Jim McElhatton
Articles by Jim McElhatton
Kaine turns to Obama lobby foes for campaign cash
Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine was asked during a television interview last fall how President Obama has changed Washington. Published May 11, 2011
DNC’s new chairwoman takes last dip in money pool
As the new chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz refuses to take money for her campaign from lobbyists or political action committees - the same rules Barack Obama insisted upon for the DNC as a presidential candidate in 2008. Published May 5, 2011
Outsider hired for Obama speeches
On top of the more than half a million dollars it spends on speechwriters, the White House is using tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on a public relations firm headed by Democratic image maker Michael Sheehan — once dubbed by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as an "extraordinary media coach" who helped her master the teleprompter. Published May 3, 2011
Feds use Facebook to collect crime evidence
Along with wiretaps, undercover drug buys, cooperating witnesses and other evidence typically seen in major conspiracy cases, federal prosecutors are scouring the Facebook pages of defendants for proof in a potential death penalty trial. Published April 27, 2011
Postal Service favored Netflix, regulators rule
Four years after inspectors found that the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service could save tens of millions of dollars by charging Netflix for hand-sorting its DVD mailers, postal executives have refused to make the change. Now, regulators are calling the Postal Service's treatment of Netflix discriminatory. Published April 26, 2011
Justice Department challenges ruling on GPS use
The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court to review whether federal agents violated the Fourth Amendment rights of a Maryland man when they attached a satellite tracking device to his car without getting a warrant during a D.C. drug-trafficking investigation. Published April 17, 2011
Ribble milks donations after legal deal
Rep. Reid J. Ribble, a first-term Republican from Wisconsin, was all smiles leaving the home of a Capitol Hill lobbyist for a fundraising party in the lawmaker's honor Tuesday evening. Published April 14, 2011
Bullet ended federal witness’s plan to ‘go legit’
Bethlehem Ayele figured she would quit selling cocaine at age 30, take her money and start a legitimate business. But her past caught up with her nearly five years ago when she was shot in her car at an intersection in Alexandria. The case remains unsolved. Published April 13, 2011
Famous crime writer tied to Clinton campaign probe
Novelist Patricia Cornwell, billed as America's No. 1 crime writer, is entangled in a real-life federal investigation into the expenditure of tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, court records show. Published April 10, 2011
Novelist Cornwell tied to Clinton presidential campaign probe
Novelist Patricia Cornwell, billed as America's No. 1 crime writer, is entangled in a real-life federal investigation into the expenditure of tens of thousand of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, court records show. Published April 8, 2011
Union blasts secretive Obama administration over looming shutdown
Weeks after President Obama took office, John Gage, the head of the largest union for federal workers in the country, gave a speech hailing the new administration as a champion for "transparency, accountability and good government." Published April 5, 2011
D.C. case’s disparity in sentences sheds light on federal judges’ discretion
A man received a sentence of seven years in prison after he admitted shooting and killing a 24-year-old D.C. man. Another man got a sentence of 18 years in prison after his conviction for a $600, half-ounce cocaine deal. The two men were sentenced in the same federal courthouse in Washington. They stood before the same judge. They were co-defendants in the same trial. Published April 3, 2011
Crack king’s testimony for feds in doubt
Rayful Edmond III, whose crack cocaine empire netted $1 million a week in the late 1980s, walked into the federal courthouse in Washington nearly a decade ago as a witness for the prosecution in a massive murder-for-hire drug case. Published March 28, 2011
D.C. Council member must answer student loans court inquiry
D.C. Council Member Harry Thomas, Jr. has been ordered to appear in federal court next month over accusations he failed to pay back his student loans — the latest embarrassing public disclosure involving a city lawmaker's private financial woes. Published March 24, 2011
Report faults Amtrak execs over inspector general’s firing
Top Amtrak officials failed to give "adequate consideration" to a federal mandate to inform Congress before they removed the rail service's longtime inspector general in 2009, according to a new independent review. Published March 23, 2011
Lobby critic raises campaign cash at lobbyist’s house
Betty Sutton, a Democratic member of Congress who is proud of her legislative work to rein in the influence of lobbyists in Washington, recently attended a fundraising party in her honor at the Capitol Hill home of a prominent Washington lobbyist. Published March 21, 2011
D.C. man gets 18 years for $600 drug deal
More than three years ago, a federal jury acquitted Antwaun Ball on racketeering and conspiracy charges that he led a violent drug gang in the Congress Park neighborhood in Southeast Washington, convicting him solely of a $600, half-ounce drug deal. U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts disagreed, sentencing Ball to more than 18 years in prison. Published March 17, 2011
In face of government shutdown, it’s still party time
Despite the looming possibility of a government shutdown, federal layoffs and furloughs, there's at least one thing members of Congress from both political parties can readily agree on these days: partying. Published March 16, 2011
D.C. man gets more than 40 years in Congress Park killings
In letters to a sentencing judge, David Wilson's friends and family describe a "loving, caring young man" who one Christmas surprised a little girl whose mother was strung out on drugs with a new bike and a warm coat. But the judge who oversaw Wilson's trial for the better part of a year said he didn't see a trace of that side of Wilson day after day in federal court in Washington. Published March 13, 2011
No-bid contract saves D.C. official’s pension
A key aide to D.C. politicians recently earned more than $200,000 working as chief of staff in a city agency in charge of rebuilding city schools, but he wasn't on the government's payroll. Instead, he was hired through a nearly quarter-million-dollar no-bid contract. Published March 10, 2011
