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The FBI is investigating how a California firm won a state consulting contract worth almost $1 million in connection with the massive GRIP transportation bond program. Agents have been interviewing people involved in awarding contracts to CDR Financial Products LLC, and are looking at its political contributions to political action committees established by Gov. Bill Richardson. The $1.6 billion GRIP bond program is one of the biggest in state history and has been used to pay for road improvements and the Rail Runner commuter train. GRIP stands for Governor Richardson's Investment Partnership and was approved by the Legislature during a...

Given that I thought the Hollywood soundstage, with its faux columns, would make Barack Obama's nomination speech seem strange and offbeat, my prognostication skills aren't much. The speech was superb -- not as good as his race speech, or his 2004 convention speech, but very good nonetheless. But I see trouble on the horizon for him. This attack ad now being aired by 527 independent groups is going to shake up a lot of people who didn't know about Obama's friendship with former Weatherman Bill Ayers. I think it's far more damaging to Obama than Rev. Wright. Whenever I wirte...

For those Democrats who are too young to have a proper appreciation of their party's history, which likely includes most of Senator Obama's supporters, we direct your attention to a memorable moment in DNC history that shows how the current nominee really is connected to the party's past as much as its future. It was forty years ago today that Barack Obama friend and political ally, and unrepentant terrorists, William Ayers was arrested while protesting the DNC proceedings. William Ayers set no bombs that day, but he was only working his way up from petty criminal to domestic terrorist. And...

DETROIT -- Police were called to quell a "disturbance" at a Denver hotel between Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers and staff, according to a hotel spokeswoman. Councilwoman Pro-tem Monica Conyers is married to U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr.

House Democratic leaders and protesters waving McCain signs had a war of words Tuesday at a press event outside an old train station. The demonstrators interrupted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with chants of “Drill here! Drill now!” Pelosi paused and asked the group, “Right here?” Seeming to enjoy the back and forth, she followed with another question: “Can we drill your brains?” She went on to refer to the protesters, who continued to chant sporadically, as “handmaidens of Big Oil.” Arguing that increased offshore drilling would reduce gas prices by only a couple of pennies a decade from now, she...

ROSENDALE, NY—Controversial upstate New York Congressman Maurice Hinchey has been ordered to town court to answer a charge that he struck a constituent during a July event. Democrat Hinchey, who represents Ithaca and much of the state’s Southern Tier, has been directed to appear in Rosendale Town Court on September 9 to answer a charge of Harassment Second Degree. According to the Kingston Daily Freeman the charge stems from an altercation between Hinchey and a local member of the National Rifle Association: Paul Lendvay, 46, of Rosendale, the chairman of the Catskill Regional Friends of the National Rifle Association, had...

Criminal charges were dismissed Monday against Jane Balogh, the Federal Way woman who registered her dog to vote — but not without a hiccup along the way. King County District Court Judge Mariane Spearman dropped a misdemeanor charge of making a false or misleading statement to a public servant, based on Balogh's completion of the terms of a plea agreement reached in September 2007. Balogh, 67, a grandmother and Army veteran, paid $240 in court costs and completed 10 hours of community service at the Tacoma Rescue Mission.

A spending scandal at California's largest union local spread to a second state Monday as the head of a sister labor group in Michigan stepped aside because of a widening financial inquiry. The Service Employees International Union said that Rickman Jackson, who formerly served as chief of staff at the California organization, has taken a leave of absence from its biggest Michigan local less than a week after the president of the Los Angeles chapter relinquished his post. Both departures followed reports in The Times that the local and a related charity paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to firms...

A black delegate for Hillary Rodham Clinton says she was called an "Uncle Tom" by Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, 1 of Barack Obama's political mentors.

The biggest question that has convention delegates buzzing in Denver on Sunday: Will Sen. Ted Kennedy appear in person Monday night? The answer to that question, a Kennedy friend tells ABC News, is yes -- assuming he gets final clearance from his doctors before flying to Denver and appearing at the Pepsi Center. "The plan is for him to fly in Sunday night," said the friend, speaking on condition of anonymity. A video tribute to Kennedy, D-Mass., is slated for Monday evening, the first night of the Democratic National Convention. Directed by documentary filmmakers Ken Burns and Mark Herzog, the...

The 2008 Convention: Americans Gathering To Change The Course Of A Nation Program Schedule Monday, August 25 – One Nation Barack Obama’s story is an American story that reflects a life of struggle, opportunity and responsibility like those faced by Americans everyday. The opening night of the Convention will highlight Barack’s life story, his commitment to change, and the voices of Americans who are calling for a new direction for this country. Monday’s headline prime-time speaker will be Michelle Obama. 3:00 PM - 7:00 PM (LOCAL) Call to Order The Honorable Howard Dean Chair, Democratic National Committee Former Governor of...

Can a city stop people from posting a link to its Web site? That’s the question at the center of a federal lawsuit brought by a Sheboygan woman against the mayor and other officials there, in what appears to be a first-of-its-kind case, according to an Internet law expert. Jennifer Reisinger says the Sheboygan city attorney ordered her to remove from her Web site a link to the city’s police department, in what she believes was retaliation for her support of recalling Mayor Juan Perez, according to the suit filed last week. The city went further, the lawsuit claims, launching...

State Senate officials told Sen. Carole Migden's Capitol staff to go home for the week Thursday after the combustible San Francisco Democrat was overheard berating them. Enedina Hidalgo, the director of personnel for the state Senate, was in the hallway when she heard Migden screaming at the staff, according to a witness to the event. The source said Hidalgo later entered the office while the senator was not present on Thursday, informing the staff of their rights. Soon after, Hidalgo returned to Migden's office with Tony Beard Jr., the chief sergeant-at-arms of the state Senate. They told staff members to...

OAKLAND — A federal grand jury has subpoenaed the city for the personnel records of former City Administrator Deborah Edgerly, her closest City Hall adviser, and four of their relatives, sources said, less than two months after Edgerly was fired amid allegations of nepotism and interfering with a police investigation. The criminal subpoena is the clearest sign yet that federal authorities are interested in investigating City Hall, in a probe seemingly aimed, at least partially, at determining whether Edgerly gave preferential treatment to relatives during her tenure as the city's top nonelected official. The grand jury made the request earlier...

(KCPW News) Utah lawmakers took tips on highway funding from a Texas legislator this morning. Texas Republican Representative Mike Krusee joined them on Capitol Hill. He told the Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee that with federal money drying up, the only way to pay for new highways is to make them toll roads. "Guess how many roads pay for themselves in taxes? Zero. Not a one. Most of them are less than 50 percent," said Krusee. "Imagine if you're a grocery a store owner, and you decide, I'm gonna sell sirloin at a buck a pound, and I'm gonna sell...

Members of the carpenters union in New York City have ruined any chance that authorities there will take their union out of government oversight by beating unconscious William Davenport, a union dissident running for office in the union. After an August 5 candidates forum, the candidate was beaten by members of the carpenters union audience outside a church. Outside a CHURCH! This thuggery along with continued Mob involvement, indictments and convictions on corruption of union members convinced Judge Charles S. Haight, Jr. not to release the union from government oversight.... Read the rest at Publiusforum.com...

SOME FAMILY MAN: Asse Sam Hoyt ALBANY - A married assemblyman got caught with his virtual pants down - busted by XXX-rated e-mails to a 19-year-old intern.....In one sex message Hoyt made it embarrassingly clear they shared not only an interest in the people's business, but in lusty sex and personal hygiene. Titled "what i wish," the Democratic assemblyman's list included: ". . . that i could be painting your toenails right now . . . that i could see you do that little cheerleader move . . . that i could be your human lollipop . . ....

A British man was jailed for five hours after he photographed a cop reversing the wrong way up a one-way street. After Andrew Carter snapped the cop van, officer Aqil Farooq leaped out, hit the camera to the ground, handcuffed him and bundled him into the back of the vehicle. The plumber, 44, was arrested for supposedly being drunk, resisting arrest and assaulting the officer with the camera. He was kept in cells before finally being released on police bail at midnight. Carter, of Bedminster, Bristol, said: “I was nearly knocked down there once so when the police van went...

Inside the Chicago Annenberg Challenge for a Closer Look As Global Labor readers are now aware, the University of Illinois is blocking access to the records of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, an Illinois non profit corporation, established in 1995. However, several months ago I was able to obtain key records of the Challenge - including board minutes, annual and semi-annual reports and financial records - from Brown University's Annenberg Institute, which housed the national Annenberg Challenge program that was set up in 1993 by a gift of $500 million from Walter Annenberg. Below is an analysis of what I found...

Mayor of Maryland town, his dogs dead, still waiting for apology Cops in Prince George's County, Md., have a proud tradition to maintain. In May, a former county officer was sentenced to 45 years in prison for shooting two furniture delivery men at his home last year, one of them fatally. (He claims they attacked him.) In June, a suspect jailed in the death of a local police officer was found strangled in his cell. Authorities have no idea how that could have happened. It's unlikely Mayor Cheye Calvo of Berwyn Heights, Md., was thinking of his county's behaviorally challenged...

Two known Democratic supporters are outraged at their own party after being solicited to buy tickets to Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field next Thursday, CBS4 reports. The seats were distributed for free to the general public. One source directed CBS4 to an unpublicized part of the Obama campaign's Web site where Democratic supporters, reportedly with deep pockets, could buy tickets for $1,000 each. The source told CBS4 he was solicited three times to buy the tickets through the Web site. One source said it was unethical and being kept secret from the public. CBS4 was able to find...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A federal grand jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico, today returned an indictment against Puerto Rico Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila, a senior aide and a former campaign director for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez announced. Today's indictment follows an earlier indictment, returned on March 24, 2008, which charged these same defendants and others with related crimes. The five-count indictment returned today in U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico, charges Acevedo...

San Francisco FBI agents have begun a criminal investigation of Los Angeles City Attorney Rockard "Rocky" Delgadillo, a one-time rising star of California politics whose career stalled after a series of admitted ethical lapses. Sources familiar with the FBI investigation said agents recently went to Los Angeles to conduct interviews in what appears to be a wide-ranging probe of Delgadillo, 48, a moderate Democrat now in his second four-year term. The probe began after Delgadillo was criticized for allegedly using city resources for personal benefit. Delgadillo admitted last year that he had his city-owned SUV repaired at taxpayers' expense after...

Republicans called for a criminal probe of Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith for allegedly threatening lobbyists who fail to contribute to Democratic campaigns. "It borders on criminality," said Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. "You cannot threaten people to give contributions. That's thuggery. Quid pro quo is a crime - you go to jail." Senate Investigations Committee Chair George Winner said Smith, of Queens, "may have broken several laws - including coercion, official misconduct, attempted bribery and even conspiracy." Smith told a group of lobbyists at a fund-raiser for Senate Democrats in that their clients would be shut out of a...

A judge has ruled that the Detroit City Council cannot hold a hearing to try to remove Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from office.

California taxpayers could be on the hook for a staggering $388 million because of a state tax collection agency's vigorous pursuit of a former California taxpayer. In a case that one tax expert called "completely unprecedented," jurors in a Clark County, Nevada District trial awarded Las Vegas inventor Gilbert P. Hyatt $250 million in punitive damages Thursday for the "outrageous conduct" of Franchise Tax Board auditors in an investigation that began in 1993. The award was on top of $138.1 million jurors gave Hyatt last week for "invasion of privacy" and "emotional distress." . . . "As far as I...

DETROIT (AP) — Barack Obama doesn't want Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his legal troubles to be a distraction at the upcoming Democratic National Convention, and he got his wish Thursday when a judge ordered the city executive to stay home. A Michigan spokesman for Obama, Brent Colburn, said in an e-mail Thursday that the focus of the convention in Denver this month should be on Obama and not on what Colburn called "the troubles of one individual," a reference to Kilpatrick and the two criminal cases he's facing. Kilpatrick, who would have gone to the convention as a superdelegate,...

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., on panel that oversees federal agency - TVA has approved a water-access deal for a development group whose investors include U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., who sits on a committee that exercises oversight of the federal utility. On June 3, TVA CEO Tom Kilgore approved a transaction that provides 145 feet of water-access rights along the shoreline of Watts Bar Reservoir in Roane County to an entity called The Cove at Blackberry Ridge LLC. In exchange, The Cove agreed to relinquish 150 feet of water-access rights in Rhea County and also provide approximately $15,000 for...

Hours after being told to remove his electronic tether by one judge Thursday, embattled Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was ordered by another judge to put it back on, a game of legal pingpong between his two separate criminal cases. Kilpatrick also gained, then quickly lost, a break in travel restrictions that could have allowed him to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver this month. The point might have been moot anyway: The mayor is a superdelegate, but a spokesman for presumptive nominee Barack Obama said Kilpatrick isn't wanted there. The day began when a judge overseeing Kilpatrick's arraignment on perjury...

LANSING, Mich. – Democratic candidate Barack Obama doesn't want the embattled mayor of Detroit on hand when Obama accepts the party's presidential nomination in Denver.

DETROIT – A judge ruled Thursday that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will no longer have to wear an electronic tether ordered as part of his bond in his perjury case and may travel to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, where he is a superdelegate.

Murder and attempted murder charges against seven New Orleans police officers, accused of shooting unarmed civilians on the Danziger Bridge after Hurricane Katrina, were tossed out by Criminal District Court Judge Raymond Bigelow, who concluded that an Orleans Parish prosecutor tainted the secrecy of the grand jury process by showing a piece of testimony to another officer. "The violation is clear, and indeed, uncontroverted. The state improperly disclosed grand jury testimony to another police officer," Bigelow said, reading his ruling from the bench. The judge also dealt a blow to the prosecution on two other pending defense challenges to the...

The men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol guarding the Southern land border come into constant contact with drug and human smugglers, criminals and migrants. Every so often, they even encounter Mexican military personnel making unauthorized incursions across the border into the United States. The most recent Mexican military incursion occurred last week on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation in Arizona. According to reports, the Mexican soldiers crossed the border in a military vehicle and held a Border Patrol agent at gunpoint before escaping back to Mexico. While the agent who was temporarily detained by the Mexican soldiers was...

A Detroit Emergency Medical Technician’s union grievance hearing abruptly ended this morning because his attorney refused to stop tape recording the proceeding. The hearing was to address the firing of Detroit EMT Doug Bayer, who is suing the City of Detroit, Fire Department Commissioner Tyrone Scott, and other supervisors. Bayer accuses the department of terminating him because he spoke to the media and the Michigan State Police about what he says he knows about the alleged Manoogian Mansion party.

Scandal here, scandal there, scandal everywhere, and I wouldn't even mention the dreary subject of John Edwards being a dog, but there's an unavoidable pile of scandal on every political sidewalk. A profile of Mayor Gavin Newsom in the September issue of Men's Journal tries to seem nice - "In the last 14 months alone, Newsom has perfected a genuinely innovative approach to homelessness, implemented his own controversial version of universal health care, and turned San Francisco into arguably the greenest major city in the United States" - but dwells for an awfully long time on the tawdry. The headline,...

New York (AP) -- No criminal prosecutions are planned for former Justice Department officials accused of allowing politics to influence the hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday. Mukasey used his sharpest words yet to criticize the senior leaders who took part in or failed to stop illegal hiring practices during the tenure of his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales. But, he told delegates to the American Bar Association annual meeting, "Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime. In this instance, the two joint reports found only...

The Rev. Robert Jones went to the Capitol last Wednesday hoping to make his voice heard. What he got instead was a swear-word laden rebuke from Democratic Sen. Pat Wiggins, who interrupted Jones' testimony to say: "Excuse me, but I think your arguments are bull----." The exchange left Jones, the senior pastor at Oak Park United Methodist Church, stunned and offended. "It is a slap in the face," he said in an interview. The outburst occurred as Jones, 46, testified at an informational hearing on how California will cut global warming emissions. Jones, who is African American, said he went...

Over the past couple years, we’ve noticed a suspicious number of ticket camera editorials by the Orlando Sentinel. After looking more closely, we noticed that nearly every editorial in the Sentinel was strongly in favor of installing ticket cameras. Furthermore, we noticed that nearly every pro-camera article was written by one member of the Sentinel’s Editorial Board, George Diaz.This seemed odd, so we decided to look into it further.After some quick research, we discovered that George Diaz appeared at a symposium held by The National Campaign To Stop Red Light Running in late 2007.As we covered on this blog previously,...

There's more to the housing bailout measure than meets the eye, says a Minnesota lawmaker. She contends that members of Congress need to be called back to Washington to reverse the measure that, among other things, sends millions of taxpayer dollars to a radical illegal immigration advocacy group. The housing package signed into law by President Bush extends an unlimited line of credit to troubled mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and rescues homeowners near or in foreclosure. The measure also increases the federal debt limit by another $800 billion -- and sends millions of dollars in aid to...

After more than two decades on the books, a little-known yet strictly enforced federal law barring foreigners with HIV or AIDS from entering the country is on its way out. Tucked in a bill pledging $48 billion to combat the disease, signed into law by President Bush last week, was language stripping the provision from federal immigration law. But that change didn't fully lift the entry ban on visitors with HIV or AIDS, which applies whether they're on tourist jaunts or seeking longer stays. The secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services still needs to delete HIV from...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democrats moved Saturday to staunch the damage after one-time party star and presidential hopeful John Edwards admitted having an affair during his White House run as his wife battled cancer. With the party's national convention to officially crown Senator Barack Obama as its White House candidate just over two weeks away, Democrats sought to minimize the scandal as a personal matter for the Edwards family. "We have unrealistic expectations for people. John Edwards like the rest of us is only human," said Howard Wolfson, a former senior official for the rival presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. "The...

Judicial Watch Launches Investigation of Effort to Intimidate Conservatives Threat Letters by Liberal Group May Violate Ku Klux Klan Act (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it is launching an investigation into a nationwide effort by a liberal activist group to intimidate supporters of Republican and conservative causes. According the August 8 edition of The New York Times, Accountable America, a liberal group, plans to send a letter “to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions…The warning letter is...

Actually, I don't think the right has played as dirty as this. A Times article by Michael Luo this morning unveils a new netroots enterprise, Accountable America, the unabashed purpose of which is to terrify conservatives from giving campaign money to Republican causes and Republican candidates. It's actually ingenuous. You get a list of past Republican donors and send each of them one, two, many e-mails with the explicit warning that contributing to conservative campaigns may be dangerous to the donor's health. Or, as Luo puts it, "The warning letter is intended as a first step, alerting donors who might...

In brief, Texas Court upholds law that limits an absentee ballot witness to witnessing just one ballot. Ends practice of Dems pulling massive voter fraud with "absentee ballots" all witnessed by the same person.

ABC Radio news just announced Sen. John Edwards will admit to the affair with Rielle Hunter in an interview with the network, but insists the child is not his. We return you to your regularly-scheduled FReeping.

Trenton, N.J. (AP) -- Former Gov. James E. McGreevey will not have to pay alimony to his ex-wife, a judge ruled Friday in granting the couple a divorce after a tumultuous eight-year marriage that crumbled publicly when McGreevey acknowledged he was a "gay American." A superior court judge ruled Friday that McGreevey, the nation's first openly gay governor, must pay $250 a week, or $1,075 a month, in child support for his 6-year-old daughter with Dina Matos. Matos had asked for $2,500 a month alimony for four years and $1,750 a month in child support. The couple share custody of...

(WXYZ) Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is expected to be arraigned on felony assault charges either later today or early tomorrow.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/08/021191.php "The Mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, was sent to jail today for violating travel restrictions that are a condition of his being free on bond as he awaits trial on eight counts of perjury and other felonies. The travel restrictions were tightened after Mayor Kilpatrick was accused of assaulting a sheriff's deputy who served a subpoena on him. Mayor Kilpatrick is a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention. In May 2007, Kilpatrick received this glowing endorsement from Barack Obama, who called him a "great mayor" who is doing an "outstanding job." My favorite part is where Obama says that...

The Mayor has been jailed do to violating the terms of his bond. He went to Windsor without permission and the Judge Giles had him sent to jail

History records that Paul Weyrich, one of the founders of the Moral Majority, the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups, used to present himself as a soul-brother to the American worker. In his heyday he railed against the "elitist upper class" and established his bona fides by saying, "I come from a poor district of working-class people." Writing in the Washington Times last week, Mr. Weyrich was back in his old rhetorical neighborhood. The subject was Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, and Mr. Weyrich was writing to celebrate "the best record of accomplishment of anyone in the Bush administration." Read closely,...