1. Links to House earmark disclosures in one database

    By Bill Allison Apr 6, 2009 6:19 p.m. 12 comments

    House members had to post their earmark requests for fiscal year 2010 online this weekend; the original deadline was Friday, but that was extended to Saturday at 5 p.m., according to CNN.

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  2. Earmark requests due online today

    By Bill Allison Apr 3, 2009 7:02 p.m. 1 comment

    I was just forwarded a press release from the office of Rep. Jeff Flake, reminding us that members have to post their earmark requests online today:

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  3. Unraveling Rangel

    By Bill Allison Dec 16, 2008 10:44 p.m. 10 comments

    It's been interesting to watch the stories that have described multiple ethics problems for Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and someone identified by The Hill as the top fundraiser for House Democrats. The Washington Post seems to have kicked things off with a story on July 14 saying that Rangel used official House stationary to solicit big donations for his Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York. There followed a series of revelations that he wasn't properly declaring income on a vacation property he owned in the Dominican Republic; that he benefited from having four rent controlled apartments (one of which he used as an office) in violation of New York City statutes; that he used taxpayer funds to lease an expensive car; that he had all but abandoned a car he owns, a Mercedes, in the House parking garage; that he inappropriately claimed a small tax deduction for having a primary residence in Washington, D.C., (his primary residence is in New York, leaving him ineligible for the D.C. tax break) and he used his campaign committee to funnel $80,000 to his son for performing little or no work on a Web site. The New York Times report that Rangel killed a retroactive tax increase for a big donor to his Center for Public Service is the latest revelation, but it's one of about a half dozen news organizations (the Washington Post, the New York Post, Politico, and WCBS-TV being the others) that have been following the story. I would suggest looking at Glenn Reynold's archives to follow the story, but there are so many links that it's hard to keep up with (that's due to the extent of Rangel's troubles, and is not fault of Reynolds).

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  4. Tracking earmarks from Obama and Biden

    By Bill Allison Sep 13, 2008 1:29 p.m. 3 comments

    Taxpayers for Commons Sense rolled out a pair of new databases on earmarks of presidential candidates, this time covering Sen. Barack Obama's requests from 2006 to 2008, and his funded earmarks for 2008. The databases are online here.

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