In a new (and welcomed) form of disclosure, House members have released a huge document dump containing office expenditures for all 435 representatives. Sunlight will be doing a distributed research project of some sort to sift through the data, but I wanted to get out the info on New Mexico’s congressional delegation. For the following [...]

I’ve been following a bit of the discourse over at Democracy for New Mexico regarding the fight to pass comprehensive meaningful as least some sort of ethics legislation this session. And the thing I’ve noticed most is how much New Mexico’s lawmakers are looking to national politicians for ways to fight reform. First, because lawmakers [...]

Germans, recently privy to news that Europe’s biggest telecommunications firm was illegally wiretapping phone calls, are recalling what life was like when East Germany’s secret police were still around: Experts say sophisticated modern methods — involving digital data, computers and mobile phones — are a far cry from the days of the Stasi who used [...]

Via TPM. Here’s the Associated Press version: Retiring Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., created an appearance of impropriety when he called a federal prosecutor in New Mexico to inquire about the timing of corruption indictments, the Senate ethics committee said Thursday. The committee criticized Domenici in a letter to the senator, but it recommended no punishment. [...]

As this article in The Hill makes clear, the firing of nine US attorneys in 2006-07 has disappeared from the front pages since Alberto Gonzales resigned as US Attorney General last year. The article asserts that investigations into the firings will bring a renewed focus on the scandal, and, of course, New Mexico plays front-and-center: [...]

Via my boss’s blog comes this MyDD post on ethics investigations in the Senate. Sen. Pete Domenici finds his name at the top of the list: After a series of non-denial denials, Domenici admitted to contacting then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias regarding an ongoing corruption investigation, an investigation that was politically sensitive and could impact 2006 [...]

Don’t send flowers—send the NYPD: For the latest on Sex on the City (aka Shag Fund) visit TPM Muckraker.

Apparently, our primary election system doesn’t need to be rigged: It’s far worse than you think — worse than hanging chads, faulty Diebold machines, and billionaires who bankroll last-minute attack ads. The American system for nominating a presidential candidate has about as much in common with actual democracy as Donald Duck has with a lake [...]

I’m still adjusting to the morning thing (more specifically, the “I don’t get to sit here and do nothing anymore” part of it), so I guess I’ll just flag something for you that I meant to blog about last week. Heath Haussamen has been following up on the CREW allegations that Rep. Steve Pearce didn’t [...]

For those who still care: In a 56-43 vote, the Senate today “narrowly rejected” legislation that would have restored habeas corpus rights to military detainees and given them “the right to protest their detention in federal court.” The roll call fell four votes short of the 60 needed to cut off debate. UPDATE: Full roll [...]

TPM Muckraker this morning looks at the list of 11 Republican members of Congress under investigation or embroiled in scandal: So what’s the tally this year so far? Well, there is, of course, 1) Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) and 2) Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) with their sex scandals (the attempted restroom tryst and numerous successful [...]

A reader just sent this link to a video interview that David Iglesias, former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, did with Truthout. I’ve not watched it yet, but consider this an open thread to comment on the video. What do you think?