PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago - President Obama made the first move to greet Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, but it was the acerbic and anti-American leader who beat Obama to the punch on the World Wide Web.

In a clear indication Chavez sought to leverage his brief encounter with Obama at the opening ceremonies of the fifth Summit of the Americas here, Chavez's government Web site almost immediately posted a photo of the two leaders and a government-approved commentary in Spanish that read as follows:

"Before the Inaugural session of the 5th Summit of the Americas, the President of the United States approached President Chavez to greet him. They both drew their hands in a historic handshake after many years of tension under the Bush administration, when relations between Washington and Caracas had deteriorated. President Chavez expressed to Obama his desire for changes in the relations between the two countries. Eight years ago I greeted President Bush with this same hand. I'd like to be your friend."

It took the White House almost three hours to confirm the handshake. As of 9:20 p.m. EST there was no indication the White House intended to release any photos. A senior administration official declined to describe the leaders' glancing conversation, but did not dispute the Venezuelan government's account.

Late Friday, Obama told reporters he said to Chavez: "Como Esta?" (How are you?)

The two men met in the Jade Room of the Hyatt hotel in downtown Port-of-Spain. It was there Obama also shook hands with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

In January, Chavez said Obama had the same "stench" as former President Bush after Obama criticized Chavez for backing the FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces of Columbia) guerillas in neighboring Columbia. Earlier this month during a trip to Iran, Chavez said he doubted relations would improve with the U.S. because Obama was still "president of an empire."

"I hope President Obama is the last president of the Yankee Empire, and the first president of a truly democratic republic, the United States," Chavez said, after declaring a visit to Tehran "is like arriving at one's own home."

And Chavez has threatened to veto a declaration on economic, security and environmental policies negotiated by the 34 nations attending the summit. The declaration is merely a statement of principles and has no enforcement mechanisms so the Venezuelan veto is essentially meaningless. Still, it caught U.S. officials by surprise since Chavez's government had been party to months of talks leading up to the declaration's drafting.

The editorial lambasted Frank's proposal to provide FDIC-type insurance for some types of municipal bonds to help reduce the financing costs for governments incurred after major bond rating firms downgraded them as a group.

The editorial began with:

"Barney Frank's track record as a financial analyst is, shall we say, mixed. The House Financial Services Chairman said for years that a collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would pose zero risk to taxpayers. For most people, a mistake of that magnitude would trigger introspection, if not humility. But not the sage of Massachusetts. He's cooking up another fantastic subsidy — and like the last one, he swears taxpayers won't feel a thing. In his words, 'it would cost the federal government zero.' Uh oh."

Frank shot back, arguing that the piece suggested he was talking about insuring all bonds, when he intends to cover only some issues:

"It’s a typically dishonest Wall Street Journal editorial," he said. "The Wall Street Journal, with its conservative bent, doesn't like any public sector spending whatsoever. ... They are a right-wing voice and they have attacked me in the past and will continue to attack me in the future."

While I had him on the phone, I threw out a question about Texas Gov. Rick Perry's suggestion that his state might secede over Democrats' tax policies.

“We continue to believe that China manipulates its currency. We understand that global economic conditions make it difficult for the Obama administration to make this determination at the present time. But we are relying on the administration, as market conditions clear up, to keep China’s feet to the fire on this issue. To continue the effort on this front, we intend to re-introduce our legislation from the last Congress, as passed by the Finance Committee.”

A Senate source says that Schumer isn't likely to force the issue, however, given President Obama's opposition to trade restrictions.

In a clear message to U.S. and Canadian unions, Sergio Marchionne told Wednesday's Globe and Mail newspaper a deal on the partnership had only a 50-50 chance of succeeding because of lack of progress in talks with union leaders.

Canadian unions were especially resistant, he said. "Absolutely we are prepared to walk. There is no doubt in my mind," Marchionne said in an interview posted on the Toronto newspaper's website.

The Chrysler unions had to agree to match the lower labour costs of plants run by Japanese and German carmakers in the United States and Canada, he said.

Under the latest version of the companies' proposed partnership, first announced in January, Fiat would take an initial 20% stake in Chrysler in exchange for the technology to make small cars and access to foreign markets.

They are under pressure to reach a deal on the proposal with Chrysler's unions and bondholders before an April 30 deadline set by the U.S. government. Chrysler has been warned by Washington that it would go into bankruptcy if it fails to complete the deal, designed to save the smallest of Detroit's Big Three car makers.

It has about $7 billion of secured first-lien loans from U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management's acquisition of the automaker in 2007. Those lenders have refused efforts to eliminate most if not all of that debt. If a deal is reached, Chrysler stands to get at least $6 billion in additional funding from the government. It has received $4 billion so far.

For Fiat, a deal would give it access to the huge U.S. market and help it gain the scale it says it needs to survive the worst industry crisis in decades. Fiat would bring to North America its popular Cinquecento (500) small car as early as next year, while its premium Alfa Romeo brand would make cars in either Canada or the United States, Marchionne told the newspaper.

WHATEVER IT TAKES

Short of having Fiat inject cash into Chrysler, Marchionne said he would do whatever it took to save the U.S. carmaker, including becoming chief executive.

"Fundamentally, that's possible, but the title isn't important," he said. "What's important is that they hear me. It's possible that I will have to divide my time between running Fiat and running Chrysler."

He said he expected some of Chrysler's plants to close under the partnership.

The newspaper said Marchionne would not offer odds on a bankruptcy, other than to say that a filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection was "an option" in the absence of a partnership agreement.

He would also not rule out a Chapter 7 liquidation filing, it said.

Cerberus owns 80.1% of Chrysler and Germany's Daimler AG 19.1%.

Today the Secretary went on Morning Joe but they were only allowed to ask one question.

"Apparently, when the Democrats promise an open administration, they really only mean open as long as you ask the questions they want asked and no follow-ups on controversial topics that everyone is reporting on," staffer Joe Pounder wrote in an email.

Anyway check out the transcript:

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough: “I want to have a discussion afterwards about that interview.”

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski: “Now, we should be clear, they only wanted one question.”

Scarborough: “Yeah. So this morning, I got a call that she [Janet Napolitano] was going to be on the show and they said we could only ask one question …”

Brzezinski: “That was the agreement.”

Scarborough: “…about this story yesterday. And I initially said, well, we're not going to do it then, because we don't allow people to tell us what they're going to talk about.”

Brzezinski: “Right.”

Scarborough: “I said, we'll ask one question, see how she responds and since this Mexico issue is so huge, we want our viewers to watch. If she was coming on to, you know, name a new post office that would have been something or a book that would have been – but I want – let's talk about that afterwards.”

Brzezinski: “Okay.”

Scarborough: “We'll ask our audience whether we should have had her on the show or not under those conditions.”

Brzezinski: “Okay, because I actually – I have so many follow-ups.”

The Office of Congressional Ethics has authorized preliminary or “second phase” reviews of 10 different ethics matters, although it has not made any formal recommendations to the House ethics committee for full-scale investigations, according to its first publicly released report.

The OCE was created last year as part of the Democrats’ ethics reform package for the 110th Congress. It formally began operations in late February.

 

At its initial meeting on Feb. 23, the six-member OCE board authorized six “preliminary" reviews. Such reviews may proceed when at least two board members – one appointed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and another by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) – believe there is a “reasonable basis” that an ethics violation has occurred.

At its second monthly meeting on March 27, the OCE board approved six “second phase” reviews, plus an additional four preliminary reviews. “Second phase” reviews occur when there is “probable cause to believe a violation has occurred,” the OCE said in a statement accompanying its report.

The OCE did not identify any members or other individuals that it is scrutinizing. The OCE has as much as seven weeks to complete a “second phase” review, at which point it must either drop the matter or make a recommendation to the House ethics committee, which has final say on whether to take action against a member or staffer.

Once it receives a recommendation from OCE, the ethics committee can take as long as 45 days to decide whether to proceed on a case. If the ethics committee refuses to proceed with an OCE-recommended investigation, then the OCE can publicly release its findings at that point.

According to media reports, OCE has been looking into allegations that former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) offered to appoint Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-Ill.) to President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat if Jackson agreed to raise $5 million for Blagojevich’s reelection campaign. Jackson has denied any wrongdoing, and OCE has no subpoena power to compel testimony in the case. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is also looking into the Jackson-Blagojevich interaction, and his criminal investigation would trump an OCE review.

 

 

“I regret that there was an inadvertent omission in my previous response to this question,” Sebelius wrote in a revised response Tuesday to questions from the Senate Finance Committee. “The oversight led to an incomplete listing of certain PAC contributions as well as contributions from Dr. Tiller’s business.”

 

In her initial response to the committee, Sebelius said she received $12,450 from 1994 to 2001 from Tiller. Her revised filing Tuesday detailed $39,600 in contributions, which she said was gathered from records at the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, including electronic records and all available paper records dating back to 1986.

Between 1990 and 2001, her campaign received $13,350 from Tiller and his wife, and $3,250 from organizations associated with Tiller, Sebelius said. Sebelius’s political action committee Bluestem Fund received another $23,000 from Tiller and his clinic Women’s Health Care Services between 2000 and 2002, she said.

The oversight was the second correction Sebelius had to make during her confirmation process. Last month, the Kansas governor paid almost $8,000 in back taxes and interest stemming from “unintentional errors” revealed during her accountant’s review of tax returns.

The Associated Press first reported the discrepancy the Tiller donation amounts Monday.

The Senate is expected to vote on her nomination after returning next week from the Easter recess.