News-Record.com

Anyone who has read the political pages for a few years will remember stories about Congressional "fact finding" missions to places where the main facts seem to concern the yardage to the 16th green or the SPF one needs to apply.

Well, here's another one. It's a pretty comprehensive look by The Center for Public Integrity and some partner groups.

The summary:

In the summer of 2005, the Center for Public Integrity, Northwestern University's Medill News Service and American Public Media began examining disclosure documents for about 23,000 privately funded trips taken by members of Congress and staffers over a 5 1/2 -year period. While some of these trips no doubt were educational, others appeared to be thinly veiled attempts by special interests to influence lawmakers and their advisers.

The center's site didn't have too much info up regarding the honorables from NC, but Medill News Service does:

North Carolina lawmakers and their staffs took about 470 privately funded trips at a cost of nearly $1.2 million during a five-year period beginning in 2000.

All told, members of Congress and their staffs took about 23,000 trips paid for by private sponsors at a cost of $48.9 million from Jan. 1, 2000, through June 30, 2005, according to an analysis of official travel reports compiled by Medill News Service, the Center for Public Integrity and American Public Media. The data come from trip reports filed by lawmakers to congressional ethics committees.

Click here for the full story.

From the Medill piece, an info graphic:

Congressional travel, by NC Congressional office, 1/2000-8/2005:

HOUSE

• G.K. Butterfield (D-1st): 7 trips, $11,100
  
• Bob Etheridge (D-2nd): 23 trips, $90,000
  
• Walter Jones (D-3rd): 16 trips, $26,600
  
• David Price (D-4th): 31 trips. $128,300
  
• Richard Burr (R-5th) 31 trips, $75,000
  
• Virginia Fox (R-5th): 7 trips, $9,500
  
• Howard Coble (R-6th): 76 trips, $155,000
  
• Mike McIntyre (D-7th) 19 trips, $33,000
  
• Robin Hayes (R-8th) 37 trips, $66,000
  
• Sue Myrick (R-9th) 27 trips, $37,000
  
• Patrick McHenry (R-10th) 3 trips $3,500
  
• Charles Taylor (R-11th) 9 trips $32,700
  
• Melvin Watt (D-12th) 52 trips $150,000
  
• Brad Miller (D-13th) 11 trips, $21,300

SENATE

• Richard Burr: 1 trip, $1,000
  
• Elizabeth Dole: 12 trips, $20,700

By my reading, Reps. Coble and Watt are the champion trip-takers from NC, both of who represent Greensboro.

A word of caution before you get too crazy with all this: some of this travel is legit. The problem is, as the stories linked to above suggest, it's difficult to sort through which ones are actually serve the public interest and which ones are little more than legal bribes.

Why so difficult? Because Congress makes it that way. From the center's "How we did it" piece:

But when the same people or groups pay for a "fact-finding mission," that information is put on paper forms, then filed in three-ring binders or input into a computer system, and made available only in the office buildings where the records are stored.

The House of Representatives' forms are kept in a sub-basement of the Cannon House Office Building, where the public copies were often hard to read, torn and misfiled. Researchers were told it was against House rules to digitally scan the documents — they had to make photocopies instead.

The Senate travel disclosure documents are stored in a computer system in the Hart Senate Office Building, and can be searched by the name of the traveler or the senator approving the travel. But those records are not available online. So researchers went to the building and printed them out.

As always, the comment lines are open.

As you may or may not know, Guilford and Rockingham counties are governed by provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. So its pending reauthorization, scheduled for this afternoon, was of interest enough for me to begin poking at a story for tomorrow's paper.

Well, call off the hounds for now. From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) - House Republican leaders on Wednesday postponed a vote on renewing the 1965 Voting Rights Act after GOP lawmakers complained it unfairly singles out nine Southern states for federal oversight, according to their joint statement.

"We have time to address their concerns," Republican leaders said in a joint statement. "Therefore, the House Republican Leadership will offer members the time needed to evaluate the legislation."

It was unclear whether the legislation would come up this year. The temporary provisions don't expire until 2007, but leaders of both parties had hoped to pass the act and use it to further their prospects in the fall's midterm elections.

Congressman Mel Watt, a Democrat who represents a skinny little district that reaches from Charlotte to Greensboro and Winston-Salem, is a prime mover on the House re-authorization movement. I would imagine he's not pleased.

So, official word came down today that President Bush is visiting next week, Wednesday to be precise. A blast fax sent out by the White House this afternoon lists the itinerary, which includes a stop at Falkener Elementary and the Victory Junction Gang Camp.

Joe Killian will be wrapping things up with a story in tomorrow’s paper.

It looks like W will be all over the area next week, and you should be prepared for snarled traffic of epic proportions where ever he goes.

As you may have heard, President Bush is coming to town on Wednesday.

A few weeks ago, my boss, in a fit of optimism, told readers we’d try for a one-on-one interview and asked what questions they would ask.

Well, that plan fizzled in spectacular fashion.

Within 10 minutes of making the request this morning, the very nice communications folks at the White House were on the phone saying that he’d love to chat but is on a really tight schedule that day.

For me, that’s a new land speed record in rejection of an interview request.

Don’t worry though; there’ll be plenty to write about even if we don’t sit down with the Commander-in-Chief. The newsroom will be spending today and tomorrow simultaneously writing about and planning for the visit. So stay tuned.

So President Bush winged into town yesterday, had some barbecue, pitched his education package and took home a wheelbarrow full of money for Republican Congressional candidates.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled election season.

Journalism 201: whenever you have to pitch a story and you’re beginning with, “well, this court case involves some tenth amendment issues and a concept known as pre-emption but it really has to do with the way lending companies can treat their customers ...” the editors’ eye just sort of glaze over. Probably you're readers too.

If you're still awake, click here for my somewhat shortened story on a case that was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday. From the story:

Certain companies would be able to skirt laws designed to curb predatory lending and other shady financial dealings in North Carolina and other states if prior rulings are upheld in a case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The case — Watters v. Wachovia Bank N.A. — pits regulators from all 50 states and consumer-protection advocates against the banking industry and federal government.

At the heart of the dispute is whether federal agencies can block states from passing and enforcing regulations on the subsidiaries of 1,900 national banks, those that have been chartered by one of four federal agencies.

If you’re still reading, bless you. And here’s some more background for you:

• Click here for a very good Washington Post story that ran in their business section this weekend. And here’s their story from today.
• There are a lot of places to find briefs in Supreme Court cases. The most reliable I have found is FindLaw. And the service appears to be free for SCOTUS cases, so you can’t beat that. Click here for the briefs in the Watters case.
• Click here to read the transcript of yesterday’s arguments. (PDF) For government junkies like me, this service is just the bee’s knees.

We’ll probably see a decision come out in the case in the Spring.

One bit of context that didn’t make it into the story: There are folks who will be in charge of financial services law in the newly Democratic Congress watching this case very closely. Both Rep. Brad Miller and Rep. Mel Watt, North Carolina Democrats on the financial services committee, have been pushing a federal predatory lending law.

One has to think that if this case goes against the state, the Congress may step in and “clarify” itself.

I was going to write a bit about High Pointer S. Davis "Dave" Phillips being appointed U.S. ambassador to Estonia.

But editorialist (and a proud High Pointer himself) Doug Clark has already done it. So click here to read what he had to say.

Sen. Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, will be the Republican whip in the Senate when it convenes next year. To help him, he’s appointed a passel of deputy whips, including North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr.

What does a whip do? The job varies from group to group, but in general the whip is the part of a legislative organization that is the enforcer of party discipline and counter of votes. Basically, the whip figures out if party leaders have the votes to do something it wants to do. And if the votes aren’t there, it’s typically the whips that are sent to, um, explain things to the problematic members.

If you’re counting at home, there are 49 Republican Senators in the new Congress. Lott has appointed a chief deputy and seven other deputy whips. So that’s about six members per member of the whip organization.

That’s a lot of discipline right there.

Sen. Richard Durbin will be the majority whip in the new Senate. I’ve not seen hop many deputies he’s appointed.

Update: Speaking of Burr, how many successes like this can a guy take:

Nearly two years of negotiation on a bill to fight bioterrorism ended in a partial win for North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr — the Senate approved the measure, but it will probably die within days when Congress adjourns.

From a New York Times story today: (Registration may be required.)

New federal guidelines, along with legislation given a strong chance to pass in Congress next year, will probably combine to make the paperless voting machines obsolete, the officials say. States and counties that bought the machines will have to modify them to hook up printers, at federal expense, while others are planning to scrap the machines and buy new ones.

Dang, but this all sounds familiar. Oh, I remember now.

For all the angst that the legislature when through in deciding whether to require a paper backup, it looks like it may save North Carolina some hassle in the long run.

Update1: From the “great minds think alike” office, Nate over at our sister blog took note of the same story.

Update2: As Nate noted, the folks at NC Voter are probably happy about the paper requirement. Although, that group would like to see us all using optical scan machines. They’ve been circulating this memo, sent after the election by the SBOE, on how to deal with malfunctioning paper roles attached to the touch screen equipment.

Sen. Elizabeth Dole had surgery to replace a hip this morning, according to her spokeswoman, Katie Norman.

“She planned to have this surgery for some time but it was a matter of finding time in her schedule,” Norman said.

Norman said the Senator is expected to recuperate over the next few weeks and be back to her duties early next year.

Update: For those who have asked: Dole is 70. And it was her right hip.

Put this story from the Washington Post on your politics radar:

Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) suffered a "possible stroke" today, and the prognosis for his recovery remains unknown, according to his office.

Should Johnson be unable to serve when the 110th Congress convenes in January, it could mean a 50-50 split in the Senate. Gov. Mike Rounds (R) would be tasked with appointing a successor to Johnson -- presumably a Republican. That could effectively put the Senate, which is slated to switch to Democratic control in January, in Republican hands because Vice President Cheney would cast the tie-breaking vote.
However, in modern history the Senate has never declared a seat vacant as a result of a senator's physical condition.

President Gerald Ford has died. He was 93. Click here for the early AP report.

I was less than eight months old when Ford took office, so I remember virtually nothing of his presidency. From my reading, his more than two years in office were a mix of the brilliant (guiding the nation past Watergate) and the boneheaded (saying in a debate "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration.").

His contemporaries sometimes disagreed with his actions – pardoning disgraced former President Richard Nixon – but in the end decided his motives were pure. He answered to Congress, in person, to explain that pardon. And as president kept up a regimen of speeches and direct chats with the media that seems unfathomable even for lesser office holders like governors and senators today.

But what I am struck by listening to the news and reading up on him tonight is that he is remembered by and large as a fundamentally decent man. He did not need to be eloquent - though he sometimes was - or flawless - and he wasn’t – or universally beloved – he was a politician after all. But he was steady and straightforward in a time of crisis, judged in recent history as a trustworthy and decent steward of our democracy.

Would that all politicians could earn such an epitaph.

More: The Gerald Ford Presidential Library.

For those interested in what those rascally House Dems up in D.C. mean by their 100 hours agenda, click here for a link.

It will be a minor miracle if they actually stick to this calendar since things in legislatures, particularly the big House, tend to get off track.

Before the honorables here in Raleigh get themselves all cranked up for the new session (coming Jan. 24), I’m going to wander up to that other capital city next week and take the temperature of the Greensboro area’s Congressional critters.

Interviews have tentatively been set or are trying to get themselves scheduled with Reps. Coble, Watt and Miller as well as our two senators. Although the state purpose of the trip is to check in and see how they’re doing under the new Democratic management, with any luck I’ll get hopelessly sidetracked on even more interesting stories.

On the agenda will be some questions for the House members about why they voted how they did on the first 100 hours bills that have been running this week. And I’m thinking Iraq will come up.

But at the risk of getting the usual silence and tumbleweeds that blow through the comments link when I ask something like this, what’s on your mind? What do you want to know from our federal honorables?

As always, folks who send me a question will get it answered, at least in part, here before the main story publishes later this month.

So I’m sitting in the U.S. House press gallery Tuesday night, watching the federal honorables take their only three controversial votes of the day. I focus in on Rep. Howard Coble as the Speaker and the clerk struggle to make themselves heard over the din of an unruly chamber.

At the end of the Speaker’s spiel on the bill - honoring the Florida Gators for their BCS victory - Coble leans over a chair, inserts a small plastic card into a slot on the back and pushes a button. It was an obviously practiced move that took all of a second or two.

The bill, one could argue, was hardly the most important piece of legislation to move that day. However, the act is important. It is at once at the core of a Congressman’s job – to vote on business before the legislature – and the official duty on which they spend the least time, despite voting on dozens and dozens of bills in a given month.

A few more random thoughts, quotes and observations from my day on the hill:

• Although he didn’t know it, a reader who recently e-mailed John Robinson provided our first reader-supplied question of the trip. The question: why did Coble vote against HR 2, which would raise the federal minimum wage. His answer:

  “I don’t think a very minor increase in wage has any real impact for those who are suffering financially . . . . Many of them are youngsters, high school kids. And small business people tell me that even though it’s a small increase that many times they’ll be forced to got from five employees to three employees. So I just don’t believe it address the problem of people who are at the bottom of the financial poll.”

  Coble did note that he had so far gotten one piece of negative correspondence on that vote so far, addressed to “You damned SOB…”

• If you’re wondering how it is that Congress can seem like its off in its own little world, it’s because, well, it is. Congressmen and their staffers can get three squares a day, go to the dry cleaners, get a hair cut and a shoe shine and never leave their security perimeter, which encompasses the Capitol Building as well as the office buildings that flank it.

• People look at you funny here if you don’t have a Blackberry. I think they all look odd walking about staring in the direction of their feet.

• Democrats are still getting used to being in the majority. “It’s the little things,” one staffer told me, “like being able to book a conference room.”

• On some down time I went up and watched part of the afternoon session in the House. Basically, they were running through bills deemed not to be controversial and basically passing them with little or no rancor (and few people in the chamber, although that’s another post). There’s a fair amount that gets done up here with Democrats and Republicans cooperating. You’ll rarely see that stuff in the paper – often its technical in nature – and it’s duller than dog poop to watch on C-Span. But it’s sort of heartening to know this place isn’t as dysfunctional as it seems. It’s just looks that way when they try to do anything really important, like, say, pass a budget.

More here tomorrow Wednesday evening and next week in the paper.

So a couple of lobbyists walk into a Congressman’s office. There’s nothing unusual about that in D.C. Barring weekends and federal holidays, I’d warrant there’s a lobbyist of some sort walking into one of the 535 member offices just about every day of the year.

Of course, it’s a little unusual to have a reporter sitting in the room.

Rep. Brad Miller was kind enough to let me sit in on part of his day Wednesday. That day included a visit from Floyd Stoner and James Ballentine, who represent the American Bankers Association.

Now, Stoner and Ballentine didn’t run screaming from the room when they met me, which I appreciated. But it seemed to me they were a little on edge, and probably not as blunt as they might have been had I not been sitting there scribbling in my notebook.

The pair is interested in the federal predatory lending legislation that Miller (and Rep. Mel Watt) plan to file once again. The bill would set limits on what banks can charge for loans to people with less than optimal credit and set boundaries for when loans just aren’t feasible. A snippet of the conversation:

“What we want to avoid is turning back the clock where if you don’t have A-plus credit, you get nothing,” Ballentine said, saying that if rules were too restrictive lenders help borrowers with less than stellar credit.

“We have been aware we, we will be aware we don’t want to regulate sub-prime lending to death,” Miller said, drawing on the example of North Carolina’s law to show that sub-prime lending can still happen in the face of regulation.

It went on like that for about 10 minutes, maybe a little longer.

Miller and his staffers characterized this as a “meet and greet,” an opportunity for the lobbyist in question to make their intentions known.

Now, I know the idea here is that instead of having someone who is going to work against whatever you do, you invite them to give their 2-cents on a pending bill and maybe they’ll help you get it passed. It happens quite a bit in Raleigh, where there’s a special room in the legislative office building where these stakeholder meetings typically go down.

So I know was supposed to be a cooperative occasion.

But it also had the feel of a couple of prize fighters sizing each other up, maybe at a weigh in or something. Except in the pugilistic exposition that is American politics, it’s not just two guys in the square circle. Rather, as many different parties as have an interest in a thing lace up their gloves and go at it.

Bits and pieces from Wednesday (and one from Tuesday):

• I’ve heard from Democrats and Republicans that the much ballyhooed plan to work five days a week put forward by the Democratic leadership is keeping them from visiting with constituents back in their districts. And this early in the session, they say, there’s not the work to justify it. Said Rep. Virginia Foxx yesterday, “We’re cramming two and half days of work into five.”

• In yesterday’s post I wrote about Rep. Howard Coble’s opposition to the minimum wage. On the Senate side, Sen. Richard Burr said he generally supports the idea of the raising the wage, but has a different take on how it ought to be done. Click here to listen to that clip.

• As I was stalking Miller today, I stopped in on the House Foreign Relations Committee where he is a member. The agenda for the day was to hear from and question former Sec. State Madeline Albright. She is not a fan of the administration’s Iraq policy.
  “There are not a lot of countries looking at Iraq right now and thinking ‘I want my country to look like that.’ It’s not a great advertisement (for Democracy),” she said.

• Usually when I wander into someone’s legislative office, they have pictures of them standing with political heroes or allies. So I’m sitting in Watt’s office and he’s getting done criticizing the president’s Iraq strategy and I look up to see a picture of President Bush and Watt and their wives at a White House Christmas Party.
  “I live the president on a personal level… we’re not enemies.”

More here tomorrow night.

Reports from Washington:

• Tuesday.
  
• Wednesday.
  
• Thursday.

My week in D.C. wrapped up this afternoon. A few notes before I head back south:

• One of the things I've been talking with folks quite about bit about this week is Iraq. Click here for the first part of my conversation with Sen. Dole on the topic. For a second bit, trimmed to get it down to three minutes, click here.

• A reader question that came through my editor asked who pays for those civic pride bets like the one Sen. Burr made on the Orange Bowl.

  After chatting this over with a few people on the hill, it usually comes from the elected official’s own pocket or their campaign account.

  In the case of the Orange Bowl bet, Burr shelled out. The payout was, as is typical for North Carolina honorables, barbecue. But there was the big decision.

  "It makes it particularly difficult for a Senator from North Carolina because we have both eastern and Lexington style barbecue and you don’t want to disenfranchise either one," Burr said. "So we cooked it ourselves."

  So for you kids getting into politics, remember you not only need to know how the shake hands, work well with others and navigate the bureaucracy, but knowing how to cook your home state's delicacy doesn’t hurt either.

• Another reader question: Keith from High Point wrote to ask if Sen. Dole is in North Carolina much. That's a reasonable question given her gig the past two years heading up the NRSC, which kept her on the road campaigning for candidates in other states when she wasn’t in D.C.

  Free of that commitment, Dole said this morning she planned to be in North Carolina about every other week when the Senate was in session, more during recesses.

  "You’re going to see so much of me you’re going to think, 'Good glory, here she comes again,'" Dole said.

• He's not from the Greensboro area, but former state legislator and current U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry is gaining recognition as one of the most outspoken young conservatives on the hill.

  He was part of a news conference Friday afternoon that took a few swipes at the Democrat’s 100 hours agenda.

  "They promised results," McHenry said. "They delivered hypocrisy."

  I asked him about what he said was an effort "to disagree agreeably," but sounded a little biting to my ears.

  Click here to listen to what he said on the walk back from that news conference to his office. It's an interesting take on how one needs to operate in D.C. when one doesn't sit in the seat of power.

  McHenry has been applying that "strong elbow" he talks about in that clip liberally.

That's it for now. I'll be driving back tomorrow and spending the next few days getting several stories together for next Sunday's paper.

Previous Wx posts:

• Tuesday.
• Wednesday.
• Thursday.

From U.S. Rep. Brad Miller’s office:

On the morning before President Bush delivers his State of the Union Address to Congress, U.S. Reps. David Price (NC-04) and Brad Miller (NC-13), introduced a bill to phase out the U.S. military involvement in Iraq by year's end.

The Price-Miller legislation would terminate the President's authority to wage war in Iraq on December 31, 2007, and would require an exit strategy to bring American troops home by that date. The bill would also enhance political and diplomatic efforts designed to hasten the total transfer of authority to the Iraqi government and bolster that government's chances of success after the American presence has ended.

Click here for the whole thing.

I just finished watching the State of the Union address and then talking to our local Congressional folks about it. A few notes:

• President Bush was making some nice overtures to the Democrats, but he did use an Republican idiom early in the speech.
  “Some are new to this chamber,” said the president, “and I congratulate the Democrat majority.”
  Most Democrats would say that he should have said “Democratic.” This has been a linguistic spitting matching between the two parties and if you want to know more, click here.

• Was it just me and the folks here in my newsroom, or did anyone else watching the television broadcast see Rep. Virginia Foxx give the president an overly friendly smooch on his way out of the chamber?

• Sen. Richard Burr talked to us scruffy press types after the speech on a conference call. He was asked about the president’s statement on immigration:
  “I was pleasantly surprised to see any immigration plan should not include amnesty because amnesty is a show stopper,” he said. When asked if the guest worker proposal couldn’t be interpreted as offering some sort of amnesty to those who are here illegally, he said, “I think allows for a little creativity.”

• I asked Rep. Mel Watt about the president’s education proposal:
  “Well, he’s committed to No Child Left Behind, I think a number of us are committed to it. Unfortunately he’s shown little commitment to standing up for the necessary funding for it,” said Rep. Mel Watt. “I think we will reauthorize No Child Left Behind. I think we will probably make some amendment to it. The biggest shortcoming is that we have not funded the thing anywhere near the level we committed to when we passed it.”

• I asked Rep. Brad Miller about the president’s environmental statement:
  “I wondered where he’s been for the past six years. He said a lot of things I agree with but there were a lot of things he talked about that he fought tooth and nail for the past six years.”
  He continued, “The speech just ignored the policies of the administration for the past six year. Now, last year, he also said we need to end our addiction to oil but then his budget did nothing on it.”

• Yes, Rep. Howard Coble still says he opposes the surge. He liked what the president had to say on immigration:
  “The President continues to emphasize the importance of guest workers, and I agree with that,” said Coble, who said he does not favor amnesty for immigrants here illegally.
  Coble said he has heard from farmers and landscapers who rely on migrant labor. “They tell me that if they didn’t have guest workers from which to draw on, it would be chaotic.”

• Foxx disagreed: “I disagree with the President’s proposed 'comprehensive immigration reform.’ We should close the borders and end illegal entry into the United States now. This is not the time to allow illegal aliens any form of amnesty or path to citizenship,” Foxx said in a written statement.

Note: I'm re-ordering this post a bit so it makes sense to those who come late to it. Audio links are moving to the bottom. -binker

-=-=-=-=-=-=

Apparently, all the web sites that my bosses were telling me about this morning were 100 percent horse hockey. Several, including some biggies like CNN I'm told, were reporting that John Edwards would suspend his presidential campaign.

Edwards, presidential candidates and former North Carolina Senator, says he's staying on the campaign trail.

His wife, Elizabeth, does have an incurable form of cancer, but it’s treatable and she says she, too, will stay on the trail. If I understood them right today, the cancer is a form of the breast cancer she had that has now migrated to her bones, and possibly a lung.

Mrs. Edwards says she will never be cancer free, but she can live with this form of the disease for years.

More, including audio, coming.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Update:Edwards was asked whether he would stop the campaign.

But Click here for his answer.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Update: For the AP story, click here.

For the full 20 minutes or so of Mr. and Mrs. Edwards speaking to us scruffy media types, click here.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Update: From Rep. Brad Miller's office:

"I've known Elizabeth longer and better than I've known John, and I know John would agree that he married above himself. They have a tough fight in front of them, and my prayers are with them."

For those who say the online brief regarding Coble criticizing World Bank head Paul Wolfowitz, but wanted more, we did have a story inside our A section today. For the full the full version, click past the jump.

Update:Click here for a YouTube version of the speech.

From a Washington Post story, here's Gate City's own connection to the ongoing prosecutor firing scandal up in D.C.:

Another prosecutor, Anna Mills Wagoner of Greensboro, N.C., is included on three lists. Documents show that Monica M. Goodling, a Gonzales aide set to testify next week in Congress, removed her from consideration because of her work prosecuting gun crimes.

Click here for the full story. Wagoner's name is at the end.

Update: Click here for more on the local story and there will be more in Friday's paper.

From today's paper:

Two former U.S. attorneys who headed the Greensboro-based Middle District office are among those surprised that the area's current top federal prosecutor was at one point slated to be fired.

Anna Mills Wagoner was among 26 U.S. attorneys Bush administration officials considered firing in 2006, according to congressional testimony and newspaper reports.

This sweeps central North Carolina's top federal law enforcement officers into the swirl of a national scandal. Congress and other critics question whether U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other administration officials tried to get rid of sitting prosecutors for political reasons.

"I've known Anna Mills (Wagoner) for quite a while now; I have the highest opinion of her," said Robert Holt Edmunds Jr. , who served as U.S. attorney in the Middle District from 1986 through 1993 and is now a state Supreme Court justice.

Edmunds was appointed by President Reagan and recommended for the job by then-Sen. Jesse Helms.

Click here for the full story.

Previous entries from me on this topic here and here.

More on the wider story:

• No-Confidence Vote Sought on Gonzales. (Post)

• Senate Democrats Plan a Resolution on Gonzales. (NYT)

• Dems to Seek Gonzales No-Confidence Vote. (TPM)

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee held a hearing today on the continuing ruckus over firing U.S. Attorneys.

The U.S. Attorney based in Greensboro, Anna Mills Wagoner, was the subject of some questions today from Rep. Mel Watt. Thanks to a helping hand from Rep. Brad Miller's office, we have a transcript:

WATT: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. Goodling, this obviously has national implications. But it has some repercussions at local levels, too. So I'd like to ask you a couple of questions that relate to North Carolina, which happens to be where I'm from.
You testified in your opening statement this morning that, quote, "I never recommended to them that a specific U.S. attorney be added to or removed from Mr. Sampson's list."

GOODLING: I mean "them" being the White House. I did discuss with Mr. Sampson, of course, removing individuals. I was referencing my interactions with the White House in my statement.

WATT: That seems to be at odds with what Mr. Sampson testified in the Senate, when he testified that you suggested taking Ms. Anna Mills Wagoner of the Middle District of North Carolina off the list in September of 2006.
Did you or did you not recommend taking Ms. Wagoner off the list?

GOODLING: I did. I recommended...

WATT: OK. All right.

GOODLING: ... retaining her in service in January and in September.

Gonzales is out as AG.

Previously from these parts: our own little local angle to the story.

President Bush is outlining steps to help out Americans caught up in the mortgage lending mess:

"It's not the government's job to bail out speculators or those who made the decision to buy a home they knew they could never afford," Mr. Bush said. "Yet there are many American homeowners who can get through this difficult time with a little flexibility from their lenders or little help from their government."

(Sorry, European investors, you're still up a creek.

Bush's announcement prompted this statement from Congressman Brad Miller, a Democrat who represents Greensboro and Raleigh:

"I welcome President Bush to the effort to help middle class American families avoid losing their homes to foreclosure. His attention to the issue is long overdue. If Congress had passed decent consumer protections against predatory mortgage lending four years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now. Instead, I had to fight for four years to keep Republicans in Congress from gutting state predatory mortgage lending laws.

I want to help homeowners keep their homes, but I have no interest at all in using taxpayer money to pay predatory mortgages in full. Congress has passed emergency legislation before - going back to the Great Depression - to help farmers avoid losing their farms to foreclosure by modifying their mortgages, and we need to do the same thing to help homeowners in predatory mortgages now.

I welcome President Bush's support for Congress' urgent effort to help middle class families save their homes."

Miller has some standing to speak out on the housing issue. He was a key architect of North Carolina's predatory lending laws, which are pretty aggressive in favor of consumers. As well, drafting legislation to protect borrowers at the federal level has been one of his key priorities in D.C.

Related: Columnist Scott Mooneyham has also weighed in on the topic.

So I took the family down to the beach for a few days, leaving the computer and most of my other gizmos behind. Of course, that results in a zillion e-mails waiting for me this morning and the bar has been pretty high as far as getting my attention.

But one from Congressman Brad Miller made me laugh. It is basically an update to constituents following the the Iraq testimony last week, but had this biting bit of commentary:

"I also gave a video interview to The Hill, a publication devoted entirely to Congress and politics. The Hill hosts a blog on which they invite Members of Congress to post entries, which has resulted in some of the most tepid, uninteresting blogging known to man.

Dude, when a Congressman is ripping your blog for being boring, that's just wrong. At any rate, Miller goes on:

They posted portions of interviews with various Members as a "video log," or "vlog." Their question to me was what I would have asked General Petraues if I had gotten the chance."

The question I would have asked was why his very optimistic forecasts of events in the past had proven so wrong.

For those who are interested, click here for Miller's take on things.

And no, Miller's not the only Triad area Congressman hitting the vlog scene.

Howard Coble put his take on Iraq out there as well.

Update: More video from the e-mail box:

Former N.C. Senator (and currentl presidential hopeful) John Edwards gives his response to President Bush's address last week.

Coble and a note of discord

You can say a lot of things about Rep. Howard Coble. Every time I write about him I get at least a few phone calls or e-mails from folks who don't like his politics and, well, that's America.

But at 76-years-old, Coble pretty much has taken to speaking his mind about the situation at hand, which makes him fun to write about. Case in point, Tuesday's House Judiciary Committee meeting on the headline-grabbing case down in Jena, La.

One of those speaking was slated to be the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was a little more than fashionably late.

"If I were compiling a group of witnesses to encourage the diminishing of racial disharmony, I don't know that Mr. Sharpton would have made my cut," Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.) advised Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.).

As if on cue, Sharpton, in a three-piece suit, walked in a few minutes later and, to the tune of hundreds of camera-shutter clicks, took his seat. Conyers asked if he wished to make a belated opening statement, and Sharpton certainly did.

Click here for the full sketch from the Post.

I saw Rep. Howard Coble at the GOP gubernatorial debate this weekend.

Cordial as always, Coble looked like he came fresh from a fight with a angry badger. When I asked his spokesman, Ed McDonald about it over e-mail, he said, "Actually, it was a wolverine!"

Then he pointed me to this story in "The Hill" newspaper (fourth headline down):

Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.) was diagnosed with skin cancer in the late 1990s and has had several growths surgically removed from his forehead over the years. But he now treats himself with a topical solution that burns the skin cells and turns the outer skin on his face a blistery red.

"It's painful and not real good-looking," said Coble spokesman Ed McDonald, explaining that his boss has recently begun another treatment on himself. Coble undergoes these treatments three to four times annually. "The doctors swear he'll look like Robert Redford. That's his joke."

Aw, geeze, I feel bad about the badger thing now.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on campus at Meredith College today.

I didn't see either of two groups of protestors who indicated they would be out there earlier this week, but my colleagues tell me someone was there for a very short time early in the day.

After speaking to an auditorium packed full of college students and professors, she took questions from us scruffy media types.

I imagine the headline that a lot of my colleagues will go with will concern Pelosi promising to send another Iraq war funding resolution through before Congress' Thanksgiving break. By her own admission, it won't be a lot different from what Congress has already done and President Bush has already vetoed and/or ignored. She explains in this video clip:

Pelosi also was asked about funding for drought relief in North Carolina and elsewhere, particularly farmers. When he was asked about this the other day, Gov. Mike Easley said there was no federal funding to tap to help farmers whose crops died on the vine this summer.

So, Madame Speaker, where is that federal funding?

Update: Pelosi was asked why Congress sent measures like the Iraq resolution and the SCHIP expansion bill over and over again, if the president was simply going to veto them again. Doesn't it make Congress look impotent, she was asked. Her answer:

Taylor Sawyer, 15: "I had never met a congressman, and I wanted to."

There's something sweet and sad that it's news when a teenager is excited about meeting a Congressman.

So, it turns out getting crammed into that little tiny seat isn't your biggest worry if you're flying these days. From the Washington Post:

NASA begrudgingly released some results Monday from an $11.3 million federal air safety study it previously withheld from the public over concerns it would upset travelers and hurt airline profits.

It published the findings in a format that made it cumbersome for any thorough analysis by outsiders. Released on New Year's Eve, the unprecedented research conducted over nearly four years relates to safety problems identified by some 29,000 pilots interviewed by telephone.

Earlier characterizations from people who have seen the results said they would show that events like near collisions and runway interference occur far more frequently than previously recognized. Such information could not be gleaned from the 16,208 pages posted by NASA on its Web site, however, because of information that was edited out. The data was based on interviews with about 8,000 pilots per year from 2001 until the end of 2004.

I post this hear not because you need another reason to be scared, but because Rep. Brad Miller (a Democrat who represents Greensboro and Raleigh) had a hand in getting NASA to "begrudgingly released some results." Miller had this to say in a statement this afternoon:

NASA today dumped three-year-old, unanalyzed data from more than 25,000 interviews of commercial and general aviation pilots on aviation safety. According to NASA, they never intended to analyze the data, just test the "methodology" used for the interviews. The taxpayers who paid $11.5 million for the surveys and the pilots who spent 12,000 hours answering the survey questions hoped for more. They hoped the survey would lead to improved aviation safety.

NASA said others can now analyze the data, but NASA scrubbed much of the information that would be important for any analysis. Eighty percent of the pilots asked to participate in the half-hour survey agreed. Those pilots obviously wanted others to know their observations and experiences. It is hard to imagine that those pilots would want useful information scrubbed from the data out of a fear that stray bits of information might somehow be connected to identify a specific pilot's answers to the survey.

Many of NASA's statements today are contradicted by the testimony of several witnesses at the Science and Technology Committee hearing on October 31. Dr. Robert Dodd, who managed the survey, said the scientists and experts who conducted the survey hoped to turn the data "into useful information for decision makers." Dr. Dodd said that the "data is of good quality and ready for meaningful analysis."

Despite NASA's dismissal of surveys as a methodology for collecting accurate data, Dr. Jon Krosnik, a statistics professor at Stanford who helped design the survey, said that surveys are routinely used "to track rates of events over time and to inform decision-making and organizational practices." Every 10 years the US conducts an essential survey - the Census.

The original intent of the NAOMS was to develop possible "safety precursors" from the survey. Without further study of this data we will never know what these precursors are. I am will to assume however, that near-misses are a precursor to collisions. I urge NASA to get the remaining data out quickly and in a useful form.

NAOMS was an air safety survey of 24,000 of the nation's airline pilots, conducted over a number of years. NASA initially refused a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the data from the Associated Press citing it "could materially affect the public confidence in, and the commercial welfare of the air carriers..." Committee Members called NASA's refusal "troubling" and "unconvincing," and urged the agency to make the data available to the public.

Pressure from the Committee to speed release of the data resulted in the press conference today by NASA and an initial release of data from the study.

You may have read about the closing of the Gold Toe Moretz plant in Alamance County. The layoffs will affect 430 people, according to the governor's office.

Congressman Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat who represents Greensboro and parts of Alamance, weighed in on the closure this afternoon:

I am deeply disturbed by the loss of jobs that will result in the closing of the GoldToeMoretz manufacturing site in Burlington. Sock mills have been one of the few remaining competitive sectors in the hard hit US- apparel industry. I will keep in mind the hundreds of workers at Gold Toe who will be forced to find new work. I believe we can do more to preserve these jobs and work to help create new high -paying jobs in North Carolina. I will continue to oppose trade agreements like CAFTA that only accelerate the loss of manufacturing jobs at home.

This administration has done a woeful job of standing up for American manufacturing in the world market. A global marketplace and free trade mean nothing if it is not fair trade. When the CAFTA was passed, a commitment was made to protect the interests of the domestic sock industry. Today's news doesn't reflect well on that commitment. During consideration of CAFTA, and since it has become law, I have joined with other members of Congress in writing to the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Treasury asking them to honor their promises to protect this industry. I hope they do a better job of listening in the future.

Click here for a copy of the leader to Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson.

Click here for a copy of the leader to Commerce Sec. Carlos Gutierrez.

From The Politico:

The main intellectual engine driving Democratic responses to the housing crisis isn’t headquartered in a flashy Washington think tank or K Street suite, but rather in a restored cream-and-brick building on Durham’s idle West Main Street.

It's the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Responsible Lending. And on a recent afternoon, Martin Eakes, its chief executive officer, abandoned a half-read printout of the Federal Reserve’s just-released draft of new mortgage lending rules, its response to the subprime market meltdown.

"The proposed rule is worse than I could have ever imagined," Eakes seethed in his Southern drawl. "I had thought that the Bernanke Fed would be different, [but] it is the most pathetic response to a serious crisis that I have seen from any regulator in my adult career."

The House today approved an economic stimulus package. Congressman Howard Coble was one of 35 votes against. From his office:

Even though it was endorsed by a Republican president, along with Democratic and GOP leadership in the House, U.S. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) today voted against a $150 billion economic stimulus package calling it "deficit spending at its worst."

Congressman Coble stated that he voted against the legislation because it was "applying a Band-Aid to a problem that requires major surgery."

Rep. Coble said he also voted against the measure because he didn't like the process in which it was adopted. "It was brought up under suspension of the rules," Rep. Coble noted, "which meant that there were no hearings on the bill, and we couldn't amend it on the House floor. I know that everyone wants to assist our slowing economy as soon as possible, but adding this much to our deficit is the wrong approach in my opinion."

The stimulus plan passed the House by a vote of 385 to 35 with 1 present. The Senate is looking at different proposals for its own economic recovery plan, so the legislation still has additional hurdles to cross. Rep. Coble was the only member of the North Carolina congressional delegation to vote against the bill.

"When I first ran for this office," Rep. Coble stated, "I said I wanted to apply a sharp pencil to age-old ways of deficit spending in Washington. Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Some time ago, the catch phrase was, 'It's the economy, stupid.' It is still about the economy, but I think there is a smarter way to stimulate growth than by piling on additional debt. That is why I voted no today."

From a PR Newswire release:

North Carolina Senator Richard Burr, a former businessman and pro-growth champion on Capitol Hill, has agreed to become the new Co-Chairman of the Senate Boating Caucus. Senator Burr replaces former Senator Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who recently retired from the U.S. Senate, and will serve as co-chairman alongside Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.).

Now before you think Burr is going to don a little sailors cap and start having people call him "Commodore," this has more to do with business than regattas. More from the release:

"I love the outdoors so I'm pleased to be a Co-Chair of the Senate Boating Caucus," Burr said. "Like all North Carolinians, I know that boating is a great way to enjoy our state and we share that with many families across our country. The boating industry is an important part of North Carolina's economy that is continually growing," Burr added.

North Carolina is home to more than 60 boat manufacturers that generate more than 7,300 jobs statewide. With more than $649 million in new retail sales and services in the powerboat, motor, trailer and marine accessories market in 2006, North Carolina is the fourth biggest marine market in the U.S. There are currently more than 370,000 registered recreational boats in North Carolina.

"The National Marine Manufacturers Association applauds Senator Burr for taking on the responsibility of co-chairing the Senate Boating Caucus and thanks him for his strong representation of the recreational marine industry and boating community in North Carolina," said Scott B. Gudes, NMMA vice president of government relations. "We look forward to working with him to promote pro-boating policies on Capitol Hill."

Taxpayers for Common Sense has its annual review of budget earmarks out.

Earmarks are those little (or not so little) bits of funding that members of Congress set aside and make sure get to the home folks. Some folks call it pork, others call it "valuable local economic development projects." It's all a matter of perspective.

You can look through the whole thing at the TCS website, but I'm going to dive in an pull out some info on our locals.

Let's start with Congressman Howard Coble:

Amount requested alone or alone and with Senators: $5,289,500
Amount of Total Earmarks, requested solo and with others: $1,2737,500
Some of the Projects:

• * YMCA of High Point, NC, Archdale Trinity Branch in Archdale, NC, for construction of a YMCA facility, $147,000
  
• * Alamance-Burlington School District, Burlington, NC for the Professional Development Academy, $146,000
  
• * Sandhills Teen Challenge, Carthage, NC for substance abuse treatment services, $97,000

Coble had two projects he requested in conjunction with Brad Miller:

• * Elon University of Law, Juvenile Justice Intervention and Mediation Clinic, Greensboro, NC, $235,000.
• * Autonomous Anti-Submarine Vertical Beam Array, $1 million. (This one went to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems.)

Miller himself had $9.6 million in earmarks, $2.2 of which he either requested on his own or in conjunction with Senators (read: no other house members involved). Some samples from his list:

• * FRESH (Field Renewable Energy System Hybrids) Li Ion Battery, $1 million. (AFRL/PRPS).
• * WakeMed Health & Hospitals, for the Emergency Operations and Regional Call Center, $170,000.
• * To Interact, for renovation and build out of a shelter for victims of domestic violence, $147,000.
• * Person Memorial Hospital, Roxboro, NC for facilities and equipment, $331,000.

Rep. Mel Watt has signed onto $23.8 million in earmarks, although only a tenth of that are items that he signed onto by himself. Some samples of those:

• * University of North Carolina, with East Carolina University, for the program in Racial Disparities in Cardiovascular Disease, $570,000.
• * University of North Carolina at Greensboro, for a teletherapy program to address the shortage of speech language pathologists, $68,000.
• * Intermodal Transportation Facility (Winston-Salem), $392,000.
• * Klumac Road grade crossing separation (Salisbury), $300,000.

The big money seems to be on the Senate side.

Elizabeth Dole did $147 million in earmarks either on her own or with others. Of that, she did $4.8 million in solo requests, with no other Senator or House member involved. Samples from that group:

• * FHWA; Ferry Boats and Terminal Facilities, $2.3 million, North Carolina Statewide Ferry System.
• * University of North Carolina at Wilmington, for nursing programs including military veterans, clinical research, and distance learning, $205,000.
• * Aquatic Plant Control - Lake Gaston, $512,000.

Sen. Richard Burr signed on to $116 million in earmarks, $2.8 million of those without another Senator or House member involved. In that latter group:

• * City of Rocky Mount, for renovations to the former Booker T. Washington High School, $137,200.
• * Clayton Pedestrian Grade Separation, $360,150.
• * Gaston College, Health Education Institute, Dallas, NC for nurse training programs, including facilities and equipment, $146,000.

On the heels of joining up with an enforcement-first immigration caucus in the Senate, Sen. Elizabeth Dole filed a couple immigration-related bills this week:

• The first would repeal an executive order that requires government services to be provided in languages other than English. From the release:

  "Hundreds of different languages are spoken by people in this country, and it is fiscally irresponsible and impractical for our government to provide services in all of these languages," said Dole. "Moreover, proficiency in English should be encouraged, as it is not only required for citizenship but also is essential for maximizing opportunities in this country."

• The other would make drunk driving a deportable offense. From a release:

  "In North Carolina, we have had a number of fatal automobile accidents caused by an intoxicated person who was in the United States illegally," said Dole. "In several of these incidents, the illegal alien has a record of DWI, but has been caught and released. My bill would help ensure that undocumented aliens who have self-identified themselves by drunk driving are removed. Likewise, individuals who abuse their legal status in the United States by repeatedly breaking our drunk driving laws should lose their privilege of living in our country."

I have argued before that immigration will be a big factor in the upcoming election. It has slipped in the polls as of late, although remains big with conservative voters.

And while not EVERY legislative action is a piece of an upcoming campaign, and these moves are consistent with Dole's approach to legislating, but they do seem a good way to keep supporters happy.

From an blog post by the LA Times' Washington Bureau comes this scene of Rep. Mel Watt at work on Capitol Hill:

The meeting took a truly unexpected turn ... when Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia called upon Chertoff's entourage to all stand up -- without explaining why.

That task fell to Rep. Mel Watt of North Carolina, like Scott an African American and a Democrat. He said he wanted to make clear, for the record, "that the 10 staff members who stood up behind Secretary Chertoff are all white males."

There ensued a testy exchange between Watt and Chertoff, with the latter cautioning against assumptions