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06/02/2006 - Judge Backs Jefferson Affidavit Ruling
"A federal judge in Maryland on Thursday affirmed an earlier ruling authorizing the release of an FBI affidavit used to justify a search of the U.S. Residence of the vice president of Nigeria and his wife on the same day that Rep. William Jefferson's homes were searched by FBI agents." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/31/2006 - Criminal Jackpot
"Forty-five minutes away from Lafayette, the Coushatta Indian reservation is tucked at the end of a desolate 16-mile stretch of prairie and ranch homes in Elton, La." Read on in The Independent Weekly.
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05/30/2006 - How to Do Nothing, Washington-Style
"The Gulfstream II had everything a congressman getting a free golf trip to Scotland could want. “State of the art entertainment center,” boasted a description of the jet's elegant appointments." Read on in the Washington Post.
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05/30/2006 - LPB Must Tend to its Financial Image
"Public entities that depend so much on public contributions must be scrupulous in their financial dealings or risk a devastating loss of confidence. Even when it's determined no funds were misused, questions linger in the minds of both friends and potential supporters." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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05/30/2006 - Corruption Crackdown
"In Lynchburg, Va., mayor Carl Hutcherson on May 2 was convicted, among other crimes, of stealing cash from Social Security disability recipients to pay for a stereo, a mattress, and cable television." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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05/27/2006 - Aide Says Jefferson Cooked Up Scheme
"A former aide to U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, said Friday that it was the congressman's idea to solicit bribes to promote a telecommunications deal in West Africa that began as a legitimate business venture." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/26/2006 - One Man's Constitutional Crisis ...
"Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives have achieved an almost unprecedented level of bipartisanship in denouncing the F.B.I.'s search of a congressman's office." Read on in the New York Times.
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05/26/2006 - White-Collar Crime's New Milestone
"If there was one case the government had to make to define this as the era of corporate accountability, it was Enron." Read on in the Washington Post.
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05/25/2006 - Another Symbol of Politcal Gravy
"Too often in the State Capitol, decisions about ethics don't revolve around what's right and wrong. It's all about the lifestyle of elected officials and staff." Read on in The Advocate.
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05/24/2006 - Officials Defend Raid on Lawmaker's Office
"Justice Department and FBI officials yesterday vigorously defended a weekend raid on the Capitol Hill office of Democratic Rep. William J. Jefferson (La.), arguing that the unprecedented tactic was necessary because Jefferson and his attorneys had refused to comply with a subpoena for documents issued more than nine months ago in a bribery investigation." Read on in the Washington Post.
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05/22/2006 - FBI Says Jefferson Was Filmed Taking Cash
"Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), the target of a 14-month public corruption probe, was videotaped accepting $100,000 in $100 bill from a Northern Virginia investor who was wearing an FBI wire, according to a search warrant affidavit released yesterday." Read on in the Washington Post.
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05/22/2006 - This Just in From Congress
"After 16 months of snoozing through multiple corruption scandals, the House ethics committee has returned to life in a flurry of promises and posturing." Read on in the New York Times.
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05/22/2006 - Beyond Halliburton
"In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, there was much hue and cry about the massive no-bid “cost-plus” cleanup and rebuilding contracts going to politically-connected firms like Bechtel, Fluor and CH2M Hill." Read on in TomPaine.com.
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05/18/2006 - House Panel to Examine Jefferson
"The House Committee on Standards of Officials Conduct has begun an investigation into bribery allegations against Rep. William Jefferson, signaling more trouble for the New Orleans Democrat who already is at the center of a lengthy federal criminal corruption probe." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/17/2006 - House Ignoring Pledge Over Pet Projects
"Just two weeks after the House passed a reform bill requiring lawmakers to attach their names to pet projects, GOP leaders are advancing spending bill containing billions of dollars in such parochial “earmarks” whose sponsors remain anonymous." Read on in the Seattle Post-Ingelligencer.
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05/16/2006 - Jefferson Declares He'll Fight Any Charges
"In a defiant speech that may presage his legal strategy in a federal bribery investigation, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D- New Orleans, proclaimed his innocence Monday and vowed to fight any charges that might be brought against him." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/14/2006 - Agencies' Records Should Be Open for Public View
"There are arguably some reasons for keeping public records secret, but not many. Whenever you have a person handling someone else’s money, which is what government does, you should have transparency." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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05/14/2006 - Par for the Corps
"In 2000, when I was writing a 50,000-word Washington Post series about dysfunction at the Army Corps of Engineers, I highlighted a $65 million flood-control project in Missouri as Exhibit A." Read on in the Washington Post.
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05/12/2006 - Absentee Voters
"Louisiana House members can’t bend the law of physics and occupy two places at once, but lawmakers who are nowhere near the Capitol still manage to vote thanks to colleagues who push the button on their machines." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/12/2006 - Congressman Files Motion to Block Data
"U.S. Rep. William Jefferson filed a motion Thursday to block the release of an FBI search warrant expected to provide details into Jefferson’s bribery probe." Read on in The Advocate.
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05/11/2006 - Ethics Lawyer Says Legislature Defeating Board
"With every legislative session comes a torrent of bills to carve out exceptions to Louisiana’s ethics code." Read on in The Advocate.
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05/11/2006 - F.B.I.'s Focus on Public Corruption Includes 2,000 Investigations
"A post-9/11 effort by the F.B.I. to concentrate on public corruption now includes more than 2,000 investigations under way, highlighted by the Jack Abramoff lobbying inquiry, the racketeering and fraud conviction of former Gov. George Ryan of Illinois, and the multipronged corruption probes after the guilty plea by Randy Cunningham, a former Republican House member from San Diego, bureau officials said." Read on in the New York Times.
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05/09/2006 - Sunshines in Tough Times
"If Gov. Kathleen Blanco thinks documents produced by agencies within her office ought to be public records, she should have no trouble with supporting a bill that would specify just that." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/07/2006 - What's in a Name?
"During two trips to the Gulf Coast, Sen. Susan Collins said it became clear to a Senate committee investigating the federal response to Hurricane Katrina that FEMA “had become a four-letter word.”" Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/06/2006 - Ethical Notes on the Reforming Class
"First the House Republican majority shirked the crying need to create an independent ethics enforcement office. Then it approved a watered-down version of the grand promises of last January to rein in its quid pro quo romance with Washington’s lobbyists." Read on in the New York Times.
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05/06/2006 - Corps Values
"Wasting recovery dollars cheats taxpayers and chisels away at this area’s ability to recover from Hurricane Katrina, and that makes it hard to understand why the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers didn’t do more to prevent fraud on that end." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/04/2006 - House Lobbying Rules Call for More Disclosure
"The House narrowly approved ethics legislation yesterday that would expand the amount of information that lobbyists must disclose about their interactions with lawmakers and would also rein in big-money political groups that spent heavily in the last presidential election." Read on in the Washington Post.
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05/04/2006 - House Panel Supports Banning Contracts for Officials
"Politicians and members of their families would be banned from participating in any of the billions in hurricane relief contracts under a bill approved Wednesday by a Louisiana House committee." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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05/03/2006 - Plea Expected In Bribe Case
"A Kentucky businessman is scheduled to plead guilty today to giving Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to promote his high-tech business ventures in Africa, according to court records and people familiar with the case." Read on in the Washington Post.
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05/02/2006 - Bill Targets Benefits of Corrupt Officials
"Louisiana would become the sixth state in the nation to take retirement benefits from public officials convicted of job-related felonies under a plan that cleared a Senate panel Monday." Read on in The Advocate.
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04/30/2006 - Is the State Prepared for Coming Hurricane Season?
"Most of the changes in natural-disaster preparedness proposed by the White House and Congress since Hurricane Katrina are years away at best, leaving the Gulf Coast and other areas vulnerable to new devastation." Read on in the Houma Courier.
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04/29/2006 - When Guys on Capitol Hill Look Like Beavis, Butthead
"So there I was, banging on the defenseless little television besides my desk. So outrageous was the grotesque humor on the small screen that I thought the cleaning crew had flopped over to the Comedy Channel. But no, the dial didn’t lie; it was exactly where I’d left it." Read on in the Houston Chronicle.
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04/28/2006 - Ethics Bill Clears the House in Tight Vote
"The House narrowly cleared the way yesterday to vote on an overhaul of congressional lobbying rules after hours of contentious, closed-door meetings yielded a Republican agreement to broaden measures to rein in home-district pet projects and other narrow special-interest amendments." Read on in the Washington Post.
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04/27/2006 - Senate Report Urges Dismantling of FEMA
"Hurricane Katrina exposed flaws in the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security that are “too substantial to mend,” and FEMA should be dismantled and rebuilt inside the troubled department, according to the final report by Senate investigators." Read on in the Washington Post.
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04/26/2006 - 5 Sue Corps for Katrina Compensation
"WDSU-TV anchor and eastern New Orleans resident Norman Robinson, a Lower 9th Ward couple and two St. Bernard residents joined forces Tuesday in a federal court lawsuit that blames the Army Corps of Engineers for flooding that destroyed their homes after Hurricane Katrina." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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04/25/2006 - New Criticism Falls on 'Supplemental' Bills
"Tucked inside an emergency spending bill that the Senate will take up this week are provisions far afield from the legislation’s main purpose of paying for the war in Iraq and hurricane recovery." Read on in the New York Times.
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04/25/2006 - Sham Lobbying Reform
"Do you remember, back when the spotlight was on Jack Abramoff, how House Republican leaders pledged to get tough on lobbyists? Well, you may; apparently they don’t." Read on in the Washington Post.
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04/24/2006 - Public Should Have Access to Records
"Louisiana’s open-records laws are under attack, as they are virtually every time the Legislature convenes in Baton Rouge. A number of bills would remove information from public records thus shielding certain officials from the cleansing light of public scrutiny." Read on in the Houma Courier.
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04/23/2006 - Cover Your Ears and Run Away
"It’s too bad that the ancient Israelites being held captive in Babylon didn’t have a Louisiana Legislature rallying on their behalf." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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04/21/2006 - Lawyer: Bill Could VIolate Ethics Law
"Legislation sponsored by Louisiana’s public television network would allow the husband of the agency’s chief to do business with the agency, undermining the state conflict-of-interest laws, the state’s chief ethics lawyer said Thursday." Read on in The Advocate.
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04/19/2006 - Flap Over Pet Projects Roils GOP
"Remember Alaska’s “bridge to nowhere”? It’s about to topped by what critics call Mississippi’s “railroad to nowhere,” which is quickly becoming the poster child for excessive spending by the Republican-controlled Congress." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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04/18/2006 - State Seeks to Supplant Red Cross
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Frustrated with the performance of the American Red Cross, Alabama’s governor has asked Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff for the federal aid necessary to let the state assume primary responsibility for operating its own emergency shelters in disasters." Read on in the New York Times.
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04/17/2006 - Lawmakers Reviewing Public-Records Bills
"It is widely known as “sunshine,” that willingness by government to open up its books and meetings and operations to the general public." Read on in the Houma Courier.
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04/16/2006 - I'm O.K., You're Biased
"Verizon had a pretty bad year in 2005, but its chief executive did fine. Although Verizon’s earnings dropped by more than 5 percent and its stock fell by more than a quarter, he received a 48 percent increase in salary and compensation." Read on in the New York Times.
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04/15/2006 - Step Aside, Mr. Mollohan
"For the good of the House, for the good of his party and in the interest – however remote the possibility at this point – of resolving the paralysis of the House ethics committee, the panel’s ranking Democrat, West Virginia Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, should step aside while legitimate questions about his own conduct are resolved." Read on in the Washington Post.
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04/11/2006 - Beard's Ethics Bill Gets Through House
"The House advanced on Monday a bill aimed at stopping elected officials from benefiting from government contracts for hurricane rebuilding work." Read on in The Advocate.
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04/10/2006 - Louisiana's Federal Projects Grew Last Year
"When Centenary College needed some new high-tech laboratory equipment last year, it turned to Rep. Jim McCrery." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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04/07/2006 - Follow the Money
"In the early days of the Katrina crisis, there was plenty of blather about how relief money to Louisiana would end up being wasted." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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04/06/2006 - Campaign Finance Measure Approved
"The House approved campaign finance legislation last night that would benefit Republicans by placing strict caps on contributions to nonprofit committees that have spent heavily in the last election while removing limits on political parties’ spending coordinated with candidates." Read on in the Washington Post.
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04/05/2006 - Something Always Pops Up to Keep the State's Image Corrupt
"We have defended Louisiana against claims that the state is too incompetent and too corrupt to be allowed to handle storm relief funds." Read on in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser.
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04/04/2006 - DeLay Decides to End Career in Congress
"Representative Tom DeLay, the relentless Texan who helped lead House Republicans to power but became ensnared in a corruption scandal, said publicly today that he had decided to leave Congress." Read on in the New York Times.
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04/04/2006 - Net Gain on Campaign Finance Rules
"When old regulations meet new technologies, there is bound to be confusion. Last month the Federal Election Commission issued a rule regulating political activity on the Internet. To see how the new rule was reported, I fired up one of my favorite search engines, and what did I find?" Read on in the Washington Post.
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04/01/2006 - Nap Time for Ethics
"Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) has been implicated in accepting lavish trips and other gifts from Jack Abramoff in exchange for helping the lobbyist’s clients. Rep Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has been caught up in the Abramoff net as well; yesterday his former deputy chief of staff pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges arising from his dealings with Mr. Abramoff." Read on in the Washington Post.
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03/30/2006 - Senate Passes Lobbying Bill
"The Senate voted yesterday to require lobbyists to provide far more information about their dealings with lawmakers, responding to the Jack Abramoff political corruption scandal with a plan for more disclosure rather than tougher enforcement of ethics laws." Read on in the Washington Post.
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03/28/2006 - FEC Rules Exempt Blogs From Internet Political Limits
"In a unanimous vote yesterday, the Federal Election Commission left unregulated almost all political activity on the Internet except for paid political advertisements. Campaigns buying such ads will have to use money raised under the limits of current federal campaign law." Read on in the Washington Post.
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03/28/2006 - Remodelers to the Rescue
"People who endured hellish conditions in the Superdome and Convention Center during and after Hurricane Katrina probably aren’t too worried about how crowded it was at the state Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rouge during that hectic time." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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03/27/2006 - Proposals Call For Disclosure Ties to Lobbyists
"In October 2001, executives from a small start-up with a promising technology approached their congressman, Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), for help getting Pentagon notice." Read on in the Washington Post.
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03/24/2006 - Unity Also Needed in Washington
"Speaking before the Baton Rouge Press Club recently, U.S. Sen. David Vitter said Louisiana can have a better shot at winning federal support for hurricane recovery if it presents a more unified front on its recovery plans." Read on in The Advocate.
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03/23/2006 - Law Firm Records Sought by Feds
"In an indication that the federal investigation of Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, is continuing, a Virginia grand jury has subpoenaed records from a law firm where one of the congressman’s daughters once worked, according to sources familiar with the case." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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03/23/2006 - Soros, Big Democratic Donors Targeted by Republican Measure
"U.S. House Democrats may have to pay a steep price to enact legislation overhauling lobbying rules: agreeing to restrict donations by some of their biggest backers." Read on in Bloomberg News.
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03/22/2006 - Spending Measure Not a Law, Suit Says
"For anyone who took fifth-grade social studies or sang “I’m Just a Bill,” how legislation turns to law always seems pretty simple: The House passes a bill, the Senate passes the same bill, the president signs it." Read on in the Washington Post.
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03/19/2006 - Lobbyists Foresee Business As Usual
"congressional efforts to impose new restrictions on lobbyists’ dealings with lawmakers in the wake of the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal, and that any limits will barely put a dent in the billion of dollars spent to influence legislation." Read on in the Washington Post.
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03/19/2006 - Culpability at the Corps
"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ought to be held accountable for deadly mistakes the agency made in constructing the flood protection system for greater New Orleans." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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03/16/2006 - Should Campaign-Finance Laws Apply to Blogs
"If you’re one of the nation’s 30 million-plus bloggers – or among the 75,000 joining their ranks every day – keep an eye on Thursday’s House vote on the Online Freedom of Speech Act." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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03/15/2006 - Build Safeguards Into Hurricane Relief Spending
"As Louisiana continues to fight for its proportional share of hurricane relief dollars, the state Legislature could help remove potential concerns from congressional minds with a couple of reasonable proposals addressing accountability." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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03/14/2006 - Are You 'Mad As Hell?'
"Do you remember the movie Network where the guy gets folks to go to their windows and shout, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore?” (If you haven’t seen it, try to rent a copy.)" Read on in the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report.
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03/14/2006 - Floodwall Failure Was Foreseen, Team Says
"Findings by an Army Corps of Engineers-sponsored panel that the collapse of the 17th Street Canal floodwall during Hurricane Katrina was the result of an “unforeseeable” combination of events are contradicted by a 1986 research project done by the corps itself, National Science Foundation investigators said Monday." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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03/13/2006 - Ethics Reform Still Needed
"While Congress might be embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal that’s prompted calls for ethics reform in Washington, there hasn’t been a parallel move toward cleaner government here in Louisiana. That’s the word from John Maginnis, a veteran journalist who’s covered Louisiana politics for decades." Read on in The Advocate.
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03/12/2006 - Still Secret After All These Years
"Government secrecy will not be an issue, I told myself optimistically as I began to research a history of the Cuban missile crisis." Read on in the Washington Post.
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03/12/2006 - Louisiana's Sunshine Laws Show Some Dark Spots
"Louisiana ranks at the top nationally for defining what records the public can see, according to the University of Florida’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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03/10/2006 - Ethics Board Finds Legislator Profited From Bill
"In a rare case for Louisiana, the Board of Ethics Thursday found state Rep. Arthur Morrell used his legislative position to help his legal clients." Read on in The Advocate.
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03/08/2006 - Corps Ignored Crucial Levee Data
"Weather data showing the need to raise the height of levees to defend New Orleans against stronger hurricanes was not incorporated in Army Corps of Engineers designs, even though the agency was informed of the new calculations as early as 1972, government records show." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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03/07/2006 - Tauzin Denies Drug Bill Was Path to Lobbyist Job
"As the Senate prepares to debate tough new ethics laws, former Louisiana Rep. Billy Tauzin fired off a letter Monday to all 535 members of Congress to correct what he says are “false and inaccurate claims” about how he landed his job as the drug industry’s top lobbyist." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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03/04/2006 - 'We Are Fully Prepared'
"President Bush said in the days after Hurricane Katrina that nobody anticipated the failure of the New Orleans’ levees. But in a high-level briefing on the eve of the storm, that danger and others were made abundantly clear to the president and a number of other federal officials." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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03/01/2006 - Think Your Lawmakers Don't Read Bills? Do It Yourself
"On Capitol Hill, there is talk of curtailing the ability of lawmakers to slip pork-barrel items or controversial projects into bills before votes." Read on in the Washington Post.
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03/01/2006 - Campaign Finances Cases Weighed
"The Supreme Court returned to the battle over campaign finance yesterday, hearing oral arguments on a Vermont law that sharply limits how much money state candidates can raise and spend." Read on in the Washington Post.
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02/26/2006 - Voting Rules for Lawmakers Unchanged
"One of the biggest controversies that came from the first version of the levee-consolidation bill during last year’s November special session was the number of lawmakers who changed their votes on the legislation after the fact." Read on in the Houma Courier.
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02/24/2006 - Lesson on Perils of Secrecy
"Americans owe a debt to Dubai Ports World for the storm the company has created with is pending takeover of operations at six U.S. seaports. Let us count the hypocrisies and the inconsistencies, the blind spots and the oversights that this controversy has revealed." Read on in the Washington Post.
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02/22/2006 - Hired Guns for the Public Good
"As we were watching a story on the evening news about the extravagance and excesses of lobbyists, my son asked me, “Aren’t you a lobbyist?” Yes, I said. “You must not be very good at it,” he said." Read on in the Washington Post.
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02/20/2006 - FEMA's Future
"In answer to congressional criticism of the federal government’s abysmal performance during Hurricane Katrina, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wants to revamp FEMA." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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02/19/2006 - Stop the Money Chase
"There is a cancer on the body politic: money. It started with Maurice Stans in the 1968 presidential race, when Stans was collecting money for his candidate, Richard Nixon." Read on in the Washington Post.
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02/17/2006 - Army Corps Feels Heat from Critical Senators
"The two senators who produced the 2002 campaign finance overhaul law are now turning their attention to the Army Corps of Engineers." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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02/16/2006 - The Legal Woes of Rep. Jefferson
"Around Washington, Rep. William J. Jefferson nurtured a reputation as a serious, even wonkish, lawmaker, a grade-school dropouts’ son who graduated from Harvard Law School and was elected Louisiana’s first black congressman since Reconstruction." Read on in the Washington Post.
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02/16/2006 - Where Money Politics Is On The Run
"After each scandal, such as the latest one involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Congress has made minimal efforts to reform its ethical rules and curb the influence of private money. True to form, the latest worthwhile reform efforts are faltering on Capitol Hill." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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02/15/2006 - Jack Who?
"It’s not, as photos for a superlobbyist’s power wall go, a terribly impressive shot: President Bush, his back to the camera, shaking the hand of Raul Garza, chief of the Kickapoo tribe of Texas. In the foreground, Karl Rove, smiling at a 2001 White House meeting to promote the president’s tax cuts." Read on in the Washington Post.
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02/15/2006 - Timing Mattered to Us
"The Bush administration desperately wants the public to believe that it doesn’t matter what the president knew about Hurricane Katrina and when he knew it." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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02/14/2006 - Waste Plagues Hurricane Response
"The federal government has wasted millions of dollars in aid intended for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by paying bogus claims for assistance and buying temporary housing unsuitable for use along the Gulf Coast, a Senate committee was told Monday." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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02/12/2006 - La. Reps Defend Paid Travel
"In an atmosphere where privately funded travel for members of Congress is being criticized, Louisiana legislators and their aides took trips worth more than $200,000 last year, according to travel disclosure records." Read on in The Advocate.
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02/12/2006 - Bad Neighborhood
"It was not so long ago that crime was routinely described as “out of control,” that crime-ridden neighborhoods were widely considered unsalvageable, that crime-fighting strategies for cities were compared to deck-chair-shuffling strategies for the Titanic." Read on in the Washington Post.
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02/10/2006 - Ex-Judge Is Sentenced to 51 Months in Prison
"Defiant to the end of prosecutors’ claim that $10,000 in cash payments that he received from Bail Bond Unlimited were bribes, former state Judge Alan Green was sentenced to 51 months in prison Thursday in federal court in New Orleans, becoming the second judge to wind up behind bars in the Jefferson Parish courthouse corruption scandal." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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02/10/2006 - White House Knew of Levee's Failure on Night of Storm
"In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Bush administration officials said they had been caught by surprise when they were told on Tuesday, Aug. 30, that a levee hard broken, allowing floodwaters to engulf New Orleans." Read on in the New York Times.
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02/09/2006 - The Politics of Science
"It is a rare thing for the biography of a 24-year-old NASA spokesman to attract the attention of the national media. But that is what happened this week when George C. Deutsch tendered his resignation." Read on in the Washington Post.
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02/08/2006 - Pennsylvania Voters Less Patient
"Last July, the Pennsylvania state Legislature voted to give itself a pay raise. The late-night vote, making Pennsylvania’s lawmakers the second-highest paid in the nation, triggered voter fury in that state." Read on in the Sheveport Times.
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02/07/2006 - Vitter Plans Oversight Panel for Storm Safety
"U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., announced Monday that he will introduce legislation to create a new federal council to oversee hurricane and flood protection in south Louisiana." Read on in The Advocate.
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02/06/2006 - 'Reform' May Still Depend on Abramoff
"Lobbying legislation will proceed one of two ways this year: a bidding war or a slow walk." Read on in the Washington Post.
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02/05/2006 - Fondness for Corrupt Politicians Could Affect Recovery
"Louisiana voters will forgive a politician for almost anything- short of being dull. In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Louisiana now is asking itself whether its love affair with colorfully corrupt politicians has been worth the cost- and whether the political conditions that allowed those politicians to thrive need to be changed." Read on in the Opelousas Daily World.
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02/03/2006 - A Nervous GOP Makes Its Choice
"The upset victory of Rep. John Boehner of Ohio in the contest for House majority leader reflects the nervousness of congressional Republicans about the lobbying scandal that has rocked Washington." Read on in the Washington Post.
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02/03/2006 - Panel Grills La. Governor on Katrina
"Gov. Kathleen Blanco told a Senate committee Thursday that Louisiana officials “did the best we could” in coping with the horrible circumstances of Hurricane Katrina, a comment that drew a scolding response from the panel chairwoman." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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02/02/2006 - A Tribal Loophole for Campaign Gifts
"Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff has altered the ways of Washington. Congress is poised to stiffen the government’s ethics laws because of his indiscretions, and in the meantime, lawmakers and lobbyists are already keeping their distance from each other." Read on in the Washington Post.
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02/02/2006 - Clear Leader Was Lacking, Report Says
"The government should have had one person clearly in charge during Hurricane Katrina to speak directly for the president with the authority to order agencies to bring together the necessary resources to cope with the disaster, congressional investigators said Wednesday." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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01/31/2006 - Pre-Katrina Emergency Plan for Elderly Faulted
"Louisiana officials did virtually nothing to prepare to evacuate poor, sick or elderly people as required under a state emergency plan adopted months before Hurricane Katrina hit, according to newly released documents." Read on in the Washington Post.
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01/31/2006 - Contracts With Lobbyists Curbed
"Republican and Democratic lawmakers are canceling their regularly scheduled meetings with lobbyists as the fallout from the Jack Abramoff scandal continues to roil Capitol Hill." Read on in the Washington Post.
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01/28/2006 - The Catastrophe Is Not Over
"While the rest of the country wakes up in the morning to read about the latest round of Washington scandals, the misery in Louisiana continues unabated." Read on in the Washington Post.
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01/27/2006 - Louisiana Tires of Its Rogues
"Joseph Impastato conceded he took the two cashier’s checks worth $85,000. The whole thing was captured on tape by the FBA, so it would have been difficult to deny." Read on in the Los Angeles Times.
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01/26/2006 - Hobbling the Lobbyists
"The juiciest gossip in Washington this week concerns photographs of George Bush shaking hands with Jack Abramoff, a crooked lobbyist. So far, only a few people have seen them, but it cannot be long before they are leaked, published and festooned with amusing captions." Read on in The Economist.
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01/26/2006 - President Betrays State's Interests
"We’ve heard it a thousand times from President Bush’s White House. The administration wanted to hear a Louisiana plan for dealing with Louisiana’s problems." Read on in The Advocate.
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01/25/2006 - White House Accused of Gag Order
"The White House is hindering the Senate’s investigation into the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina by prohibiting federal officials from talking about their hurricane-related communications with the administration, the two senators leading the probe said Tuesday." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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01/24/2006 - Federal Report Predicted Cataclysm
"As Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast, President Bush’s top disaster agency warned of the likelihood of levee breaches that could leave New Orleans submerged “for weeks or months,” a communications blackout that would hamper rescue efforts and “at least 100,000 poverty-stricken people” stranded in the city." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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01/24/2006 - Federal Report Predicted Cataclysm
"As Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast, President Bush’s top disaster agency warned of the likelihood of levee breaches that could leave New Orleans submerged “for weeks or months,” a communications blackout that would hamper rescue efforts and “at least 100,000 poverty-stricken people” stranded in the city." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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01/24/2006 - Closed-Door Deal Makes $22 Billion Difference
"House and Senate GOP negotiators, meeting behind closed doors last month to complete a major budget-cutting bill, agreed on a change to Senate-passed Medicare legislation that would save the health insurance industry $22 billion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office." Read on in the Washington Post.
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01/23/2006 - Nagin's Rhetoric Illogical, Divisive, Often Inaccurate
"Ray Nagin appears to be afflicted with foot-in-mouth syndrome. The New Orleans mayor seems compelled to grab thoughts out of left field and throw them at the public without consideration of their implication or impact." Read on in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser.
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01/19/2006 - Gore's Challenge
"Former vice president Al Gore has turned himself into a one-man grand jury, ready to indict the Bush administration for any number of crimes against the Constitution." Read on in the Washington Post.
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01/19/2006 - Levee Report Must Be Candid, Officials Says
"A National Research Council committee’s review of federal and independent investigations into the causes of failures in the New Orleans area levee system needs to be brutally honest in its findings, and let the chips fall where they may, the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works said Wednesday." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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01/18/2006 - Loophole in Lobbying Bill Leaves Wiggle Room
"Lawmakers are about to bombard the American public with proposals that would crack down on lobbyists. Several prominent plans, including one outlined yesterday by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), would specifically ban meals and privately paid travel for lawmakers." Read on in the Washington Post.
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01/18/2006 - Nagin's Words Belie King's Effort
"New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is not just entitled but expected to have a vision for rebuilding the city. However, Nagin’s expression of his vision deserves the condemnation normally reserved for garden-variety racists and charlatans who purport to speak on behalf of a deity." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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01/16/2006 - Abramoff Effect: Leaping Out of Bed With the Lobbyists
"It took a scandal on the scale of the Jack Abramoff case, but House Speaker Dennis Hastert is scrambling aboard the Lobby Reform Express. Laboring to clean Republicans’ skirts for the November elections, Mr. Hastert has outflanked most Democratic critics by broaching the possibility of a ban on privately financed Congressional junkets." Read on in the New York Times.
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01/15/2006 - Sunlight Needed on Sub-Contractor Records
"Gov. Kathleen Blanco has proposed transparency as clear as polished glass on hurricane response spending, but unless there’s a change in state law, much of it could be opaque." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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01/14/2006 - Good Vs. Bad Travel
"Questionable foreign travel by members of Congress is in the news these days with the guilty pleas by lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon to corruption charges involving travel gifts." Read on in the Washington Post.
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01/13/2006 - In New Orleans, Bush Speaks With Optimism but Sees Little of Ruin
"President Bush made his first trip here in three months on Thursday and declared that New Orleans was “a heck of a place to bring your family” and that it had “some of the greatest food in the world and some wonderful fun.”" Read on in the New York Times.
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01/12/2006 - Ex-Jefferson Aide Pleads Guilty, To Testify in Federal Bribery Case
"A former aide to Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court and has agreed to cooperate with an investigation into an alleged conspiracy to funnel money to the eight-term congressman and members of his family." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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01/11/2006 - Mr. President, We Need You
"President Bush is coming to New Orleans for the ninth time since Hurricane Katrina swamped South Louisiana, but Thursday’s visit will be the first since he succeeded in getting $29 billion for levee repairs." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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01/08/2006 - Can I Lobby You?
"If you typed the word “lobbyist” into the Google News search engine last week, the first page of 8,670 search results would have included dozens of headlines that screamed out “Lobbyist’s Guilty Pleas Sends Out Shock Waves Through Congress,” “Bush Campaign Getting Rid of Lobbyist’s Money” and “Kenney Among Leading Recipients of Convicted Lobbyist’s Clients.”" Read on in the Washington Post.
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01/05/2006 - McCrery Dedicates Tainted Donations
"Rep. Jim McCrery said he will give about $35,000 in political contributions from tribes represented by scandal-plagued lobbyist Jack Abramoff to the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Clubs in Shreveport." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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01/04/2006 - Tremors Across Washington as Lobbyist Turns Star Witness
"As a high-flying Republican lobbyist, Jack Abramoff has long been known as a mover and shaker in Washington. But when he cut a deal with federal prosecutors on Tuesday, he shook up this town as never before." Read on in the New York Times.
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01/03/2006 - Levee Board Ex-Consultant Cashed In On Katrina
"It was Aug. 30 and the winds from Hurricane Katrina had barely died down, but Orleans Levee Board legal consultant George Carmouche already was cashing in on the storm by greatly expanding his previously limited role at the flood protection agency." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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01/03/2006 - G.O.P. Lobbyist Pleads Guilty in Deal With Prosecutors
"Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to three felony counts in Washington today as part of a settlement with federal prosecutors, ending an intense, months-long negotiation over whether the Republican lobbyist would testify against his former colleagues, people involved with the case said." Read on in the New York Times.
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01/02/2006 - The Reform Session
"Our state can’t rebuild its costal marshland or the broken levees of greater New Orleans without substantial help for outside. But on its own initiative, Louisiana can improve its political climate and bring about more efficient government." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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12/31/2005 - Public Officials Report Recovery Contracts
"Prompted by a new state law, more than 30 political officeholders or their relatives in Louisiana have filed statements with the Board of Ethics revealing contracts they or their companies have made with state or federal agencies as part of the hurricane recovery." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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12/21/2005 - Katrina Story Offers Anatomy of Failure
"For Louisiana, the story of Hurricane Katrina is a story of failure. But it’s not a failure of imagination. Disaster planning studies anticipated the aftermath of a strong storm." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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12/18/2005 - Mayor Can't Please Everyone
"Memo to Mayor Ray Nagin: It’s time to start acting like you’re not running for reelection." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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12/17/2005 - Innocent of Ethics Breach, Morrell Says
"Rep. Arthur Morrell, D-New Orleans, said Friday that he is innocent of charges filed against him by a state ethics panel and denied that a conflict exists between his duties as a private lawyer and a lawmaker." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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12/17/2005 - McCain to Congress: No More Pigs at the Trough
"Fresh from winning a torture showdown with President Bush, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., took the Senate floor Friday to challenge his congressional colleagues to clean up their act." Read on in Salon.
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12/17/2005 - Feds Seek Levee Board Papers
"The embattled Orleans Levee Board has received from U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s office two subpoenas for a wide range of documents, a signal that the federal criminal inquiry into the board is proceeding." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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12/16/2005 - We Need Levees, Not More Buses
"One of the lingering myths about Hurricane Katrina is that everybody who died here was trapped here and that, in fact, no one would have died if local and state governments had provided buses out of town." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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12/16/2005 - Where's Bush? Not in New Orleans.
"New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has been guilty of hyperbole in the past, with his exaggerated reports of mayhem and death in the days after Hurricane Katrina made its tragic landfall." Read on in the Washington Post.
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12/13/2005 - No Do-Overs
"The vote last month that killed Sen. Walter Boasso’s attempt to create a professional, unified levee board revealed more than House member’s disinterest in fixing the fatal flaws in that system." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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12/12/2005 - Preparing Americans for Disaster
"As they ponder the final 9/11 commission report detailing the continued lack of preparedness among federal agencies, Congress and President Bush should also consider the parallel lack of preparedness among the citizenry as a whole." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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12/12/2005 - Can Congress Police Its Ethics?
"With a flurry of corruption indictments and related plea agreements threatening to become a storm, Congress is feeling the heat on ethics reform." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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12/11/2005 - Death of an American City
"We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum." Read on in the New York Times.
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12/08/2005 - Problems May Lie Within, Some Say
"There is no shortage of investigations into why New Orleans levees failed during Hurricane Katrina. But it’s not yet clear whether any will accomplish their ultimate aim: deriving lessons from what went wrong that can avert the next disaster." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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12/08/2005 - Time for a House-Cleaning
"If the House of Representatives were a person, it would be blushing these days. Unfortunately, the House is beyond embarrassment." Read on in the Washington Post.
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12/06/2005 - Federal Sept. 11 Inaction Showed Effects in Katrina
"If the federal government had acted promptly and correctly on one major recommendation made by the commission that investigated the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the response to Hurricane Katrina could well have been far different." Read on in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser.
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12/06/2005 - Guarding the Borders
"Pre-Katrina Orleans Parish levee inspections were so cursory that the only chance the city had of staying dry was if nature left it alone." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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12/05/2005 - Documents Highlight Bush-Blanco Standoff
"Shortly after noon on Aug. 31, Louisiana Sen. David Vitter (R) delivered a message that stunned aides to Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D), who were frantically managing the catastrophe that began two days earlier when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast." Read on in the Washington Post.
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12/05/2005 - In a Season of Scandals, Ethics Panels Are on Sidelines
"The House ethics committee, the panel responsible for upholding the chamber’s ethics code, has been virtually moribund for the past year, handling only routine business despite a wave of federal investigations into close and potentially illegal relationships between lawmakers and lobbyists." Read on in the Washington Post.
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12/03/2005 - Blanco Defends Actions in Storm
"Promises of rescue buses that arrived days late. Critical requests to the White House missing for nearly a week. A plea to officials as far away as California for police reinforcements and helicopters." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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12/02/2005 - Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal
"Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan." Read on in the Washington Post.
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11/30/2005 - Sea of Levee Board Records Sought
"Senate investigatory committee has delivered a massive request to the Orleans Levee Board to submit records covering everything from transcripts of meetings dating back to 1989 to all e-mails and written communications sent in the days before and after the storm struck on Aug. 29." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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11/29/2005 - A Growing Wariness About Money in Politics
"For several years now, corporations and other wealthy interests have made ever-larger campaign contributions, gifts and sponsored trips part of the culture of Capitol Hill." Read on in the Washington Post.
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11/29/2005 - Brazen Conspiracy
"Yesterday’s guilty plea by Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham – make that former representative, since he resigned after entering the plea – reveals the most brazen bribery conspiracy in modern congressional history." Read on in the Washington Post.
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11/28/2005 - Drive-By Inspections
"Independent engineers who have studied New Orleans’ levees in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina have had little trouble finding vulnerabilities." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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11/28/2005 - Utility Regulators Have Political Ties
"All states elect or appoint regulators to oversee the activities of the energy and telecommunications industries, but few of those officials have a background as consumer advocates, according to a new report by the non-profit Center for Public Integrity." Read on in Stateline.org.
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11/26/2005 - Did Levee Oversight Come Too Little, Too Late?
"Even before Gov. Kathleen Blanco released her agenda for the hurricane-recovery session, it was among the most contentious issues to be debated." Read on in the Houma Courier.
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11/20/2005 - Corruption Inquiry Threatens to Ensnare Lawmakers
"The Justice Department has signaled for the first time in recent weeks that prominent members of Congress could be swept up in the corruption investigator of Jack Abramoff, the former Republican superlobbyist who diverted some of his tens of millions of dollars in fees to provide lavish travel, meals and campaign contributions to the lawmakers whose help he needed most." Read on in the New York Times.
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11/20/2005 - It's Time for a Nation to Return the Favor
"The federal government wrapped levees around greater New Orleans so that the rest of the country could share in out bounty." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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11/17/2005 - A Blow to Reform
"When the state Senate Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works took up Senate Bill 95, members had the chance to show Washington and the world that Louisiana lawmakers care more about flood protection than about politics. But the panel’s handling of the measure was disgraceful." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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11/16/2005 - Lacking Self-Improvement, Louisiana Can't Expect Federal Bail Out
"Amid statewide coverage of Louisiana’s displaced populations, post- hurricane upheavals and dire financial straits, one thing is missing: The state’s governmental, electoral, judicial, educational fiscal and reputational crisis requires context." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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11/15/2005 - One Problem, One Board
"Nothing is more crucial to the survival of greater New Orleans than flood protection. So the people responsible for maintaining the levee system should approach their work with focus, professionalism and common sense." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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11/14/2005 - Class Matters
"Two months ago, in his prime-time address from New Orleans, President Bush called upon the nation to “rise above the legacy of inequality.” He was joking, obviously." Read on in the Washington Post.
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11/12/2005 - House OKs Disaster Contract Disclosure
"Elected or appointed state officials and members of their immediate families would have to disclose contracts they get and any money the make from hurricane-recovery operations under a bill approved Friday by the House." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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11/10/2005 - Bills Regulate Officials' Cleanup Work
"Two bills requiring elected and appointed officials to report any money or contracts received for hurricane recovery work unanimously cleared a House committee Wednesday, but one takes the ethics proposal further with an outright ban on officials and their spouses entering into such contracts." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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11/08/2005 - Bush Aides Sent to Ethics Classes
"Mandatory classes in ethics and the handling of classified information began at the White House on Tuesday and one of the first to attend was David Addington, chosen by Vice President Dick Cheney to replace a top aide charged with the CIA leak probe." Read on in the Washington Post.
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11/08/2005 - Foti Scrutinizing Levee Failures
"State Attorney General Charles Foti said Monday that his staff is looking into whether poor construction or design flaws played a part in the collapse of canal floodwalls during Hurricane Katrina and whether criminal or civil action is warranted." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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11/05/2005 - Blanco Plan on Disclosing Contracts Takes Heat
"Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s proposed legislation requiring elected officials to disclose money or contracts they get as a result of hurricane recovery efforts does not go far enough, critics of the proposal said Friday." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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11/03/2005 - Levee Materials, Techniques Questioned
"Engineers looking into failures in the New Orleans levee system say they have received reports of possible malfeasance in construction of canal floodwalls that failed during Hurricane Katrina and believe more investigation is needed." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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11/03/2005 - Panel Still Waiting for Hurricane Katrina Papers
"The Republican who heads a Congressional panel investigating the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina complained Wednesday that the Bush administration had failed to turn over documents the panel requested weeks ago." Read on in the New York Times.
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11/01/2005 - What the 'Shield' Covered Up
"Has anyone noticed that the coverup worked? In his impressive presentation of the indictment of Lewis “Scooter” Libby last week, Patrick Fitzgerald expressed the wish that the witnesses had testified when subpoenas were issued in August 2004, and “we would have been here in October 2004 instead of October 2005.”" Read on in the Washington Post.
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10/31/2005 - Don't Balance the Budget on the Backs of the Poor
"How come, when Congress figures it must trim the federal budget deficit, it first turns to cutting programs that benefit primarily the poor?" Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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10/30/2005 - Levee Jitters
"A host of experts are studying the levee breaches that flooded most of New Orleans, and the information that’s filtering out casts grave doubt on some of the work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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10/29/2005 - Our 27 Months of Hell
"After the two-year smear campaign orchestrated by senior officials in the Bush White House against my wife and me, it is tempting to feel vindicated by Friday’s indictment of the vice president’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby." Read on in the Los Angeles Times.
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10/27/2005 - Cough Up That Info
"If the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stonewalls an independent investigation into the levee failures that flooded this metro area, even people who weren’t inclined to believe the worst about the federal agency will start to do so." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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10/25/2005 - In Washington's Scandal Shuffle, Perjury Really Isn't the Point
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, prepare for a dance demonstration, a cute little jig performed in two parts by various parties and factions in this town in the name of team support and self-preservation." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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10/22/2005 - Officials Knew About Weak Soil Under Levee
"Original soil tests and design documents for the 17th Street Canal flood wall show layers of weak soil under the wall’s steel base that investigators believe gave way during Hurricane Katrina, likely causing the breach that flooded large portions of the city." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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10/21/2005 - Cover-Up Issue Is Seen as Focus in Leak Inquiry
"As he weighs whether to bring criminal charges in the C.I.A. leak case, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special counsel, is focusing on whether Karl Rove, the senior White House advisor, and I. Lewis Libby Jr., chief of state for Vice President Dick Cheney, sought to conceal their actions and mislead prosecutors, lawyers involved in the case said Thursday." Read on in the New York Times.
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10/21/2005 - FEMA Was Warned, Officials Says
"Immediately before and after Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s lone officials in the city e-mailed agency leaders warning of a desperate need for medical help, oxygen canisters, even food and water." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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10/20/2005 - Chertoff Absolves Local Officials
"As floodwaters rose in New Orleans the day after Hurricane Katrina, the Washington officials in charge of disaster relief tried in vain to reach his “battlefield commander” to get an assessment of what was happening." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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10/18/2005 - Hollywood on the Potomac
"The most recent installment in the continuing saga of Jack Abramoff sounds more like a Hollywood thriller than a real-life account of the stealthy operations of one of the capital’s most powerful lobbyists as he maneuvered to kill an Internet gambling bill for his $100,000-a-month lobbyist client, eLottery Inc." Read on in the Washington Post.
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10/16/2005 - Judy Miller and the Damage Done
"During the past couple of weeks, the New York Times has been promising to eventually publish a thorough account of its reporter Judith Miller’s run-in with federal prosecutors investigating the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity. On Sunday, the paper finally published that report." Read on in Salon.
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10/03/2005 - Relief Bill Seen As Grab for Cash
"On the FOX New Channel last week, conservative talk show host Sean Hannity told Sen. David Vitter that he was “shocked and outraged” that “you politicians in Louisiana” are exploiting the Hurricane Katrina tragedy by “trying to get every tax dollar for every pork barrel project.”" Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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10/03/2005 - Exploiting Katrina
"It was almost inevitable that we would see every kind of legislative lunacy after Katrina, proposed in the name of accelerating the cleanup of New Orleans, improving the nation’s energy security or achieving other worthy objectives." Read on in the New York Times.
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10/02/2005 - Actually, It Was FEMA's Job
"While the nation is pretty clear that the Federal Emergency Management Agency failed miserably during Hurricane Katrina, people are confused about what it should – or shouldn’t – have been doing." Read on in the New York Times.
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01/16/2004 - Public Corruption in the United States
In 2004, the National Press Club put together a report on corruption in the 50 states after a Connecticut gubernatorial candidate referenced Louisiana in proclaiming the amount of political corruption in CT. Read the entire report here.
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