Still More from the Admirable Candor Department

In a world of constant spin, it’s refreshing to come across someone who doesn’t even try. The Washington Post reports:

Two organizations that have provided free trips to hundreds of federal judges received large contributions from tobacco, oil and other corporate interests, according to documents released yesterday.

The Montana-based Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE) and George Mason University’s Law & Economics Center previously said corporate money does not pay for the judges’ seminars or declined to disclose their donors.

But documents released by the Community Rights Counsel, a nonprofit Washington law firm, show that corporations including Exxon Mobil, Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco have contributed tens of thousands of dollars toward these programs.

How did FREE respond to this news? In surprisingly frank, unintentionally amusing fashion. Check it out, after the jump.

READ MORE: admirable candor, douglas ginsburg, foundation for research on economics and the environment, free, judges, law, pete geddes, trips

Arlen and Jeff’s Excellent Adventure

From Al Kamen’s column in this morning’s Post:

Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and a staffer… are spending part of the Passover/Easter holidays in a traditional setting.

And what could be more traditional than the heart of the Amazon jungle — or in Brazil’s spectacular Ariau Amazon Towers, the most famous of Amazon resorts, a place where the treetop “Tarzan” suites can run $3,000 a night?

Okay, we’ll bite: Who was the “staffer” who accompanied Senator Sessions on this Amazonian adventure? Was it sexy scheduler Stormie Janzen? Scarlotte Deupree, Miss Alabama 2002? Or “Scarlet,” another Sessions staffer who was a Miss Alabama contestant?

Being a United States Senator still has its perks. Even if they take away your lobbyist-funded lunches and vacations, there’s no law against hiring hotties.

A Junket in the Jungle? How Can You Ask? [WP]

Earlier: Jeff Sessions: Hottest Staff on the Hill?

READ MORE: arlen specter, brazil, capitol hill, hot staffs, hotties, jeff sessions, miss alabama, staffers, stormie janzen, trips

Bill Thomas: Expensive Date

Representative Bill Thomas (R-CA) is, we assume, a cultured man-of-the-world type, so there’s no reason to be too surprised that he’s taken a few lobbyist-funded trips hither and thither. As we see on PoliticalMoneyLine, he gets around. Keep in mind, of course, that the gentleman is the head of the Ways and Means committee — and, due to Republican committee term limits, he has decided to retire from office so that he won’t have to suffer the indignity of a seat in the House with slightly less power and influence. From his trip disclosure info, a couple things stand out.

The first is the cost of his all-expenses paid trip to Colorado for an AEI forum:
(Note: Screenshot edited for size and clarity)

Uh, Bill… you’re gonna have to do a better job of hiding that kind of stuff. Spread it out or something! But hey, that’s just par-for-the-course corruption. Mostly harmless. You know, you see one big lobbyist cash gift, you seen ‘em all. It was in Bill’s trip to Scotland where we got a little more interested. The results of our investigation, after the jump.

READ MORE: bill thomas, congress, lobbying, phone calls, scandal, tattoos, top, trips