Mokhiber: Scott, two questions. First about your predecessor, Ari Fleischer. There's a report in Roll Call --

Scott McClellan: He's a good man. I learned a lot from him.

Mokhiber: Well, there's a report in Roll Call this week saying that he has set up a consulting firm on K Street to help corporations navigate the political channels in Washington.

Scott McClellan: I thought you were going to ask about the book he's writing about the relationships with the media.

Mokhiber: The question I had, actually, this report says that he's charging corporations $30,000 a month, and he's demanding a two-year contract. And I'm wondering if you have ever been tempted to bail from this and attracted to the lucre that is available to you just a couple of blocks from here.

Scott McClellan: Have I ever been tempted to bail from this? Just about every day, Russell. (Laughter.) But I have no future plans, at this point.

Mokhiber: My second question is, on public corruption. There seems to be an uptick in public corruption cases. These are public officials who are charged with wrongdoing -- Governor Rowland and a bunch of public officials in Connecticut. And in Austin, Texas, there's a grand jury that, for a number of months now, has been issuing subpoenas. They're looking at corporate money that went from a PAC controlled by Tom DeLay to state legislative house races in Texas. And according to press reports it's implicating the Speaker of the Texas House, Tom Craddick, and it might - they're also looking at the money coming from Tom DeLay. The question is - is this on the President's radar screen, public corruption? And what is he doing about it?

Scott McClellan: I think it's evidenced by his actions, in terms of what we're doing to crack down on corporate wrongdoing, and --

Mokhiber: That's corporate wrongdoing. This is a separate thing - public corruption.

Scott McClellan: - what we're doing with other nations to fight corruption. This President is strongly committed to fighting corruption. But in terms of a specific case in the state of Texas, I mean, that's a legal matter going on in the state of Texas. You need to direct your questions elsewhere. I don't know the specifics of that case.

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-Thanks to Russell Mokhiber

White House reporter Russell Mokhiber is the editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter - www.corporatecrimereporter.com. He co-authors the weekly Focus on the Corporation column with Robert Weissman which Common Dreams publishes. He can be reached at: russell@nationalpress.com