• Rep. Randy Cunningham – Cal., 8 terms, pleaded guilty to graft involving defense contracts and resigned. He was a member of a House Appropriations subcommittee that controls defense dollars.

• Rep. Tom DeLay – Texas, had to step down as majority leader after he was indicted in a campaign finance case.

• Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist- Tenn.; is being investigated by regulators in a stock sale.

• Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff was indicted in the CIA leak case.

• Investigators looking into activities by indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff have told Rep. Robert Ney – Ohio, and his former chief of staff that they are preparing a possible bribery case against them, the Washington Post said. Others under scrutiny in the Abramoff case include DeLay, Sen. Conrad Rurns – Mont., and Rep John Doolittle – Cal., the Post reported.

• AJC – 12/21/2005 (DTV)
  Jeannine Kenney Consumers Union – “Consumers will have no idea what’s coming and what they need to do to prepare for it, making it likely that tens of millions of television sets will go black on Feb. 17, 2009,’’ she said.

• AJC – 12/22/2005
  President loses on oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska.

• TELECOMWEB – 12/23/2005
  The U.S. Senate today passed budget deficit legislation which includes the digital television (DTV) transition funding and 2009 deadline bill by a vote of 51-50, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting a rare tie-breaking vote.

• AJC – 12/23/2005
  Bin Laden phone leak story a myth – Missiles, not media made him hang up.
  
  Bin Laden’s use of a satellite phone had been widely reported by August 1998, and he stopped using it within days of a cruise missile attack on his training camps in Afghanistan. Bush twice cited this as a leak by the media; in July, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee gave a speech in which he highlighted the bin Laden case. James Bruce, vice chairman of the CIA’s Foreign Denial and Deception Committee has repeatedly cited the bin Laden example.

• AJC – 01/04/2006
  Powerful lobbyist pleads guilty 
  IN THE EYE OF A STORM
  Who He Is: Jack Abramoff, a top Republican lobbyist.
  What’s Alleged: In his plea agreement, Abramoff said he lavished public officials with trips, meals and other perks in exchange for their help in passing legislation for his clients. He also admitted defrauding clients, taking millions in kickbacks, misusing a charity and failing to pay taxes.
  
  What’s Next: Abramoff is scheduled to plead guilty to more charges today. His sentence will depend on how well he cooperates with prosecutors.
  
  Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, called on Bush to return the more than $100,000 that Abramoff raised for the Bush campaign. 
  
  “Jack Abramoff is an example of the abuse of power and culture of corruption that the Republicans have brought to Washington,” Dean said in a statement.
  
  Ralph Reed, now a candidate for lieutenant governor of Georgia, who as a political consultant received more than $5 million from Abramoff, had not comment on the Abramoff plea agreement, a spokesman said Tuesday.
  
  House Speaker Dennis Haster (R-Ill.) plans to give to charity $60,000 he received from Abramoff and his clients.  

• AJC – 01/05/2006
  
  Republicans rush to hand back money
  
  Abramoff raised more than $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, making him an honorary Bush “pioneer.” But the campaign is giving up only $6,000 that came directly from Abramoff, his wife and one of the Indian tribes the lobbyist represented. The money will be donated to the American Heart Association.

Contact Thomas Carter