Jim McElhatton

Hard time rare for campaign finance violators

Federal prosecutors don't often file criminal charges involving campaign finance violations, but when they do the guilty rarely spend time behind bars.

July 28, 2011

Both parties scheme for Ponzi cash

The fundraising arms for Democratic and Republican members of Congress don't agree on much, except when it comes to all the big donations they've gotten over the years from jailed financier R. Allen Stanford.

July 26, 2011

Ex-investigator pleads guilty to falsifying personnel reports

Stewart E. Chase, a background investigator for the federal government, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to charges that he falsified reports of prospective federal employees and contractors.

July 21, 2011

Military records reveal subversion suspicions of black soldier

In the spring of 1944, a secret military probe targeted a 33-year-old black Army private named W. Robert Ming Jr.

July 18, 2011

Disabled ex-aide sues Jackson Lee

When Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee spoke at a House hearing last year, she made clear the federal government needed to do more to help disabled Americans and even talked of plans to introduce legislation named after singer Stevie Wonder to help disabled schoolchildren.

July 10, 2011

Clinton fundraiser gets probation in coverup

A former wealth manager for crime writer Patricia Cornwell has managed to avoid prison for his role in covering up tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions from the novelist to Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.

July 5, 2011

Death penalty nixed in D.C. murder trial

The Justice Department will not seek the death penalty against three men accused of multiple murders and running a violent drug gang in Washington, prosecutors said in court Friday.

June 26, 2011

Post office seeks a federal review of pension fund

The money-losing U.S. Postal Service is hoping the Justice Department will resolve a dispute with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) over the fate of billions of dollars in overpaid retirement payments for postal workers.

June 22, 2011

Top-secret clearance checks falsified

Federal authorities responsible for granting security clearances to government employees and contractors are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars investigating the investigators.

June 21, 2011

Federal pension theft not always prosecuted

It took about eight years after the death of a spouse of a federal employee in West Virginia before the U.S. Office of Personnel Management stopped sending her retirement checks. By then, the dead woman had received more than $200,000.

June 15, 2011

Thomas case exposes ethics loophole

Next year, Comcast's franchise agreement to provide cable television services across Washington expires, so the cable giant has a keen interest in keeping D.C. lawmakers happy.

June 13, 2011

Council member Thomas didn’t report payments

For years, D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. wrote checks out to "cash," himself or his for-profit company for thousands of dollars from the bank account of a purported charity he ran, city attorneys say.

June 9, 2011

Donors seek answers on Thomas’ charity

When MedStar Health executives received an email from the office of D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. seeking a charitable donation in late 2007, officials said they had little reason to question whether Mr. Thomas' charity was real.

June 8, 2011

Federal pension payments follow some retirees into the grave

Federal retirees often enjoy generous pensions, but some manage to keep getting paid even after they're dead and buried.

June 5, 2011

Mexican national fights extradition from Virginia jail

Nearly two years after a federal judge threw out criminal charges against pharmaceutical executive Zhenli Ye Gon, he remains locked up in a Virginia jail fighting efforts to return him to Mexico, where he once amassed a fortune.

June 1, 2011

D.C.’s Medicaid retained ineligible providers

Nearly a dozen companies that receive federal and state tax dollars to supply power wheelchairs, oxygen machines and other medical equipment to low-income D.C. residents remained active in the city's Medicaid program even after federal regulators fired the businesses, a federal audit released Thursday found.

May 26, 2011

Postal Service won’t ask to boost debt limit

Officials at the U.S. Postal Service proudly point out that they don't take a dime of taxpayer funding, but they do accept billions of dollars in government loans.

May 24, 2011

Allen avoids lobbyist label for his firm

Not long after George Allen lost his U.S. Senate seat in Virginia in 2006, the Republican launched a private consulting business that bills itself as a "recognized leader in helping clients navigate the waters inside — and outside — the Beltway."

May 19, 2011

Postal Service pleads for help to stay afloat, make payroll

The U.S. Postal Service will default on billions of dollars in workers' compensation and retiree health payments and could have trouble making payroll without help from Congress, U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warned the Senate on Tuesday.

May 17, 2011

Lujan decides to take cash of lobbyists

Like other politicians eager to show the public they're not beholden to Washington's special interests, Democratic Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico has proudly refused to take campaign contributions from federal lobbyists.

May 15, 2011