The US presidential race took a bizarre turn when the State Department disclosed that workers had improperly rummaged through the passport files of all three candidates. Senator Barack Obama called for a congressional investigation.
The snooping first surfaced against Obama, the Illinois Democrat whose file was accessed three time this year. In the course of Friday, however, department officials said the contract workers with access to the files also had dipped into the private information of New York Senator Hillary Clinton, the other Democratic hopeful, and Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who has wrapped up his party's nomination.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who reportedly only heard of the incidents starting on Thursday, apologized to the candidates and promised her department would investigate.
But Obama was not satisfied and said Congress should investigate to insure the probe was not "simply an internal matter."
It was unclear whether the incidents were politically motivated. But they dominated US news at the start of a quiet holiday weekend and were a welcome diversion for the Obama campaign after a week of political battering over incendiary remarks by the candidate's longtime pastor.
The passport issue flared as Obama, locked in an increasingly nasty nomination battle with Clinton, secured a key endorsement, the backing of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.
Richardson served former president Bill Clinton -- candidate Clinton's husband -- as UN ambassador and energy secretary.
"You are a once-in-a-lifetime leader," Richardson said, speaking at a spirited rally in Portland, Oregon, with Obama at his side. "Above all, you will be a president who brings this nation together."
The passport disclosures were a major embarrassment for the State Department and viewed as a serious breach of privacy. The snooping into supposedly secure government records on politicians recalled a 1992 case in which a Republican political appointee at the State Department was demoted for searching Bill Clinton's passport records when he was running against US president George H.W. Bush.
Two of the workers who breached Obama's records on Jan. 9 and Feb. 21 have been fired. A third worker, who accessed the Illinois senator's file on March 14, had only been reprimanded. It subsequently turned out that person had also looked at the McCain file earlier this year.
Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the individual no longer has access to passport records.
"I can assure you that person's going to be at the top of the list of the inspector general when they talk to people, and we are currently reviewing our [disciplinary] options with respect to that person," McCormack said.
The two fired contractors worked for a company called Stanley Inc. Earlier this week, the 3,500-person company won a five-year, US$570 million contract to support passport services at the State Department. The company refused comment, but a State Department official confirmed that the two contractors had been employed at Stanley. The official requested anonymity because the information had not been publicly released.
In the Democratic battle, winning Richardson's backing was a major boost for Obama, and was seen as a rebuke to Clinton because of Richardson's service in her husband's administration. Richardson is also a Democratic superdelegate and former presidential candidate.
Richardson's backing of Obama, who aspires to become America's first black president, could show most dramatically among the governor's fellow Hispanics -- the US' largest ethnic bloc, which has largely backed Clinton.
He told Democrats it was time to stop bickering and get behind Obama, but the Clinton campaign dismissed the endorsement.
Senior strategist Mark Penn, noting Clinton's February victory in the New Mexico primary, said, "Perhaps the time when he could have been most effective has long since past."
Penn added that he didn't think it was a "significant endorsement."
The nod from Richardson had been sought relentlessly by both Obama and Clinton. Bill Clinton even went to Richardson's New Mexico home in January to watch the US' premier television sporting event, the football Super Bowl.
As a Democratic superdelegate, Richardson has a key role in the tight race for nominating votes and could bring other superdelegates to Obama's side. He also has been mentioned as a potential running mate for either candidate.
Obama leads Clinton among delegates whose votes were determined by primaries or caucuses, 1,406 to 1,249. But neither is on track to win enough pledged delegates to clinch the nomination -- 2,024 are needed. So the outcome could be decided by superdelegates -- elected and party officials who can choose whomever they like.
Including Richardson, Clinton leads 250 to 215 among superdelegates who have announced a choice. About 40 percent have not declared.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was