Politico reports the federal government “spent nearly $3.7 million on former presidents last year. That covers a $200,000 pension, compensation and benefits for office staff, and other costs like travel, office space and postage.”
“The costliest former president? George W. Bush, who clocked in at just over $1.3 million. That includes almost $400,000 for 8,000 square feet of office space and $85,000 in telephone costs.”
A new Quinnipiac finds that New Jersey voters, by overwhelming margins, approve of the job Gov. Chris Christie (R) is doing, 70% to 23%, and want him to keep doing it for four more years.
In his re-election race, Christie leads State Sen. Barbara Buono (D) by a stunning 60% to 25%.
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) “is suddenly in high demand. His banishment is over, his rehabilitation almost complete,” the Washington Post reports.
“Several years after acknowledging his ‘very serious sin,’ he has successfully adopted a higher profile in the divided U. S. Senate… Now Vitter’s name is atop most lists of possible GOP gubernatorial nominees for Louisiana in 2015 when Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) reaches his term limit.”
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Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) “are threatening to filibuster gun-control legislation, according to a letter they plan to hand-deliver to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office on Tuesday,” Politico reports.
“Reid plans to bring up a gun-control measure that focuses on broadening background checks and cracking down on interstate gun-trafficking after the current Senate recess. Conservatives are concerned that once that bill reaches the floor, amendments could stiffen restrictions on gun control.”
David Hawkings: “For gays and lesbians, the marriage cases being debated at the Supreme Court this week hold the potential for either a landmark expansion or a painful contraction of their civil rights, some narrower changes, or really nothing meaningful at all. But for members of Congress — Republicans, in particular — their political lives will be shaped profoundly by whether the justices go big, go small or essentially stay home on the issue.”
Roll Call: “Sen. John McCain may have apologized for calling relative Senate newcomers Rand Paul and Ted Cruz wacko birds, but the Arizona Republican hasn’t given up fighting their isolationist position on U.S. foreign policy.”
“Clinton Is Strongest-Ever Frontrunner. If She Runs.”
— Al Hunt on Bloomberg
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) told Time that he supports same-sex marriage.
Said Warner: “I support marriage equality because it is the fair and right thing to do. Like many Virginians and Americans, my views on gay marriage have evolved, and this is the inevitable extension of my efforts to promote equality and opportunity for everyone.”
Warner is up for re-election in 2014.
Nevada state Sen. Tick Segerblom (D) has introduced a bill to allow people to bet on presidential and other federal elections, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
He said the bill could be expanded to allow betting on the Academy Awards and other non-sporting events.
Sources tell Reuters that Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) does not plan to run for re-election when his current term ends in 2014.
Former President Bill Clinton endorsed Wendy Greuel for Los Angeles mayor, the Los Angeles Times reports.
“Clinton has often endorsed people who have been loyal to his family, either helpful during his time at the White House or supporters of his wife’s unsuccessful 2008 presidential run. Greuel fits both categories — in addition to being an early and active backer of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, she worked in the Clinton administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.”
The Atlantic looks at the improbable redemption of Jack Abramoff–“the man at the center of a sprawling corruption scandal that led to 21 convictions and tarred large swaths of the Republican establishment.”
“Since 2010, when Abramoff was released from prison (where he served three and a half years for fraud, conspiracy, and tax evasion), he has refashioned himself as a reformer, and emerged as one of the most visible faces of the good-government movement. He is a frequent cable-news commentator, with a best-selling book (Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America’s Most Notorious Lobbyist), the radio program (on XM Satellite Radio), and a pair of reality-TV-show concepts in development.”
“Abramoff is also tearing up the speaker’s circuit, where he collects fees as high as $15,000. Harvard Law School has hosted him, as has an FBI training center.”
A new Pew Research survey finds Americans continue to have mixed perceptions of the Supreme Court’s ideology.
Key findings: 40% say the court is middle of the road, while 24% say it is liberal and 22% say it is conservative.
The Cloakroom: The march towards legalizing gay marriage seems unstoppable, but is it?
New Jersey Assemblyman Joe Cryan (D), “who’s being touted as the party’s next state chairman has an insatiable lust for bondage, oral sex and spanking,” according to secret e-mails obtained by the New York Post.
Cryan “graphically spelled out his kinky proclivities in more than 150 e-mails that he sent to a lobbyist — and then fought to keep them hidden after he stunned the state political world by having her busted for stalking in 2006.”
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) “is embroiled in a litany of legal proceedings related to her rolling disaster of a presidential campaign–including a Office of Congressional Ethics investigation into campaign improprieties that has not previously been reported,” according to John Avlon.
Federal investigators “are now interviewing former Bachmann campaign staffers nationwide about alleged intentional campaign finance violations” and “have allegedly asked about allegations of improper
transfer of funds and under-the-table payments.”
“Everybody’s definition of a RINO is anybody that doesn’t agree with them 100 percent of the time, and I’ll tell you (the late economist) Friedrich Hayek would tell you right now if you find someone you agree with 100 percent of the time, somebody is not thinking — because rational human beings disagree.”
— GOP strategist Heath Garrett, quoted by the Marietta Daily Journal, saying it’s time to retire the word RINO.
“Over the past few weeks three different senators have put the nominations of three picks by President Obama — the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, Interior Department and Labor Department — in jeopardy,” The Fix reports.
“In none of these instances… did the senators suggest the president’s nominees were unqualified… So the question is, why has it become so common for senators to throw up roadblocks in the confirmation process?”
“The answer: Because Washington has become so dysfunctional, threatening a high-profile nomination has become one of the best ways senators can now achieve their normal policy objectives.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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