Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2008 > June > 10
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Peering into the vice presidential fog
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota has told CNN that the Obama team vetting vice presidential candidates has passed 20 names to members of Congress, roughly divided into three categories: current officials, former lawmakers and “former top military leaders.”
And MSNBC’s First Read says the surprise name that’s surfaced belongs to “Ret. Gen. James Jones, the former Marine-turned-NATO Supreme Allied Commander.”
Other names? “Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John Edwards, Evan Bayh, Kathleen Sebelius, Ted Strickland, Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Jim Webb, Bill Nelson, Jack Reed, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Tom Daschle, and” — of course — “Sam Nunn.”
Permalink | Comments (16) | Post your comment |
Dershowitz takes aim at Carter over Israel
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The New York Post’s Page Six has this today:
ALAN Dershowitz is taking on Jimmy Carter in his upcoming book, “The Case Against Israel’s Enemies,” out in September. The Harvard law prof rips the ex-president as a “critical threat” to the existence of Israel, arguing that he wants to “delegitimize Israel as an apartheid regime subject to the same fate as white South Africans.” The book calls the views of Carter and other like-minded Western leaders a bigger threat than Hamas and Palestinian terrorists. A rep for Carter didn’t get back to us.
Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment |
The Abramoff report and the Sonny Perdue staffer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Monday, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released its report on convicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and White House officials.
You can read the entire document here.
The one item of local interest is the August 2007 deposition by Padgett Robinson Wilson, a former staffer for U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, then U.S. Sen. Paul Coverdell, who wandered into D.C. lobbying circles and became a low-ranking member of Jack Abramoff’s team — first at the team of Preston Gates, then at Greenberg Traurig.
The report makes Wilson’s importance clear:
The Committee sought depositions of Abramoff lobbying team members including Jack Abramoff, Neil Volz, Tony Rudy, Kevin Ring, Todd Boulanger, Shawn Vasell, and Padgett Wilson. Of these requests, the only Abramoff lobbyist deposed was Padgett Wilson, who while prominent in the Greenberg Traurig billing records, indicated that as Assistant Director of Government Affairs he was “basically a paralegal for the practice.”
Wilson, 34, has not been charged with any crime. Questioning by House investigators focused on whether prominent Republican figures in D.C., including Ken Mehlman and Karl Rove, received favors from Abramoff and his team. Wilson was also questioned about his social contacts with White House staff, many of whom worked for Coverdell, who died in 2000.
The most salacious evidence in the Wilson deposition was leaked several weeks ago. It’s an e-mail exchange between Ring, the Abramoff associate, and Wilson. The topic is a Dave Matthews concert.
Ring: I have the suite filling up with [Department of Justice] staffers that just got our client $16 million. Come to the show, baby.
Wilson: Are there any tickets left?
And as for DOJ staffers, those guys should get anything they want for the rest of the time they are In office opening day tickets, Skins v Giants, oriental massages, hookers, whatever…..
Under questioning, Wilson, a Dave Matthews fan, elaborates on the e-mail to House investigator, Suzanne Sachsman:
It’s not something that — it’s not me and it’s definitely not something I would ever say today, and it’s definitely not the way I was raised, but it was a smart aleck comment back to Kevin wanting to — kind of pointing out the fact that I’d really like to go to this and a bad attempt at sarcasm at best.
The investigator’s reply is interesting. She didn’t care about “hookers, whatever.”
“What I’m interested in is what the DOJ staffer has done that made you think that they should get anything that they want for the rest of the time that they’re in office,” she said.
Said Wilson:
Well, Kevin says something there and it was again a direct response to his comment, but you know, again, it’s bad sarcasm. And did I — would I ever think that somebody should be rewarded as a thank you? No, I really — I would never give tickets or dinner or anything as a thank you, so this is — this is just me being smart and a bad attempt at locker room humor.”
Wilson was hired by the state to handle Washington relations in 2005, just as the Abramoff scandal was exploding. Wilson informed the governor and his chief of staff when he gave the deposition this summer, and spoke again with the governor when the e-mail surfaced weeks ago.
“The governor and Pat talked about the issue of the e-mail,” said Bert Brantley, spokesman for Sonny Perdue, who noted that Wilson was the only cooperating member of the Abramoff team. “Pat was very upfront with the governor.
“He’s completely satisfied with everything that Pat has told him,” Brantley said.
Wilson is now in charge of governmental affairs in Washington and both chambers of the House and Senate.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment |
Obama team quietly shifts forces to Savannah
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You know about the eight or so Barack Obama operatives who quietly set up shop in Atlanta last month.
This is significant. Posting paid staffers in Georgia speaks of an abundance of both resources and confidence.
Larry Peterson of the Savannah Morning News says this morning that a large chunk of the same Obama team has been working the Georgia coast lately:
Five Barack Obama campaign staffers and dozens of volunteers are conducting a Savannah-based voter registration drive.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s supporters have signed up hundreds of voters, said Chatham County Democratic Chair Karen Arms.
The effort flies in the face of widespread assumption that Obama has written off Georgia as an easy win for Republican John McCain.
Aharon Wasserman, coordinator for the group, said he is not allowed to discuss its activities publicly.
But Tony Hensley, a volunteer to whom Wasserman referred a press inquiry, said the group has seven teams of volunteers.
Hensley said he worked with a dozen-member team that focused on barbershops and beauty parlors and registered 83 people.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment |
The locals don’t think the Jekyll Island fight has hurt Jeff Chapman
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Largely as a result of his efforts to block a Jekyll Island development plan, state Sen. Jeff Chapman of Brunswick has picked up opposition in the Republican primary — in the form of a local developer.
But local Republican officials think Chapman’s in good shape. Today’s Brunswick News offers a notable fer-instance:
Among those who believe that way is the Republican Party’s own chairman, George Skarpalezos. He’s not taking sides, refraining form endorsing Chapman or his July 15 GOP opponent, businessman Terry Carter, but Skarpalezos says the incumbent’s position is generally popular.
It’s a position that reflects his tendency to be fiscally conservative and considerate of what his constituents want, said Skarpalezos, adding that Chapman is trying to “preserve the integrity of Jekyll Island.”
Photo credit: Ben Gray/AJC
Permalink | Comments (17) | Post your comment |
It starts with a ‘B’ — Boswell? Boudreau? Definitely not Bubba
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
From Sunday’s forum, Jon Flack at Tondee’s Tavern compiled this attempt by Democratic senate candidates to identify themselves with the new presidential nominee — whose name is….
