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Top

GOVERNMENT News:

20080924

John McCain

Rick Davis

Corporate

Politics

Federal

Housing

Law

2008 Election

"Unsevered Ties? Regulatory filings indicate that [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain campaign chief Rick Davis remains an officer with his lobbying firm." ... "Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, has remained the treasurer and a corporate director of his lobbying firm this year, despite repeated statements by campaign officials that he had ended his relationship with the firm in 2006, according to corporate records." ... "The McCain campaign this week criticized news stories disclosing that, since 2006, Davis's firm has been paid a $15,000-a-month consulting fee from Freddie Mac, the troubled [housing] mortgage giant recently put under federal conservatorship. The stories, published Tuesday by NEWSWEEK, The New York Times and Roll Call, reported that the consulting fees continued until last month even though, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement, neither Davis nor anybody else at his firm did any substantial work for the payments." ... "Filings made by "Davis Manafort Partners" with the Virginia Corporation Commission as recently as April 1, 2008, show that Davis was still listed as one of only two corporate officers and directors of the firm, according to records on the commission’s Web site [PDF] reviewed by NEWSWEEK. That filing records Davis as the "treas/clerk" of the firm; his business partner, Paul Manafort is listed as the president and chief executive officer." ... "Another filing by “Davis Manafort, Inc.” [PDF] (with the same Alexandria, Va. [Virginia] address, and recorded on Oct. 17, 2007) also lists Davis as an officer and director of the firm, reporting his position as "T/Clerk," a reference to his formal title as corporate treasurer and clerk." ... "Both filings are annual reports of basic corporate information that are required by Virginia state law." -By Michael Isikoff

-Newsweek

Sarah Palin

John McCain

Financial

Crisis

Politics

Government

Law

Alaska

2008 Election

"Palin: US could face another Great Depression." ... "[2008 Election] Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Wednesday that the United States could be headed for another Great Depression if Congress doesn't act on the financial crisis." ... "Asked whether there's a risk of another Great Depression if Congress doesn't approve a $700 billion bailout package, Palin said, "Unfortunately, that is the road that America may find itself on."" ... "Couric pressed Palin on examples of how McCain, a 26-year congressional veteran, had led the charge for more oversight." ... "The Alaska governor cited [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain's warnings about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago as well as image as a maverick. Questioned again for examples, and reminded that McCain had been chairman of the Commerce Committee, Palin said, "I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you."" ... "McCain has insisted Palin is ready to take over as president, but he made no mention of including her in the meetings he wants in Washington to deal with the financial crisis." -By Sara Kugler

-AP via -Yahoo

20080923

Dick Cheney

Henry Paulson

Corporate

Government

Lawmakers

Politics

"White House Dispatches Team to Push Economic Bill." ... "The White House today is drumming up extraordinary pressure on Congress to approve its plan to enact a $700 billion mortgage bailout fund, suggesting the markets cannot wait much longer and dispatching Vice President Cheney and other top officials up Pennsylvania Avenue to jawbone lawmakers." ... "Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who collaborated in drawing up the proposal, are testifying this morning on Capitol Hill in an effort to defend their handiwork." ... "[Republican President Bush's Deputy Press Secretary Tony] Fratto insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous months and weeks by administration officials. He acknowledged lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should be enough." -By Keith Koffler

-RollCall.com

Henry Paulson

Corporate

Government

Legislative

Politics

"Good ideas and lies." ... "So, this morning [Republican President Bush's Treasury Secretary] Hank Paulson told a whopper:"

[Hank Paulson:] "We gave you a simple, three-page legislative outline and I thought it would have been presumptuous for us on that outline to come up with an oversight mechanism. That’s the role of Congress, that’s something we’re going to work on together. So if any of you felt that I didn’t believe that we needed oversight: I believe we need oversight. We need oversight."

"What the proposal actually did, of course, was explicitly rule out any oversight, plus grant immunity from future review:"

"Sec. 8. Review."
"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."

"I’m not playing gotcha here. This is telling: if Paulson can’t be honest about what he himself sent to Congress — if he not only made an incredible power grab, but is now engaged in black-is-white claims that he didn’t — there is no reason to trust him on anything related to his bailout plan." -By Paul Krugman/Blog

-NYTimes

20080921

John McCain

Corporate

Government

Disaster

Politics

US_Debt

Healthcare

Social Security

Rights

Book

2008 Election

"Naomi Klein: Financial crisis part of Bush 'shock doctrine'." ... "The bailout of Wall Street’s largest players by the federal government is another example of the [Republican President] Bush administration pursuing a corporate agenda at the expense of average Americans, a prominent author argued on Friday." ... "In a Friday night interview on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Naomi Klein said President Bush’s $700 billion proposal to rescue the financial sector stems from a profiteering streak that has dominated the last eight years." ... ""The disaster is far from over," Klein said. "The disaster was on Wall Street and they have moved the disaster to Main Street."" ... "Referring to the bailout, Klein said the "bomb has yet to detonate" and that the real crisis will strike when tax payers are overwhelmed when faced with the debt from the bailouts." ... "According to Klein, the bomb will detonate if Sen. John McCain becomes president and "rationalizes" that it is necessary to privatize government programs like social security and healthcare because neither the government nor Americans can afford them." ... ""The real disaster has yet to come; the real disaster is the debt that is going to explode on American tax payers," Klein said." ... "Klein’s book, "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism," outlines how crises, real or perceived, have been used by governments, especially the United States under George W. Bush, to strong-arm a disoriented citizenry into accepting changes to its rights, and its government, that it wouldn't otherwise accept." -By David Edwards and Andrew McLemore

-RawStory.com

WATCH: Naomi Klein on Republican Bush's "Shock Doctrine"

Henry Paulson

Government

Politics

Foreign

"Foreign Banks Can Unload Bad Debt Too: Paulson." ... "[Republican President Bush's] Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Sunday that foreign banks will be able to unload bad financial assets under a $700 billion U.S. proposal aimed at restoring order during a devastating financial crisis." ... ""Yes, and they should. Because ... if a financial institution has business operations in the United States, hires people in the United States, if they are clogged with illiquid assets, they have the same impact on the American people as any other institution," Paulson said on ABC TV."

-CNBC

20080919

Henry Paulson

Corporate

Government

Illegal

Accounting

Politics

History

Global

"Can you trust a Wall Street veteran with a Wall Street bailout?" ... "Making the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows, [Republican President Bush's] Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson repeatedly said today's financial problems were long in the making. He should know. He was part of the Gold Rush that has brought the global financial system to the brink of collapse." ... "Paulson presided over one of the most profitable runs on Wall Street as chairman and chief executive officer of investment banking titan Goldman Sachs & Co. from 1999 until [Republican] President Bush nominated him on May 30, 2006 to take over the Treasury Department." ... "But with Paulson now seeking virtually unfettered authority to administer the largest bailout of the financial industry in U.S. [United States] history, many are wondering whether Paulson also doesn't come with enormous potential conflicts of interest." ... "Paulson has surrounded himself with former Goldman executives as he tries to navigate the domino-like collapse of several parts of the global financial market. And others have gone off to lead companies that could be among those that receive a bailout." ... "The administration's draft law also would preclude court review of steps Paulson might take, something Joshua Rosner, managing director of economic researcher Graham Fisher & Co. in New York, said could be used to mask previous illegal activity." ... "The Treasury proposal sent to Congress also offers no process to hire asset managers in an open and competitive process. That's particularly questionable given that Wall Street players are now hiring Wall Street players, Rosner said." ... ""This seems to invite a risk of collusion between sellers and buyers to the detriment of the taxpayer," he wrote." ... "At a minimum, there's irony in Paulson being in charge of so large a bailout." ... "In the last annual report at Goldman that Paulson signed off on in November 2005, a year in which he received $38 million in compensation, investors were clearly told that the federal government wouldn't be there to save them from bad investments." ... "In 2002, Paulson received $12.1 million in compensation, including a $6.3 million bonus — an improvement over the previous three years when Wall Street accounting scandals unsettled investment banks, including a $1.5 billion settlement Goldman and other banks paid for issuing overly bullish research reports that promoted deals the banks themselves were involved in." ... "Published reports said Paulson received $30 million in compensation and salary in 2003." -By Kevin G. Hall

-McClatchyDC.com

Henry Paulson

Government

Money

Politics

Law

American International Group

Calif

"Bush Asking For $700 Billion Bailout." ... "Struggling to stave off financial catastrophe, the [Republican President] Bush administration on Friday laid out a radical bailout plan with a jawdropping price tag _ a takeover of a half-trillion dollars or more in worthless mortgages and other bad debt held by tottering institutions." ... "Congressional officials said they expected a request for legal authority to buy up the bad loans, at a cost in excess of $500 billion to the government." ... "The federal government already has pledged more than $600 billion [Reuters reports: $900 billion] in the past year to bail out, or help bail out, some of the biggest names in American finance. That includes the rescue of investment bank Bear Stearns in March, the takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac earlier this month and the takeover of the world's largest insurance company, American International Group, just this week." ... "In a session with House Democrats, they described a plan where the government would in essence set up reverse auctions, putting up money for a class of distressed assets _ such as loans that are delinquent but not in default _ and financial institutions would compete for how little they would accept for the investments, said [California Democratic Representative] Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif. [Democratic-California], who participated in the call." ... ""You give them good cash; they give you the worst of the worst," Sherman said of the plan, which he complained that Bush and his economic advisers were trying to panic lawmakers into rubber-stamping." ... "[Republican President Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson rejected Democrats' calls to include tighter regulations, corporate reforms or limits on executive compensation as part of the measure, Sherman said. "He's doing his best to paint a picture of the sky falling, and then he says, because the sky's falling, you have to do it my way."" -By Tom Raum and Jeannine Aversa with contributions by Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Martin Crutsinger, Andrew Taylor, Marcy Gordon, David Espo, Jim Abrams, and Joe Bel Bruno

-AP via -HuffingtonPost.com

John McCain

Banking

Health

Politics

Government

Law

2008 Election

"McCain on banking and health." ... "Here’s what [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and John] McCain has to say about the wonders of market-based health reform:"

"[McCain:] "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.""

"So McCain, who now poses as the scourge of Wall Street, was praising financial deregulation like 10 seconds ago — and promising that if we marketize health care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!" -By Paul Krugman/Blog

-NYTimes

20080917

American International Group

Government

Politics

Housing

"Tab for Government Rescues Rises to $900 Billion." ... "The U.S. [United States] Federal Reserve stepped in to rescue insurance giant American International Group from bankruptcy with an $85 billion loan on Tuesday, the latest in a series of bailouts and loans for the financial and housing sectors." ... "The action brings the total tab for government rescues and special loan facilities this year to more than $900 billion."

-Reuters via -CNBC

20080916

Sarah Palin

Criminal

Money

Politics

Women

Children

Law

Federal

Alaska

2008 Election

"Source: Sex Assault Program Cited in Monegan Firing Targeted Child Abusers." ... "So [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor] Sarah Palin's latest explanation for why she fired Walt Monegan is that he had gone over her head in seeking federal money for an initiative to combat sexual assault crimes, before she had approved the program." ... "But it now appears that the program in question is one that most elected officials would be wary of admitting they hadn't strongly backed. According to Peggy Brown, who heads the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Monegan wanted to use the federal money to hire retired troopers and law enforcement officials, and assign them to investigate the most egregious cases of sexual assault -- including those against children." ... "In other words, if Palin's new story is true, she fired Monegan for being too aggressive in going after child molesters." ... "ABC News reported yesterday that, although Alaska leads the nation in reported rapes per capita, Palin hasn't made the issue a priority as governor." ... "Monegan, however, appeared eager to change that. "He seemed to get the issue and really took it seriously," Brown told TPMmuckraker." ... "According to the Palin camp, too seriously." -By Zachary Roth

-TPMMuckracker .TalkingPointsMemo

Noteworthy

Emergency

Money

Politics

Legal

History

AIG

"U.S. to Take Over AIG in $85 Billion Bailout; Central Banks Inject Cash as Credit Dries Up: Emergency Loan Effectively Gives Government Control of Insurer; Historic Move Would Cap 10 Days That Reshaped U.S. [Unijted States] Finance." ... "[Under Republican President Bush] The U.S. government seized control of American International Group Inc. -- one of the world's biggest insurers -- in an $85 billion deal that signaled the intensity of its concerns about the danger a collapse could pose to the financial system." ... "The step marks a dramatic turnabout for the federal government, which had been strongly resisting overtures from AIG for an emergency loan or some intervention that would prevent the insurer from falling into bankruptcy. Just last weekend, the government essentially pulled the plug on Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., allowing the big investment bank to go under instead of giving it financial support. This time, the government decided AIG truly was too big to fail." ... "Under terms hammered out Tuesday night, the Fed will lend up to $85 billion to AIG, and the U.S. government will effectively get a 79.9% equity stake in the insurer in the form of warrants called equity participation notes. The two-year loan will carry an interest rate of Libor plus 8.5 percentage points. (Libor, the London interbank offered rate, is a common short-term lending benchmark.)" ... "The loan is secured by AIG's assets, including its profitable insurance businesses, giving the Fed some protection even if markets continue to sink. And if AIG rebounds, taxpayers could reap a big profit through the government's equity stake." ... "It puts the government in control of a private insurer -- a historic development, particularly considering that AIG isn't directly regulated by the federal government. The Fed took the highly unusual step using legal authority granted in the Federal Reserve Act, which allows it to lend to nonbanks under "unusual and exigent" circumstances, something it invoked when Bear Stearns Cos. was rescued in March." ... "The U.S. on Sept. 6 took over mortgage-lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as they teetered near collapse." ... "In bailing out AIG, the Federal Reserve appeared to be motivated in part by worries that Wall Street's financial crisis could begin to spill over into seemingly safe investments held by small investors, such as money-market funds that invest in AIG debt." ... "Indeed, on Tuesday the $62 billion Primary Fund from the Reserve, a New York money-market firm, said it "broke the buck" -- that is, its net asset value fell below the $1-a-share level that funds like this must maintain. Breaking the buck is an extremely rare occurrence. The fund was pinched by investments in bonds issued by now collapsing Lehman Brothers." ... "Money-market funds are supposed to be among the safest investments available. No fund in the $3.6 trillion money-market industry has lost money since 1994, when Orange County, Calif., went bankrupt. A number of money-market funds own securities issued by AIG. The firm is also a big insurer of some money-market instruments." -By Matthew Karnitschnig, Deborah Solomon, Liam Pleven and Jon E. Hilsenrath with contributions by Diya Gullapalli, Serena Ng, Damian Paletta and Ashby Jones

-WSJ.com

20080915

John McCain

Sarah Palin

Federal

Money

Politics

Immigration

Religion

Alaska

Russia

Iraq

Military

2008 Election

"John McCain's Journey From Maverick to Liar." ... "When Jon Stewart asked [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain last year, "Are you going into crazy base world?" the celebrated maverick acknowledged, "I'm afraid so."" ... "McCain flip-flopped on the [Republican President] Bush tax cuts. He abandoned immigration reform. He reached out to Jerry Falwell and other religious conservatives." ... "It wasn't enough. And so, in a move that even one of his longtime advisers conceded (in a remark captured by an open microphone) was disturbingly "cynical," McCain gave the base [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin." ... "So far, the main "maverick" actions that McCain has promised as the next Republican president are to trim nonmilitary Democratic spending and continue the Iraq war. You can't get more conventional than that." ... "And even that message has been somewhat undermined by disclosures that Palin was a champion of those costly federal earmark projects she has lobbied for in Alaska—where, you know, you can see Russia." ... "At this point, McCain has taken the obvious way out—launching a series of distracting attacks on [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama, with slim regard for truth." ... "The ads have spurred a backlash, the consequences (or lack) of which may well decide the election." ... "For 18 months, Obama has wagered all his chips on the (quaint? idealistic? brilliant?) idea that the American people are tired of the same old sleazy and divisive politics. McCain has now chosen to bet against him." ... "And we are the cards." -By John Aloysius Farrell

-usnews.com

Sarah Palin

John McCain

Money

Politics

Federal

Alaska

Oil

2008 Election

"Palin's Project List Totals $453 Million." ... "Last week, [2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate [and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain said his running mate, Alaska [Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin, hadn't sought earmarks or special-interest spending from Congress, presenting her as a fiscal conservative. But state records show Gov. Palin has asked U.S. [United States] taxpayers to fund $453 million in specific Alaska projects over the past two years." ... "These projects include more than $130 million in federal funds that would benefit Alaska's fishing industry and an additional $9 million to help Alaska oil companies. She also has sought $4.5 million to upgrade an airport on a Bering Sea island that has a year-round population of less than 100." ... "During an appearance Friday on ABC's "The View," Sen. McCain said Gov. Palin shared his views, and hasn't sought congressional earmarks. "Not as governor she hasn't," he said." ... "In fact, in the current fiscal year, she is seeking $197 million for 31 projects, the records show. In the prior year, her first year in office, she sought $256 million for dozens more projects ranging from research on rockfish and harbor-seal genetics to rural sanitation and obesity prevention." ... "The state's earmark requests stand out in part because its state government is among the wealthiest in the U.S. Flush with oil and gas royalties, it doesn't impose income or sales taxes. In fact, money flows the other way: Every man, woman and child this year got a check for $3,200." ... "The McCain campaign has also come under fire for saying on the stump and in TV ads that Gov. Palin killed the controversial "Bridge to Nowhere," a $223 million earmark linking the mainland to a sparsely populated island. In fact, she supported the project initially and killed it after it was widely criticized and Congress allowed the state to use the funds for other projects." -By Laura Meckler and John R. Wilke

-WSJ.com

20080914

Sarah Palin

Rove

Abramoff

E-Mail

Secrecy

Government

Archive

Politics

Legal

Investigation

Computer

Internet

Tech

Alaska

2008 Election

"Even before VP nomination, Palin's e-mail use questioned." ... "Moments after [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin's first speech as Republican [2008 Election Presidential Candidate] John McCain's running mate, she sat with her kids backstage, thumbing one of the two BlackBerrys that are always with her." ... "The tech-savvy governor has one of the devices (which allow users to read and send e-mails) for state business and another for personal matters, but those worlds intertwine." ... "Palin routinely uses a private Yahoo e-mail account to conduct state business. Others in the governor's office sometimes use personal e-mail accounts, too." ... "The practice raises questions about backdoor secrecy in an administration that vowed during the 2006 campaign to be "open and transparent."" ... "Even before the McCain campaign plucked Palin from Alaska, a controversy was brewing over e-mails in the governor's office. Was the administration trying to get around the public records law through broad exemptions or private e-mail accounts?" ... "The governor's Yahoo account is "the most nonsensical, inane thing I've ever heard of," said Andree McLeod, who is appealing the administration's decision to withhold e-mails." ... ""The governor sets the tone and the tone that has been set by this governor is beyond the pale," McLeod said. "Common sense tells you to use an official state e-mail account for official state business."" ... "State lawyers say that the governor's e-mails about public business should be treated like any other public record, even if she's sent them through a private account such as Yahoo." ... "Some of her aides also routinely use Yahoo, but even messages sent from one private account to another should be public, if they concern public business, said Dave Jones, an assistant attorney general." ... ""The difficulty is finding out they exist," Jones said." ... "The [Republican President] Bush administration has drawn heat over revelations that more than 80 White House aides, including senior Bush adviser Karl Rove, used private GOP e-mail servers for government business. The controversy surfaced during congressional investigations into White House contacts with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and into the firings of U.S. attorneys." -By Lisa Demer

-ADN.com via -McClatchyDC.com

20080913

Sarah Palin

Ted Stevens

Don Young

Money

Politics

Federal

Transportation

Construction

Architecture

Alaska

Nevada

2008 Election

"Palin Administration Still Pursuing ‘Nowhere’ Project." ... "[2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Governor of] Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has portrayed herself as a foe of pork-barrel spending, pointing in particular to her role in killing the $398 million "Bridge to Nowhere” between Ketchikan (pop. 7,400) and its airport on Gravina Island (pop. 50). I "told the Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,'" she said in her speech accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination. "If our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves."" ... "But Gov. Palin’s administration acknowledges that it is still pursuing a project that would link Ketchikan to its airport -- with the help of as much as $73 million in federal funds earmarked by Congress for the original project." ... ""What the media isn't reporting is that the project isn't dead," Roger Wetherell, spokesman for Alaska’s Department of Transportation, said. In a process begun this past winter, the state’s DOT is currently considering (PDF) a number of alternative solutions (five other possible bridges or three different ferry routes) to link Ketchikan and Gravina Island." ... "The DOT has not yet developed cost estimates for those proposals, Wetherell said, but $73 million of the approximately $223 million [Alaska Republican Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK [Republican-Alaska]) and [Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young (R-AK [Republican-Alaska]) earmarked for the bridge in 2005 has been set aside for the Gravina Access Project." ... "In an interview that aired Friday night, ABC’s Charles Gibson challenged Palin about the fact that she’d initially supported the “Bridge to Nowhere” during her 2006 run for governor. “I was for infrastructure being built in the state,” she said, but repeated her line that Alaska would “find a way to build [the bridge] ourselves."” ... "The massive $398 million "Bridge to Nowhere" was to replace ferry service from the airport to Ketchikan (departing every half-hour), a 15-minute ride -- meaning that air travelers are assured of reaching Ketchikan in no more than 45 minutes. It would have done so in grand style: the planned structure would have been nearly as long as the Golden Gate and higher than the Brooklyn Bridge." -By Paul Kiel

-ProPublica.org

20080911

Corporate

Oil

Government

Political

Accounting

Legal

Investigation

Drugs

"Sex, drug use and graft cited in U.S. agency scandal." ... "As Congress prepares to debate expansion of drilling in taxpayer-owned coastal waters, the Interior Department agency that collects oil and gas royalties has been caught up in a wide-ranging ethics scandal — including allegations of financial self-dealing, accepting gifts from energy companies, cocaine use and sexual misconduct." ... "In three reports delivered to Congress on Wednesday, the department's inspector general, Earl E. Devaney, found wrongdoing by a dozen current and former employees of the Minerals Management Service, which collects about $10 billion in royalties annually and is one of the government's largest sources of revenue other than taxes." ... ""A culture of ethical failure" pervades the agency, Devaney wrote in a cover memo." ... "The reports portray a dysfunctional organization that has been riddled with conflicts of interest, unprofessional behavior and a free-for-all atmosphere for much of the [Republican President] Bush administration's watch." ... "The highest-ranking official criticized in the reports is Lucy Denett, the former associate director of minerals revenue management, who retired earlier this year as the inquiry was progressing." ... "One former official named in the report, Jimmy Mayberry, pleaded guilty to a felony conflict-of-interest charge in August and faces a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine." ... "In late 2002, when he was about to retire from the government, Mayberry drafted a "statement of work" for a consulting contract to perform essentially identical functions to his own. He then retired, started a company, and in June 2003 won the contract with the help of Denett and Milton Dial, another friend at the agency who later went to work for Mayberry." ... "Denett did not return a message left at her home on Wednesday with her husband, Paul Denett, who was the top procurement official in the [President Bush] White House Office of Management and Budget until he resigned this month. He declined to comment." ... "The other high-ranking official the Justice Department has declined to prosecute is Gregory Smith, the former program director of the royalty-in-kind program." ... "Some 19 officials — a third of the program's staff — took gifts from oil and gas executives, some with "prodigious frequency."" ... "On one occasion, the report said, the royalty-in-kind program allowed a Chevron representative who won a bid to purchase some of the government's oil to pay taxpayers a lower amount than his winning offer because he said he had made a mistake in his calculations. A report from Devaney's office earlier this year found that the program had frequently allowed companies that purchase the oil and gas to revise their bids downward after they won contracts. It documented 118 such occasions that cost taxpayers about $4.4 million in all." (1, 2, 3) -By Charlie Savage

-NYTimes via -IHT.com

20080908

Sarah Palin

John McCain

Housing

Market

Government

Alaska

Colorado

2008 Election

"Palin Makes Her First Gaffe." ... "[2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin made her first potentially major gaffe during her time on the national scene while discussing the developments of the perilous housing market this past weekend." ... "Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs [Colorado], the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." The companies, as McClatchy reported, "aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization."" ... "Economists and analysts pounced on the misstatement, which came before the government had spent funds bailing the two entities out, saying it demonstrated a lack of understanding about one of the key economic issues likely to face the next administration." ... ""You would like to think that someone who is going to be vice president and conceivable president would know what Fannie and Freddie do," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "These are huge institutions and they are absolutely central to our country's mortgage debt. To not have a clue what they do doesn't speak well for her, I'd say."

" -By Sam Stein

-HuffingtonPost.com

WATCH: Palin falsely asserted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are "too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." John McCain applauded the false assertion.

20080907

Henry Paulson

Government

Money

Housing

Politics

Historic

"U.S. seizes Fannie and Freddie: Treasury chief Paulson unveils historic government takeover of twin mortgage buyers. Top executives are out." ... "Federal officials on Sunday unveiled an extraordinary takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, putting the government in charge of the twin mortgage giants and the $5 trillion in home loans they back." ... "The move, which extends as much as $200 billion in Treasury support to the two companies, marks Washington's most dramatic attempt yet to shore up the nation's housing market, which is suffering from record foreclosures and falling prices." ... "The sweeping plan, announced by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and James Lockhart, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, places the two companies into a "conservatorship" to be overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Under conservatorship, the government would temporarily run Fannie and Freddie until they are on stronger footing." ... "Freddie CEO Richard Syron and Fannie CEO Daniel Mudd will no longer run the agencies, while the FHFA will assume control of the boards." ... "The government, in agreeing to backstop the firms, said it would receive $1 billion in each company's senior preferred stock. The government will also receive a quarterly dividend payment and the right to own 79.9% of each company." ... "Fannie and Freddie have become virtually the only source of funding for banks and other home lenders looking to make home loans. Their ability to do so is crucial to the recovery of the battered home market and the broader U.S. economy." ... "The two firms buy loans, attach a guarantee, then sell securities backed by the loans' income stream. All told, they own or back $5.4 trillion worth of home debt - half the mortgage debt in the country." ... "The cost of the government intervention remains unclear however. Experts argue that it will depend in large part on the structure of the rescue, the direction of home prices and mortgage default rates." ... "Still it seems almost certain it will run into the billions and will most likely eclipse such other high-profile government bailouts including than the Federal Reserve's $29 billion backing of Bear Stearns assets when it was taken over by J.P. Morgan Chase." -By David Ellis with contributions by Tami Luhby and Patricia Sellers

-CNN

20080904

Sarah Palin

Money

Politics

Federal

Transportation

Construction

Alaska

2008 Election

"Palin Also Supported The "Road To Nowhere" (And May Still)." ... "While a debate rages over how honest [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin has been in stating her opposition to the infamous Bridge To Nowhere, another massive, widely-criticized transportation project is lingering in Alaska." ... "The "Road To Nowhere" is a $375 million "mega-project" designed to connect Juneau [Alaska's capital] to the [Alaskan] towns of Haines and Skagway via 50 miles of new road along the steep slopes of an avalanche-battered canal, ending at a ferry terminal at the Haines river." ... "As of 2005, Haines had a population of 2,400, while Skagway had 870 residents." ... "According to the Alaska Transportation Priorities Project, a group promoting "sensible transportation systems in the state," the Road to Nowhere is an irresponsible waste. The project has received more than $100 million in federal and state funding. This includes a $15 million dollar federal earmark and approximately $24 million in federal dollars passed through to the state. But it remains far from completion - hampered by opposition, environmental and safety concerns, and general wariness over its utility." ... "Palin has been anything but a steady fiscal hawk on the matter. The Governor came into office saying she supported the road, which was started under her predecessor Frank Murkowski. In an October 2006 questionnaire by Anchorage Daily News, she simply wrote "Yes" when asked "Do you support building a road from Juneau to Skagway?"" -By Sam Stein

-HuffingtonPost.com

20080903

Sarah Palin