The Calvert Chronicles

This is pretty hilarious. Ken Calvert got an earmark inserted last year that would put a transit center within walking distance of seven properties that he owned. This would obviously boost the value of those properties. But the House Ethics Committee said he did nothing wrong because:

"any benefit to Calvert would be shared by other similarly situated landowners."

So because other people would get as rich as him, it's not unethical for him to write his own laws that get him rich.

Brilliant.

OK, so let's just say that I'm a property-rich lawmaker who wants to push the boundaries and play the earmark game for all its worth. What would it take for me to get into trouble? Just how self-serving of a project would actually garner the House ethics committee's disapproval?

“You’d have to be remodeling your kitchen,” Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense told me.

Meanwhile, in the continuing Calvert/Red State saga, they're still going after him, and they think they've found proof that he lied to the GOP caucus by saying that he was not being investigated. The Hill has an update. Unfortunately, the Steering Committee isn't taking their phone calls:

According to House staffers, Boehner's staff is out putting pressure on Steering Committee members to not say how they voted on Calvert.

Two different people tell me the deck is so stacked in Boehner's favor that even if a majority of the Steering Committee voted against Calvert, he could still get on Appropriations. But, that would look terrible to have a majority vote against Calvert and him still getting on Appropriations.

So, Boehner is pressuring the Steering Committee to totally ignore us.

Pretty funny that these guys are solely focusing on Calvert when even his replacement is under investigation for corruption. If corruption was a disqualifying event for Republicans, we'd have a 9/10 majority in the House.