Newly obtained documents suggest that Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) personally called former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson regarding a cash infusion from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) for the Boston-based OneUnited Bank, according to the non-partisan, public-interest group Judicial Watch.

On November 25, 2008, following Frank’s intervention, the Treasury Department awarded close to $12.5 million in bailout funds to OneUnited, which is located in Frank’s district. According to the Wall Street Journal, Frank publicly admitted he spoke to a “federal regulator” regarding OneUnited, but “he didn’t remember which federal regulator he spoke with.”

The documents, obtained by Judicial Watch in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against Treasury, include correspondence between Frank and Treasury as well as internal Treasury emails referencing attempts by Frank and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), whose husband, Sidney Williams, served on the OneUnited Board of Directors, to intervene on behalf of the Massachusetts Bank. Williams resigned shortly after Waters approached federal regulators regarding the OneUnited TARP grant.

“It’s almost unbelievable that Rep. Frank — up to his neck in the Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac debacle — continues to escape any investigation congress or the federal government or even the news media,” said political strategist Mike Baker.

“I stress the words almost unbelievable since the Democrats appear to be insulated from any meaningful scrutiny,” added Baker.

An October 17, 2008, email from former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Banking and Finance King Mueller to former Assistant Treasury Secretary Neel Kashkari and other Treasury officials references the contact between Frank and Paulson:

“Just spoke w/ Jim [Segel] in BF’s [Barney Frank’s] office. This is about One United Bank (a minority owned bank in BF’s district). Maxine Waters is interested in the bank as well, Treas[ury] and others met w/ them (minority bankers assoc) last month per the Water’s request. They were a big holder in f/f preferred. BF is interested and may call HMP [Henry Paulson] again about this. FDIC is their primary federal regulator.”[Emphasis added.]

An October 16, 2008, email from Kashkari to former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Appropriations and Management Peter Dugas: “Peter, Jim Siegel [sic] from Frank’s office called a few times-can one of you follow-up with him?” Segel serves as Frank’s Chief Counsel. Another email suggests that Frank’s congressional staff had “concerns” about Frank’s contacts with Treasury becoming public. Paulson’s October 2008 calendar, which has been released separately, details calls from Frank on October 2, 3, 7, 9, 13, and 17.

With respect to Rep. Waters, the documents include a January 13, 2009, email from Brooklyn McLaughlin, Treasury’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, expressing surprise at Waters’ apparent conflict of interest: “Further to email below, WSJ [Wall Street Journal] tells me:…Apparently this bank is the only one that has gotten money through section 103-6 of the EESA law. And Maxine Waters’ husband is on the board of the bank. ??????”

“This is exactly the kind of corrupt deal-making we can expect when the federal government decides to throw massive amounts of taxpayer dollars at private institutions,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And it appears Barney Frank has been dishonest regarding his intervention on behalf of OneUnited. Frank stated publicly he could not remember the name of the bureaucrat he contacted about OneUnited, and now we learn this nameless bureaucrat was almost certainly none other than the Secretary of the Treasury. Who is Frank kidding? This looks like another Keating Five-type scandal. This still-burgeoning scandal calls into question whether Rep. Frank should remain head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. No wonder the Obama Treasury Department stonewalled the release of these documents.”

Without the intervention of Frank and Waters, OneUnited would seem an unlikely recipient of TARP funds. As reported in the January 22, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury Department indicated it would only provide funds to healthy banks in order to jump-start lending. Not only was OneUnited Bank in massive financial turmoil, but it was also “under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive pay abuses, including owning a Porsche for its executives’ use.” The bank continues to flounder and is one of the few financial institutions to have not paid dividends to the federal government in exchange for the TARP cash infusion.

Where have I heard that phrase before?

Jim sent this in:

The Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended during the Obama Administration, authorizes the federal government to enter into partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies to train officers to assist in identifying those individuals who are in the country illegally.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is responsible for supervising state and local officers under this program. However, following complaints received by members of the US Congress, the Government Accountability Office was asked to review this program.

The GAO’s report reviews  the extent to which ICE has designed controls to govern the program’s implementation, and how the resources are being used and the activities, benefits, and concerns reported by participating agencies.

ICE has designed some management controls to govern program implementation, such as background checks of state and local officers, but the program lacks other controls, which makes it difficult for ICE to ensure that the program is operating as intended.

First, the program lacks documented objectives to help ensure that participants work toward a consistent purpose. ICE officials stated that the objective of the program is to address serious crime, such as narcotics smuggling committed by removable aliens; however, ICE has not documented this objective in program materials.

As a result, of 29 program participants reviewed by GAO, 4 used 287(g) authority to process individuals for minor crimes, such as speeding, contrary to the objective of the program.

Second, ICE has not described the nature and extent of its supervision over participating agencies’ implementation of the program, which has led to wide variation in the perception of the nature and extent of supervisory responsibility among ICE field officials and officials from the participating agencies. ICE is statutorily required to supervise agencies participating in the program, and internal control standards require an agency’s organizational structure to clearly define key areas of authority and responsibility.

Defining the nature and extent of the agency’s supervision over this large and growing program would strengthen ICE’s assurance that management’s directives are being carried out. Finally, while ICE states  that participating agencies are responsible for tracking and reporting data to ICE, in 20 of 29 agencies

GAO reviewed, ICE did not define what data should be tracked or how it should be collected and reported.

Communicating to participating agencies what data is to be collected and how it should be gathered and reported would help ensure that ICE management has the information needed to determine whether the program is achieving its objective. ICE and program participants use resources for personnel, training, and equipment, and participants report activities, benefits, and concerns regarding the program.

In fiscal years 2006-2008, ICE received about $60 million to train, supervise, and equip program participants. As of October 2008, ICE reported enrolling 67 agencies and training 951 state and local law enforcement officers.

According to data provided by ICE for 25 of the 29 program participants reviewed by GAO, during fiscal year 2008, about 43,000 aliens had been arrested pursuant to the program, and of those, ICE detained about 34,000. About 41 percent of those detained were placed in removal proceedings, and an additional 44 percent agreed to be voluntarily removed.

The remaining 15 percent of those detained by ICE were given a humanitarian release, sent to federal or state prison, or released due to the minor nature of their crime and federal detention space limitations. Program participants report a reduction in crime, the removal of repeat offenders, and other public safety benefits.

However, over half of the 29 agencies GAO contacted reported concerns from community members that use of program authority would lead to racial profiling and intimidation by law enforcement officials.

Members of the U.S. Congress and state Governors send their holiday greetings and well wishes to servicemembers deployed overseas.

Pepper sent this in:

(Columbia, S.C.) – South Carolina’s unemployment rate hit an all-time high at 12.3% for the month of November.  Upon hearing about the state’s unemployment numbers, Congressman Joe Wilson (SC-02), a member of the Education and Labor Committee, continued to sound the alarm about the need for Congress to consider job creation policies:

“How high will unemployment numbers have to rise before Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid finally straighten out Congress’ misplaced priorities?  Congress has spent plenty of time debating health care takeovers, energy tax policies, and rampant spending increases – but no real policies to jump start America’s economy.  With double digit unemployment figures across the nation, lawmakers should be debating and discussing job creation ideas each and every day.

“I represent two counties in the state with the highest and the lowest unemployment rates.  Lawmakers need to debate a diverse range of policies that fit the needs of both types of communities, and fast.  It’s high time for Speaker Pelosi to give our communities the tools they need like tax relief for small businesses and families to get America’s economy rolling once again.”

Click here and here for job creation ideas that Congressman Wilson has encouraged Speaker Pelosi to consider.

WSPA highlighted today that Allendale County has the highest unemployment rate in South Carolina at 23%. The lowest in the state is the 8.8% jobless figure for Lexington County.

Jim sent this in:

Democratic  Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) told reporters on Friday that the US Congress will need to condone at least $1.8 trillion in additional federal borrowing in 2010 if the government does not want to default on the dangerously high U.S. debt.

Jim sent this in:

Civil libertarians are warning Americans about the ambitions of federal lawmakers to control all waters within the United States including those on private property, in the latest power grab by politicians in Washington, DC.

According to the American Land Rights Association, the Obama Administration and Congress are attempting to pass the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2009 (S787) that would amend the 1972 Clean Water Act and replace the words “navigable waters” with “waters of the United States.” 

“The US Constitution’s Tenth Amendment automatically reserves power for controlling waters to the states, not to the Oval Office and US Congress,” said political strategist Mike Baker.

“This is just one more power grab by out-of-control politicians who only adhere to constitutional law when it suits them,” he added. 

Section 3, Paragraph 8 stipulates that  ”this Act will treat, as ‘waters of the United States’, those features that were treated as such pursuant to the regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps of Engineers in existence before the dates of the decisions referred to in paragraph (10), including–

(A) all waters which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide;

(B) all interstate waters, including interstate wetlands;

(C) all other waters, such as intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds;

(D) all impoundments of waters of the United States;

(E) tributaries of the aforementioned waters;

(F) the territorial seas;

(G) wetlands adjacent to the aforementioned waters.”

After being overuled by the U. S. Supreme Court in two recent decisions that the words “navigable waters” in the Clean Water Act limited federal agencies to regulation of navigable waters only, Democrats and liberal Republicans in Congress are striking back.

They are attempting to pass the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2009 (S 787) that would amend the 1972 Clean Water Act and replace the words “navigable waters” with “waters of the United States.” 

“The bill also defines “waters of the United States” with such breathtaking scope that federal agencies would be required to regulate use of every square inch of the U.S., both public and private,” according to the American Land Rights Association.

“Obviously, those behind this legislation have only contempt for the Constitution, limited government and private property rights.  To understand what the framers of the Constitution intended, one need only look to their writings and the writings of those from whom they took wisdom and direction,” said officials at ALRA. 

“This is a terrible bill that would give the Federal government jurisdiction over anything that is wet including seasonal mud flats. This means that the Feds could enter your property and dictate what you can do with bodies of water on your land,” said political strategist Mike Baker.

“It also means that the Great Lake States and Provinces could not protect the Great Lakes from being pumped dry to feed the growth of California and the Southwest. In that area, Democrat Senator Russ Feingold has sold out his own state: Wisconsin.”

“Senate Bill 787 will change federal jurisdiction over “navigable” water, to give the federal government control over all water everwhere, in municiple reservoirs, and on private lands, and in private wells. This bill ignores state water law authority and the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” stated Barbara H. Peterson, a farm lands protection activist.

“If the Feds own the water, then they can do anything they want to with it, and I have to ask permission to get a drink or water my animals,” she stated. 

More information on this subject may be found on these web pages:

www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s787/text

www.landrights.org/

www.thewesterner.blogspot.com/…/us-senate-moves-to-seize-deserts-under.html

www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_SN_787.html 

www.protectmywater.org/documents/060109_2_pager.pdf