Conor Kenny's News Articles

It was yet another busy week on Capitol Hill, as many high-profile issues were debated and considered in both the House and Senate. The House took up stem cell research and aid for Afghanistan, while the Senate was largely occupied with immigration. For an in-depth look at the bills considered in Congress since Monday, we again turn to Robert McElroy’s TheWeekInCongress. His site is a great resource for citizens wishing to keep track of what their members are up to in Washington, and we urge you to check it out.

Update: Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) died late on Monday, June 4 at the age of 74. Our condolences go out to his family.

Congresspedia is currently following two recent developments pertaining to members of Congress.

After a lengthy investigation, Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) was indicted today on sixteen criminal counts which include racketeering, money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy to solicit bribes by a public official. Jefferson allegedly accepted bribes ($90,000 was found in his freezer) to promote high-tech business ventures in Africa. If convicted, he could face life in prison.

In other news, Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) is in "serious condition" at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Thomas, who was diagnosed with leukemia in 2006, is undergoing a second round of chemotherapy, but his blood cancer has rejected treatment and he is suffering from an infection. He was elected to his third Senate term last November. If Thomas were to die or leave the Senate, the state Republican Party would select three candidates and forward those names to Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal, who would pick one as his replacement.

Congresspedia has more info on both Jefferson and Thomas on their respective profile pages. I encourage you to visit them, and improve them with further details.

• The NRCC announced that Dean Andal will challenge Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) in the race for California's 11th district in the 2008 U.S. congressional elections.
  

Managing Editor's note: This is a guest piece by User:Beth Wellington, one of SourceWatch's citizen editors who writes at The Writing Corner. It does not necessarily represent the views of the Center for Media and Democracy or the Sunlight Foundation. We welcome all informative, quality submissions related to Congress and Congresspedia articles, regardless of the point of view. If you'd like to submit a post for publication on the front page, see the guest writing info page. An interesting note about the Congresspedia article on U.S. gun control legislation: It was started by User:Elliott Fullmer when he was working with User:Kd7one, who strongly opposes gun control and added sections to the profiles of dozens of members of Congress who had sponsored such legislation. Beth found the article and expanded it because she supports much gun control and wanted to document the current legislation in light of the focus on the issue after the April killings at Virginia Tech. To borrow from the late Sen. Patrick Moynihan, we're all entitled to different opinions, but it's nice to have a place where we can work together on gathering the same facts.

Cho Seung-Hui bought two semi-automatics – a Walther P-22LR February 2, 2007 from thegunsource.com in Green Bay, Wisc. and a Glock 19 with 50 rounds of ammo March 13 at Roanoke Firearms. Then, on April 16, the Virginia Tech senior murdered thirty-two fellow students and faculty members in Blacksburg before killing himself.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), one of the House's strongest gun control advocates, introduced that day the Anti-Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act of 2007 (H.R.1859). The bill seeks to reinstate and strengthen the prohibition on possessing or transferring such devices, which were illegal until the expiration of the 1994 assault gun ban in 2004. McCarthy has garnered no co-sponsors to date, although early speculation that Cho had used high capacity magazines proved true. As reported April 19, State Police told NBC correspondent Pete Williams they had found 17 magazines, some of which held 33 rounds of ammunition each.