Good and Bad News for Rep. Buchanan

Even though that new Office of Government Ethics now has a board to run it, it won't be able to investigate any House members this year. That might be good news for Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.), who is alleged to have committed potentially serious campaign finance violations. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune published a story Thursday in which two former employees of auto dealerships owned by Buchanan allege that they were pressured to donate cash to Buchanan's 2006 House campaign and that they were reimbursed for the donations they made, a practice that violates federal campaign finance law. The two employees are currently the plaintiffs in a separate lawsuit against Buchanan for, they say, cheating customers of his dealerships. The H-T reports that Buchanan recently rejected an offer to settle the suit for $43 million, which... [read full story]