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| NEWS > 06 December 2005 |
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Cop's widow loses lawsuit
SCHENECTADY -- Saratoga Hospital and its staff were not negligent in the psychiatric care of Officer William F. Marhafer II, who committed suicide after being discharged four years ago, a jury determined Tuesday.
The panel deliberated just under 90 minutes before unanimously voting against awarding monetary damages to Anna Marhafer, the 34-year-old officer's widow.
She had alleged in a lawsuit that three members of the hospital's staff deviated from accepted medical practices in discharging her husband from the mental health unit while he was still depressed and suicidal. No damag... Read more
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TheNewsTribune.com (subs) - Ta
06 December 2005
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Washington sees surge in corru
Money, politics on collision course
JAMES KUHNHENN; Knight Ridder Newspapers
Published: December 4th, 2005 02:30 AM
WASHINGTON – Big money is buying influence in Washington these days on a scale seen rarely, if ever, before.
Consider this: After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, big-ticket defense contracts doubled, federal spending on those contracts jumped by $100 billion – and the number of lobbyists signed up to represent defense industry clients spiked from 900 to more than 1,650.
Two defense contractors now stand accused of bribing Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) – a power on the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee – in exchange for top feed at the Pentagon trough. Cunningham resigned from Congress last week after pleading guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes, including a Rolls-Royce and a $7,200 antique Louis-Philippe commode.
While Cunningham crossed a legal line, his case spotlights the intersection of money and politics in Washington, where most lawmakers dance along a vaguer line that divides political donations from less-explicit paybacks.
The investigations into questionable links among lawmakers, contractors and lobbyists threaten to ensnare more members of Congress. Already, widely reported instances of lobbyist-financed resort visits, golf outings, fine dining and million-dollar payoffs have hung a cloud of scandal over Washington.
“The closest analogy I can come up with is the Gilded Age,” congressional scholar Norman Ornstein said, referring to the late 1800s, when tycoons such as John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie created “trusts” built on emerging industries in oil, steel and railroads – and bent Washington to their will.
Lawmakers and lobbyists need each other for government to function. Lobbyists provide expertise and raise issues that require attention. But the past five years have seen a sharp rise in lobbying that’s in direct proportion to Congress’s spending ever more of taxpayers’ money.
Lawmakers increasingly load up spending bills with special projects. This year’s highway bill had 6,371 such “earmarks” totaling more than $24 billion.
At the same time, more and more lobbyists work this trend. From 2000 to 2004, the number of companies registered to lobby “appropriators” who control spending in Congress almost doubled, from 1,865 to 3,523.
Similarly, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks prompted dramatic spending increases on defense and homeland security.
“People were chasing what was perceived to be an almost unlimited amount of money,” said Anthony Townes, a political scientist at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the author of “Total Lobbying: What Lobbyists Want (and How They Try to Get It).”
Lobbyists know how to cultivate lawmakers. They shower them with campaign contributions. They buy expensive tables at political fundraisers. Spotting a lawmaker the occasional five-star dinner is all in a day’s work. All are typical – and widely acceptable – methods of currying favor in Washington.
THREE D.C. INVESTIGATIONS
• The Justice Department is investigating former uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose partner pleaded guilty last month to charges that he conspired to bribe an unidentified congressman. That investigation could splatter other lawmakers, including former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) and Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio). All four deny any wrongdoing.
• DeLay is under indictment in Texas on charges of conspiracy to evade campaign finance laws. He’s fighting the charge, saying it’s politically motivated.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department are investigating Senate Republican leader Bill Frist’s sale of stock in HCA Inc., a hospital chain that his family founded, before its stock price plunged. Frist, of Tennessee, says he did nothing improper and is cooperating.
Knight Ridder Newspapers
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