Good news: Obama creates 30 new jobs in one congressional district. Bad news: No such district

Chicago politics, where voting is such a revered civic duty that people do it even after they're dead, cold, stiff, stuffed, boxed and buried beneath the permafrost for years, has now come to D.C. with the Obama administration.

This afternoon comes the most encouraging economic news, courtesy of our keen-eyed buddy Rick Klein over at ABC, that the Obama administration's $787-billion economic stimulus has, for example, thankfully created 30 new jobs in a little-known rural corner of Arizona at a cost to American taxpayers of only $761,420.

That works out to only $25,380.67 spent to create each individual job.

Seems like a lot per slot, but those 30 folks must be happy to be employed again and paying taxes.

This will be a real feather in the cap of Vice President Joe Biden, who's been left behind and assigned by the ever-campaigning president to monitor the stimulus plan, its spending and effectiveness moving into the crucial midterm elections of 2010. Might the Democrats snatch that House seat?

So the people of that 15th Congressional District in staunchly Republican Arizona should be pretty happy about this.

Trouble is, there is no 15th Congressional District in Arizona. None. Nada. Zip. Zero. Doesn't exist. Not in Arizona. Not even on paper at the Democratic National Committee. There are only eight. Period.

But the administration's much-vaunted recovery.gov website reported these jobs as being created there.

Could well be a computer glitch. Lord knows humans would never make such a dumb, misleading mistake, even in politics.

But then the trouble is that just months after grandly unveiling the recovery.gov website to showcase its economic prowess and tech-savvy, the Obama administration just spent 18 million additional taxpayer dollars to redesign the still new website.

And that site proudly also reported nonexistent new stimulus spending not just in Arizona but other states across the country.

So that looks to have worked pretty well, at least if you're counting computer designer jobs created.

Anyway, how do you think the 15th will vote next year?

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Josua Roberts / Bloomberg News

Weekly remarks: Mark Kirk says this healthcare bill raises costs, taxes; Obama vows full Fort Hood probe

Remarks by Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois, as provided by Republican National Committee

Good morning, this is Congressman Mark Kirk of Illinois.

When I returned home from active duty in Afghanistan, I dedicated my congressional service to helping families with health care. We can lower health care costs and provide coverage for Americans who lack insurance by enacting key reforms that already help thousands of families in many states.

First, we could start lowering costs by reining in lawsuits in America. We are the most litigious country on earth. Lawsuit reforms can save billions in....

After the affair -- woes of Nevada's John Ensign continue

It was early summer when Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) admitted to an extramarital affair in a clipped statement intended to limit the damage to a few news cycles.

Considering the story broke about the same time as South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s admission of infidelity -- which was a little more Harlequin romance and therefore more interesting -- Ensign seemed destined to fade from the headlines. Instead, the saga has dragged on so long that we suspect we’ll be talking about Johnny Casino come Christmas.

This week, Las Vegas TV reporter and columnist George Knapp reported that ABC’s “Nightline” is slated to air an interview with the most aggrieved of political spouses: Doug Hampton. The Ticket’s calls to ABC News were not immediately returned.

Hampton was essentially Ensign’s co-chief of staff until his wife, Cynthia Hampton, also an Ensign aide, became the senator’s mistress. (For a taste of Hampton’s substantial vitriol, take a look at this interview with local commentator Jon Ralston.) “This is extra bad news for Ensign since ‘Nightline’ has the freedom to devote much more airtime to a story than, say, an evening newscast,” Knapp wrote.

In other Ensign news, Twitter has silenced an ongoing salty parody of him by local scribe Andrew Kiraly. He’s vowed to find a way to revive it, which would likely not bode well for the senator. So much for this affair -- and mockery of it -- quietly dying.

-- Ashley Powers

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Photo: John Ensign. Credit: Associated Press

Cheney: 'I don't recall' leaking Valerie Plame's CIA cover to 'Scooter' Libby

Former Vice President Dick Cheney, sometimes referred to as the Darth Vader of American politics, has been valiant in his defense of his former chief of staff, I, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the only guy convicted of lying about his role in the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity. Cheney pushed hard for a full pardon, reportedly furious when former President Bush only commuted Libby's sentence.

For years it was assumed that Cheney masterminded the leak in an effort to discredit Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, whose reports out of Niger threw doubt on White House claims that Iraq was importing ingredients to make weapons of mass destruction. Now, in just-released documents, the FBI concludes that Cheney told Libby and his press secretary, Cathie Martin, about Plame's ID about a month before the news hit the papers.

But the amazing thing about the FBI documents describing Cheney's 2004 interviews with investigators is how often he employs the "I don't recall" line.

Cheney told the FBI he did not recall discussing Plame with Libby prior to her name being published in a column by Robert Novak in July 2003, and said he had no knowledge of Libby's meeting with New York Times reporter Judith Miller before Plame was identified in that paper.

Oh, and the former vice president didn't recall about two dozen other events he was involved in.

Oddly, though Cheney said he could not recall whether he discussed Plame with White House political guru Karl Rove, Libby and others, he was certain he did not discuss her with former Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage (the original source of the leak). Also, he was real sure that Wilson's report on Niger was weak, calling it "amateur hour" at the CIA.

"For years the American people have wondered what role Vice President Cheney played in outing former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, which helped free the documents. Now, she said, "we're one step closer" to finding out.

During his closing argument at Libby’s trial, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said a cloud remained over the vice president. Said Sloan: "Mr. Cheney's near total amnesia regarding his role in this monumental Washington scandal -- resulting in the conviction of his top aide -- shows why."

-- Johanna Neuman

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 Photo credit: Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images North America.

Ethics probe so big lawmakers have to take a number -- half the Pentagon spending committee caught in net

We already knew that Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel was under investigation for failing to report some of his real estate holdings and rental income, and a few other goodies, on his financial disclosure forms. And that the Ethics Committee was studying Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha's ties to defense contractors.

Now it turns out that those two were just the tip of the iceberg.

Turns out that nearly half the members of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, which Murtha chairs, are under investigation for funneling millions in federal funds to clients of a lobbyist who used to work on the Hill. The charge: They put earmarks worth $300 million in the  2008 Defense appropriation bill to benefit clients of the PMA Group, a now-defunct....

Obama White House defends social invites to top donors. Yawn. At least Lincoln bedroom not in play

It must universal, the instinct in politics to reward friends.

Turns out that President Obama, who promised a more ethical approach to governance, has been rewarding friends with the perks of office.

According to the Washington Times, fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials if they donate $30,400 (the ceiling) personally or bundle $300,000 before the 2010 midterm elections.

The list of particulars a la the WT: One top donor got a birthday visit to the Oval Office. Another got to use the White House bowling alley for a family event. Obama invited his top New York bundler, UBS Americas Chairman and CEO Robert Wolf, to golf with him during his vacation to Martha's Vineyard. Oh, and at least 39 donors and fundraisers were invited to a White House reception on St. Patrick's Day.

As scandals go, this sounds like a yawn. After all, there were those heady days of yore, when the Clinton White House offered campaign donrs a night's sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom.

"Contributing does not guarantee a ticket to the White House, nor does it prohibit the contributor from visiting," said Dan Pfeiffer, deputy White House communications director. "Given that nearly 4 million Americans donated to the campaign, it's no surprise that some who contributed have visited the White House, as have grass-roots organizers who didn't contribute financial support and people who actively opposed the president's candidacy."

-- Johanna Neuman

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Photo: The Lincoln Bedroom. Credit: White House

Jenny Sanford, book deal in hand, makes first public appearance since splitting the governor's mansion

She never played it like the good wife, standing dutifully by as her husband, Gov. Mark Sanford, went gaga over his love affair with a Argentine woman, a tryst that prompted him to go AWOL from his gubernatorial duties last June. You remember, the guy they called the "Love Guv," the one who suffered what the Washington Post called an "Appalachian-Trail-no-wait-I-mean-Argentine-mistress meltdown."

Now, South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford will make her first public appearance since separating from her scandal-plagued husband and moving out of the governor's mansion in August. An aide announced that Saturday she'll participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, a Charleston-area 5K run/walk to benefit breast cancer research.

Jenny Sanford, who moved with the couple's four sons to their beach home on the South Carolina coast, is also writing a memoir. According to Ballantine Books, which plans to publish the "inspirational" tell-all next May, the former investment banker will talk about her transition from Wall Street executive to Southern political spouse, and about  "the universal issue of maintaining integrity and a sense of self during life's difficult times."

As for the governor, once considered a likely Republican candidate for president in 2012, he still lives at the mansion, and still talks about serving out his term, which ends in early 2011. And the marriage? A former advisor called it effectively over, saying the book is part of the rehabilitation process. "This book is a personal story of pain. It’s not a feminist statement. Frankly, I’ve never seen someone as loyal to her husband as Jenny has been to Mark, and this is what it’s left her with. It’s just a tragedy,” the former advisor said.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Associated Press

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Meghan McCain exposes her cup size on Twitter -- maybe Republicans really are out of ideas

 

Meghan McCain, the daughter of former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, caused a stir on her Twitter page Wednesday night by showing a photo of her that can only be described as, well, titillating.

For her part, the 24-year-old McCain seemed surprised at the furor caused by the voluptuous tank-top display. Maybe she didn't get enough attention for her support of gay marriage. Anyway, when conservatives complained, she threatened to quit Twitter. Or, as she put it, "I'm getting the ...  off twitter."

"When I am alone in my apartment, I wear tank tops and sweat pants, " she explained. "I had no idea this makes me a 'slut.' I can't even tell you how hurt I am."

If she's hurt by the reaction, you can only imagine how her parents feel.

Later, she apologized.

But, as one commenter suggested, perhaps the would-be presidential daughter could "put a pink bow over this photo and call it a tribute to breast cancer awareness month."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Meghan McCain Twitter image.

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Friday scandal update: From Spitzer to Ensign to Sanford to Edwards

You have to give Democratic ex-N.Y. Gov. Eliot Spitzer credit for understanding a simple fact: The American public’s attention span is about as long as a TV commercial. If it's short and zippy.

When Spitzer got busted for hiring prostitutes in 2008, he immediately resigned. Now “the hooker-happy Democrat,” as the New York Post dubbed him, is contemplating a somewhat-plausible comeback.

Other politicians caught in flagrante delicto have taken a markedly different route: They haven’t stepped down. So how’s that working out for Republicans South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Nevada Sen. John Ensign?

Critics say the Republicans, whose rise and fall have eerie parallels (voting for Democrat President Clinton’s impeachment over his sex scandal among them, have been rendered ineffective by their decisions to stay in office. As long as they’re public figures, the argument goes, someone will be poking around for new details of their scandals.

So in South Carolina, even Republicans are throwing around the word “impeachment” in regard to a governor who reportedly used state funds while turning “hiking the Appalachian Trail” into a double entendre.

Now, this week, Ensign – who has been in hibernation for much of the last four months – got pummeled by a newspaper story that detailed his herculean efforts to try to silence his mistress' husband. (Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma didn't come out looking so good, either.)

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell declined to defend Ensign today, and ethics experts speculated that Ensign's actions might have crossed into criminal behavior. 

Even if they didn’t, the latest round of publicity surely will help push along a Senate ethics inquiry.

So, hmm, with all this talk of infidelity, which path do you think America's favorite baby-daddy, ex-Democratic senator and presidential candidate John Edwards, would have chosen had he been elected president?

-- Ashley Powers

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Did ex-Ensign aide break law by contacting old boss?

Thus far, the fallout from Sen. John Ensign’s extramarital affair – and the admission that his parents paid his mistress and her family $96,000 after she left his employ – has mostly been in the court of public opinion, as The Ticket has reported.

Could a newspaper story today have far more serious consequences?

Let’s recap: Doug Hampton and his wife, Cynthia, both worked for Ensign, Doug as a high-ranking aide in his Senate office. In spring 2008, the couple said they were pushed out of their jobs because of Ensign’s affair with Cynthia.

Ensign (see photo) made some calls to his Nevada buddies to find Doug consulting work. Two major campaign donors, NV Energy and Allegiant Air, contracted with Doug Hampton. He then made a number of calls and e-mails on their behalf, including to Ensign's then chief of staff, John Lopez.

Outside the Beltway, that might seem innocuous. But according to a N.Y. Times story, these were potentially criminal acts. The paper wrote:

Senate ethics rules and federal criminal law prohibit former aides, if they have ‘the intent to influence,’ from making ‘any communication to or appearance’ with any senator or Senate staff member for a year after leaving their jobs. A separate law required Mr. Hampton to register as a lobbyist if he intended to press a company’s case on Capitol Hill.

Hampton said he ignored the one-year lobbying ban on Ensign’s advice, while Lopez said their conversations were merely informational. Probably not the last time this distinction is debated.

Other tidbits in case you care about how the infidelity began and ended:

•  Ensign realized he had feelings for Cynthia Hampton when they attended a White House Christmas party together  in 2006, Doug Hampton said. There, they posed for a picture with President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura.

•  The $96,000 from Ensign’s wealthy parents was intended as severance, Cynthia Hampton said, though Ensign's attorney has described the payments as gifts.

•  Fellow Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma was a middleman when husband Doug Hampton sought financial compensation from Ensign for his wife's indiscretion. Coburn told Hampton that $8 million was too much, but passed on a lower figure to his Senate colleague: $2 million. Ensign severed the negotiations.

•  Allegiant Air, which eventually hired Hampton, let him go after the scandal broke. Both Hamptons are unemployed and planning to sell their home in Las Vegas -- which, long ago, the Ensigns had encouraged them to buy. Good luck in this Vegas housing market.

-- Ashley Powers

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Photo: Associated Press