By Matthew Murray, Roll Call

Republican Patrick McHenry recently gave Michael Aaron Lay $10,000 to beat back voter fraud charges brought while the former campaign aide worked for the now-Member.

According to recent Federal Election Commission filings, McHenry gave Lay $5,000 out of his political action committee, More Conservatives PAC, in two payments during February and March.

The contributions were labeled “legal expense donation[s].” McHenry had given Lay another $10,000 in July 2007.

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives General Counsel filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of the House Judiciary Committee to enforce subpoenas issued by the committee seeking information on the U.S. Attorney firings. The defendants in the case are former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten who were cited by the House for contempt of Congress last month. Contrary to federal law, the Department of Justice (DOJ) refused to present the House-passed contempt citations to a grand jury.

“The Bush Administration’s claim of executive privilege goes well beyond any privilege recognized by any court decision,” said Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) who worked closely with House leadership to help pass the contempt resolution.

Republican Dan Mansell ran a congressional campaign two years ago touting "fair taxes".

By "fair", he meant contributing nearly $50,000 to well-heeled Republican political campaigns and committees while ignoring his responsibility to employees.

Mansell failed to pay more than $220,000 in payroll taxes to the federal government, according to tax liens filed at the Johnston County Clerk of Court office.

Now Mansell has filed to run again.

Dan Mansell owed more than $220,000 in back taxes.

"Congressional candidate Danny E. Mansell owes the federal government more than $220,000 in unpaid taxes, according to tax liens filed at the Johnston County Clerk of Court office.” [Fayetteville Observer, 10/17/2006]

After trying to portray himself as a "maverick" who would reform Washington, John McCain is now trying to illegally withdraw from the very campaign finance system he has claimed to champion, a move that highlights for North Carolina's voters McCain's hypocrisy on ethics.

Adding insult to injury, McCain is lying to voters to blur the facts, suggesting that his unilateral withdrawal is exactly the same as Howard Dean's in 2003. McCain's attempt to unilaterally withdraw from public financing comes after he used the promise of federal matching funds to get free access to the ballot in some states, and as collateral for a loan to keep his campaign afloat, a clear violation of the agreement he signed with the FEC.

The indictment of his Arizona campaign chair, Congressman Rick Renzi, caps off a bad, bad week for McCain. Renzi's indictment follows new questions about his favors for lobbyists, an FEC rebuke for his potentially illegal attempt to back out of public financing, and the scandal surrounding efforts by his Indiana campaign team to bend the rules to get him on the ballot.

McCain just announced Renzi as part of his 'Arizona Leadership Team' on January 26, even though the Congressman had been under investigation for more than a year for his role in a land deal and legislation to benefit a business partner.

Washington, D.C. – Amid a GOP walkout in the U.S. House of Representatives today, lawmakers approved contempt citations against White House officials which will implement a two-part strategy that allows Congress to pursue the matter in both criminal and civil court.

Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) worked closely with House leadership to help pass the contempt resolution. The action comes after Harriet Myers, former White House counsel, and presidential chief of staff Josh Bolton ignored subpoenas from Congress to cooperate with an inquiry into whether the firings of U.S. Attorneys were politically motivated at the direction of President Bush.

Republicans boycotted the vote and staged a walkout.

State government watchdogs sniff around for fraud, waste and abuse of public resources.

But not State Auditor Les Merritt.

He would rather use state resources for political purposes.

The State Auditor's Office has visited the North Carolina Democratic Party website 217 times in the past six months. In the past two weeks alone, Merritt's office has clicked on our website five times.

Like most watchdogs, Merritt is loyal. His state computers have logged on to our website more than the Democratic National Committee, the Obama campaign and the Clinton campaign combined.

More traffic comes from the State Auditor's office, a public agency funded by public tax dollars, than from the entire city of Fayetteville or state of Kentucky.

Merritt's tenacity in using state resources for political purposes knows no bounds.

GAO Says Figures in Administration's September 'Benchmark' Report Were Unreliable

Pauline Jelinek, AP News

The Bush administration, in its last so-called Iraq "benchmark" report, used questionable financial data to assert that the Baghdad government was making progress in managing its budget, a new study says.

The study released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office focused specifically on whether Iraqis were spending their capital budget, that is money for infrastructure needed to boost the country's lagging economic growth and improve poor public services.

The administration reported in its September Iraqi benchmark assessment that Iraq's central government ministries had spent 24 percent of their 2007 capital projects budget as of July 15, 2007. "This report is not consistent with Iraq's official expenditure reports," which show that the central ministries had spent only 4.4 percent of their investment budget as of August, the GAO said. It said capital projects are 90 percent of Iraq's investment budget.

Gail Collins, New York Times Op

Huckabee! Huckabee! The man of the hour! What is it that voters love so much about this guy? Is it a hitherto inchoate yearning for a president who knows less about international affairs than they do? Hope that a man who can lose 100 pounds could also get rid of the federal deficit?

Mike is soaring ahead in the early polls, in a surge to the front of the pack that suggests Republicans cannot come to grips with the idea that they are supposed to nominate either Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani for president. There has to be a way out! What about Huckabee? He has a good heart! True, his brain doesn’t seem to have a single thought about foreign policy or know much about domestic policy, for that matter. But one well-functioning body part is better than nothing.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made the following statement today on the floor of the U.S. Senate, calling for a full accounting of the circumstances surrounding the destroyed tapes of CIA interrogations. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

“As the end of 2007 continues to draw near, we have a busy week ahead of us. We hope to complete action on the appropriations process, which will require the White House, along with House and Senate Republicans, to be reasonable in the pursuit of common ground.

“We will work to complete the energy bill with a bipartisan compromise that will take our country toward lower energy prices for consumers and a cleaner environment. And we will work to complete FISA legislation to ensure we have the tools to fight terrorism with fair and Constitutional tools. And pass a Continuing Resolution by Friday to keep the government open. I look forward to a productive week of bipartisan progress.