Blog Posts by Rachel Rose Hartman

U.S. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan (Charles Dharapak/AP)

Mark Sullivan, director of the U.S. Secret Service, defended his agency on Wednesday against accusations it has displayed a "pattern of misconduct" during a Senate hearing prompted by a recent scandal involving agent solicitation of prostitutes in Colombia.

This is "not a systemic problem," Sullivan told members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Sullivan stressed multiple times during the two-hour hearing that the overwhelming majority of agency employees are ethical and uphold the standards of their job. The incidents referenced in the hearing are "not representative of these values or the high ethical standards we demand," Sullivan said, adding, "I am deeply disappointed and apologize for the misconduct" of the employees involved.

Sullivan encouraged members of Congress to continue supporting the agency during this "difficult" period, and to let employees "know that we have confidence in them and believe in them and know this is not indicative of their character."

But Senators repeatedly questioned Sullivan's assertions, noting that in addition to last month's scandal in which 12 members of the president's Secret Service advance team were connected to the solicitation of prostitutes in Cartagena, Columbia, some of the agents who were dismissed have raised further questions. The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that four agents who are disputing their dismissals now say that unethical behavior is tolerated, and they cited other incidents, including one in San Salvador, that could be marked as misconduct.

"This likely was not just a one-time incident," ranking Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told Sullivan and Charles K. Edwards, acting inspector general for the Homeland Security Department, who also testified. Collins observed that two of the 12 individuals involved in the Columbia incident were supervisors and married men. "That certainly sends a message to the rank and file" that this type of activity "is tolerated on the road," Collins said.

More...Collins added that the employees did not conceal their identities when registering at the hotel with the prostitutes, suggesting the agents involved knew their behavior would be tolerated.

Additionally, Collins suggested that Sullivan's own untarnished 28 years of service in the agency is clouding his assessment of the situation. Because Sullivan personally didn't see this type of misconduct, Collins said she could understand why it was "very difficult for [him] to accept that this happened." "I urge you to try to put that aside," she said. "I believe the problem is broader than you believe it to be."

Sarah Palin weighed in on the Utah Senate race during an interview Tuesday night and took a side. But instead of rallying around the Republican tea party challenger, as she has in other primary campaigns, the former Alaska governor endorsed longtime senator Orrin Hatch.

"I want him to win," Palin told Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, saying she joined with other conservatives "who would like to see Mr. Balanced Budget return to Washington."

Watch an excerpt of Palin's appearance below:

The endorsement represents a departure from Palin's history of backing anti-establishment tea party outsiders like Christine O'Donnell in Delaware and Sharron Angle in Nevada, both of whom ran for statewide office in 2010. Hatch has been picking up support from high-profile conservatives in advance of the runoff election on June 26, as concerns about Dan Liljenquist's perceived weaknesses grow. Liljenquist, 37, served briefly in the Utah state Senate before stepping down in December 2011 to focus on the U.S. Senate race.

Hatch is seeking his seventh term in the U.S. Senate. On the campaign trail, he touts the fact that he could chair the Senate Finance Committee if Republicans take control of the Senate in the fall elections.

"I'm deeply honored by Governor Palin's endorsement," Hatch said in a statement early Wednesday morning. "There are few as committed to the cause of liberty and the ideals that have made this nation great as Sarah Palin."

Are members of Congress dumbing down their discourse?

The Sunlight Foundation determined that Congress is talking at nearly a full grade level below the level at which members spoke seven years ago, according to its study of the Congressional Record—the official record of members' proceedings and speech. The foundation applied the Flesch-Kincaid grade level test to congressional conversations and found that today's Congress speaks "at about a 10.6 grade level, down from 11.5 in 2005," senior fellow Lee Drutman wrote in his analysis. Sunlight also found that the newest as well as the most conservative members of Congress on average speak at the lowest grade level.

The following is a Sunlight Foundation graphic charting the grade levels of members' speeches:

(Sunlight Foundation)

Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina scored lowest with a 7.9 grade level average for his speech. But he told Yahoo News Monday that although he doesn't believe anyone equates "sentence length" and the "polysyllabic nature of words" with intelligence, his ranking is something to be proud of.

"I see it as an affirmation that we're doing something right," Mulvaney said of his fellow bottom-tier representatives. "You've got to speak clearly and concisely," Mulvaney said, if you want people to know what you believe.

He noted that he and some of his fellow bottom-rankers, including Republican Reps. Rob Woodall of Georgia and Sean Duffy of Wisconsin, speak extemporaneously and don't use prepared notes. "This is a group of people who are trying to sound like ordinary people and not like politicians," Mulvaney said.

Ron Paul (Kerry Maloney/AP)When Ron Paul's campaign stated last week that Mitt Romney's delegate lead was insurmountable, Paul's staff insisted they would continue competing for delegates and cited Minnesota as their next target.

This past weekend, Paul accomplished that goal, winning 12 of 13 delegates at the state GOP convention.

"Victories in Minnesota and other states demonstrate that Ron Paul supporters possess the adaptability, organizational muscle, and unmatched enthusiasm required to continue winning delegates in upcoming contests," Paul campaign manager John Tate said in a statement.

Former Republican Rep. Dave Weldon on Friday announced his candidacy for Florida Senate, ending rampant speculation about his political future.

"For me, running for U.S. Senate isn't a career move," Weldon said in a statement on his campaign website. "I have a fulfilling career in health care. I have no desire to be a 'career politician.' But someone has to provide a conservative solution to the problems the administration has created and the Senate has endorsed."

Watch Weldon's announcement video below:

Weldon, who served in Congress from 1995 to 2009 representing the East Central Space Coast area of Florida, announced his retirement in 2008 and returned to his practice as a physician.

Weldon entered the Florida Senate race Friday billing himself as the conservative alternative in an already crowded and hotly contested Republican primary.

Ricketts (Nati Harnik/AP)Billionaire political donor Joe Ricketts clearly has President Barack Obama in his line of fire this election season, as we learned this week.

But when it comes to Ricketts writing checks, apparently all Republicans—and even some libertarians—are welcome.

A glance at Ricketts' personal political donations this election cycle reveals that the TD Ameritrade co-founder and Chicago Cubs owner isn't discerning about spreading his love—and money.

On Dec. 29, 2011, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, prior to the first presidential nominating contest, Ricketts ran down the list of presidential contenders and maxed out a primary donation of $2,500 to each of the following candidates: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum ... and Ron Paul.

He didn't stop there.

Ricketts also donated $2,500 to now-Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson. Then he doubled down on Johnson, handing him another $2,500 in January—presumably for the general election.

But apparently, his first choice was Tim Pawlenty.

Ricketts gave his first individual donation this election to the former governor of Minnesota. In June 2011, Ricketts donated a total of $7,500 to Pawlenty's campaign. But he took back $5,000 of that in two installments, evening him up with the rest of the field by the fall.

In another twist, even though Ricketts, a Nebraska native, is now known for his game-changing support for Deb Fischer in the Nebraska Senate primary, Ricketts first gave a $500 donation to her challenger Don Stenberg last fall. Still, Ricketts' support for Fischer proved pivotal in this year's primary, as the challenger experienced a late surge partly due to Ricketts' political advertising help via his committee. Ricketts' son, Peter Ricketts, was the 2006 Nebraska Senate nominee.

Walker (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

A new poll in Wisconsin has Scott Walker holding a growing lead over Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in the upcoming recall election.

The Republican governor holds a six-point lead over Democrat Barrett, 50 to 44 percent, among likely voters surveyed by Marquette Law School, May 9-12. The poll's margin of error for likely voters was plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

The results represent a five-point increase for Walker over Barrett since Marquette's previous poll in late April.

The findings released this week by Marquette mirror those released by other polling outlets.

Warren (Steven Senne/AP)

It's been three weeks since the Boston Herald first reported of Elizabeth Warren's past claims of Native American heritage. And while Warren, and her campaign for Scott Brown's Senate seat in Massachusetts, would clearly like to move past the controversy and turn attention to her criticism of Wall Street, political observers from both parties say there's only one person to blame for the ongoing chatter: Warren herself.

The latest news fueling Massachusetts gossip mills comes Thursday from the Herald, which reports that Warren, a Democrat, contributed five recipes to a 1984 cookbook titled "Pow Wow Chow," which was promoted as a collection of "special recipes passed down through the Five Tribes families."

Warren, who says her belief that she was 1/32 Cherokee came from "family lore," listed herself as a minority in a law school directory between 1986 and 1995. She was also touted by both Harvard Law School and the University of Pennsylvania—where she taught—as a minority and a "woman of color."

Warren, Harvard professor Charles Fried, and other supporters publicly rejected accusations that Warren used minority status to gain an advantage under affirmative action. But Warren's inability or unwillingness to produce either documentation of her heritage or university personnel records has kept questions circulating.

"There's only one topic of conversation in this state and there has been for three weeks now," Jim Barnett, the campaign manager for Brown, told Yahoo News. Both Brown's campaign and Cherokee tribe members have called on Warren to release her personnel files from Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. The records would ostensibly show whether she mentioned her heritage when applying for teaching positions.

Causing further heartburn for the Warren campaign, the New England Historical Genealogical Society on Tuesday reversed its claim that it possessed evidence of Warren's Cherokee heritage. Warren, who grew up in Oklahoma, says she has no documented proof of her heritage.

"I sympathize a little bit where they [Warren's staff] are because they are getting much of the blame for mismanaging this crisis, but their problem is that they have a candidate that's not telling the truth," Barnett told Yahoo News.

Warren's press secretary, Alethea Harney, declined to respond to requests for comment from Yahoo News.

While the Native American story continues to dominate coverage of the Massachusetts Senate race, Warren is trying to steer the conversation back to her presumed strength as a candidate: her willingness to take on Wall Street. Warren, a star consumer advocate who was Obama's first choice to head up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (though Republicans blocked her appointment), called on Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan, to resign from the New York Federal Reserve Bank board following the company's admission that it suffered a surprise $2 billion loss.