Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Is George W. Bush Accountable for Any of This?

Posted on September 8, 2004 by Michael Froomkin
Posted in Politics: US: 2004 Election | 9 Comments

Today’s Bumpersticker

Posted on September 7, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Seen on a car picking up at eldest son's school:

Like Father, Like Son: One Term

Posted in Miami | 1 Comment

Miami, OH But Not Miami, FL?!?

Posted on September 7, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

How come they have Miami, Ohio, but not Miami, FL involved in the Baobabs project?

Posted in Politics: US: 2004 Election | Comments Off on Miami, OH But Not Miami, FL?!?

Call in a Collection Agency

Posted on September 7, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Back in 1912, Congress passed a statute prohibiting the “gag rule” under which Presidents stopped underlings from testifying to Congress. And in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, Congress restated that no federal money can be used to pay the salary of any federal employee who “prohibits or prevents, or attempts or threatens to prohibit or prevent, any other officer or employee of the federal government” from communicating with Congress.

Well, the in light of this law the GAO's Investigators Say Ex-Medicare Chief Should Repay Salary. It seem that the Bush administration illegally withheld data from Congress on the cost of the new Medicare law. Had the data been available, the bill would not have passed.

To keep the info from Congress, Thomas A. Scully illegally threatened to fire the chief Medicare actuary. As a result, he should not have received salary from that point on and must refunde seven months pay.

This is the sort of facts that scream “DC Circuit”… so the inevitable lawsuit will take at least nine months to sort out and probably much more. But Congress's power of the purse is its core and most plenary power. So I think Mr. Scully better be looking to the Scaife people for some help.

[Thanks to bobcox for the correction]

Posted in Administrative Law | 1 Comment

Wanted: Tough Questions for the Presidential Debates

Posted on September 7, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

My brother wears a second hat at NiemanWatchdog.org, besides his Washington Post gig. Here's Nieman's request for tough debate questions

The Internet can make the presidential debates better. NiemanWatchdog.org will make it happen. Starting this week, NiemanWatchdog.org is soliciting tough, incisive questions that President Bush and Senator Kerry should be asked at the upcoming presidential debates.

The Niemanwatchdog.org Web site is a project of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. The site's primary mission is to encourage watchdog reporting by drawing on authorities in various fields to suggest questions the press should ask.

For its presidential debate project, NiemanWatchdog.org is accepting submissions from experts and amateurs alike. The editors of the site will also be scouring blogs and other Web sites, looking for questions being posed there.

“This is no time for softballs,” said NiemanWatchdog.org deputy editor Dan Froomkin. “We believe that the collective wisdom of the Internet community can generate some superbly pointed questions that will oblige the candidates to provide the kinds of answers the public deserves.”

Several days before each presidential debate, NiemanWatchdog.org will select what its editors think are the best questions for each candidate, and will announce the winners on the Web site — as well as in a press release to major media organizations.

Internet users are encouraged to post their questions, or questions they've seen elsewhere on the Web, directly onto the NiemanWatchdog.org Web site, at http://www.niemanwatchdog.org. They can also e-mail them to editor@niemanwatchdog.org, along with their names, hometown, and affiliation if relevant.

Pity there's no way to have people vote on questions and then make the moderators ask the most popular ones. (Yes, yes, we'd have to prevent people voting more than once, and yes, yes, that's a complex problem.)

Posted in Dan Froomkin, Politics: US: 2004 Election | 15 Comments

A Simple Question from ‘Texans for Truth’

Posted on September 7, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

We know that nobody ever came forward to claim the $10,000 reward offered “If you personally witnessed George W. Bush reporting for drills at Dannelly Air National Guard Base between the months of May and November of 1972”. But how come no one has ever asked GW himself if he can name one person he trained with? That's what Texans for Truth wants to know. And they have a slick ad featuring Robert Mintz, who served in Alabama's 187th Air National Guard during the period that Lt. Bush perfected the art of invisibility.

I can name people I worked with in summer jobs 20 years ago (30 years ago I was in high school — I can probably name just about everyone in my 100 person class, but that's hardly a fair comparison)—can't GW name just one or two he trained with?

Posted in Politics: US: GW Bush Scandals | 3 Comments