Akkam’s Razor

Can’t help but wonder why Pat Meehan’s sudden resignation, news that Vince Fumo isn’t resigning, and yet more alleged shenanigans regarding Curt Weldon have all crossed through my feed reader today?  Maybe there’s some meat to allegations of political prosecution at the urging of the Bush White House?  You may recall that the FBI had to run the investigation against Weldon as the Delco GOP (and Meehan) had no interest in investigating their own, having focused their attention on Philadelphia Democrats (rightfully so).   Or is the former Arlen Specter aide (or his sidekick) planning on running against Joe Sestak?

The Inky has an article with John Gallagher, a Center City lawyer and Russian trade expert.  Gallagher has an interesting interpretation of what a Representatives obligations are to his constituents:

"I was very lucky to have my representative also have an interest in Russia," Gallagher, a resident of Weldon's district, said in his spacious office at 18th and Market Streets in Center City.

Gallagher said Weldon, in trying to help him in Moldova, was simply providing good constituent service. "It's my congressman's job," Gallagher said. "He represents me, and a foreign country wronged me."

Agents who searched his law office were investigating possible violations of a federal bribery law, Gallagher said. "Of course I didn't pay Curt Weldon," he said.

Gallagher is the first "subject" to speak about the pre-election raid.  The distinction between "subject" and "target" is immense - needless to say, someone else is the "target".  Subjects typically provide evidence and corroborate - targets are typically the focus and subject to prosecution.

Here they are…

[This post will be updated as circumstances warrant.] 

Updated #2: Races identified, contractors identified: This dKos diary details what to do to fight the robocalls, this one has investigative data on the sources.]

Updated: Here's an audio example of a call from New York; here is also a link to indirect expenditures recorded with the FEC (Federal Elections Committee) by the NRCC (National Republican Congressional Committee).

They're actually from the Republicans.  Happy October November Suprise!  If you can't win the election fairly, just lie, cheat, and steal… [crossposted at PhillyFuture]:

Via TalkingPointsMemo:

More of the scam calls from the NRCC, from TPM Reader PS …

I was canvassing in Stamford, CT for Lamont and Farrel yesterday… some of the canvassers were talking about a nasty robocall hit on Farrell, which they said people at the doors had talked about. I didn't hear that at the door personally, but I wasn't focusing on the congressional race - i was talking about Lamont primarily.

Apparently the call starts with something along the lines of "Diane Farrell has some information for you," then pauses, waiting for annoyed people to hang up, and then delivers a negative message about Farrell. The canvassers say the call has hit some people as much as 6 times, and at 5 - 6am as well. Presumably, the intent is to annoy people and stick Farrell with the negative name ID as somebody who keeps robo-calling them.

We won't be able to get to the bottom of this operation until after Tuesday, which is the point. They'll happily pay the fines for breaking the federal regs on misidentifying calls.

Locally, Jill Porter, of the Philadelphia Daily News, has a chance for you to fight fire-with-fire:

You can complain to the FCC if you think the calls are illegal, as some Murphy supporters have done. (202-418-1440, phone; 202-418-0232, fax.)

Or you can do what I briefly considered yesterday: Send the NRCC your own robocalls telling it to STOP IT!

Try http://www.voiceshot.com/ - 12 cents a call, no minimum. The NRCC's number is 202-479-7000.

The real shame of all of this is that 1.) it works, 2.) it won't be newsworthy until the election is over,  and 3.) the facts and details won't come out until the election is over.

Use the "send to a friend" link at the top of the page, and spread this far and wide… More from MeFi, DailyKos, MyDD, FireDogLake, and others (Technorati for "robocalls")…

It's a biggie… 

We're going to miss him when he's gone… 

Totally missed this tale from the NYTimes via PA-7 Watch regarding Weldon's 5-Star stay in an Italian Hotel paid for by an Italian Arms Manufacturer, which coincidentally was correlated with a campaign contribution and employement for one of his children.  McClatchy news also has some details of $95k which was funneled to Weldon as a result of familiar pay-for-play lobbying.  The Sunlight Foundation has more.

Also yesterday, the GOP signalled that they are getting closer to throwing in the towel on Weldon, annoucing that the PA-7 race is going to be receiving less support via national NRCC advertising, redirecting the fund to embattled Buck County Reps. Gerlach and Fitzpatrick (via the Philadelphia Daily News).

For starters, the DelcoTimes, no shrine to benchmark journalism, endorses Weldon's opponent, reversing a decade long support of the Congressman.

Today, the Inky has the following, highlighting how Weldon's insertion of an "earmark" benefited a client of his friend, a real estate agent turned lobbyist by the name of Cecilia Grimes, as well as his own campaign coffers.

Based on the article, a $2 million dollar earmark (FY 2006) for Dynamic Defense Materials, LLC resulted in (only!) $10,900 (CY 2006) for Weldon and lobbyist payments to Grimes of $40,000 (CY 2006).

The Defense Department had not requested the funding. Most Congress members voting for the spending bill probably did not know about the earmark.

All of this is within the letter of the law. But it shows how the power to earmark works in Washington, and how money flows through a revolving door.

"This is a perfect example of the pay-to-play system that has infected the Washington political culture," said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group that monitors earmarks and pork-barrel spending. "Dynamic Defense Materials over the last several years gave early and often to Weldon, assiduously courting the lawmaker to get a piece of the federal spending pie.

"Business senses that members of Congress are for sale and that for a few-thousand-dollar investment, millions of taxpayer dollars will be sent their way," Ellis said.

Earmarks have been a subject of ire across both extremes of the blogosphere, from the left and the right, with the compelling logic being the need for transparency to both the budgetary and the campaign finance processes, to make sure that we get what we pay for, we get what we need, and our elected officials aren't somehow compromised in their decision making.

Curt Weldon…Independent Fighter for Curt Weldon.
Originally uploaded by rzklkng.

Funny story here…