CQ Politics' Web Picks

Wall Street Journal: Wall Street Is Big Donor to Inauguration

President-elect Barack Obama has banned corporations and big donors from funding his Jan. 20 inauguration. But 90% of donations received so far have been raised by well-heeled fund-raisers, including Wall Street executives whose companies have received billions of dollars in federal bailout money.

The Hill: Michael Moore May Be at Root of Conyers Opposition to Gupta

Rep. John Conyers Jr. is leading an effort to thwart Barack Obama's expected nomination of CNN's Sanjay Gupta to become surgeon general. Conyers is friends with Michael Moore, a Michigan native who is an ardent backer of the legislator's universal healthcare bill. Moore's film made the case for the U.S. to adopt a "single-payer" healthcare system like Canada's. Gupta engaged in a televised argument with Moore in 2007 over his movie, "SiCKO."

New York Times: A Difficult Road Awaits Panetta at the C.I.A.

As every previous director could attest, succeeding at the helm at the Central Intelligence Agency requires an uneasy balance. For Leon E. Panetta, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for the job, the task is made even more difficult because of intense pressure on Mr. Obama from members of Congress and outside groups to hold agency officials accountable for counterterrorism policies in which the C.I.A. played a leading role.

New Republic: The Case for Panetta at the CIA

Obama's decision to appoint Panetta was likely influenced by the presence of Hillary Clinton at State and Robert Gates at the Pentagon. Obama has been around Washington enough to know that intelligence is a blood sport--bureaucratic blood, that is. He knows that appointing a CIA director from the ranks of the agency--an intelligence professional--no matter how capable and smart, would be eaten alive by Clinton and Gates.

Anchorage Daily News: Democrat Throws Hat in Ring to Run Against Palin in 2010

Bob Poe kicked off his campaign for Alaska governor Thursday and drew a bead on the incumbent, Sarah Palin. Poe is the first Alaskan to declare his candidacy for the 2010 race. He's starting early, he said, because he lacks the name recognition of career politicians. Poe, 54, is a 28-year Alaskan who has split his professional career between the private and public sector.

Los Angeles Times: Eric Holder Pushed for Controversial Clemency

Attorney general nominee Eric H. Holder Jr. repeatedly pushed some of his subordinates at the Clinton Justice Department to drop their opposition to a controversial 1999 grant of clemency to 16 members of two violent Puerto Rican nationalist organizations, according to interviews and documents.

Newsweek: Who is the Man Who Refused to Certify Burris?

While Roland W. Burris is known as the first African-American in Illinois to win statewide office--serving as comptroller from 1979 to 1991 and as attorney general from 1991 to 1995--White has broken his own political barriers. Elected to the state legislature in 1974, White was the first African-American in Illinois to represent a district where a majority of residents were white. For 16 years, he represented a section in the North Side of Chicago that included the high-rent neighborhoods of Streeterville and Lincoln Park, but also included the desperately poor Cabrini Green housing complex, populated almost entirely by blacks. "They used to say my district stretched from the Gold Coast to the Soul Coast," says White, who has long cultivated support across racial lines.

National Review: Melting for Burris

The Democrats are folding like an ironing board over this Roland Burris business, and for some reason people are surprised.

Daily Beast: How Much is a Bush Speech Worth?

The lecture circuit is the fate that awaits all ex-Presidents of the United States, and a little over a week from now, it will be President Bush's turn to take the gilded podium. According to one industry source, Bush is already in talks with Washington, D.C., lawyer Robert Barnett, who helped manage Bill Clinton's transition to the private sector and negotiated Laura Bush's recent book deal. (Barnett declined to comment for this article). Bush has wondered aloud about his after-dinner career. In an interview for Robert Draper's 2007 book Dead Certain, Bush said that he planned to "replenish the ol' coffers" on the lecture circuit, where he could make "ridiculous money."

Huffington Post: How Treasury Lets Private Institutions Hide Public Money

In the early days, every public official associated with TARP--the $700 billion Targeted Asset Relief Program--promised openness and transparency. Since then, all fees and hourly rate charges have been blacked out on publicly-available copies of Treasury oversight and financial management contracts with law firms, banks and other consultants; banks receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer money have stonewalled press inquires about what they have done with the cash; key government boards make policy behind closed doors and release minutes that only hint at the problems the massive program has encountered; and at least three news organization - Bloomberg, Fox News and Bailoutsleuth.com -- have filed suit to force disclosure of more key information.