Congressional primary roundup

Not mentioned here is a pretty interesting race in Brooklyn. Yvette Clarke vs. Adam Bunkeddeko. She won. But barely.

Change is in the air.

Meeks, Clarke are international tweeders

From the Washington Post:

The state-owned oil company of Azerbaijan secretly funded an all-expenses-paid trip to a conference in Baku for 10 members of Congress and some of their spouses in 2013, according to a report by the Office of Congressional Ethics. Lawmakers received a number of gifts, but only one lawmaker reported them on his financial disclosure form. The lawmakers said they were unaware of the oil company's involvement and thought the gifts did not meet the reporting threshold.

One additional lawmaker attended while on a separate congressional delegation and did not have his expenses covered by the conference.

Representing the United States of Israel

From the NY Post:

Private groups — especially the pro-Israel lobby — spent $165,500 jetting New York City-area Congress members around the world last year to such destinations as Tel Aviv, Turkey and Italy, government travel records show.

Last year reflected a resurgence in the number of congressional junkets, as lawmakers have learned to take advantage of a loophole in a 2007 ban on trips paid for by companies with lobbyists.

The restrictions don’t apply to such nonprofits as think tanks, advocacy groups or universities. Those groups took local lawmakers on 11 junkets in 2011.

The most expensive trip for a local Congress member went to Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan-Queens), who enjoyed a $24,000 jaunt to Israel in August, paid for by the education foundation.

Maloney also visited Italy in October on a $9,700 trip sponsored by the Collegium Ramazzini, an academy aimed at advancing occupational and health issues.

“I’ve always found it valuable to get out of the Beltway bubble, both to see the facts on the ground in nations that are important to the United States and to be learning those facts with other members in less-pressured surrounding,” Maloney explained.

Rep. Yvette Clark (D-Brooklyn) took two trips to Israel worth a combined $18,700.

And Rep. Eliot Engel (D-Bronx) made two trips — one a $12,900 junket to Israel and a second $10,050 excursion to Kiev, Ukraine.

The latter trip was paid for by the Jewish Federation of the Ukraine. Engel sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens), who is also on the committee, visited Istanbul on a $17,307 trip sponsored partly by the Congressional Study Group on Turkey.

Meeks introduces bill to stop ethics board

From the NY Post:

Embattled Rep. Gregory Meeks wants to muzzle the independent ethics watchdogs that Democrats unleashed after taking control of Congress.

Meeks (D-Queens), who is being probed by the feds for missing charity money and other possible wrongdoing, co-sponsored a bill that would rein in the new Office of Congressional Ethics.

Another New Yorker, Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn), also was among the 20 lawmakers who signed on to the bill that was quietly introduced last week.

All the co-sponsors are members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Neither Meeks' nor Clarke's offices responded to questions about the legislation.

The bill would make it harder for the office to open investigations.

It also would stop the office, which does not have power to sanction lawmakers but serves an advisory role, from publicizing its referrals to the more powerful House Ethics Committee.

The office "is currently the accuser, judge, and jury. This isn't the case in the American justice system, and it shouldn't be so in Congress," said Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D-Ohio), the bill's chief sponsor.

The citizen-run ethics panel has whacked at least eight Congressional Black Caucus members, including Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem).

Shady charity working out of Brooklyn crap office funded by congress

From the Daily News:

Brooklyn Rep. Ed Towns tried to steer $5.3 million in taxpayer money to a nonprofit that employs one of his staffers, the Daily News has learned.

The group, Trinity Community Development and Empowerment Group Inc., lists a vacant building as its address and a total of $329 in revenue on its 2008 tax filing.

Towns' sponsored $500,000 for the group, and joined with Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn) to get Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens) to sponsor another $4.8 million for Trinity.

Late Thursday, Meeks and Towns withdrew both requests after the Daily News raised questions about conflict of interest caused by Towns' staffer. Clarke did not return calls.

Two hours before pulling the plug, Towns' spokeswoman, Jenny Rosenberg, praised the group, saying: "Mr. Towns thinks this is a good organization and he wants to support people and organizations who are doing good things in the community."

Towns' staffer, Christopher Lundy, is listed as a congressional aide making just under $37,000 in 2009, records compiled by the government watchdog site legistorm.org, show.

Lundy was listed as working 20 hours a week for the non-profit, Trinity's 2008 tax filing shows.

Rosenberg claimed Towns withdrew his support for the congressional funding "once he learned of the possible conflict."

Rosenberg told The News Lundy claimed he received approval from the House Ethics Committee to hold both positions. She declined to elaborate.