Ken Boehm's blog

NLPC has asked federal prosecutors to investigate the sale of a home by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), alleging that it was sold at an inflated price and that the purported buyers could not have qualified for a mortgage. The 2006 transaction was handled by an attorney named Alexander Kaplan, who was subsequently convicted of 18 counts of mortgage fraud and is currently serving a 46-month prison sentence.

The New York Post today published an editorial titled "Greg Meeks - Again" regarding the allegations in our Complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on October 28.

Meeks apparently had not yet received a copy of the Complaint at the time he wrote a column published last week in the Queens (New York) Tribune. In the column, Meeks characterized us as "right wing" and (again) blamed us for his ethics problems. I can't wait to see his reaction to our new Complaint.

On October 28, NLPC filed a formal Complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), his campaign, and his "leadership" political action committee called Build America PAC.

The Complaint alleges that Stanford Financial Group made illegal, in-kind contributions to Meeks' campaign for a 2008 fundraiser in the Virgin Islands. The event was hosted by R. Allen Stanford, who is currently in prison awaiting trial for charges related to his multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

Beginning in 2009, the Department of Education -- mightily aided by Senator Tom Harkin's HELP Committee and a coterie of Wall Street short sellers -- laid siege to the for-profit college sector in a knock-down, drag-out battle to the finish. Their strategic objective was to seriously hobble the profitability of career schools that had devised a competitive, career pathway for predominantly at-risk, low-income, non-traditional and minority students. On June 2, in the infamous Battle of the Beltway, the Department issued its (you should excuse the expression) 'Gainful Employment' rule, which was heralded as a major blow to career schools, whose recruitment rates have since dropped precipitously.

This week the New York Times again ran a story calling into question the credibility of reporter Ian Urbina's June 27^th article, "Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a Natural Gas Rush," which claims the quickly emerging shale gas industry is similar to a Ponzi scheme.

It appears Urbina crossed the line into sensational journalism with his baseless claims by failing to conduct proper background checks, and his tendency to overstate the credentials of anonymous sources. This problems with his reporting apparently have driven a wedge between Times editors trying to justify the story, and those concerned over the long-term repercussions for the paper.

On July 7, we asked New York Times ombudsman Arthur Brisbane to look at the newspaper's front-page series on natural gas by reporter Ian Urbina, who alleged that the sector is in the grips of a speculative bubble. We specified a number of apparent ethical problems with Urbina's methods and sources.

In Sunday's paper, Brisbane addressed the central concern raised by us and many others - that Urbina ignored the fact that production of natural gas from domestic shale deposits is booming. Brisbane wrote:

NLPC today asked the New York Times ombudsman to review the newspaper's front-page series on natural gas published last week. The articles by Ian Urbina alleged that there is a speculative bubble in natural gas drilling. We have identified a number of apparent ethical problems with Urbina's methods and sources.

Here is the complete text of my letter to The New York Times ombudsman Arthur Brisbane, whose actual title is Public Editor:

The Department of Education today released its highly controversial rule tightening regulation of for-profit trade, technical and career colleges. While the final regulation was softened from the initial proposed rule, it still is a textbook example of a flawed regulation created by an unethical process.

There are four solid reasons why this regulation should not be allowed to take effect.

The Barack H. Obama Foundation no longer states on its website that contributions are tax deductible. It has also stopped using an Arlington, Virginia address that we found to be a mail-forwarding service. The only address it now uses is in Kenya.

These changes are in apparent response to our May 8 request of the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the Foundation, named for President Obama's father, and founded by his half-brother Abon'go Malik Obama. We alleged that the Foundation never applied for tax-deductible status and has never filed an IRS Form 990, the annual tax return for nonprofit organizations.

On Friday, I again appeared on Follow the Money with Eric Bolling on Fox Business Network to discuss our IRS Complaint against the Barack H. Obama Foundation. Eric talked to Obongo Obama, the President's brother, who Juan Williams called a "small time guy." Here's a transcript: