo directed a state-paid investigator to dig up dirt on the gubernatorial candidate’s opponent for the Democratic nomination.

The Day After the Day After:

So you’re Alex Tourk. Everything is fine and honky dorky until your wife, out of the blue, admits to having a fling with not only your boss but one of your best buddies. Even worse, it appears the everyone in the city (except us) knew about it but you didn’t. Man, that’s one hell of a bad week. Whenever we see these storylines on TV or in the movies, it always ends badly, like in people being shot and killed badly.

Reid’s Whitewater

“It’s hard to buy undeveloped land in booming northern Arizona for $166 an acre. But now-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid effectively did just that when a longtime friend decided to sell property owned by the employee pension fund that he controlled.
In 2002, Reid (D-Nev.) paid $10,000 to a pension fund controlled by Clair Haycock, a Las Vegas lubricants distributor and his friend for 50 years. The payment gave the senator full control of a 160-acre parcel in Bullhead City that Reid and the pension fund had jointly owned.

“Reid’s price for the equivalent of 60 acres of undeveloped desert was less than one-tenth of the value the assessor placed on it at the time. Six months after the deal closed, Reid introduced legislation to address the plight of lubricants dealers.” And that’s not all. The newspaper reports that “since taking full control of the parcel in 2002, Reid has pushed for federal funding for a new bridge over the Colorado River a few miles from his property.”

Presidential hopeful falls for radio hoax:

A radio comedian heaped fresh embarrassment on Ségolène Royal yesterday when he revealed how he had fooled the Socialist candidate for the French presidency into making unguarded comments on the taboo subject of Corsican independence.

Gérald Dahan, 33, said that he called Ms Royal on Wednesday pretending to be the prime minister of Quebec. The call came after Ms Royal had sparked a diplomatic row by backing demands for the French-speaking province to split from Canada.

Mr Dahan — an impressionist who is well-known for fooling French celebrities — said that he convinced at least five of Ms Royal’s advisers that he was Jean Charest, Quebec’s prime minister, before speaking to her for 11 minutes.

World Economic Forum

Former President of Iran Mohammad Khatami, right, shares a word with Senator from Massachusetts, USA, John Kerry after participating in a session ‘The Future of the Middle East’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday Jan. 27, 2007. Kerry criticized the Bush administration’s foreign policy during the session, saying it has caused the United States to become ‘a sort of international pariah.’

Cherie: It’s my human right to get perks

Cherie Blair shocked Britain’s most senior civil servant by claiming she was entitled to cut-price designer clothes worth thousands of pounds – because she was protected by European human rights laws. She lashed out when the Cabinet Secretary challenged her for accepting the clothes, telling him: “You are infringing my rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.”

Taiwan legislature dissolves into chaos over reform

A ruling party law maker threw a shoe at the speaker of Taiwan’s Legislature on Friday and assorted colleagues engaged in protracted pushing and shoving, as the final day of the winter legislative session dissolved into disarray. The scenes were reminiscent of past Taiwanese legislative brawls, and represented another low point in the island’s sometimes stormy transition from dictatorship to democracy.

Incoming Judiciary Committee Chair Admits Breaking Ethics Rules:

John Conyers (D-Mich.) “accepted responsibility” for breaking House Ethics rules (and possibly some laws) for requiring “his official staffers to work on campaigns, babysit his children, and run personal errands.” So what does the House Ethics Committee do to punish him? They quietly released a public statement, perfectly timed to minimize coverage in the press, that simply says Conyers ought to refrain from breaking ethics rules and laws in the future.