by Frank James

It's probably safe to assume that Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican, knows he wasn't one of the "Friends of Angelo," as in Mozilo, the former chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial.

That's because Hensarling is calling for a congressional investigation into members of Congress who might have received preferential treatment on mortgages from Countrywide.

As Portfolio magazine first reported, Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad were among the FOAs who apparently got discounts on VIP loans from Countrywide.

Both senators have said they were unaware that they were being favored with preferential treatment, with Conrad, according to NPR, going so far as giving $10,000 to Habitat for Humanity, the amount he calculates he unknowingly saved when Mozilo waived closing points on his loan.

Hensarling and Washington watchdogs are calling for a congressional probe in order to examine just how widespread the practice was, just how many lawmakers were FOAs.

But the odds of such a probe are long. It may not just be Democrats that get embarrassed (only Democrats who've been involved so far, including James Johnson who recently left Sen. Barack Obama's campaign) but Republicans too.

Here's a snippet to that effect from Politico.com:

by Frank James

The National Republican Congressional Committee is hitting Sen. Barack Obama and congressional Democrats for hypocrisy, noting the contradiction between Obama vowing that he and the Democratic National Committee will not take lobbyists' money while Hill Democrats will.

What really has Hill Republicans fuming is how congressional Democrats are using Obama and his message of "change" to help raise money but parting company on the whole lobbyist-money issue.

Here's the top of a NRCC press release:

Washington - Despite their well documented opposition to Barack Obama's policy of refusing lobbyist donations, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is ramping up their fraudulent 'change' rhetoric by using their nominee as a front man to disguise their agenda of empty promises in a fundraising plea.

While the Democratic National Committee (DNC) followed Obama's lead and promised to refuse lobbyist donations, the DCCC - which is housed in the very same building - declined to do so. Ironically, Obama is now fundraising on behalf of the committee...

And here, also from the press release, is a statement from NRCC Press Secretary Ken Spain:

"It is the height of hypocrisy for Barack Obama to solicit campaign contributions on behalf of the very same campaign committee that opposes his position of refusing lobbyist donations," "It appears that Democrats want to have it both ways; they want to run on a platform of so-called 'change' while simultaneously shaking down Washington lobbyists before they bash them on the campaign trail."

by Mark Silva

Our friends at Federal Strategy Group, a Washington-based lobbying firm, like to collect Quotes of the Day. They think they have found one here:

In light of Sen. Barack Obama's refusal to accept contributions to his presidential campaign from registered lobbyists -- though law firms that employ lobbyists are OK, and a lot of lobbyists' wives may be making donations this year -- and in light of the DNC now taking up the policy of its presumptive presidentiial nominee, the words of one Washington lobbyist and Democratic donor stand out:

"Simply by virtue of the fact that you happen to be a registered lobbyist in Washington, your standing as a Democrat is somehow diminished."

That's Larry O'Brien, founder of the OBC Group and longtime top donor to Democratic committees and candidates reacting to the Democratic National Committee's decision to ban donations from lobbyists and PACs (Roll Call newspaper, June 9).

That's probably the idea.

by Frank James

Thomas Jefferson famously warned an earlier generation of Americans against "entangling (foreign) alliances." Now Sen. John McCain may be seeing the wisdom of that as applied to his own campaign aides.

The Wall Street Journal reports today that the lobbying firm co-owned by Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, consulted with a Ukrainian political party supported by the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. It just so happens that McCain supports a different political party.

This latest lobbyist eruption comes shortly after two other McCain aides, also lobbyists, departed his campaign after it became public knowledge that they had lobbied on behalf of Myanmar's military government. That government was radioactive even before its inhumane response to the humanitarian needs of its population following Cyclone Nargis drew world outrage.

McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said Mr. Davis receives no income from Davis Manafort, although he still owns a share of the firm. "He earns no money from their activities while he is on leave," Mr. Rogers said.

Working for foreign interests is legal, but it can be politically hazardous for lobbyists and the politicians they advise. The issue is becoming harder for politicians to avoid because globalization has made such work lucrative, drawing some of Washington's best political talent.

by Mark Silva

Hand it to David Paterson.

The lieutenant governor, soon-to-be-governor, of New York.

He will step in Monday for Gov. Eliot Spitzer, resigning after the revelation this week that he has been a frequent-flier in a high-flying prostitution ring.

So, at Paterson’s first Albany press conference as governor-select today, where he offered sincere regret for the personal tragedy that has befallen his friend and predecessor – and said, that "it is time to get back to the business of the state’’ and start hammering out a new budget – Paterson was asked if he has consorted with any prostitutes.

“Only the lobbyists,’’ Paterson replied, tongue firmly in cheek.

Getting down to the state's business, Paterson said, this weekend he will have “high-end executive officials’’ in his office working on a new budget.

Better that than the “high-end’’ folks with whom Spitzer has been dealing.

by Mark Silva

While everyone works at counting people in on the list of clients for Emperors Club VIP -- Client No. 9 reportedly Eliot Spitzer, governor of New York, Client No. 6 reportedly the Duke of Westminster -- our friends over at the Sun-Times have counted one out: Michael Jordan.

Columnist Michael Sneed: "Just who is Client No. 10?

"Who is the procurer of prostitutes from Chicago who is mentioned anonymously in an unsealed FBI affidavit filed by the feds detailing operations of the Emperors Club, a sex-for-hire shop that allegedly ensnared embattled New York. Gov. Eliot Spitzer?

"Answer: It's not basketball legend Michael Jordan, according to Jordan's attorney Frederick Sperling...In order to end rumors that unnamed Client No. 10, who requested an Emperors Club prostitute for March 4 in Chicago, may have been Jordan, Sperling tells Sneed: "I have just received confirmation from Assistant U.S. Attorney Rita Glavin in New York that our client Michael Jordan is neither a subject nor a target of this investigation."

Case closed.''

by Mark Silva

The governor of New York had some royal company in the Emperors Club, according to reports from the British press: The Duke of Westminster, worth some 6.6 billion pounds.

The British tabloid, The Sun, seems to revel in "the mega-rich Duke of Westminster allegedly (using) the same escort agency as Eliot Spitzer to arrange romps with tarts.'' The headline? "Duke Booked VIP Tarts.''

"Lithuanian Zana Brazdek said he paid her £2,000 after booking her by email through the London office of Emperors Club VIP,'' the Sun reports. "She was told what to wear for the two-hour visit to his posh pad in central London.

"The aristocrat – Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 56 – is one of Britain’s wealthiest men.''

"Zana, 27, said: “He asked how long I’d been with the agency. I told him he was my first job and he seemed pleased... He was quite happy with the way I looked as he hadn’t seen a picture of me when he ordered me. He told me he had used the agency before. It had been recommended.”

The ever-observant folks at The Huffington Post have noted, however, that references to the duke by name had been removed from other more august British papers' accounts of "Client No. 6."

As the Times reports it: "Emperors Club VIP has many clients around the world but one British-based customer is attracting more attention than most. Named in documents filed with a US court as “Client 6”, he paid £500 to a prostitute known as Astrid in London on January 12.

"The pair met at about 9 am at an undisclosed location for about an hour. After the appointment Astrid said that “everything was fine” but Client 6 called the company to say that, while she 'was very nice' -- 'next time he wanted to see someone else,' the documents show.''

(Photo of Duke of Westminster: The Sun)

by Andrew Malcolm

Turns out, some Obama PAC money came from PACs.

Before he ostentatiously stopped taking money from political action committees to run for president, Sen. Barack Obama quietly took money from political action committees.

As a presidential candidate, Obama claims to be an outsider eager to shake up the Washington establishment by refusing to accept donations from political action committees and Washington lobbyists. This year, they're the bad guys.

But this wasn’t always the case.

Back in 2005 and 2006, Obama raised $123,283 from other political action committees and put them into a political action committee of his own. He called it Hopefund.

by Mike Dorning

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama released an updated list of his top fundraisers today that dislcoses new information on their activities and shows heavy backing from hedge-fund managers, financial industry executives and private investors.

The list of "bundlers"--so called because they gather up contributions into large bundles--provides slightly more detailed disclosure for amounts of money each fundraiser has produced than his opponents offer.

The updated list, posted on his campaign web site, covers fundraising through the third quarter of the year and lists the amount of money each has raised in broad ranges. Other identifying information such as their cities of residence and employers are not listed but in many cases can be determined by independently searching Federal Election Commission donor records for the campaign.

by Mark Silva

The National Journal is reporting today that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson is under investigation by the agency's inspector general, the FBI and the Justice Department over his involvement in the awarding of contracts.

The report is posted online today and published in the Oct. 6 issue. The reporter is Ed Pound.

See the report here in the Swamp as well:

HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson with President Bush at a Rose Garden announcement of proposed relief for homeowners facing mortgage foreclosure. HUD photo.

by Mike Dorning

In a preview of Barack Obama's fundraising performance and a last-minute effort to rev up contributions during the final week of the third-quarter fundraising period, the Illinois senator is claiming his presidential campaign has added some 75,000 donors since the end of the last financial reporting period for candidates on June 30.

In an e-mail to supporters today, Obama claims 333,851 people have now donated to his campaign since its inception, for a total of 472,613 donations. The campaign is trying to motivate supporters to break a goal of 350,000 donors providing more than 500,000 contributions by Sept. 30.

"We're facing a hard deadline in less than a week," Obama writes. "The financial reports filed after September 30th will set the tone for the last 100 days before people start voting and caucusing. The numbers will be a signal to voters in the crucial early states that our movement has the support it takes to win."

The campaign is also trying to motivate new donors with a promotional program in which established donors are offering to match contributions from new donors.

When Jon Stewart had Barack Obama on his show in November 2005, Stewart asked about Obama's colleagues in the Senate: "Is there somebody who you just thinkk 'Man, that guy, he can't even read.'" Obama replied: "There are a couple guys where you do sort of think: How did you get here exactly?" Comedy Central photo.

by Mike Dorning

Barack Obama isn't waiting for his appearance on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" next Wednesday to use the invitation as a chance to expand his following.

Campaign manager David Plouffe sent out an e-mail to Obama supporters just a few minutes ago offering an all-expenses-paid trip to the popular comedy show's taping as a prize in a contest to recruit new donors to the campaign.

In a twist on the kind of recruiting promotions regularly empoyed by health clubs, anyone who recruits a new donor by the end of the week will be entered in a drawing for a pair of tickets to the shows taping: one for the supporter who recruits the new donor and one for the donor he or she recruits.

It's the latest example of the kind of mass-marketing fundraising incentives in the current presidential campaign that has candidates' appeals for donations sometimes reading like they might have come from Ed McMahon of Publishers Clearinghouse.

by Mike Dorning

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards has raised more than $9 million during the past three months, a fundraising pace that has slowed since the first quarter of the year but is likely to sustain his place among the three Democratic candidates with the greatest financial strength.

About an hour before the midnight deadline that ends the second-quarter reporting period for campaign contirbutions, the Edwards campaign sent out an e-mail to supporters announcing the candidate had achieved the $9 million goal he set for himself earlier during the week.

Still, the total was well short of the $14 million he raised during the first three months of the year.

by Mike Dorning

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged Friday to limit lobbyist influence and secrecy in regulatory policy-making that he said has fostered a “second Gilded Age” of political dominance by powerful business interests.

Obama argued in a speech delivered in the early primary state of New Hampshire that undue influence of wealthy corporations has contributed to the income gap between rich and poor and frustrated attempts to address issues such as high prescription drug costs and global warming.

“The people I’ve met across this country don’t just want reform for reform’s sake,” the Illinois senator said. “They want reform that will help pay their doctor’s bills, or ensure that their tax dollars are spent wisely, or put us on the path to energy independence. They want real reform and they’re tired of the lobbyists standing in the way.”

Posted by Frank James at 9:10 am CDT

Another terrible, horrible, no good, very bad news day for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Yesterday it was the Washington Post report that two new books about her by respected investigative journalists portrayed her in unflattering ways.

Today, both the New York Times and Washington Post have front-page stories about Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton jetting around the world on a private jet belonging to infoUSA.

That company finds itself embroiled in controversy, partly because of a shareholder lawsuit that alleges that the company's founder and chief executive, Vinod Gupta, a friend and contributor to the Clintons who slept in the White House Lincoln Bedroom during the Clinton presidency, has wasted corporate assets with such flights and other luxuries of questionable business value. Like a yacht named "American Princess" docked in the Virgin Islands with an all-female crew.

Incidentally, one of the best parts of the Times story is a quote from a hedge fund executive who said:

“When the C.E.O. of a publicly traded company can say with a straight face that the shareholders benefit from having a yacht with an all-female crew stationed in the Virgin Islands, then you’ve got a problem.”

Then there's the shareholders' unhappiness with the more than $2 million the company paid the former president between July 2003 to April 2005, and more millions of dollars after that, for what the hedge funds suing the company claim are very nebulous consulting services.

But that's not all. This is the very same infoUSA that has come under the scrutiny of Iowa's attorney general and other authorities for selling personal information to criminals who used it to bilk seniors like a 92-year old World War II widower whose was wiped out by the criminals.

That's Iowa, as in the Iowa caucuses, the traditionally important contests for those trying to win their party's presidential nominations. The state that effectively ended Howard Dean's 2004 presidential aspirations. You get the drift.

To get back-to-back bad news days like this is obviously the stuff of campaign nightmares. The only good news for the New York senator in this is it's May and not December of 2007. There's time to recover.

Posted by William Neikirk at 1 p.m. CDT

Bill Thomas has found a job.

You remember him? Once he was a household name in this town. California Republican big-wig, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, a suffer-no-fools-gladly, take-no-prisoners kind of guy who helped get Bush's tax cuts passed.

He wasn't the most liked member of Congress, but he got things done. Now he's going to have to make nice to the members as a lobbyist.

Posted by Mike Dorning and John McCormick at 6:30 am CDT.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama took in more money in contributions for the presidential primary than any other candidate during the first three months of the year. But front-runner Hillary Clinton still has the financial advantage, with a bigger bank balance, thanks to a transfer from funds left over after her Senate re-election campaign last year.

Though late in preparing for a presidential bid compared to his rivals, the $24.8 million in contributions that Obama raised for the primary comfortably exceeded $19.1 million that Clinton raised, despite the former first lady's well-established network of donors and supporters.

Still, Clinton has the bigger war chest. The New York senator reported $24.1 million available for her primary campaign, bolstered by $10 million from her Senate re-election campaign. She also raised an additional $6.9 million that only can be used in a general election campaign.

Posted by Mike Dorning at 12:10 pm CST

Several former Clinton Administration officials were among the contributors who attended a Barack Obama fundraiser on Thursday night at the Bethesda, Md., home of Reed Hundt, who was Federal Communications Commission Chairman during the Clinton Administration.

William Kennard, who also chaired the FCC during the Clinton Administration, was an official "host" for the evening. A campaign spokesman declined to provide an estimate of money was raised at the event.

Richard Clarke, author and counter-terrorism coordinator for the Clinton Administration and early Bush Administration was among those who contributed at the fundraiser, said an Obama insider.

Amb. Charlene Barshefsky, who was U.S. Trade Representative during the Clinton Administration, was among the Obama donors at the event. Miriam Sapiro, a counselor to Clinton on Balkans policy who helped negotiate the 1995 Dayton Accords, was an official "co-host."

Posted by Mike Dorning at 11:34 am CST.

The explanation and supporting documentation that Barack Obama has provided so far for a $100,000 investment he made in two companies backed by major campaign contributors leave open lingering issues about the selection of the stocks and the timing of their purchase.

An article in today's Tribune outlines some of the unresolved questions about Obama 's investments in two speculative stocks with business interests influenced by the government: AVI BioPharma, a biotech company, and SkyTerra Communications, a satellite communications company.

Obama said he was not involved in choosing the stocks and that they were held in a "quasi-blind trust." But his campaign so far has declined to identify the broker who chose the stocks and the sole document the campaign has released concering the investments is the trust governing the investments.

However, the stocks selected are peculiar given the investment strategy set out by the legal document governing the trust.

Posted by David Lightman of the Hartford Courant at 8:27 a.m. CST

WASHINGTON -- Sgt. Richard Ford's sister wasn't home, so John Larson left a message.

The congressman sat alone in his second-floor Main Street office in downtown Hartford on Thursday and talked to Vanessa Migliore's message machine.

It was a difficult call. It had to be. The 1st District Democrat tried to express his sorrow, anger and discomfort over the death of Ford, the Connecticut National Guard soldier who died Feb. 20 of combat injuries in Baghdad.

"You and your family are in my prayers," he told her. "Thank you so much for all the sacrifice." He talked about the importance of "duty and service," and said Sgt. Ford had served in a "patriotic and honorable" way.

And he assured the family that a flag would fly over the U.S. Capitol in Sgt. Ford's honor, and that the flag would be delivered to their East Hartford home. Ford is to be buried today at Arlington National Cemetery.