Archive > 2006 > Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

December 15, 2006 · Washington Babylon · Previous · Next

This Week in Babylon

By Ken Silverstein

Career Change: John Scofield

On Thursday night, well-wishers gathered at the 18th Amendment, a popular Capitol Hill bar, to bid bon voyage to John Scofield, the departing spokesman for the scandal-plagued House Appropriations Committee. Scofield worked for Congressman Jerry Lewis, the outgoing House committee chairman who, like many of his colleagues, is now under federal investigation. Scofield is heading to PodestaMattoon (Results oriented. Strategic. Innovative.), a firm that specializes in winning federal earmarks from the Appropriations Committees.

He'll be joining two other former committee flacks: Elizabeth Morra, head of PodestaMattoon's appropriations practice, who provides clients with an “in-depth understanding of the appropriations process,” as well as “public relations expertise and national media contacts,” and Jen Siciliano, who has previously worked for both of Alaska's princes of pork, Senator Ted Stevens and Congressman Don Young.

---

Broder on the Wild Side

In Thursday's Washington Post, David Broder chastised the national media for failing “to spotlight all the people vying” for their party's presidential nominations. “Rather,” he wrote, “our tendency is to narrow the field as quickly as possible and define who we think the ‘serious' candidates may be.” The media, he went on, “might better serve the public by examining the full range of the presidential field.”

Broder used the rest of his column to introduce readers to a man whom he apparently deems to be bold and unconventional: Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack (rhymes with “hack”). Vilsack's resume includes work as chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council (“the caucus of Clinton moderates”), and as chairman of the “bipartisan” National Governors Association,” in which capacity he was “trusted by colleagues of both parties.”

The column was reminiscent of one Broder wrote last September, when he excitedly reported that “public disgust with the breakdown of Congress as a functioning institution has liberated more House and Senate candidates to challenge the status quo.” To which outsiders was Broder referring? At the top of his list was none other than Senator Joe “Fight the Power” Lieberman.

---

Citizen to DeLay: “Assclown”

In an attempt to move directly from the 19th century into the 21st, Tom DeLay has started a new (ghostwritten) blog. Readers began trashing it immediately, forcing the site managers to shut down the comments section and to expunge the critical commentary. Fortunately, James J. Risser collected 111 censored comments and published them online as “a tribute to the 75-minute period where Tom Delay actually received feedback from America.” “What a magnificently, terrifically boring and irrelevant blog,” read one comment. “Honestly, who on earth cares what you have to say?” Another: “You left Congress disgracefully and you want people to take you seriously? You should be in prison you assclown, piss off Tom.” After that, it gets mean.

---

Diligence Due

A few years ago, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, issued a damning report on corruption in Equatorial Guinea and the supporting role played by American banks and oil companies active there. It may be time for a followup.

Global Witness recently reported that Teodorin Obiang, the heavy-drinking, womanizing son of Equatorial Guinea dictator Teodoro Obiang Nguema, bought himself a $35 million home in Malibu. The purchase made the Forbes list of the most expensive home sales in 2006. This extravagant gesture raises many, many questions. Were Americans banks used to transfer the funds, or did they play any role in the purchase? If so, even one Google-search's worth of due diligence should have made clear that Obiang Jr. is a foreign government official representing a regime famous for corruption; this means that any American bank involved in the transaction would have violated laws against money laundering—an angle that Levin's office should certainly find interesting.

---

[More Washington Babylon]

[Contact Ken Silverstein]

[About Washington Babylon]

Previous · Next · More Washington Babylon · Respond via email