LegiStorm: Transparency's Sidekick

The fallout from former congressional staffer Ernest B. Moore's guilty plea to fraud has continued over the past few days.

Moore, who pleaded guilty last week to charges that he'd used aliases to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, was fired from his visiting professor job at Williams College, the Bershire Eagle reported today.

Williams College also had to postpone a Congressional Black Caucus symposium that Moore had organized and was scheduled to take place on the campus Monday. The college's interim president William Wagner sent a letter to the college community Friday saying the event would not happen this week because of questions regarding Moore's involvement.

The guilty plea this week by an aide to Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) - an aide who doesn't appear in official records at times that he was working for Davis - may raise questions for the lawmaker since ethics rules prohibit maintaining slush funds and hiring unpaid staff except under strict circumstances.

Staffer Ernest B. Moore confessed to fraud charges for using multiple aliases to run up hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit card bills and student loans. On Capitol Hill, he went by the aliases Bernard Glenn-Moore and Bernard Moore. Moore came to the Hill in 2004, when he had a one-year senior policy fellowship with Davis's office through the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (such official fellowships are permitted under ethics rules). In 2006, he transfered to Davis's office as a legislative assistant and earned a salary for a few more months. After that, no official record ties him to Davis's office, despite public evidence that Davis knew he was claiming to represent Davis as an aide.

Politico broke the story of Moore's plea and described how he maintains a working house.gov email address, has organized events on behalf of Davis and claimed in his Williams College biography, where he has taught over the past few years, to be a continuing aide to Davis.

Former congressional aide Kevin Ring secured a hung jury in a corruption trial yesterday by claiming that showering gifts on members of Congress and their staff is the normal way of doing business in Washington. So how many precious gifts have been disclosed by congressional aides? Precious few, it turns out.

Our review of thousands of disclosures of congressional staff reveals only a handful of gifts that have been disclosed in recent years. Congressional rules require disclosure of all gifts greater than $50 and bans many kinds of gifts.

A common reason stated for receiving gifts has been for a wedding. When Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) staffer Richard Boykin got married in 2006, he received several gifts, including $500 from one of his boss's campaign contributors and $500 in china from long-time and well-known lobbyist Bernie Robinson (although Boykin did not disclose him as such). Gifts from lobbyists are banned by House rules.

A staffer to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) was sentenced to three years of probation for stealing nearly $7,000 from the office account, according to the Associated Press.

The executive assistant, Caroline Valdez, forged her boss's name on a $6,000 bonus check. She also used the office credit card for pizza, groceries and airline tickets.

The judge ordered her to get counseling, saying she seemed to have a problem telling the truth.

In what has lately seemed like a near-weekly occurence, another guilty plea has been entered with the Jack Abramoff scandal.

Today it was Ann Copland, a former aide to Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), who pleaded guilty to accepting gifts from lobbyists in return for legislative favors. Court documents in the case revealed Copland asked for tickets to several events from lobbyists linked to Abramoff, even complaining that there were no hot dogs in the suite provided for a Baltimore Orioles game.

You can see Copland's salary history, the privately-funded trips she disclosed and her personal financial disclosures on LegiStorm.

About a month after his name was linked to the Jack Abramoff scandal, former staffer Fraser Verrusio was charged today for accepting a free trip from lobbyists in 2003.

Verrusio and fellow former staffer Trevor Blackann accepted a free trip to New York to attend the 2003 World Series. Blackann and two lobbyists who worked for Abramoff at the time - James Hirni and Todd Boulanger - have already pled guilty to charges of corruption related to the trip.

Verrusio, a former staffer to Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), had been linked to the scandal last months when reports surfaced that he was the staffer referred to in court papers as "Staffer D" but no charges were filed until today.

The Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal won't die.

Yesterday, it was reported Kevin Koonce, a former staffer to Commerce Secretary nominee Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), is the person referred to in court documents as "Staffer F." The documents detail charges relating to a lobbyist providing Staffer F gifts in exchange for preferable legislative treatment. Koonce has not been formally charged with any wrongdoing.

The report follows two other news items relating to Abramoff in recent days. Last week, lobbyist Todd Boulanger, a former congressional aide and Abramoff associate, pled guilty to illegally providing congressional staffers gifts in return for favorable treatment for his clients.

In what has become an all-too-common pattern this year, another former congressional aide pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy in the long-running Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

James Hirni, a former legislative director to Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.), admitted in court that he helped provide an all-expense paid trip to the 2003 World Series to two congressional aides. At the time, Hirni was a lobbyist working on Abramoff's team.

There's no reason to believe this is the end yet.

Nearly three years after lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and fraud, the scandal is still playing out.

Thursday, former congressional staffer Trevor L. Blackann pleaded guilty to charges he failed to report gifts he received from lobbyists on this tax returns.

Among the more than $4,000 in gifts received was a trip to New York City for the opening game of the 2003 World Series. Blackann admitted to knowing the trip was paid for by lobbyists. The court documents do not identify the lobbyists in question, but the Department of Justice issued a release calling the case part of the investigation into the lobbying activities of Abramoff. Blackann also did not report the trip to Congress.

When congressional staffers get in trouble, newspapers often cite LegiStorm. Aides rarely do good in the media - if they do, their elected bosses take the credit. 

The Washington Post cited our employment data in reports that one such aide, Jeffrey Rosato of Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D-Calif.) staff, was arrested last Friday on charges of receiving and distributing child pornography. Boxer fired him immediately upon learning of the charges.

The past year has led to several other such news announcements about congressional aides, minors and pornography.