Required Report on Trip by House Ethics Chairman Is Missing -WP

[Rose Siding]

The chairman of the House ethics committee apparently did not properly file a required report about a $3,170 trip to Canada last year. His staff said it must have been lost in the mail.

Perhaps the report, due nine months ago, will turn up. But this is a potentially embarrassing juncture for the chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), to suffer a paperwork blunder.

Intense scrutiny of the travel of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has impelled lawmakers from both parties to file or amend reports on more than 200 trips, some from years ago. The Hastings committee, currently stalled by a partisan standoff, eventually will have to decide whether any of that tardiness should be punished.

The errant report came to light when PoliticalMoneyLine, a Web site specializing in money and politics, compared the trips summarized on lawmakers' annual financial disclosures -- released earlier this month -- with those on the more detailed disclosure forms that are supposed to be filed within 30 days of a trip.........

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401619.html

[NYC Liberal]

1. I am so shocked

"Lost in the mail"

:eyes:

[mbperrin]

2. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOpppss!

Careful: defamation of the postal service by falsely claiming poor service is a federal felony!

[ovidsen]

4. In that case, the dog ate it! n/t

[Gman]

3. Maybe the dog ate it

Yeah, that's the ticket!

[PsN2Wind]

5. One of the three great lies

I'm sterile, I love Jesus and it's in the mail.

[leesa]

6. Well, no wonder he wants to step down!

[maddezmom]

7. hmmm, guess we know why he wants to quit now

:eyes:

[Spazito]

8. Hmmm, it seems Stuart Island is GREAT for salmon fishing...

which, strictly co-incidentally, lol, happens to be a favoured spot corporations treat 'favoured' clients to the wild salmon fishing experience with 'no favours expected' mantra.

BTW, another favoured spot for 'treats' is Campbell River, corporations seem to love to 'treat' their best clientele to the 'attractions' there.

[jmcon007]

9. exact excuse Bush gave SEC when he was an inside trader..

He did it more than once, too. As an executive of Harkin Energy Bush sold his shares in Harkin and never reported it to the SEC, or so he said. He told them it must have gotten lost in the mail.
Of course, the small problem he had was that he sold them right before the stock tanked.
How was Bush supposed to know the stock would drop like a rock? He was only on the executive board and a member of the Harkin audit committee. Guess who their outside accountant was?
Yep. Arthur Anderson.

[ngGale]

10. Oh me, oh my ...

caught again. Why am I not surprised?

[Moderator]

11. Kick

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

12. WaPo: House Ethics Report Missing.

The chairman of the House ethics committee apparently did not properly file a required report about a $3,170 trip to Canada last year. His staff said it must have been lost in the mail.

Perhaps the report, due nine months ago, will turn up. But this is a potentially embarrassing juncture for the chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), to suffer a paperwork blunder.


Intense scrutiny of the travel of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has impelled lawmakers from both parties to file or amend reports on more than 200 trips, some from years ago. The Hastings committee, currently stalled by a partisan standoff, eventually will have to decide whether any of that tardiness should be punished.

The errant report came to light when PoliticalMoneyLine, a Web site specializing in money and politics, compared the trips summarized on lawmakers' annual financial disclosures -- released earlier this month -- with those on the more detailed disclosure forms that are supposed to be filed within 30 days of a trip.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/24/AR2005062401619.html

[bemildred]

13. "House Ethics" is an oxymoron. Hastings is a corrupt political hack. nt

[Vickers]

14. "it must have been lost in the mail."

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

15. More on Doc Hastimgs

Ethics claims target Doc Hastings

By Alicia Mundy

Seattle Times Washington bureau


WASHINGTON — Rep. Doc Hastings, already under fire as chairman of the stalled House ethics committee, accepted a $7,800 trip to England in 2000 from a company he championed for a multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, records released by an advocacy group yesterday show.

In addition, other records released yesterday by a political Web site show that Hastings, a Republican from Pasco, did not file a required travel report for a 2004 trip to a resort on Stuart Island, B.C. That was paid for by another company also working at Hanford.

Hastings has been under fire for not scheduling hearings on ethics allegations against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay is accused of accepting a trip paid for by lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under investigation over allegations that he defrauded clients of millions of dollars.

For the past two weeks, Democrats have been trying to link Hastings to Abramoff and the lobbyist's former employer, Preston Gates & Ellis, an influential law and lobbying firm based in Seattle.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002347954_hastings25m.html

[WHAT]

22. WooHoo...

:woohoo:

:woohoo:

:woohoo:

[maddezmom]

16. and another $7800 trip to the UK paid for by BNFL who won a contract....

House ethics chairman accepted overseas trip, records show

BY ALICIA MUNDY

Seattle Times


WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Rep. Doc Hastings, already under fire as chairman of the stalled House ethics committee, accepted a $7,800 trip to England in 2000 from a company he championed for a multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, records released by an advocacy group show.

~snip~
Campaign for a Cleaner Congress, an advocacy group that says it is nonpartisan, released records Friday from Hastings' personal disclosure statements that show he went to Edinburgh, Scotland, and Manchester, England, in 2000 as a guest of the firm BNFL.

He also received campaign contributions from BNFL and one of its employees.

BNFL won a $6.9 billion federal contract in 1998 to convert 54 million gallons of nuclear waste into glass for permanent storage. The contract was promoted by Hastings, who offered amendments to the Defense Authorization Act to pay for Hanford projects, including BNFL work.

more:
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/news/politics/11986225.htm

[quaoar]

17. Ethics claims target Doc Hastings (ethics chairman)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002347954_hastings25m.html

By Alicia Mundy
Seattle Times Washington bureau

WASHINGTON — Rep. Doc Hastings, already under fire as chairman of the stalled House ethics committee, accepted a $7,800 trip to England in 2000 from a company he championed for a multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, records released by an advocacy group yesterday show.

In addition, other records released yesterday by a political Web site show that Hastings, a Republican from Pasco, did not file a required travel report for a 2004 trip to a resort on Stuart Island, B.C. That was paid for by another company also working at Hanford.

Hastings has been under fire for not scheduling hearings on ethics allegations against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay is accused of accepting a trip paid for by lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under investigation over allegations that he defrauded clients of millions of dollars.

< snip >

"This raises problems for Hastings as chairman of the ethics committee because one of the main issues he will face — if the committee ever gets its act together — will be privately paid congressional travel," said Larry Noble, director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign-contribution watchdog group.

[bahrbearian]

18. "Doc Hastings" who would have guessed?

[LiberalAndProud]

19. The foxes guard the henhouse

That metaphor doesn't quite work, but the Senate members are proving incapable of policing themselves.

What would it take to bring a referrendum or something? How do we get the crooks to investigate their own crimes? I want to press charges.

[TahitiNut]

20. They're just scratching the surface. Doc's as dirty as they get.

:shrug:

[maddezmom]

21. here's BNFL's website..in the US it's BNG

http://www.bngamerica.com/