Justin's Political Corner

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) could face a House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged campaign finance violations during her bid for the Republican presidential nomination last year, the Daily Beast reported Monday. The allegations are currently being investigated by the non-partisan Office of Congressional Ethics, which has about three months to decide whether to recommend cases for further investigation to the Ethics Committee. 

As the Daily Beast report details, this is not the only campaign-related investigation Bachmann is currently facing.

h/t: TPM

BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) — A grieving Oregon mother who battled Facebook for full access to her deceased son’s account has been pushing for years for something that would prevent others from losing photos, messages and other memories — as she did.

“Everybody’s going to face this kind of a situation at some point in their lives,” says Karen Williams, whose 22-year-old son died in a 2005 motorcycle accident.

The Oregon Legislature responded and took up the cause recently with a proposal that would have made it easier for loved ones to access the “digital assets” of the deceased, only to be turned back by pressure from the tech industry, which argued that both a 1986 federal law and voluntary terms of service agreements prohibit companies from sharing a person’s information — even if such a request were included in a last will and testament.

Lobbyists agree the Stored Communications Act is woefully out of date but say that until it’s changed, laws passed at the state level could be unconstitutional.

“Everybody wants to do the right thing, but the hard legal reality is the federal communications act,” said Jim Hawley, a vice president at TechNet, an industry group that represents companies such as Google and Microsoft.

Oregon lawmakers moved ahead anyway with a proposal that would have given “digital assets” — everything from photos and messages stored online to intellectual property and banking information — the same treatment as material property for estate purposes.

“I think it’s time for us to really look at what we can do now,” said Democratic Sen. Floyd Prozanski after hearing Williams testify about her loss last month.

Two weeks later, however, language in the bill that would have covered social media accounts, from Facebook to Flikr, was stripped as tech lobbyists said the federal law and company privacy policies trumped anything that the bill would have included.

“I recognize the emotional toll these types of decisions can have on a family who’s lost a loved one,” Prozanski said Thursday. “But some of these issues may have to be addressed when we have more information than we currently have.”

Currently, five states have digital assets laws, which vary widely. This group includes Oklahoma, which passed a law two years ago allowing estate lawyers to access digital assets, even social media accounts. That measure did not face the opposition that has emerged in Oregon.

“There is some question if laws like the one we passed in Oklahoma, would stand up to a challenge by Facebook and Gmail saying their terms of service agreements supersede laws like this one and the one being discussed in Oregon,” said Ryan Kiesel, a former Oklahoma legislator who wrote the law.

“That’s a question that remains to be answered,” he added.

Several other states, including Nebraska — guided in part by the story of Williams’ 22-year-old son, Loren — are also considering proposals. And the Uniform Law Commission, a non-profit, non-partisan group that writes model legislation for states to help standardize laws around the nation, is examining the issue.

“This law is a real need as we have moved into a digital world,” said Lane Shetterly, an Oregon attorney and a representative on the commission’s drafting committee. The group is responsible for standardizing a range of legislation, including commercial transaction regulations and child custody laws.

Proponents say the need is clear. Without clarity or direction, the digital information left behind by a deceased person can spark emotional legal battles, pitting big business against devastated families. And as more and more memories are being stored online, new tools are necessary to make sure loved ones can easily access personal details that could be lost forever.

“If this were a box of letters under his bed, no one would have thought twice,” Williams said.

Months after the death of her first-born son, who was away at college in Arizona, Williams found comfort in his Facebook page. There, she was able to click through photos and letters that helped ease the pain of her loss — for two hours.

She learned of the page from his friends and wanted access to his memories to keep them from being deleted, which was Facebook’s policy at the time. Unaware of Internet privacy regulations, she reached out to Facebook for help. As she waited for a response, one of his friends provided a tip that helped her discover his password. “It was like a gift,” she said.

Shortly after, however, the site’s administrators changed the password, citing company policy in denying her. Williams sued and won, but she never received the full access she sought. Eventually, the account was taken down. In the end, she gained little more than a symbolic victory and a role as champion of a cause that didn’t exist before the digital age.

Kiesel, the former Oklahoma lawmaker, says the various attempts at legislation have sparked a long overdue conversation about estate planning for digital assets.

“I think that, because of the wide prevalence of online accounts and digital property, the federal government will ultimately need to pass some legislation that provides greater uniformity,” he said.

Under current law, Internet companies that provide storage for digital assets are prohibited from disclosing account information, even to families, without a court order, which can be costly and difficult to obtain.

Even then, there are no guarantees. Facebook, for example, citing its terms of service agreement won’t provide access, even if a judge orders them to do so. Facebook will not comment on pending legislation or specific cases other than to defer to their service agreement, which states, in part, “We may access, preserve and share your information in response to a legal request (like a search warrant, court order or subpoena) if we have a good faith belief that the law requires us to do so.”

Along these lines, TechNet, one of several groups in opposition to the Oregon measure, provided written testimony arguing that legislation requiring online companies to provide access could subject them to federal criminal penalties.

Since she began her quiet crusade after her 2007 court victory yielded limited, temporary access to her son’s account, the social media landscape has changed considerably, but there is still no industry standard. Where Facebook once deleted the accounts of deceased users, for example, pages can now be memorialized for public view.

Many predict the problem will grow as long as there are no estate laws in place to determine what happens to virtual property left behind by the deceased.

h/t: AP.org

Freshman U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, did not cooperate with the Office of Congressional Ethics in its initial probe of alleged campaign finance violations by U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria.

“The OCE infers that the information Mr. Davis refused to provide, taken together with the factual findings in this referral, supports the conclusion that there is substantial reason to believe that the alleged violation occurred,” the OCE said in a report made public Wednesday.

The report recommends that Davis and three other non-cooperating witnesses be subpoenaed.

The investigation, now before the House Ethics Committee, deals with allegations that Schock solicited donations of more than $5,000 per donor for a super political action committee. The OCE report says Davis, then an aide to U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, was identified by the super PAC’s managing director as the contact person for five potential donors before the 2012 primary election.

The report deals with efforts by a super PAC called the Campaign for Primary Accountability to help raise money for what turned out to be a successful primary challenge by U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Manteno, to former U.S. Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Leaf River.

“In early March 2012, CPA managing director learned that a House staffer, Rodney Davis, planned to have contributions sent to CPA from various donors for television commercials opposing Representative Manzullo,” the report states. It also says that the CPA development coordinator told the OCE that Davis was the contact person for a total of $120,000 in donations from five donors.

Both Davis and Schock represent parts of the city of Springfield.

At the time of the Kinzinger-Manzullo race, Davis was not yet a candidate for Congress. He was chosen by GOP county chairmen to run in the 13th Congressional District after the primary election winner, former U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, dropped out of the general election race.

H/T: State-Journal Register

WASHINGTON — The House Ethics Committee said Wednesday it will continue an investigation of Illinois Republican Rep. Aaron Schock over allegations he solicited donations of more than $5,000 per donor to a super political action committee. The committee also said it’s continuing a probe of whether a trip New York Democrat Bill Owens took to Taiwan was arranged by lobbyists for the country’s government.

Both cases had been referred to the House committee by the Office of Congressional Ethics, a separate, outside ethics office. The House committee announced its decision to continue looking into each case on Wednesday, while releasing OCE’s report on both cases.

In a statement, the ethics committee said that in both cases merely “conducting further review … does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the committee.” The committee also said it would refrain from further comment pending completion of initial reviews.

Both Schock and Owens said they expect to be exonerated by the House committee.

Schock’s case involves an allegation he asked House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., to contribute $25,000 from his leadership PAC to a super PAC that backed Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., in a House primary against Rep. Don Manzullo. Kinzinger won the March 2012 primary. Redistricting following the 2010 census put the two congressmen in the same and the primary.

According to the OCE report, the Super PAC backing Kinzinger, the Campaign for Primary Accountability, received a minimum of $115,000 that came from “efforts of Rep. Schock and his campaign committee.”

Schock told investigators that he never requested the $25,000 from Cantor. According to the OCE report, Cantor told investigators that Schock had asked him if he would give the $25,000 donation to back Kinzinger. Cantor said he then gave money from his committee to the super PAC backing Kinziger in the primary.

The case involving Owens relates to a December 2011 trip he and his wife took to Taiwan. Owens and his wife were invited by the Chinese Culture University of Taiwan. But the trip may have been arranged by lobbyists for the country. Lawmakers are prohibited from taking trips that are paid for by lobbyists.

Owens said he expected the investigation would clear him of wrongdoing.

H/T: Huffington Post

Mitt and Ann Romney may have earned between $15 million and $115 million from the auto bailout, but failing to report the windfall in his federal Candidate Disclosure Form may very well be a violation of the law.

Last week a formal complaint was filed with the Federal Office of Government Ethics by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the United Auto Workers (UAW), along with other labor and nonpartisan watchdog groups.

In short, the allegations concern Delphi, a former General Motors subsidiary whose auto parts remain essential to GM’s production lines.

Back in 2009, Ann Romney partnered with Paul Singer to secretly purchase controlling interest in Delphi.  [Bear in mind that billionaire Singer is one of Mitt Romney’s key campaign donors.] Elliot Management, Singer’s hedge fund, then threatened to cut off GM’s supply of steering columns and other key auto components unless GM, along with the government’s TARP auto bail-out fund provided them with large payments.  The United States Treasury complained that this was “extortion”, but Delphi ultimately received $12.9 billion in taxpayer generated subsidies as no bailout of the auto industry could have worked without saving Delphi.  Singer’s group then eliminated every UAW job in the company and then moved nearly its entire production operation to China and Mexico where Delphi now employes 25,000 auto parts workers at the expense of about that same number of jobs in the USA.  [These allegations are particularly noteworthy considering the lies spread and later debunked by the auto industry itself, Detroit media the campaign misquoted, the Obama campaign and Pres. Bill Clinton.  See Romney Called Out By Auto Industry, the Obama Campaign and Bill Clinton for Lying]

The resulting windfall for the Romneys means that shares Ann purchased for 67 cents are now worth over $30 for a 4 thousand percent gain earning the Romneys tens of millions of dollars.  Additionally, one cannot forget billionaire Paul Singer who was identified by Forbes as one of Romney’s key campaign donors, Singer has given more than $1 million to the Romney SuperPAC known as Restore Our Future.

The UAW complaint calls for Romney to reveal exactly how much he made off Delphi — and continues to make.

At a press conference last week in Toledo, Bob King,  President of the United Automobile Workers, announced that his union and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) have filed a formal complaint with the US Office of Government Ethics in Washington stating that Gov. Romney improperly hid a profit of $15.3 million to $115.0 million in Ann Romney’s so-called “blind” trust.

H/T: Samuel-Warde.com

News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch criticized the “Jewish owned press” for its coverage of the conflict in Gaza in a November 17 tweet:

The Anti-Defamation League writes of the “anti-Semitic lie” that “Jews control the banks, the media, and the government”:

This myth originates with The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a proven forgery. The forgery continues to promote the stereotype that Jews own the banks and control the media. The reality is, in societies, like the United States, individuals who identify as Jews have succeeded. But in almost every other country where Jews have lived, they have been a small minority and experienced centuries of persecution.

The Daily Beast’s Peter Beinert writes that Murdoch’s comment is offensive to journalists as well as to Jewish people and suggests that Murdoch believes reporters for his publications should conform their reporting to his political views:

It’s offensive to journalists because it implies that institutions of the “press” should reflect the ideological biases of their owners. Reading Murdoch’s tweet, it would be logical to conclude that he believes that any newspaper he owns should reflect his right-wing views, even in its news coverage. The FCC might want to consider that when evaluating Murdoch’s reported bid to buy the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times.

h/t: MMFA

The United Auto Workers (UAW), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and other groups plan to file an ethics complaint against Mitt Romney for allegedly failing to disclose his profits from the auto bailout, the UAW has told The Huffington Post.

The groups are calling for an investigation by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate Romney’s alleged violation of the Ethics in Government Act, which requires presidential candidates to disclose their personal finances. The ethics complaint comes on the heels of an Oct. 17 article in The Nation, which alleged that Romney has hidden his personal gains of at least $15.3 million from the auto bailout.

“He made his fortune off the misfortune of others,” Bob King, president of the UAW, told The Huffington Post on Wednesday. “Why should we have to find out from the media about this?”

The Romney campaign could not be immediately reached for comment.

The allegations are ironic given that Romney has been a staunch critic of the auto bailout. Romney called for the government to let the auto industry go bankrupt in an op-ed in The New York Times in 2008. The Romney campaign also released a misleading ad in October that claims Chrysler has moved all production of Jeeps to China following the auto bailout.

Romney and his wife allegedly made millions from the auto bailout through their investments in the hedge fund Elliott Management, which held a stake in the auto bailout recipient Delphi Automotive, according to The Nation. 

H/T: Huffington Post

The Denver Post is reporting that Fox News contributor Monica Crowley spent Thursday speaking at rallies in Colorado sponsored by Americans for Prosperity as part of the group’s “second statewide Obama’s Failing Agenda Bus Tour.” Crowley’s appearance adds to Fox’s long history of ethics problems.   

Americans for Prosperity is a conservative advocacy group funded by the billionaire Koch brothers. The New York Times reported in August that the group launched a $25 million anti-Obama ad campaign. 

In a press release announcing the bus tour, Americans for Prosperity indicated that it “includes three continuous buses crisscrossing the nation, giving a voice to the millions of Americans who oppose the policies of this administration.” 

From The Denver Post: 

So much for “fair and balanced.” Fox News Channel is doing the RNC’s work on the ground in a key swing state. Note, AEP wouldn’t use the word “stumping,” they’re bashing Barack Obama, not promoting anyone else. 

According to a press release for the event, “this tour will educate Americans on the most harmful aspects of President Obama’s big-government agenda…” The group adds that “The Failing Agenda bus tour is an issue advocacy effort by Americans for Prosperity and does not expressly advocate for the success or defeat of any candidate for public office.” But you get the drift. 

To be clear, AEP does not count itself a pro-Romney group. It’s an anti-Obama group. There. 

This appearance by Crowley raises significant ethical questions since she regularly appearson Fox News’ “fair and balanced” segments to opine on political issues, including the 2012 campaign and the Obama administration’s policies. 

This appearance by Crowley raises significant ethical questions since she regularly appears on Fox News’ “fair and balanced” segments to opine on political issues, including the 2012 campaign and the Obama administration’s policies.

However, this is not the first instance in which a Fox employee has appeared to cross the ethical line. 

Morris has also repeatedly appeared on Fox News to promote the campaigns of Republican senatorial candidates without noting that their campaigns have paid him to promote their candidates. 

Fox also continues to employ Karl Rove as a political analyst though he also doubles as an adviser to GOP super PAC American Crossroads, which is a conflict rarely mentioned on air. Fox, which also has a history of providing free advertising for Republican campaigns, even when those ads are filled with falsehoods, has aggressively promoted ads from American Crossroads.  

Sean Hannity has also faced his own ethical scandal. In 2010, Fox News executives were forced to pull him from a planned show filming/fundraiser for the Cincinnati Tea Party after numerous news veterans and watchdogs questioned it. That same year, Fox contributor Pat Caddell spoke at a high-priced conservative retreat sponsored by activist David Horowitz. 

H/T: MMFA

Last week, billionaire CEO David Siegel, who runs a timeshare empire, threatened to fire employees if President Obama is reelected in November, saying in an email, “the economy doesn’t currently pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration.”

And Siegel is not alone in pushing his employees to cast their vote a certain way. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes reported today on another CEO — Arthur Allen of ASG Software Solutions — who said in an email to his employees that they’d only have themselves to blame if they lose their jobs if Obama wins. The email reads, in part:

Many of you have been with ASG for over 5, 10, 15, and even 20 years. As you know, together, we have been able to keep ASG an independent company while still growing our revenues and customers.But I can tell you, if the US re-elects President Obama, our chances of staying independent are slim to none.I am already heavily involved in considering options that make our independence go away, and with that all of our lives would change forever. I believe that a new President and administration would give US citizens and the world the renewed confidence and optimism we all need to get the global economies started again, and give ASG a chance to stay independent.If we fail as a nation to make the right choice on November 6th, and we lose our independence as a company, I don’t want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout that will most likely come. […]

I am asking you to give us one more chance to stay independent by voting in a new President and administration on November 6th. Even then, we still might not be able to remain independent, but it will at least give us a chance. If we don’t, that chance goes away.

h/t: Pat Garofalo at Think Progress Economy

Mitt Romney may have breached state ethics laws as Governor of Massachusetts by holding a stake in a company that did lucrative work for his administration and was linked to the family of Paul Ryan, a Daily Telegraph investigation has found.

he Republican presidential candidate appears to have profited from a marketing company that was contracted by the state of Massachusetts after receiving $5 million (£3.2 million) in financial backing from Bain Capital, Mr Romney’s investment firm.

One of his vice-presidential candidate’s brothers, who is a former Bain consultant, was at the time of the investment a senior executive at the marketing company, Imagitas, which was co-founded by another former Bain executive.

Both Mr Romney and Tobin Ryan, who omits his work at Imagitas from his corporate biography, also apparently stood to benefit from the $230 million (£146 million) sale of the company in 2005, while Mr Romney remained in office.

Massachusetts law requires that all state employees divest themselves of financial interests in private sector contracts with state agencies. At the time, failure to do so could have resulted in a $2,000 (£1,273) fine or a 2.5-year prison sentence. The potential punishments are now stronger.

The House Ethics Committee on Tuesday recommended that the full House reprimand and fine Rep. Laura Richardson $10,000 for seven ethics violations, including improper use of House resources.

The bipartisan committee reported that its investigation found the California Democrat violated House rules and other standards of conduct by using congressional resources for “campaign, personal, and nonofficial purposes,” “requiring or compelling” House staff to work on her re-election campaign, and by “obstructing” the committee’s investigation by destroying or altering evidence, failing to produce documentation and “attempting to influence the testimony of witnesses.”

At one point in the report, the committee said Richardson acted with “utter disdain” for its process. After staff delayed interviewing Richardson for over a month at her request, during the interview she “demanded that it end so she could participate in an annual Congressional softball game.”

“The Committee on Ethics has unanimously recommended that the House of Representatives adopt the report, and with it, a reprimand of Representative Richardson for the conduct described therein,” the committee stated, adding a recommendation that Richardson be fined $10,000, to be paid no later than Dec. 1, 2012.

Richardson has agreed to the committee’s terms.

h/t: Yahoo! News

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is in hot water with The State Ethics Commission, which will formally hear allegations of campaign finance violations made against the commission said Tuesday. 

The complaint, obtained by Business Insider, alleges that Haley failed to disclose the addresses of six contributors on 2010 and 2011 quarterly campaign disclosure forms. It also alleges that Haley failed to include the occupations of certain contributors from January 2010 to January 2012. 

The complainant is Bridget Tripp, the director of community development and outreach at Nonprofit Organization Management. She writes in the complaint that Haley has “misreported more than $1.3 million” of contributions because of these missteps. The contributions range from $100 to $3,500. 

Her VP chances are effectively toast.

h/t: Brett LoGiurato at Business Insider

A growing number of ethics questions and investigations are mounting for the Republican House majority, despite earlier leadership pledges of ethical purity.

In 2010, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) promised that if his party won the majority in the midterm elections, he (as majority leader) and his colleagues would take the toughest possible stand on ethics.

I think as the Republicans emerge as a new governing majority, it is incumbent upon us to institute a zero-tolerance policy. We understand there were reasons for our being fired in ’06 and ’08. Some of that had to do with ethics violations. I mean we had several members under public investigations during the time of the ’06 elections. I think we’ve learned that that’s not a good way to gain the confidence of the people and that we ought to be instituting a zero-tolerance policy here.

So, how are they doing?

• Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), finance vice chair for the National Republican Congressional Committee (the House GOP’s campaign arm), is reportedly under federal grand jury investigation for alleged reimbursement of campaign donors by his companies, improper tax deductions, inaccurate Congressional disclosure reports.
• Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL), (R-AL) continues to chair financial services despite an ongoing investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics for alleged insider trading.
• Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), continues to chair the House Armed Services, despite reports that Congressional investigators allege he got a special cut-rate on his Countrywide home loan.
• Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA), continues to chair the House Judiciary Committee’s Immigration Policy and Enforcement Subcommittee, despite reports that Congressional investigators allege he got a special cut-rate on his Countrywide home loan.
• Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), continues to chair the House Rules Committee’s Rules Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process, despite reports that Congressional investigators allege he got a special cut-rate on his Countrywide home loan.
• Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) continues to serve, despite ongoing Federal Election Commission and House Ethics Committee investigations into reports that he engaged in illegal campaign fundraising.
• Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) continues to serve despite reported IRS and FBI investigations into alleged tax evasion and failure to disclose $132,000 in “loans” from a company co-owned by his mother.
• Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) continues to serve despite a reported $117,000 in unpaid child support payments.
• According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Reps. Ken Calvert (R-CA), Gary Miller (R-CA), and Tim Murphy (R-PA) have also been under investigation over the past two years for ethical issues, yet all three continue to serve.

Even Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who chairs the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was hit with an ethics complaint last September. The Office of Congressional Ethics has not yet addressed allegations by American Family Voices that Issa used his “public position to promote his private financial interest” and Issa’s office has denied wrongdoing.

H/T: John Israel at ThinkProgress Justice