Jim McElhatton
Articles by Jim McElhatton
Issa demands interview with IRS lawyer facing disbarment
The House's top investigator sent a letter Wednesday demanding answers from an IRS lawyer in the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility who is facing disbarment and whom a whistleblower has accused of losing IRS files on a party bus to Atlantic City. Published September 3, 2014
IRS lawyer gave lecture on ethics despite license suspension
The head of the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility testified this year that she and her staff must be "impeccable," just weeks before she sent a top aide whose law license had been suspended to lecture tax lawyers on ethics. Published September 2, 2014
EPA investigator pushes for action on assault
A government investigator says that the Environmental Protection Agency continues to "coddle" a key figure in her stonewalled investigation into a controversial EPA office. Published September 2, 2014
IRS ethics lawyer facing possible disbarment, accused of lying
A lawyer in the IRS ethics office is facing the possibility of being disbarred, according to records that accuse her of lying to a court-appointed board and hiding what she'd done with money from a settlement that was supposed to go to two medical providers who had treated her client. Published August 26, 2014
Supreme Court may take up D.C. drug case
The Supreme Court will meet next month to decide whether to hear the appeal of a D.C. man serving 18 years in prison on a $600 drug deal — a case championed by civil liberties groups, who say it provides a case study in judicial overreach. Published August 25, 2014
Judge rejects Obama administration secrecy on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
A federal judge has issued a stinging rebuke to the Obama administration's recent attempt to shield documents from disclosure in a case that could yield important clues about the Treasury Department's relationship with mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Published August 24, 2014
Congress fumes as idle federal workers went shopping, sent on private errands
The House's top investigator pressed the Commerce Department on Wednesday to take action on a telework scandal at the U.S. Patent and Trade Organization, where dozens of paralegals got paid while they went shopping, watched television and caught up on chores — all with the knowledge of supervisors. Published August 20, 2014
IRS data lapse first uncovered by private firm
Recent criminal charges against an IRS employee accused of storing personal information about more than 20,000 employees and contractors on his home computer network stemmed from the work of a research firm hacker who stumbled across the agency security flaw and reported it to the government. Published August 19, 2014
IRS employee charged with storing records of other IRS workers on home computer
An IRS employee is facing criminal charges that he disclosed personal information on former and current agency employees and contractors from data he had stored on his home computer network. Published August 18, 2014
Federal contract officers urged to read news about bidders
The White House is urging contracting officers at agencies across the federal government to review news coverage as they vet companies competing for federal contracts. Published August 17, 2014
Clinton ally Brock will head ethics oversight watchdog
One of the nation's most prominent ethics watchdog organizations, which touted its willingness to expose political "scoundrels" regardless of party affiliation, will now answer to a Democratic operative and Clinton defender. Published August 14, 2014
Taxpayer funds spared as judge tosses lawsuit from Iraq war contractor KBR
A federal judge last week tossed out a complaint from wartime contractor KBR, in a case the Justice Department said could have ended up leaving taxpayers on the hook for ever-increasing costs from the war in Iraq. Published August 10, 2014
State Department hires testimony coach to prepare for congressional grillings
After suffering through a striking number of rough grillings at the hands of Congress, State Department officials have approved a contract worth up to $545,000 to help train themselves for how to brief lawmakers and to testify at hearings. Published August 7, 2014
FBI nixes plan to grade journalists’ work
The FBI has abruptly scrapped a plan to grade news coverage of the agency as positive, neutral or negative. Published August 7, 2014
Jack Trammell, Democrat vying for Cantor’s seat, neglected to file financial disclosure
Jack Trammell, the Democratic nominee to fill ousted Rep. Eric I. Cantor's seat in Virginia, has not yet filed personal financial disclosure forms, putting him on the wrong side of federal law and leaving voters in the dark about the college professor's income, investments and potential debts. Published August 6, 2014
Background check firm hit by cyberattack
The federal government's biggest contractor for conducting background checks disclosed Wednesday that it's been hit by a cyberattack with all the markings of of a "state-sponsored attack." Published August 6, 2014
Reagan’s would-be assassin will have unsupervised family visits out of mental ward
Would-be presidential assassin John Hinckley has won the right to take eight 17-day trips to his mother's house, drive by himself and take two-hour-long hikes alone around a Williamsburg, Virginia, subdivision, according to the most recent court order in his case. Published August 5, 2014
Hillary Clinton skipped Voice of America meetings, now mourns its demise
Hillary Rodham Clinton has bemoaned the decline of the U.S. government's broadcasting arm Voice of America, but as secretary of state she was an absentee overseer, failing to attend any meetings of the organization's oversight board. Published August 4, 2014
FBI to hire firm to rate news stories about the agency
The FBI is hiring a contractor to grade news stories about the agency as "positive" "neutral" or "negative," but the agency won't say why officials need the information or what they plan to do with it. Published August 3, 2014
Porn-surfing feds blame boredom, lack of work for misbehavior
For one Federal Communications Commission worker, his porn habit at work was easy to explain: Things were slow, he told investigators, so he perused it "out of boredom" — for up to eight hours each week. Published July 31, 2014