[Cross-posted from the ProgressMass blog. Like ProgressMass on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.]
Republican Scott Brown is keeping more secrets from you. And, unlike his “secret meetings” with Kings and Queens, these secrets are actually reality-based. Two such secrets in particular came into further focus this week.
Legal Clients
The first secret of the two has been a bit more high-profile:
Scott Brown won’t release full law client list, aide says
Senator Scott Brown will not release a full list of clients from his former legal career, his campaign manager said today, despite his promise to do so by last Thursday. […]
However, during a press conference last Wednesday afternoon, Brown said he would release a complete list by that evening or last Thursday morning at the latest.
For Republican Scott Brown, though, this might not be a matter of optional transparency but required disclosure, as a new ethics complaint notes:
The Massachusetts Democratic Party filed an ethics complaint against Republican US Senator Scott Brown just hours before he was due to debate his Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren Wednesday night, claiming he has violated ethics law by failing to divulge a complete list of the clients for whom he has done legal work.
They allege in the complaint that Brown was required to disclose any sources of compensation over $5,000. His 2009 candidate report, they say, showed income from his law practice, but did not list specific clients.
Republican Scott Brown likes to go on and on about how he has released years of professional records. Unfortunately for Brown’s credibility, he’s still keeping some of those key records a secret from you.
Timing of Summer National Guard Service
Recall this Boston Globe item from late July, discussing how Republican Scott Brown would perform his required two weeks of summer service in the National Guard “piecemeal” in order to limit his time away from the campaign trail:
To maximize campaign time, Brown will serve Guard duty piecemeal
Senator Scott Brown, a member of the Army National Guard, will forgo a typical two-week block of summer training this year and instead serve the days individually next month at the Pentagon, a change that should prevent a long absence from the campaign trail while he seeks reelection. […]
The senator refused to answer questions about his summer training when the Globe asked him after an event in South Boston on July 13. Instead, Brown repeatedly said he would do his duty, just as he has through his 32-year Guard career.
His spokeswoman, Marcie Kinzel, said in an e-mail: “Senator Brown will be performing his drill at the Pentagon during the month of August.” She would not provide the individual dates, or explain the reason behind the change in his routine.
In another e-mail, she said: “As you know, the senator works with his commander on these arrangements.”
She referred questions to a National Guard spokesman. That spokesman then referred the questions back to Brown’s office, saying the specific reasons were protected by privacy laws that could only be waived by the senator.
So Team Brown won’t offer specific dates, but they promise that Republican Scott Brown will fulfill his required service in August. Fast forward to this week. A new profile in yesterday’s Boston Globe on Brown politicizing his National Guard service features the following passage toward the very end of the article:
Brown’s staff declined to say which days he served either this summer or during other times of the year, except to say he is current on his commitments. In September, he held two campaign fund-raisers in Washington after one of his duty days at the Pentagon.
A review of Brown’s senatorial and campaign schedule shows just five days in August when he did not have campaign events in Massachusetts or when the Senate was not in session in Washington.
Brown himself publicly declared he was performing Guard duty on just two days, Aug. 28 and Aug. 29, which coincided with the start of the Republican National Convention.
Republican Scott Brown’s staff promised that he would fulfill his National Guard service during August. (Further, given that Brown partisans were very comfortable declaring that his National Guard service prevented him from attending most of the Republican National Convention, the timing of his service clearly isn’t confidential.) It would be fascinating to learn how Brown fit two weeks’ worth of service into only five free days in August.
Now, to be clear, no one is questioning the quality of Brown’s service in the National Guard to this point, not in the slightest. The question here is purely one of scheduling. Brown had a commitment to serve two weeks in August. Based on his senatorial and campaign schedule, as gathered by the Boston Globe, that amount of days served is mathematically impossible.
Since Republican Scott Brown has made his service in the National Guard a centerpiece of his campaign biography – and, since Brown has over and over again made an issue out of releasing records – it is perfectly appropriate to call on Brown to disclose when he fulfilled that required service in the National Guard over the summer and what that service entailed.
Until Republican Scott Brown discloses that information, it’s just another secret Brown is keeping from you.
