Only Label They Need: Gonifs

From Money:

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had requested the use of a government jet for his European honeymoon with his wife Louise Linton earlier this year — a mode of travel that would have incurred $25,000 per hour of flight, according to estimates provided by the U.S. Air Force.

Mnuchin’s request, confirmed by the Treasury Department and first reported by ABC News on Wednesday , was later withdrawn but sparked an inquiry from the Department’s Inspector General.

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100% Ridiculous

From POLITICAL HOTSHEET at CBS NEWS:

Over the past several weeks, hundreds of Americans have submitted personal tales of economic hardship on the “Occupy Wall Street”-affiliated Tumblr “We are the 99 percent.” Now, conservatives who oppose the Wall Street protests have an answer to it in the form of their own Tumblr, entitled “We are the 53%.”

According to the Washington Post, the blog was conceptualized by Redstate.org founder Erick Erickson, who collaborated on it with the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Josh Trevino and conservative filmmaker Mike Wilson.

The Tumblr claims to represent the 53 percent of Americans who pay federal income taxes – the implication being that those associated with “Occupy Wall Street” are not also part of that 53 percent and do not pay federal income taxes.

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The Bucks Start Here

From THINK PROGRESS:

Two months ago, the Washington Post revealed that Mitt Romney’s presidential bid is largely fueled by Wall Street money, including major donors from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America.

Today, the former Massachusetts governor took a step that will undoubtedly make bankers happy, appointing the chairman of a Wall Street front group to his campaign. Romney tapped Norm Coleman, the former Minnesota senator and current chairman of the Board of the American Action Network, to be his “special adviser for policy.”

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Darrell-iction of Duty

From THINK PROGRESS:

On Thursday, the New York Times responded to a demand for a retraction from Oversight Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) office regarding a major piece published two weeks ago about Issa’s many conflicts of interest between his congressional work and his vast financial holdings. In the letter, Dean Baquet, the assistant editor of the paper, debunked claims of factual inaccuracies listed by Issa spokesman Frederick Hill.

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Goldman Sucks

From THINK PROGRESS:

Last week, ThinkProgress revealed that Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) hired Peter Haller, a former Goldman Sachs vice president, as one of his top aides. Haller, who adopted his mother’s maiden name in 2008 and had escaped public scrutiny until now, coordinated an Oversight Committee letter to regulators demanding that they justify new Dodd-Frank rules impacting investment banks like his old employer, Goldman Sachs. After publication of our story, the Project on Government Oversight discovered more of Haller’s Oversight Committee letters, again on issues directly related to Goldman Sachs.

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Who should go to jail? Fill in the Blank(fein).

(Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc was charged with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its marketing of a subprime mortgage product, igniting a battle between Wall Street’s most powerful bank and the nation’s top securities regulator.

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New Joisey

…From USATODAY:

LIVINGSTON, N.J. — When Gov. Jon Corzine began his bid for a second term in January, public opinion polls showed voters in recession-racked New Jersey didn’t like him and weren’t going to vote for him.

Two weeks before the election, polls show voters still don’t like Corzine but may return him to office anyway.

National political parties are watching New Jersey — the only governor’s race this year other than Virginia’s — for clues to how next year’s congressional elections might go. Yet, here in the state, New Jersey’s economic devastation is overshadowing other issues as voters demand to know who’s at fault and what can be done about it.

Four independent polls show Corzine is in a dead heat with Republican Christopher Christie, a former U.S. attorney [under Chimpy George W. Bush and Karl Rove]. That improvement could give Democrats a chance to hang onto the governorship despite voter fury over New Jersey’s high unemployment and even higher taxes.

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What an Operation!

From Ezra Klein at The Washington Post:

There’s been a lot of anxiety over leaks outlining the compromises being made in the Senate Finance Committee’s health-care plan. Among these compromises is a rejection of the public option and the absence of an employer mandate. Disappointing stuff. But, at this point, completely predictable.

Look at this picture. Study it. This is who is in the room helping Baucus put together his bill. Olympia Snowe, Mike Enzi, Chuck Grassley, Jeff Bingaman and Kent Conrad. In a Senate of 60 Democrats and 40 Republicans, the health-care reform bill is being written by three centrist Democrats, one centrist Republicans, and two conservative Republicans. And until last week, Orrin Hatch was in the room, too.

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(l to r:  Mike Enzi, Chuck Grassley, Max Baucus, Olympia Snowe)