attorneys office alaska as well as two attorneys public integrity section main justice. in fact, the u.s. attorney's office was recused from the case because of conflicts of interest. thus, the public integrity unit in the main justice was in charge of the case with the chief of the section and his principal deputy significantly involved. they were involved in the drafting of the indictment, they prepared memos for leadership of criminal division, and at the briefed the division's leadership on the progress of the case. numerous e-mails reinforce the fact that public integrity viewed themselves as the final authorities. indeed, shortly before the case was to be indicted, the front office of criminal justice criminal division main justice made the principal deputy public integrity the lead trial attorney. nevertheless, the report seems to minimize the responsibility of the public integrity for the failure of the case. the second chief -- section chief claims and the report seems to accept that he was cut out of the supervisory chain of command and the deputy chief claims

issue, which we must and should, that then those who are pursuing it have to have the highest public integrity themselves. we know the fbi has that standard. you've insistented on that standard, and we thank you, and just note that it's not just for men because there are republican and stephens was on this committee. it's larger than that. so we look forward to working with you and we look forward to meeting in the other room where we can go into the national security budget in more detail. the committee's temporarily recessed until we reconvene. next week we'll also take the testimony of secretary brisen of commerce. shall we proceed? >>> so the committee is taking a break before they reconvene in another room to discuss the national security budget as a closed door meeting. no camera coverage. so we will move on with programmi programming. >>> more coming up. kathleen sebelius joined by the surgeon general and the center for disease controls head to discuss the new national education tobacco ad called tips from former smokers campaign held at the museum here in washington. live at 12:30 east

-based public integrity section -- section. it had consequences far beyond the jury's guilty verdict and impacted the senate election in 2008. while all criminal cases should be handled with the utmost professionalism, cases of this level of importance and implicitly were elections can be swayed should be shining examples of the best of the justice department. they should have the best prosecutors, best agents, and should be the centerpiece of america's criminal-justice system. unfortunately this case appears to be the opposite of the ideal. according to our witness today the prosecutor the -- prosecution of senator ted stevens was both permeated by this is to make concealment of significant exculpatory evidence which would have independently corroborated his defense in this testimony him and seriously damage the testimony and credibility of the government's key witnesses. almonds the desert shocking statements the call into question the conduct of those involved and threaten to resonate for their throughout justice. like so ma

based public integrity section. it had consequences far beyond the jury's guilty verdict and impacted the senate election in 2008. while all criminal cases should be handled with the jut most professionalism, cases of of this level of importance and publicity where elections can be swayed should be shining examples of the best of the justice department. they should have the best prosecutors, best agents and should be the centerpiece of america's criminal justice system. unfortunately, this case appears to be the opposite of the ideal. according to our witness today, the prosecution of senator ted stevens was "permeated by the systemic concealment of significant exculpatory evidence which would have independently corroborated his defense and his testimony and seriously damaged the testimony and credibility of the government's key witnesses." these are shocking statements that will call into question the conduct of those involved in this prosecution and threaten to resonate further throughout justice. like so many tim

the fact was reinforced that public integrity viewed themselves as the final authority. indeed, shortly before the case was to be indicted, the front office of criminal justice criminal division made the principle deputy public integrity believe trial attorney. nevertheless, the report seems to minimize the responsibility to the public integrity for the failure of the case. the section chief claims, and the report seems to accept, but he was cut out of the supervisor's chain of command, and the deputy chief claims that she withdrew from supervision over the prosecution team, because she did not want to cause dissension among the team. question. doesn't the chief of the section that was in charge of the case their responsibility for failures? this was perhaps one of the most important cases of public integrity that has ever prosecuted that of a city senator. why does the report seem to avoid defining a fault against public integrity ultimately responsible for all cases in this section? shouldn't the buck stop with the boss at the top. if not, why not? >> personal, senator

we must have public integrity. we also must have and independent judiciary. we have to have, regardless of which party is in the white house, a justice department that we believe in, and that the american people believe in. so i know the attorney general will be lee responsiblive and we'll take it from there. >> i just want to thank you for those comments, and agree wholeheartedly, and i do think the attorney general took a major first step when he dismissed the case. that was huge. but now we must follow-up so that there is no question that the people who did this and the report will show whatever it shows, in a they're not able to prosecutor ever again. ever. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> senator pryor? >> thank you, madam chair, and attorney general, welcome to the committee. thank you for being over here. i just want to add my voice to something said earlier about prison overcrowding. and i could go through the facts and figures on that but you know those better than any of us do. it's just a real concern, and we have one of the prisons that's on the sho

stayed mostly on the federal level so guess what there is actually more because the center for public integrity released their latest study today which focuses on the state level and after doing research on all fifty state houses c.p.i. determine that all of them lack transparency and accountability on some level and they're all still at high risk of corruption and c.p.i. issue to grade each state based on factors like campaign finance executive legislative and judicial accountability lobbying disclosure redistricting and pension fund management just to name a few and it turns out that none of the saved out there not a single one received a ranking built the the highest scores are actually be these and those went to connecticut washington state california nebraska and new jersey so it turns out that states that have a very public history of corruption actually more likely to enact new rules to keep it from happening again trying to make sense now those who didn't fare so well michigan north north and south dakota south carolina maine virginia wyoming and georgia all of these things. and the big

public integrity.../ ranks maryland ...40th... / in... overal ethics.../. ááitáá... cites.... failinn to.../ disclose.../ his... consulting job.../ ááwith áá a... rocery storr chain. hard for your and i or anyone else to find out whether r not there's a conflict of innerest with a particular legissator and whether oo not they're votingon legislation that affects their employer." employer."a... spokeswoman ...for governor o'malley.../ says... the report is flawed...//// here's... our question of the day.áádoáá you think maryland government ....is corrupt? go... to... fox--altimore dot com .../ áátelláá us ...what you think...//. áásoundáá off... thrr... facebook...///. áásendáá us... a tweet../.// ááoráá... text... your answer ...to.../ 45--203...///. ááenteráá... fox45a... for yes../ ááfoxx5bbá for...no.../ tragedy at a school in france when a gunman opens fire killlng four shots rang out just as students were arriving at a jewish school in toulouse this morning.the school's director saw his ddughter shot and teacher and his wo young children were aaso killed. tonight...the c

with a flawless system of government >> the center for public integrity look at all the state's procedures to maintain a transparent government. california ranks among the top five when it comes to rooting out corruption. the golden state earned a b minus, the highest grade was a beach and only new jersey and connecticut earned that. a special group of travelers is getting a break from the tsa beginning tomorrow. passengers 75 years or older will be allowed to wear shoes and white jackets as they go through security. it will also be able to skip the pat downs. it is part of a test program that will only be in effect at o'hare international airport, orlando and portland. if that program is a success, the tsa says it will be expanded. you're not the only one who checks your sheets in the hotel room for stains. apparently i should do this. the l.a. times reports 90 percent of people surveyed say they have checked their hotel rooms for cleanliness. of surprising considering 70% found something gross such as cockroaches and hair. travelers say they use everything from disinfectant wipes the toi

the center for public integrity ranks maryland 40th... ulysses currie who was "censured" for failing to disclose his consulting job with a grocery store chain. (mossburg) "it makes ii very hard for your and i or anyone not there's a conflict of interest with a particular leeiilator and whether or not they're votingon legislation that affects thher employer." employer." o'malley says the reeort is - flawed. we asked do you think maarylnd government is corrupt? corrupt?most of you seem to think so.... you can join the debate on our facebook page at facebook dot com slash foxbaltimore. a battle between parents and park lovers in baltimore countyycould soon be coming to an end. the county school board eed a publlc hearing tonight over the fate of mays chappe park in lutherville. school officials want to tear it down to build a new elementtry school as a solution too overcrowding. but many who live near the park say the plan will only increase traffic and cut open space. lynn warfield/park lover: 22:50 ohh they need a school, they just don't n

honored and humbled to be standing up there accepting this reward on behalf of the center for public integrity and especially for our executive director, who really has the vision and the courage to come out last year, completely transform the center for public integrity. 22-year-old non-partisan investigative news group. i think 22 years in nonprofit years is like 100 in journalism years. they have the courage to say we need to leap headfirst into the 21st century. we launched iwatch news. a new brand, a new content model. we tried some new revenue models. we completely upended the newsroom and survived. this award recognizes that risk. to me, i think that is the most important thing we can do right now. we talked about the future of news, mobile news, global news -- i think the biggest sin a journalist can do is not adapt. i am proud to represent the center. thank you for this award. >> nick, can i say i am not using the teleprompter? just in case there's any doubt about that. our next award is the benjamin bradlee editor of the year award, the oldest award for editorial leadership in the un

and does the leadership of the public integrity section bear some responsibility for what happened in the stevens case? >> it bears responsibility for failing its supervisory responsibility to know all of the operative facts before they pass on a decision. >> and what did you conclude about the role of the criminal division as then acting assistant attorney general matthew friedrick in terms of managing the case, including what you suggested was the department's failure in your judgment to satisfy discovery obligations? >> i think matthew friedrick -- and i say so in the report, quite sensibly and understandably took an interest in this high visibility prosecution of a senior sitting united states senator. it would in my judgment be -- >> and a member of the same party as the -- >> the administration. >> the administration that was prosecuting. >> indeed. so in my view, it would be completely counterintuitive if the assistant attorney general for the criminal division hadn't taken a serious interest in the matter. i think, however, as we also say, that paradoxically that sensible inte

holder joined the department of justice following graduation and was assigned to the newly formed public integrity section where he investigated and prosecuted corruption involving officials in local, state, and federal governments. in 1988, president reagan appointed mr. holder to the superior court of the district of columbia where he presided over hundreds of criminal and civil trials during his five years on the bench. he remained a judge until 1993 when president clinton appointed him to the post of u.s. attorney for the district of columbia. in 1997, president clinton promoted mr. holder to deputy attorney general of the united states, a position he held until the end of the clinton administration. in july, 2001, mr. holder joined the washington, d.c., law firm of covington and burling, representing clients in complex civil and criminal cases as well as internal corporate investigations. in 2008 president barack obama nominated mr. holder to be the 82nd attorney general, a nomination confirmed by the u.s. senate on february 2nd, 2009. general holder is the first african-american to serve in

last but not least, general holder, i'm going to ask you some questions about your public integrity unit. i'm going to give you full credit for dismissing the case against senator ted stephens when you learned of the corruption within that division of your department. i'm going to ask you questions because the report will be public within days, and if there is anything that you should take as your major responsibility, it is that the public corruption unit and the department of justice is fair and even-handed and clearly that was not the case in the prosecution of a great friend to many of us and a great patriot for our country who unfortunately was very badly abused by the department of did dismiss the case when you learned of the misbehavior, and i gave you credit on the senate floor for doing that and will again. but i do want to ask you about the report when we have time to ask questions. thank you. >> mr. attorney general. >> thank you. chairwoman mikulski, ranking member hutchison, other distinguished members of the subcommittee, i thank you for the opportunity to appear before you

attorney general, we will have questions for the record, but i wanted to pursue this public integrity unit's misconduct against senator stevens. the court appointed council after you moved to dismiss the case, the court appointed council to investigate the botched prosecution of senator stevens and found the prosecutors engaged in systematic concealment of evidence, but they were not guilty of criminal contempt. according to the summary that was put out in the public, the full report coming l, said that the court said despite findings of widespread and at times intentional misconduct, the special counsel, mr. schulke recommended against contempt charges because prosecutors did not disobey a clear and s required under law. judge sullivan said, upon review of docket and proceedings in the stevens case, mr. schulke concludes no such order existed in this case. whether the court accepted the repeated representations of the subject prosecutors that they were familiar with their discovery obligations were complying with those obligations and were proceeding in good faith. my question to you

we must have public integrity. we also must have and independent judiciary.weave to which party is in the white house, a justice department that we believe in, and that the will be responsive and we'll take it from there. >> madam chairman, i justan com and agree wholeheartedly. and i do think the attorney general took aa that was huge. but now we must follow-up so the people who did thid shows, that they're not able to prk you. >> thank you. >> senator pryor? >> thank you, madam chair, and e committee. thank you for being over here. i just want to add my voice to about prison overcrowding. and i could go through the facts and figures on that but you know those better than any of us do. it's just a real concern, and we have one of the prisons that's on the short list is actually in arkansas. back in 20 -- in fy 2010 it was well, now it keeps getting pushed back. now it's 2018. just an example being able to get to some of the real needs that we have. so i know i'm not alone in that. so i just want to voice my concer

accorring to a report by tte center for public integrity .. is is so .. in every state.t a "b" ... the rest were far below that, inlcuding marylandd whhch got a "d-minus." different cooruption risks indicators ... things like ethics laws, level of transparancey, disclosure of information and oversight of ethics laws. political analyst john dedie joins us with a look at what's wrong with government ... and parrland.-what do you think of maryland's d-minus rating-the center for public integrity ranks maryland ethics. it cites the ulyyses currie... who was "censured" for his consulting job with a grocery store chain.-nee jersey got a b ... after so any 3 study is flawedomalley says the --ovvenor omalley says tte study is flawed 3 comiig p.. texting and teens...the teenagers sends... in ne day! news.. all local.. all ning morning. ((ad lib horoscopes)) 3&((break 4)) 3 3 value.the incentives to promote home ownership in baltimore city tonight on fox 45 news at 5:30t 3 3 ((break 4)) 3 3 - kent and queen annes county schools aae oppning 90 minntes t late- caaoline and doocheste

honored and humbled to be standing up your accepting this award on behalf of the center for public integrityand especially for our leader, executive director, bill peterson berger had the vision and the courage to last year completely transformed the senate for a public integrity. 22-year-old nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative newsgroup. it has been going around pretty good in 22 years in nonprofit years is like 100 journalists in years. the bill had the courage really to say we need to leap headfirst into the 21st century. and so we launched i watch news and a new content model. we try some new revenue models. we could greatly offended the newsroom and we survived. as of this award recognizes that risk and i think to me that this kind of the most important thing we can do right now is to talk a lot about the future of news and local news and global news and the biggest thing to journalists can do is not changing not adapt. so i'm proud to represent the center. i'm proud of what we did in thank you for this award. [applause] >> nick, can i say that i am not using the teleprompters either.

. >>> a new study by the center for public integrity ranking the states on the least most corruptible puts new jersey at the top. this is a state where in 2009 three mayors, two assembly men and five rabbis were among 44 charged in a money laundering scheme. yet the center says it's analyzed 16,000 data points during a year-long study of public ethics laws in all 50 states. it hired reporters to support its findings and new jersey merited a b plus. the highest grade ahead of connecticut, which had a b. washington state, california and nebraska all had b minuses. georgia, one of eight states graded f, came in last. >>> still in new jersey, the son of former congressman donald paine, the late donald paine, plans to run for his father's seat in the house. donald paine jr. is the president of the newark, new jersey, city council. telling the associated press he felt an obligation to continue the legacy

i would like the director to know, as we said to the attorney general, when issues relate to public integrityand issues related to the stephenson matter, this is a bipartisan set of requests, because we feel that both our justice department, those involved in enforcing the law, if we are going to pursue public integrity issues, which we must and should, is that those who are pursuing it have to have the highest public integrity themselves. we know the fbi has such standards and you have insisted on that standard and we thank you but just know it's not just for them because they are republican and stevens was on this committee. it's larger than that so we will look forward to working with you and we look forward to meeting and the other room where we can go into the national security budget in more detail. the committee is temporarily recessed until we can reconvene next week. we will also take the hearing of the testimony of secretary grayson of commerce. show we proceed? [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> it there's anyt

the survey was conned by the center for public integrity. >>> 50 years after it was first discoveredn the bay the pesticide ddt is still poisoning fish and posing a threat. epa records show the last cleanup project made little or no progress. recent tests found ddt levels at the same or higher than tests from nine nine 94. it was dump -- tests from 1990 four. it was dumped from the 40s to the 60s. >>> [ unintelligible ] >>> this morning cloudy, cooler tan it was yesterday morning -- cooler than it was yesterday morning. winds are going to subside quite a bit. 5:16. just checking out the latest as far as temperatures. mid to upper 30s santa rosa, napa, fairfield and los gatos low to mid 40s for the rest of us monterey bay low to mid 40s salinas 37° and gilroy. dry today astronomical spring starts 10:14 cooler than average all week. drizzle tonight light rain foam and more chances for thursday, friday, saturday and sunday. they will not be quite as heavy as what we had, don't expect anything like that to happen, three to seven degrees warmer than yesterday, 12 hours and seven minutes o

general joined the department of justice following graduation and was assigned to the newly formed public integrity section for investigated and prosecuted corruption involving officials and local state and federal government. in 1988, president reagan appointed him to the superior court of the district of columbia. he remained a judge until 1993 when president clinton appointed him to the post of u.s. attorney for the district of columbia. in 1997, president clinton promoted him to deputy attorney general of the united states. in july 2001, he joined a washington, d.c., law firm. in 2008, president barack obama nominated him to be the 82nd attorney general, a nomination confirmed by the u.s. senate. general holder is the first african-american to serve in this critical post. he oversees the efforts of federal prosecutors, investigators, analysts, and fbi agents who work on counterterrorism. during his tenure, the justice department's work has been marked by significant national- security achievements, successfully confronting some of the most significant terrorist threats since 9/11. strengthening

i look at the director to know us is said to the attorney general, on issues related to public integrityand the issues related to the stevenson under, this is a bipartisan set of requests because we feel that both the justice department, those involved in enforcing the law, if we are going to pursue public integrity issues, which we must and should, that then those who are pursuing it have to have the highest public integrity themselves. we know the fbi high standards. you've insisted on that standard and we thank you. but just know that it is not just for men because they are republican and stevens is on this committee. it is larger than that. so we look forward to working with you and we look forward to meeting and the other room we can go into the national security budget in more detail. the committees temperately recessed until he reconvene. next week we'll also take the hearing -- the testimony secretary bryson of commerce. shall we proceed? [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> they would wear garments made of hudson cloth and the cloth wo

i am like to ask you some questions about your public integrity unit. am going to give you full credit for dismissing the case again senator stevens. atlanta as the questions. their report will be public within days. if there's anything you should take, it is that the public corruption unit is fair and evenhanded. clearly that is not the case and presentation for many of us. there are very badly abused. he did dismiss the case when he learned of the mass behavior. and give the credit on the senate floor. i will ask you about the report when we had time to ask questions. >> thank you. >> i want to thank you very much for the opportunity to appear before you today and for your continued support. i afford to discussing the fiscal year 2013 budget. the president's proposal demonstrates the commitment to augment our important obligation, and that is protecting the american people. despite the fiscal constraints, the dedicated employees who serve in the office have made significant progress in safeguarding our citizens from terrorism, cyber crime, and from a r

according to an 18 month investigation by the nonprofit group center for public integrity and publicinternational. they gathered information from all 50 states and looked at everything from political financing and ethics enforcement. new jersey came out on top in four of the 14 categories. at the top ten in seven others. that's right. new jersey. the soprano state was voted the least corrupt. new jersey received its highest marks for accountability in the executive branch and civil service regulations. it's not all good news for the garden state. new jersey only got a b-plus. no state in the united states got an a in the corruption survey which is terrible. new jersey and the other states that did well, only five got a b. which brings us to tonight's number. 45. the number of states that got a c or lower. 19 got a c. 18 got a d. georgia came in dead last. curious how corrupt your own state is? the rankings are available on our blog. it is pretty disturbing. 45 out of 50. i mean, come on. u.s.? afghanistan? got to set an example. >>> the gop releases a new ad called the war on women.

if you have intent to compromise the integrity of the public system, that is criminal. >> [inaudible]estion i asked as we were going through this. are these minor violations, is this is sort of jaywalking, or is this much more serious? i think what you see is a series of violations where partiesç ae been in three parties they are not. -- pretending to be parties they are not. it is like if i sign your home over toç myself, using my signature, but -- attending tö be you. we saw that over and over again we have parties representing affiliation with. ççi'll let you use your judgmt to determine the severity of that. çmany of these actions, if not all, render many of these foreclosures invalid. again, we are not saying whether or not the basic contract was followed. someone borrowed money, somebody had to pay back money. we wereç not privy to that information. çwould we do know is, along the way of somebody losing their home, clearly, i never of beer -- parties acted illegally and acted across the board. if we had a report that said this happened 5%, 10% of the time. we are saying t

we must have public integrity and an independent judiciary. regardless of which party is in the white house, we must have a justice department that we believe in and that the american people believe in. i know the attorney general will be responsive and we will take it from there. >> i just want to thank you for those comments and agree wholeheartedly. i do think the attorney general took a major for step when he dismissed the case. that was huge. but now we must follow up so that there is no question that the people who did this, and the report will show what average shows, that they are not able to prosecute ever again, ever. >> thank you, madam chair. general, welcome to the committee. thank you for being over here. i just want to add my voice to something that was said earlier about prison overcrowding. i could go through the facts and figures on that but you know those better than any of us do. it is just a real concern. one of the presence on the short list is actually in arkansas, and in fy 2010 it was scheduled to be funded in 2014. no

and wyoming &pcenter for public integrity.cedures for maintaining a ethics watchdogs.the repoot says governmeets ooten fall short when it comes to rooting out orruption.maryland received aad-minus. 3 a d-minus. the national chhrry blossom festival kicks off tomorrow, march 20th. and this year... washington, dc is getting ready for a ig party. the popular festival is celebrating it's 100th anniversary. in 1912... japan gave 3-thousand cherry trees to the nation's capital. tte festival is scheduled to llst five weeks. the duchess of first official speech today.- 30-year old kate middleton will speak at the ooening of a children'' hospice in ipswich. she's a patron of the hospice... which helps children with life-threatening conditions.middleton will also tour the cenner... meeting with patients and staff. cominn up... new guidelines... foo how often wooen should get pap smear tests.how many yeaas it's recommended you waitt between each test... and why some say... it's an attack on womens' health. &pthe president learned about it