Say Anything Blog

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - President Bush failed to win the help he sought from Saudi Arabia to relieve skyrocketing American gas prices Friday, a setback for the former Texas oilman who took office predicting he would jawbone oil-producing nations to help the U.S.

Bush got a red-carpet welcome to this desert kingdom, home to the world’s largest oil reserves, and promised to ask King Abdullah to increase production to reduce pressure on prices, which soared past $127 for the first time Friday. But Saudi officials said they already were meeting the needs of their customers worldwide and there was no need to pump more.

Their answer recalled Bush’s trip to Saudi Arabia in January when he urged an increase in production but was rebuffed.

Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said the kingdom decided on May 10 to increase production by 300,000 barrels a day to help meet U.S. needs after Venezuela and Mexico cut back deliveries.

“Supply and demand are in balance today,” al-Naimi told a news conference, bristling at criticism from the U.S. Congress. “How much does Saudi Arabia need to do to satisfy people who are questioning our oil practices and policies?”

Marc Dann Resigns as Ohio Attorney General

UPDATE: Just in, from the AP, Ohio AG Marc Dann has resigned amid the scandal of a sexual harassment investigation in his office and his extramarital affair. Dann, 46, led the state on a 10-day odyssey, at first refusing to resign despite demands by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and others within his party, a growing number of investigations into conduct at his office, and the filing Tuesday of articles of impeachment against him. (Find past LB coverage of the Dann scandal here and here.)

The Detroit City Council launched a historic effort Tuesday to pry Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from office, approving—by a single vote—a two-front strategy for removal: asking the governor to oust the mayor while beginning its own effort to unseat him.

Adding to the drama was Councilwoman JoAnn Watson’s post-vote wavering, as she made a last-ditch effort to persuade the mayor to resign. But when Kilpatrick—and then his lawyer—said he would not, Watson returned to council chambers to affirm her votes for removal.

Three former chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission will publicly endorse Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency Wednesday, including one who served under President Bush.

William Donaldson, who was SEC chairman for about 2½ years from early 2003, along with Clinton and Reagan appointees Arthur Levitt and David Ruder, will join former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker in endorsing Sen. Obama, his campaign said. Mr. Volcker endorsed Sen. Obama in January.

...The endorsements, especially that of Republican appointee Mr. Donaldson, could give a boost to Mr. Obama in the general election this fall. Sen. Obama appears increasingly likely to be confirmed as the Democratic Party’s nominee; Sen. McCain is the likely Republican choice.

COLUMBUS, Ohio—House Democrats filed articles of impeachment Tuesday against scandal-scarred Attorney General Marc Dann, a fellow Democrat who could become the first official impeached and convicted in Ohio in two centuries.

The lawmakers’ resolution outlines nine counts alleging that Dann should be impeached for gross neglect of duty, gross immorality and obstruction of his office’s investigation that found an employee was sexually harassed by a top aide.

On May 2, Dann admitted an extramarital affair with an employee that he said contributed to an atmosphere leading to the sexual harassment claims. Three aides were forced out in the harassment investigation, which showed that management encouraged a casual work environment with frequent profanity and inappropriate interactions with subordinates.

Removing Dann from office would require support from Republicans, who control the Legislature, and a Senate trial. Ohio has not used the impeachment process since 1820, and 1808 was the last time someone was impeached and convicted.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Pentagon has dropped charges against a Saudi at Guantanamo who was alleged to have been the so-called “20th hijacker” in the Sept. 11 attacks, his U.S. military defense lawyer said Monday.

Mohammed al-Qahtani was one of six men charged by the military in February with murder and war crimes for their alleged roles in the 2001 attacks. Authorities say al-Qahtani missed out on taking part in the attacks because he was denied entry to the U.S. by an immigration agent.

But in reviewing the case, the convening authority for military commissions, Susan Crawford, decided to dismiss the charges against al-Qahtani and proceed with the arraignment for the other five, said Army Lt. Col. Bryan Broyles, the Saudi’s military lawyer.

Crawford dismissed the charges Friday without prejudice, meaning they can be filed again later, but the defense only learned about it Monday, Broyles told The Associated Press.

The attorney said he could not comment on the reasons for the dismissal until discussing the case with lawyers for the other five defendants. Officials previously said al-Qahtani had been subjected to a harsh interrogation authorized by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Ex-State officials allege corruption cover up

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information so as not to undermine its relationship with Baghdad, according to two former State Department employees.

Arthur Brennan, who briefly served in Baghdad as head of the department’s Office of Accountability and Transparency last year, and James Mattil, who worked as the chief of staff, told Senate Democrats on Monday that their office was understaffed and its warnings and recommendations ignored.

Brennan also alleges the State Department prevented a congressional staffer visiting Baghdad from talking with staffers by insisting they were too busy. In reality, Brennan said, the staffers were watching movies at the embassy and on their computers. The staffers’ workload had been cut dramatically because of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki’s “evisceration” of Iraq’s top anti-corruption office, he said.

The State Department’s policies “not only contradicted the anti- corruption mission but indirectly contributed to and has allowed corruption to fester at the highest levels of the Iraqi government,” Brennan told the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.

The U.S. embassy “effort against corruption—including its new centerpiece, the now-defunct Office of Accountability and Transparency—was little more than ‘window dressing,’” he added.

Vito Fossella’s admission that he fathered a love child exposed another of his lies: He had told his girlfriend he was separated from his wife, the Daily News learned Friday.

Retired Air Force Col. Laura Fay told those around her recently that the Staten Island congressman had split with his wife, Mary Pat, one source said.

The source said Fay learned of the lie when a friend who saw a draft of Fossella's statement realized it didn't say he was separated.

Fossella, who has always stressed "family values," admitted Thursday in the statement that he fathered Fay's 3-year-old daughter during an illicit affair. ">“Fay thought - up until the release of the statement - that Fossella was separated,” said the source, who is familiar with the relationship.

The source said Fay learned of the lie when a friend who saw a draft of Fossella’s statement realized it didn’t say he was separated.

Fossella, who has always stressed “family values,” admitted Thursday in the statement that he fathered Fay’s 3-year-old daughter during an illicit affair.

The revelation came a week after he was charged with drunken driving in Alexandria, Va., and seemed to tear apart the family.

McCain Pushed Land Swap That Benefits Backer

PRESCOTT, Ariz.—Sen. John McCain championed legislation that will let an Arizona rancher trade remote grassland and ponderosa pine forest here for acres of valuable federally owned property that is ready for development, a land swap that now stands to directly benefit one of his top presidential campaign fundraisers].

Initially reluctant to support the swap, the Arizona Republican became a key figure in pushing the deal through Congress after the rancher and his partners hired lobbyists that included McCain’s 1992 Senate campaign manager, two of his former Senate staff members (one of whom has returned as his chief of staff), and an Arizona insider who was a major McCain donor and is now bundling campaign checks.

When McCain’s legislation passed in November 2005, the ranch owner gave the job of building as many as 12,000 homes to SunCor Development, a firm in Tempe, Ariz., run by Steven A. Betts, a longtime McCain supporter who has raised more than $100,000 for the presumptive Republican nominee. Betts said he and McCain never discussed the deal.

The Audubon Society described the exchange as the largest in Arizona history. The swap involved more than 55,000 acres of land in all, including rare expanses of desert woodland and pronghorn antelope habitat. The deal had support from many local officials and the Arizona Republic newspaper for its expansion of the Prescott National Forest. But it brought an outcry from some Arizona environmentalists when it was proposed in 2002, partly because it went through Congress rather than a process that allowed more citizen input.

...Betts is among a string of donors who have benefited from McCain-engineered land swaps. In 1994, the senator helped a lobbyist for land developer Del Webb Corp. pursue an exchange in the Las Vegas area, according to the Center for Public Integrity. McCain sponsored two bills, in 1991 and 1994, sought by donor Donald R. Diamond that yielded the developer thousands of acres in trade for national parkland.

ANCHORAGE - Facing a prison sentence of 3½ years, a former Alaska lawmaker said he’s broke and has lost respect for the U.S. government, but that his conscience is clear.

Former state Rep. Vic Kohring was sentenced Thursday for bribery and two other felony corruption charges, convictions he blamed on prosecutors who twisted his words and a judge with a conflict of interest.

“I refuse to cower before you in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence,” he told U.S. District Court Judge John Sedwick.

The seven-term Republican from Wasilla said he had to borrow a truck to drive to the courthouse and it broke down on the way. He hitchhiked and was picked up by a loyal constituent who immediately put him on his church’s prayer chain, Kohring said.

Kohring was convicted in November of accepting at least $2,600 from executives of VECO Corp., an Alaska company with more than 4,000 employees that provided engineering, construction and facility maintenance services to major oil producers. Its officers also carried enormous political clout, sponsoring fundraisers and donating to candidates.

Kohring was the third Alaska Republican lawmaker with ties to VECO convicted last year of bribery charges. The FBI also is investigating remodeling work that VECO employees did at the home of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in Senate history. Stevens has said he paid all bills presented to him.

Sorry I let you all down.
This filthy gop was picked up late last month.

State Sen. Randy Scott “berated” Dorchester County deputies after failing three field sobriety tests, according to a Sheriff’s Office report released Monday.

The five-page incident report outlines Scott’s arrest this weekend on a driving under the influence charge. The senator allegedly threatened the arresting sergeant and the county magistrate with their jobs.

The arrest, made late Saturday in Summerville, comes just weeks before a primary election that pits Dorchester County political interests against one another.

Scott, a Summerville Republican finishing his first term in the Senate, is arguing that the arrest is politically motivated. He is running against former state Sen. Mike Rose, a Republican, in June.

According to the report, Scott repeatedly argued that politics were at play while deputies conducted field sobriety tests. At the jail, he “berated and at sometimes appeared to be intimidating deputies,” it said.

H/T to Republican Offenders

REP. FOSSELLA ADMITS TO AFFAIR, LOVE CHILD
WON’T RESIGN FROM POSITION

Rep. Vito Fossella, a married congressman from Staten Island, this morning admitted to having an out-of-wedlock child with a former Air Force officer with whom he carried on a longstanding extramarital affair.

The stunning admission comes exactly a week after the Republican politician was busted for drunk driving in Alexandria, Va. presumably on the way to visit his mistress and their young child.

“I have had a relationship with Laura Fay, with whom I have a three-year-old daughter,” Fossella, 43, said in a statement.

Fay, 45, is a retired Air Force intelligence officer who may have met Fossella when she served as a congressional liaison from the Pentagon

..."While I understand that there will be many questions, including those about my political future, making any political decisions right now are furthest from my mind,” he said.

“Over the coming weeks and months, I will to continue to do my job and I will work hard to heal the deep wounds I have caused.”

Representative Vito J. Fossella was driving with a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when he was pulled over and faces a mandatory five days in jail if convicted, a Virginia prosecutor said on Friday.

...The report said Mr. Fossella failed several sobriety tests on the street, including a preliminary breath test on which he registered a blood alcohol level of 0.133 percent. After he was arrested, he recorded a level of 0.17 percent on another machine. The legal limit in Virginia, as in most states, is 0.08 percent.

Pressure mounted on embattled Rep. Vito Fossella Wednesday to walk away from his congressional seat in the wake of his drunken-driving bust and relationship with a single mom.

Fossella tried to project calm by attending his eldest son’s Confirmation on Staten Island, but some Republican campaign officials warned donors he was a “huge problem” going into the fall elections.

Some even told donors to withhold checks to Fossella, inside sources said.

Party officials were losing confidence Fossella could hold onto his seat even if he survived fallout from his drunken-driving arrest in Alexandria, Va., last week, the sources said.

The married congressman also faced questions over whether he had a 3-year-old love child with retired Lt. Col. Laura Fay, who rescued him from the drunk tank on Thursday, the sources and others familiar with the conversations said.

“That’s a huge problem for us,” a GOP official told representatives of political action committees who support Republican candidates.

WASHINGTON — More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, Pentagon records show.

This reliance on troops found medically “nondeployable” is another sign of stress placed on a military that has sent 1.6 million service members to the war zones, soldier advocacy groups said.

“It is a consequence of the consistent churning of our troops,” said Bobby Muller, president of Veterans For America. “They are repeatedly exposed to high-intensity combat with insufficient time at home to rest and heal before re-deploying.”