February 2008

That needs to become the slogan of any Democrat running for congress this year. The evidence is right in the NRCC accounting scandal, which seems to be going unnoticed by the mainstream media.

There is now more evidence pointing to the NRCC's lax management that may have contributed to this scandal:

The accounting scandal now haunting the National Republican Congressional Committee was preceded by a series of decisions over the past decade to relax internal financial controls at the committee, according to numerous Republican sources familiar with the NRCC's operations during those years.

Under Virginia Rep. Tom Davis and New York Rep. Thomas Reynolds, who chaired the committee from 1999 until the end of 2006, the NRCC waived rules requiring the executive committee - made up of elected leaders and rank-and-file Republican lawmakers - to sign off on expenditures exceeding $10,000, merged the various department budgets into a single account and rolled back a prohibition on committee staff earning an income from outside companies.

Remember that this is the core of the party of "fiscal responsibility". The NRCC is the life blood for House Republicans. If they are so careless with this important money, how can they be trusted to control the money of the United States? This is a serious problem for the NRCC and can become a great campaign issue for Democrats this year.

A new CBS poll has Obama leading Clinton by 16 points nationwide. Come on Hillary - even Romney had the sense to get out after awhile.

Awesome!!!

It is really looking that way:

In a December 2002 email obtained by the Huffington Post -- which McCain and his staff had access to prior to the issuance of his report -- Abramoff explains to an aide what he would like to see Riley do in return for the "help" he received from Abramoff's tribal clients.

An official with the Mississippi Choctaws "definitely wants Riley to shut down the Poarch Creek operation," Abramoff wrote, "including his announcing that anyone caught gambling there can't qualify for a state contract or something like that."

The note showed not only the reach of Abramoff, but raised questions about Riley's victory in what was the closest gubernatorial election in Alabama history.

And yet, despite the implications of the information, McCain and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee sat on the controversial portion of the email. According to an official familiar with the investigation, McCain also subsequently refused to make the email public after the report was released.

Read the entire report here.