A top aide to former Springfield Mayor Michael Albano was indicted on tax fraud charges and within 24 hours the mayor of nearby Chicopee was arrested and charged with extortion. Anthony Ardolino was former mayor Albano’s chief of staff from 1996 to 2001 and for years federal investigators have been looking into fraud and corruption

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Here is a perfect example of how valuable the Freedom of Information Act?a favorite Judicial Watch tool?is: When former head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Lester Crawford, resigned abruptly a few months ago, mum was the word from government officials. Suspecting some kind of financial wrongdoing on the good doctor’s part, the Wall

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In the final report of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program issued by Paul Volcker (available at their website), an American name turns up that some may remember from the Clinton years. That name is Marc Rich. The report states that Marc Rich & Company financed 4 million barrels of oil

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It appears President Bush’s second choice to replace the retiring Sandra Day O’Connor is much more popular than his first, especially among conservatives. Hugh Hewitt has a new poll up on the Alito nomination. With 18,000 votes counted, approximately 94% think President Bush made a wise choice and would support the use of the so-called

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Don Siegelman was the governor of Alabama from 1998 until 2002 and in 2006 he will be a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. But first he must answer to some serious charges detailed in an indictment this week. Siegelman pleaded not guilty to corruption charges for supposedly trading political favors for money and soliciting

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A major GOP donor already involved in an Ohio state government scandal has been charged with giving thousands of dollars to other people to contribute to President Bush’s re-election campaign in order to skirt a $2,000 limit on individual contributions. Tom Noe, a coin dealer already being investigated for the disappearance of $13 million in

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It is not surprising that the final report of an ongoing independent investigation reveals that the United Nation’s oil-for-food program was so badly managed and supervised that more than half of the 4,500 companies doing business with Iraq paid Saddam Hussein illegal surcharges and kickbacks. The lengthy inquiry details how the U.N. and its member

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Here is an original line from an elected official who took campaign money tainted with suspicion and conflict-of-interest; ?I was not aware they were donors.? That is what Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said when the local newspaper printed a story that documents how he took thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from a

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Today a grand jury indicted Philadelphia City Councilman Rick Mariano for taking bribes “to help businessmen finagle schemes that cost taxpayers more than $700,000 – crimes that netted him just $30,000.” Considering the seriousness of the charges, an attempted cover-up of the illegal misdeeds, allegations of witness intimidation, and a very recent suicide scare, it

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The Chattanooga Times reported yesterday on a new focus to reform politics in Tennessee. After the FBI brought charges against nine current and former Tennessean politicians in their Tennessee Waltz probe, citizens of the Volunteer State have become more concerned about ethics reform. The Tennesse Waltz Probe was a sting operation set up by federal

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