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On Tuesday, October 24, Speaker Dennis Hastert became the first Speaker of the House in ten years to testify before the House Ethics Committee, which is seemingly back in action after a long hiatus. Hastert was grilled for hours on what he knew about the Foley sex scandal, and when he knew it. Rep. Tom Reynolds of New York, who testified before Hastert, says he warned Hastert months ago about Foley's "overly friendly" emails to a House page. Hastert says he has no recollection of this conversation or of another he allegedly had with House leader John Boehner earlier this year. Whatever the outcome of the Foley "investigation," Hastert's term of leadership has been a disaster for ethics in the House. Under Hastert, both Democrats and Republicans have upended the House ethics process, and there has been little accountability for House members credibly accused of wrongdoing.

October 19th, Judicial Watch held an educational panel on congressional ethics, with special attention paid to the Foley matter.

Transcript link: Panel Transcript ,

While the Foley matter played out in the press, an important development in the Abramoff investigation nearly went unnoticed. On October 13, Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) became the first lawmaker to confess to a crime in the web of scandals involving Abramoff. Ney pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements. He acknowledged taking money, gifts and favors in return for official actions on behalf of Abramoff and his clients, and now faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

While Ney is the first congressional victim of the Abramoff scandal, he likely won't be the last. Roll Call reported this week that, "at least 17 members of Congress are coming under federal investigation," several of whom are tied to Abramoff. I'm pleased to see that federal prosecutors are taking public corruption investigations more seriously. About the only thing that will convince members of Congress to change their corrupt behavior is seeing their colleagues handcuffed and sent off to prison.

Judicial Watch Releases New Report on Mexican Separatist School

You may recall a couple of months ago I told you that Judicial Watch launched an investigation of a taxpayer-funded Mexican separatist school that was apparently brainwashing children to hate the United States. Last week, Judicial Watch released a new special report summarizing the evidence we've collected thus far, and I think you are going to be very disturbed by what we found.

According to our report, entitled, Academia Semillas del Pueblo (Seeds of the People Academy): Training the Next Generation of Mexican Revolutionaries with American Tax Dollars, this "school" is really nothing more than a training ground for the Mexican reconquista movement (which has concocted an insane plan to conquer the American southwest and return it to Mexico.)

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