Good morning. The morning report will resume on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011.
Post urges Maryland reforms
Prison sentence for Magliocchetti
The Post reports.
A once-prominent Washington lobbyist was sentenced Friday to 27 months in prison for illegally funneling more than $380,000 in campaign contributions to House members controlling the Pentagon’s budget.
The DoJ release is here.
“Mr. Magliocchetti carried out one of the largest federal campaign finance frauds in history,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “He learned that no one – despite wealth and influence – is above the law. Today’s sentence should put anyone on notice that if you seek to buy the influence of elected public officials through skirting the campaign finance laws you’ll not merely be exposed publicly but you’ll go to prison for a long time.”
Fundraising events in the news
In Roll Call this morning.
The conservative constitution
From the Post’s perspective:
The right of Corporations, Hedge Funds, Business Leaders and Lobbyists to spend endless cash on campaigns and influence-purchasing shall not be infringed. The so-called right of Unions to associate shall be denied as fundamentally un-American and contrary to the agenda of the Chamber of Commerce.
DeLay trial update
Here.
The occasion is the opening of the so-called “punishment phase” of a six-year state legal proceeding against DeLay, who on Nov. 24 was found guilty by a jury of money laundering and conspiracy, for funneling corporate contributions to state candidates, considered illegal under a Texas law banning the use of such funds in state races.
Lobbyists on the floor
Former Rep. Bob Livingston is the topic of this report.
“I was under the impression that opening day and the State of the Union were days when I, as a lobbyist, could indeed go on the floor,” Livingston said. “When I was informed that I was mistaken, I left.”
