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Countdown's Keith Olbermann talked to CREW's Melania Sloan about their recent ethics complaint against Louisiana Senator David Vitter, this time for attempting to bribe Secretary Ken Salazar by tying his pay raise to approving permits for offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

Raw Story has more -- Watchdog: Sen. Vitter tried to ‘bribe’ Sec. Salazar with pay raise:

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) says Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) may have gone too far when he demanded President Barack Obama's Interior secretary approve deepwater oil well permits in exchange for a salary increase.

CREW filed a complaint (PDF) Tuesday calling for the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to investigate Vitter for bribery.

In a May 23 letter (PDF) to Secretary Ken Salazar, Vitter was clear that he would not vote for a pay raise until the Department of Interior began issuing six deepwater exploratory permits each month.

"Last Friday, I was asked to support legislation in the Senate to grant you a nearly $20,000 salary increase," Vitter wrote. "Given the completely unsatisfactory pace of your department's issuance of new deepwater exploratory permits in the Gulf, I cannot possibly give my assent."

"[W]hen the rate of permits issued for new deepwater exploratory wells reaches pre-moratorium levels (so 6 per month), I will end my efforts to block your salary increase."

For his part, Salazar quickly turned down the offer, asking that the pay bill be withdrawn. [...]

The federal bribery statute states that "[w]hoever directly or indirectly, corruptly gives, offers or promises anything of value to any public official... to influence any official act" could faces fines, up to two years in prison or both.

Vitter's office has dared the Justice Department to file charges.

"I urge the Obama administration to prosecute," Vitter spokesman Luke Bolar told Politico. "They'll make fools of themselves in court and make my boss a Louisiana folk hero at the same time."

"Whether it is a defense contractor buying French furniture for a congressman in exchange for earmarks, or a senator who ties a department secretary’s pay raise to approving permits, bribery is bribery," CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said in a statement Tuesday.

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CREW's Melanie Sloan who called for an investigation into Christine O'Donnell for campaign finance fraud earlier this year responds to O'Donnell's accusation that the federal criminal probe looking into just that is nothing but a left wing liberal conspiracy by people who are out to get her.

O'Donnell: Fed Probe Ginned Up By Biden, Soros And Disgruntled Staffers (VIDEO):

Former Republican senate candidate Christine O'Donnell took to the airwaves of at least five morning shows today to fight back against the "thug politic tactic" being used against her by way of the federal criminal probe into allegations of improper use of her campaign funds.

But you really only needed to watch one of her appearances to get the gist of what she said: that Vice President Joe Biden's allies were using the FBI to conduct a campaign against her, the ethics group which brought the complaint is funded by George Soros and the former campaign staffers who have charged she misused campaign cash are disgruntled.

O'Donnell never really got around to the substance of the complaints against her, which the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) told TPM could center on exactly how much money O'Donnell is found to have misspent (more on what exactly O'Donnell is accused of here).

As Ryan at TPM noted, of course she didn't have any evidence that Biden was behind the probe, but when has a little thing like facts ever gotten in the way with this woman? As Melanie Sloan pointed out, she already admitted to misusing her campaign funds. It's just a question of the dollar amount.

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Christine O'Donnell has had her share of problems since winning the nomination for Republican Senate candidate from Delaware last week. Things got even worse Monday when a government watchdog called for O'Donnell to be prosecuted.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, filed a complaint alleging O'Donnell had used $20,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses.

CBS News reported:

"Christine O'Donnell is clearly a criminal, and like any crook she should be prosecuted," CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said in a release. "Ms. O'Donnell has spent years embezzling money from her campaign to cover her personal expenses. Republicans and Democrats don't agree on much these days, but both sides should agree on one point: thieves belong in jail not the United States Senate."

CREW is requesting that the U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware open a criminal investigation and asking the Federal Election Commission to audit O'Donnell's campaign expenses.

The group said its allegations are tied to former O'Donnell aide David Keegan's affidavit stating O'Donnell, who has run for Senate three times, paid her rent for two months out of campaign funds in 2009 and also used campaign funds for meals and gas. In addition to misappropriation of campaign funds, CREW argues that O'Donnell is guilty of lying about the expenditures and committed tax evasion by not reporting the money as income.

Representatives for O'Donnell, whose financial disclosure form said her earned income between March 2009 and June 2010 was just $5,800, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sloan told CNN that partisan politics played no part in their complaint against O'Donnell.

"We're about right and wrong and not about black or white, Republican or Democrat," she said. "And it is flat-out wrong for a candidate for the U.S. Senate to be stealing her campaign funds and be using them for personal use."

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I agree with CREW's Melanie Sloan, this is a sad day for America. Now that Tom DeLay has managed to escape federal charges related to his dealings with Jack Abramoff, how long before Tweety's got DeLay back on his show kissing his butt? Here's the statement from CREW.

CREW: DELAY MUST ANSWER FOR HIS CRIMES:

In response to the Justice Department’s decision not to prosecute disgraced former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) Executive Director Melanie Sloan released the following statement:

“It’s a sad day for America when one of the most corrupt members to ever walk the halls of Congress gets a free pass. As we continue the work of building a Washington that is worthy of the American people, the Justice Department’s decision not to prosecute Mr. DeLay for his actions sends exactly the wrong message to current and future members. The fact that Jack Abramoff and Bob Ney (R-OH) are the only two people who went to prison for one of the worst corruption scandals in congressional history is shocking. The Hammer belongs in the slammer. Mr. DeLay still has crimes to answer for in Texas – generally not considered the best place to be a criminal defendant.”

I'm not holding my breath for Texas to do anything to him either after this. Transcript via CNN below the fold.

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C.R.E.W's Melanie Sloan joined Dylan Ratigan fill-in Eliot Spitzer to discuss whether there was anything illegal or improper about the White House offering Joe Sestak the advisers position. Sloan said there was nothing "even remotely close to the line" of the offer being illegal and that Darrell Issa is just trying to play politics and "dirty up" Joe Sestak so that Pat Toomey can get elected to the Senate in Pennsylvania.

Sloan: As you know as a former prosecutor Eliot, bribery is a tough case to prove. You need an official act in exchange for a thing of value. You just don't have that case here. Darrell Issa is really trying to make politics out of this all by screaming about it and calling it illegal, he thinks that suddenly it will become illegal, but that's just not the way the law works. This may look a little bad. This may have an appearance problem but there is simply nothing illegal here.

Spitzer agreed with Sloan that it's not illegal and didn't even think it looks bad. Issa joined the set immediately following Sloan and of course he still wants an investigation. Issa isn't going to be happy until he finds something to have impeachment hearings on. He tells Spitzer he just wants everything out in the open and that will be the end of it. Riiigghhhtt. Just like when you guys went after Bill Clinton, right Darrell?

He also tried to compare what happened here to Tom DeLay offering a fellow Republican help getting their son elected to office. Spitzer told him that's not the same since there was not the same quid pro quo there. That didn't seem to faze Issa. He's not going to stop with this until, as Melanie Sloan said, the media quits paying attention to him. With Fox around, that's not likely to happen any time soon.

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Update: I'll add a bit of Digby's take on this.

Blame The Victim, Giggle Like Schoolgirls:

As far as this Sestak matter going away, I think MSNBC and the Politico is probably are probably good gauge of Village sentiment. Here's Eamon Javers on Andrea Mitchell's show.

...This reminds me of the Gore coverage. They justified their puerile attacks by saying he deserved what he got for being a stiff and boring poll who didn't parry the nonsense that the GOP freakshow was throwing at him and that disqualified him for the presidency. Hazing politicians on behalf of GOP operatives really should not be part of our political press coverage. It rewards the worst kind of politicians who have more "savvy" than integrity and perpetuates a political system that creates incentives to damage and destroy people on the basis of trivial nonsense, thus obscuring the very serious substance of their business. This really isn't a parlor game and politicians should not rise or fall based upon how they anticipate and deal with the GOPs mendacious machine, which is designed solely for the purpose of ruining their enemies.

She's talking about you Darrell Issa. Heaven forbid the Villagers can pass up an opportunity like this one to attack another Democratic President for nonsense. They shrugged their shoulders at the crimes of the Bush White House but they love this tabloid crap. I want to know when Darrell Issa is going to ask have Judd Gregg investigated as well. Go read the rest of Digby's post here.

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Leave it to Greta Van Susteren to give Sean a little air time to pimp his new book coming out and his charity which is under fire from CREW and VoteVets. For more on that go back and read my post from Ed Schultz's show where he talked to Melanie Sloan and Jon Soltz talking about their FTC complaint against Hannity and his charity.

Greta asks Hannity about where the proceeds from his new book are going to go and here's his answer.

Hannity: All the net proceeds, I do have some expenses, I had to hire a researcher and I had to hire an editor, but short of that after, every penny I would make is going to go to my charity, Freedom Alliance.

Van Susteren: And, that is?

Hannity: This is a charity that has been set up for the children, especially of recent military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and we have about $15 million in the fund that's waiting for those young kids when they become of age so they can go to college.

Here's the problem with Hannity's argument.

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Ed Schultz talks to CREW's Melanie Sloan and VoteVets.org's Jon Soltz about the latest bit of trouble for Sean Hannity and his "Freedom Concerts". As we already noted Hannity was accused by blogger Debbie Schlussel of "using more money from his Freedom Concerts to fly around on private jets and expensive SUV's than he gives to the children of wounded and deceased soldiers". Now CREW and VoteVets have gotten in the act as well.

CREW, VoteVets File IRS, FTC Complaints Against Sean Hannity Charity Freedom Concerts:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington alleges that Hannity's Freedom Concerts has "engaged in deceptive and illegal marketing practices by suggesting that all concert ticket sale revenue goes directly to scholarships for children of killed and wounded service members." Read on...

As AnnetteK at Daily KOS noted, Mother Jones has more on this as well -- Sean Hannity's Charity Under Fire:

The concerts, which are presented by the Fox News star and feature entertainers such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, purportedly donate their entire proceeds to Freedom Alliance, a non-profit led by Lt. Col. Oliver North. In turn, Freedom Alliance says it directs all of this money to a scholarship program for veterans' kids. "Every penny, 100 percent of the donations are applied to the Freedom Alliance scholarship fund," Hannity has claimed. North has made similar statements, remarking, "There's no overhead. There's no expenses taken out. Every penny that's donated or that's raised through things like the Freedom Concerts goes to the scholarship fund." (A giant "Thank you! Sean Hannity" currently appears on Freedom Alliance's homepage.)

CREW's complaint, lodged with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), alleges that Hannity and Freedom Concerts have been dishonest in suggesting that the entirety of the revenues from ticket sales goes straight to a scholarship fund. Freedom Alliance does not actually manage the concerts, Crew discovered via a Freedom of Information request and promotional materials. Instead, they're organized by a middleman—a promotional company called Premiere Marketing. The firm is headed by Duane Ward, who is also the president of Premiere Motivational Speakers Bureau, which represents both Hannity and North and has a "long history in conservative activism." Ward previously worked for Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority and ran North's legal defense fund following the Iran-Contra scandal in the late 1980s. Premiere in turn donates an "unknown portion of the concert proceeds to the Freedom Alliance," alleges CREW. "We have no idea how much money it actually is," CREW executive director Melanie Sloan told reporters on Monday. But CREW argues that Hannity and Freedom Alliance's claims that the revenues go directly to scholarships amounts to "illegal and deceptive marketing practices." Read on...

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Lawrence O'Donnell took his turn filling in for Keith on Countdown and Rachel Maddow called out the Cheney's for their continual lying on her show the next hour. CREW's Melanie Sloan joined Rachel later in the segment to discuss the newly released interview by the FBI which did not reveal much--other than his willingness to throw Scooter Libby under the bus. More on that from Marcy Wheeler:

Hung Out to Dry: One Former VP Chief of Staff

If I were Scooter Libby right now, I’d be seething. I’d be utterly disgusted with the way Dick Cheney hung me out to dry, over and over and over, in his interview with Fitzgerald. Cheney denies any knowledge of issues he and Libby worked on together repeatedly and he denies that his own orders and instructions had anything to do with activities that ultimately (though Cheney of course didn’t admit this) ended up outing Valerie Wilson.

There are three general categories of information about which Cheney hangs Libby out to dry.

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Transcript from Lexis Nexis below the fold.

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