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RALEIGH — A Carolina Journal review of 2007-08 expenditures by the office of then-Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue reveals that, in addition to not paying for a number of campaign-related flights, she also made no payments to private aircraft owners for travel related to official state business. Records show flights that were a combination of official business and campaign events. Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson acknowledged the flights and told CJ that travel provided to Perdue when she was conducting official state business was treated by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor as a gift to the state from those providing the...

I have some very grave news for you. We are leading Harry Reid in the polls and meeting our early vote goals--and yet, Sharron Angle could still lose. As Sharron Angle's campaign attorney, I am sorry to report that the Democrats and their cronies are up to their same old tricks, of trying to manipulate the election in hopes of skewing the results in their favor. Two days ago, the Democratic Secretary of State announced that voters can be provided "free food" at "voter turnout events." Harry Reid has been offering free food and, according to other reports, some Democratic...

O'Donnell: Coon's Senate votes could bring family billions By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller Published: 11:06 AM 10/22/2010 Delaware GOP Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, in a new campaign ad, said the family of her Democratic rival stands to gain “billions” from votes he would cast in the Senate. Using a line of attack that has helped other Republicans in this campaign, Tea Party favorite O’Donnell accuses her opponent, New Castle County Executive Chris Coons, of blindly following the policies of President Obama. “She’ll stand for her principles against anyone,” the ad says. “But Chris Coons falls in line, ready...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- FBI agents arrested county Commissioner Jimmy Dimora early this morning. Witnesses at his home reported he was led out in handcuffs and chains. He arrived at the FBI building on Lakeside Avenue in Cleveland at 7:20 a.m. in a black Dodge Caravan. The arrest comes after a years-long investigation that most recently led to charges against former county auditor Frank Russo.

Waters’, Rangel’s trials may be stalled till after Election DayBy Rachel Rose Hartman Mon Sep 13, 1:38 pm ET Critics and supporters alike have requested speedy House trials for Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel, who each face multiple House ethics charges. Yet watchdog groups tell the Hill it's unlikely that either case will be resolved before the Nov. 2 general election. "Both of these pending trials should have been concluded months ago," Craig Holman of Public Citizen told the Hill's Susan Crabtree. "The House ethics committee stumbled miserably in these cases, allowing them to be delayed and delayed,...

Boxer Tied to Dubious Waters Cash-for-Endorsement Scheme Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee, has paid some $30,000 since 2004 for the endorsement of embattled Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) in the context of a scheme that critics charge is unethical and amounts to Waters using her political station to benefit her family members. According to the Washington Times, Waters “has turned political endorsements into a family business, using federal election laws to charge California candidates and political causes to include their names as her personal picks on a sample ballot, or ‘slate mailer,’ she sends to as...

Longtime Dallas congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson has awarded thousands of dollars in college scholarships to four relatives and a top aide's two children since 2005, using foundation funds set aside for black lawmakers' causes. The recipients were ineligible under anti-nepotism rules of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which provided the money. And all of the awards violated a foundation requirement that scholarship winners live or study in a caucus member's district. Johnson, a Democrat, denied any favoritism when asked about the scholarships last week. Two days later, she acknowledged in a statement released by her office that she had violated...

As the November congressional elections approach, I couldn't help but wonder about the inevitable. We know that progressives have no morals, and their current political machine, the Democrat Party, has no boundaries which it will not cross for the sake of power. Given an unbounded quest for power by an immoral group, is there any doubt that they will engage in vote fraud to avoid the natural backlash of their socialist takeover of America?

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New York (AP) -- Rep. Charles Rangel forged ahead with plans for a fundraising gala on Wednesday night with Democratic luminaries including the governor, presumptive governor and both the state's U.S. senators on the guest list — not bad for a congressman steeping in a tempest of ethics charges. The event, tied to his 80th birthday, has emerged as a test of political loyalty to Rangel, the dean of the state's congressional delegation. It came a just day after he delivered an impassioned speech on the House floor insisting he would not resign despite the 13 charges pending against him.

The House ethics committee released its formal charges against Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Monday, accusing her of three counts of violating the letter and spirit of House rules and federal regulations by assisting a bank in which her husband owned stock. The 10-page "Statement of Alleged Violation" focuses on the actions of Waters and Mikael Moore, who is the congresswoman's chief of staff and her grandson, and tracks very closely with the year-old findings of the independent Office of Congressional Ethics. Waters is accused of improperly intervening on behalf of OneUnited, a minority-owned bank in which her husband held...

WASHINGTON, DC – The House ethics committee has announced charges against Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Water, who is from California. Waters used her congressional authority to meet with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on behalf of the Massachusetts-based OneUnited bank, in which her husband, as a former director, owned $250,000 of stock. OneUnited eventually received $12 million in federal bailout funds Here's what people are saying so far about the case, which comes as fellow Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel is mired in his own ethics investigation.

The politically charged decisions by veteran Democratic Reps. Charles Rangel of New York and Maxine Waters of California to force public trials by the House ethics committee are raising questions about race and whether black lawmakers face more scrutiny over allegations of ethical or criminal wrongdoing than their white colleagues. The controversy over the cases and the prospect of the first simultaneous ethics trials for multiple members in more than 30 years mark the biggest challenge for the ethics committee’s and the House’s ability to police its own members since the mid-1990s, when then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and leaders from...

WASHINGTON -- A House investigative panel has charged California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters with violating ethics rules. Waters, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, would face a trial in the fall unless she negotiates a settlement. If the case goes to trial, Democrats would have the political headache of two ethics trials - one for Waters and another for Rep. Charles Rangel of New York. ....

WASHINGTON (AP) - A House investigative panel has decided to charge Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California with ethics violations, raising the possibility of a second high-profile political trial this fall. People familiar with the investigation, who were not authorized to be quoted about unannounced charges, say the allegations could be announced next week. The House ethics committee declined Friday to make any public statement on the matter. Waters has been under investigation for a possible conflict of interest involving a bank that was seeking federal aid. Her husband owned stock in the bank.

Rep. Maxine Waters who may be facing a formal House of Representatives ethics trial over her activities on behalf of a bank, is just the most recent member of the Congressional Black Caucus to face such an investigation. Currently New York Rep. Charles Rangel is facing an ethics trial, following in the footsteps of ethically challenged Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson. Waters, the long-time Southern California representative, is, according to House sources, facing charges that she provided special access to OneUnited Bank, a Massachusetts based bank that is similar in its history to the notorious ShoreBank in Chicago. House officials say...

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama hopes embattled New York congressman Charlie Rangel can end his career with dignity. "He's somebody who's at the end of his career. Eighty years old. I'm sure that what he wants is to be able to end his career with dignity. And my hope is that it happens." Obama added.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A second House Democrat, Rep. Maxine Waters of California, could be facing an ethics trial this fall, further complicating the midterm election outlook for the party as it battles to hold onto its majority. People familiar with the investigation, who were not authorized to be quoted about unannounced charges, say the allegations could be announced next week. The House ethics committee declined Friday to make any public statement on the matter. Waters, 71, has been under investigation for a possible conflict of interest involving a bank that was seeking federal aid. Her husband owned stock in the...

When Representative Charles Rangel goes on trial on Thursday it might be the first time that a sitting United States congressman has done so since Jim Traficant was convicted of bribery, racketeering and tax evasion in 2002. Rangel and Traficant are kindred spirits of a sort, for each exhibits the kind of imperious arrogance that Americans loathe, especially when it bubbles to the surface among their elected officials. The difference between the two is that Traficant played a bit part among Democrats eight years ago and it was thus easy for the party to wash its hands of him.

There can be little doubt that Rangel—who has served a mind-boggling, and, for those concerned with standards of official conduct, depressing, 20 terms—is not going to be able to run for a 21st term. His career is now over. I predict that he will resign by, or on, Thursday of next week, the day on which the House Ethics Committee lays formal charges against him, charges which—if he contests them—will go to public trial. (The charges are, by now, so well known that they scarcely bear repeating: undeclared taxes on income from a beachfront villa in the Dominican Republic; the...