Let's start counting. Harper's blog Washington Babylon reports that lobbyist and former [sw: Jerry Lewis] aide took compensation for aiding Trident (White pruchased a house with Trident CEO Nicholas Karangelen):
Both [Letitia] White and Karangelen have said that they each put up $500,000 when purchasing the million-dollar house, but some of the Trident officials have said that Karangelen actually put up the entire amount, along with additional monies for furnishings. Some of them have further alleged that White was rewarded financially by Trident for her work on behalf of the company with compensation related to the amount of money she brought into the company. Patrick Dorton, a spokesman for White, vehemently told me that she and Karangelen have put equal amounts of money into the house and that “the purchase was not related in any way to work for Trident.” Dorton did not deny that White was compensated by Trident but said any money she received “was for work done after she left the Hill.” He declined to comment on the nature or amount of the compensation.We all watched the Jack Abramoff scandal unfold and we can see where this is going. Encircle the big fish by snapping up the little fish first. Aim for people compromised by family members that they got involved in corrupt schemes and that they don't want to get hurt and get them to talk. Then with full roster of witnesses you can snare the big guy. Continue reading
$2 Million for Quitting:
Paul Kiel asks, "who's ever gotten a $2 million severance package -- for quitting?" Justin Rood tells us that Jeffrey Shockey, a serial revolving door spinner, received $1.9 million in severance payments from the lobbying firm of Bill Lowery when he quit to go back to work for his previous employer, [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-CA). Not to be cynical, but do we really believe that that $2 million was to thank Shockey for his previous work for the firm or was it intended to pay for the work he was about to do for the firm?
Continue readingSpousal Abuse…:
...of lobbying connections. TPM Muckraker reports on the spouses of two central figures in the [sw: Jerry Lewis] earmarking scandal. Both of them are lobbyists and they both represent companies that do business with Lewis.
Shortly after Lewis rose to be the chairman of that subcommitee, Letitia White's husband, up until that point a tobacco industry lobbyist, made a curious professional decision: he began lobbying on defense spending issues. ... But in 2000, one year after Jerry Lewis became chair of the defense appropriations subcommittee (taking Letitia White along with him), Richard White registered to lobby for "defense spending items" on behalf of a lobbyist. It's not clear which of the lobbyist's clients White was working for. That arrangement continued for the next few years, White receiving between $20,000 and $45,000 annually from the firm, called R.C. Whitner & Associates. From 2000 to 2005, White received $205,000 from the group. But in 2003, something changed. Richard White began picking up defense contractors as clients - without going through Whitner. That was the same year that his wife Letitia left Lewis to join Lowery's lobbying firm.And of course he went on to make even more money. Now for the other spouse:
But Richard isn't the only spouse getting cut in because of ties to the world of Jerry Lewis. Alexandra Shockey, the wife of another Lewis aide-turned-lobbyist, Jeffrey Shockey, is also doing well for herself as a lobbyist with extraordinary connections to Lewis. After several years as a Lewis aide, Alexandra dropped out of her political career to raise a family, returning only when her husband gave up his million-dollar-plus lobbying gig to work for Lewis again. She scooped up his clients -- and a lobbyist's income -- to push their interests in front of Lewis, while her husband, now a senior aide on Lewis' committee, helps her old boss dole out $900 billion in federal money every year.Let's not forget that when Jeffrey Shockey went back to work for Lewis he was given a $600,000 severance package. Continue reading
Peeling Back the Curtain:
Oh, so that's how appropriations bills get written. More info on the Tom Casey allegations against [sw: Jerry Lewis] from the San Diego Union Tribune:
Casey's firm, Audre Inc., had about 35 employees when it began lobbying for federal contracts in the early 1990s. It was on the verge of bankruptcy, because of a fractious divorce battle in which Casey's wife tried to gain control of the firm. In 1992, Casey hired Wilkes to help him find government contracts. Wilkes' recommendation, according to former Audre employees, was to make campaign contributions to key members of Congress, including Lewis. Although Casey said he never provided Lewis' friends with any stock options, he and his associates gave $9,253 in political contributions to Lewis in 1993: $2,253 in early April, as the Appropriations Committee prepared its first draft of the fiscal 1994 budget, and $7,000 in mid-September, as the budget process neared its conclusion. Casey and his associates made similarly timed contributions of $2,750 to Cunningham, $3,600 to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine – who would become Audre's chief champion on Capitol Hill – and $5,000 to Rep. John Murtha, D-Penn. Ten other politicians received smaller amounts totaling $21,100. ... According to sources familiar with his story, Casey said that after he made the contributions, he met with Lewis' chief of staff, Letitia White, in the basement cafeteria of the Rayburn Building. In the cafeteria, Casey and White drafted the language to add a document conversion project to the Pentagon's budget. White now works for Lowery's lobbying firm, Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton & White.Continue reading
Scared Stiff
If I was Rep. [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-CA) that's what I'd be. Today the Lewis case has officially became a serious matter. After the revelations of Lewis' step-daughter's work for the Small Biz Tech PAC, whose offices reside in a house co-owned by a recipient of Lewis' earmarks and a former aide to Lewis turned lobbyist, and the NBC News revelations about Audre, Inc. Lewis looks set for a busy summer of fundraising, not for an election, but for a legal expense fund. Now Roll Call, the San Diego Union Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times bring us new information about the Lewis case. First let's start with the Roll Call piece:
In one of the clearest signs yet that Lewis is himself under the investigative microscope, the FBI retrieved the chairman’s financial records late last month even as federal prosecutors in Southern California were issuing a series of subpoenas to towns and counties in his Congressional district, all of which were represented at one time or another in lobbying activities by a current or former Lewis staffer. ... The investigators are in particular examining the relationship between Lewis and a lobbying firm he enjoys a very close relationship with, Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton and White. The records search in the Legislative Resources Center in Cannon was the latest sign of that, as the FBI examined the records of Jeff Shockey and Letitia White.The FBI is also searching through the financial disclosure forms of Lewis' wife, Arlene Willis, who works as his chief of staff in his personal office. The Los Angeles Times tells us that Letitia White is at the center of the allegations made by Tom Casey, the head of Audre, Inc.
Casey said he had told investigators that in 1993, Lewis' top appropriations aide, White, escorted him and Wilkes to a basement room in the Capitol where House Appropriations Committee staffers drafted legislation. There, according to Casey, he was seated in front of a word processor and was asked to type a paragraph into the defense bill that would be so specific that it would limit competition. ... The final bill included much of the language Casey wrote, although the earmark was slashed to $14 million, he said.And the kicker to the Audre earmark deal comes at the end of the Times piece:
The obscure trade journal also uncovered in financial disclosure reports that White, then Lewis' aide, had bought stock in Audre on Nov. 3, 1993, one week before the passage of the final bill.Lewis is another example of the power of K Street melded into Congress. Just like Jack Abramoff, Mitchell Wade, and Brent Wilkes the Bill Lowery-Letitia White-Jerry Lewis connection showcases how Congress and K Street have corrupted each other by combining their operations. When lobbyists and defense contractors are writing language into bills the public interest is not being served. When a member of Congress receives over ONE THIRD of his campaign contributions from one lobbying firm and their clients, as Lewis has, then that member will not be serving the public interest. What we have here is a system that has been created by certain members and certain lobbyists that subverts democracy and public participation in government while abusing institutions and the First Amendment rights to give money to a candidate and to lobby Congress. Continue reading
Lewis Is In a Heap of Trouble:
Last night NBC News reported that the CEO of Audre, Inc. was told by Rep. [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-CA) that he needed to pony up campaign contributions to members and that he hire Lewis' friend Bill Lowery as a lobbyist and provide Lowery with stock options before he could get federally earmarked money for his business.
In an exclusive interview, Casey tells NBC News that after he made campaign contributions to House members of both parties, Lewis informed him the Pentagon would get $14 million for the testing, and that Casey even could write the language. Lisa Myers: You were allowed to write language for an appropriations bill yourself? Casey: Yes, I did. That was Congressman Lewis' suggestion. Casey says Lewis repeatedly urged him to hire a lobbyist, former U.S. Rep. Bill Lowery, Lewis' close friend, and when that didn't happen, pressed for another favor. Casey: Congressman Lewis asked me to set up stock options for Bill Lowery in our company. Casey says Lewis suggested he issue the stock options in Canada — in someone else's name. Myers: Did you view it as an effort to hide what was really going on? Casey: It was intended to conceal his participation, yes.As Justin Rood notes, Casey started the contracting career of Brent Wilkes at Audre, Inc. Wilkes is said to have aggressively urged Casey to spend more money on lobbying and campaign contributions as a means to gain the support of members. Wilkes eventually became fed up with Casey and jumped ship to start his own contracting business, ADCS, Inc. Continue reading
Lewis Case Becomes Family Affair Thanks to Shady House Deal:
What is it with investigations into Southern California Representatives and house deals? Yesterday Harper's Ken Silverstein and TPM Muckraker both ran stories on the former aide to Rep. [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-CA) and current "Queen of Earmarks" Letitia White's Capitol Hill townhouse that she purchased with the owner of Trident Systems. White is said to have advocated aggressively for Trident while she worked for Lewis and, as soon as she left to become a lobbyist at the firm of Lewis' buddy Bill Lowery, she not only jointly purchased the townhouse with Nicholas E. Karangelen, an owner of Trident, but she also took Trident on as a client.
So Letitia White, a former staffer for Jerry Lewis, now a lobbyist, is the co-owner of a home with Nicholas Karengelen, a client of her lobbying firm. Karengelen's firm is the recipient of $2 million (and likely more) disbursed by a committee headed by Lewis. Surely these connections merit the attention of those looking into the Lewis case.
One of the tenants of the townhouse is a technology PAC named Small Biz Tech PAC, which is chaired by Karengelen and run by a woman named Julia Willis-Leon. According to TPM Muckraker, the PAC has taken in $100,000 while only disbursing $6,000 to candidates and members of Congress. The PAC has, however, paid Willis-Leon $40,000 for fundraising, "retainers", "commissions", and so on. Who is Willis-Leon? Well she is Lewis' step-daughter! And to make matters worse the Small Biz Tech PAC retained the services of the same lawyer as Lewis, Barbara Bonfiglio. Bonfiglio is infamous for also working for [sw: Tom DeLay]'s ARMPAC and [sw: Duke Cunningham]'s American Prosperity PAC.
Today Justin Rood went down to the townhouse and found that the door bell line was cut and that there are few signs that anyone lives or works there. What is with these Congressmen and politicians getting their families involved in strange corrupt schemes. There's Julie Doolittle, Christine DeLay, Lisa Rudy, [sw: William Jefferson]'s daughters, and now Lewis' step-daughter.
QUICK UPDATE: Laura Rozen points out that Jerry Lewis secured a $2 million earmark for Trident Systems despite the fact that Trident does no business in his district. "If a member of Congress is giving an earmark, it is almost always in his district." Not this time. Continue readingMorning News:
- Yet another local government has been issued a subpoena in the federal investigation into Rep. [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-CA). According to the San Bernardino Sun, the "clerk of Yucca Valley confirmed Tuesday her office has been subpoenaed for records pertaining to Copeland Lowery and Lewis in connection with a criminal investigation being conducted by the FBI, the federal Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the IRS."
- The Los Angeles Times reports on the details of Rep. [sw: William Jefferson]'s (D-LA) deals with the Nigerian Vice President Atiku Abubakar. Jefferson, in a meeting with the FBI informant Lori Mody, provides this classic quote about Abubakar: "He's a very, well, the word might be … corrupt." The new affidavit also reveals that on one trip to Abubakar's home Jefferson's driver was actually an undercover FBI agent.
- The House Minority Leadership of [sw: Nancy Pelosi] (D-CA) and [sw: Steny Hoyer] (D-MD) invited Jefferson to make his case to the Democratic Steering Committee on why he should remain on the Ways and Means Committee. Pelosi and Hoyer have both publicly stated that Jefferson should be removed from the committee with Hoyer stating "he had $90,000 found in his freezer ... I think he's got a tax problem". The main support for Jefferson comes from the Congressional Black Caucus who have nine members on the Steering Committee. Roll Call reports that a vote on Jefferson's committee seat will show whether the CBC is in open revolt against the leadership or is split itself.
- The Houston Chronicle reports on the end-of-week exit of [sw: Tom DeLay] (R-TX) from Congress. DeLay says that he has no regrets and that he "fight[s] for what I believe in". We'll have more on what DeLay believes in at the end of the week.
- According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, more items that belonged to [sw: Duke Cunningham] will be up for sale tomorrow. If you are around Los Angeles why not go buy a piece of history.
- And finally, The Hill reports that defense lobbyists are rethinking how they do business in Washington in the wake of Cunningham's perp-walk and imminent earmark reform. You see, they need to find a way to get appropriations that doesn't involve bribing members of Congress with hookers. But seriously, this shows that sunlight, and even the threat of more sunlight, causes these guys to, like vampires, alter their behaviors.
Morning News:
- The San Bernardino Sun reports that two more cities have been subpoenaed in the federal investigation of Appropriations Chairman [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-CA) and his ties to the lobbying firm Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White. The subpoenas issued to the two cities, Loma Linda and Twentynine Palms, push the total number of subpoenas issued so far to six in the investigation of Lewis' earmark practices.
- David Safavian, aside from testifying that he is a doofus, also stated that he provided "a lot of insight and advice" to Jack Abramoff, according to the New York Times.
- House Democrats are holding a steering committee meeting today that many expect to center on Rep. [sw: William Jefferson]'s (D-LA) seat on the Ways and Means Committee. Jefferson, facing an imminent indictment for his role in a number of crooked deals, was asked to step down by Minority Leader [sw: Nancy Pelosi] (D-CA) but refused. Pelosi is expected to ask the Democratic Caucus to remove Jefferson from his committee seat and possibly replace him with another member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
- According to The Hill, [sw: Tom DeLay] (R-TX) will be leaving Congress this Friday and it looks like he'll be slipping out the back door and not leaving with the bluster and pomp that he was known for during his tenure as one of the most powerful men on Capitol Hill.
- The Hill reports that the oil and gas industry is ramping up the fear rhetoric after the House voted to force oil companies to renegotiate their oil leases signed in 1998 and 1999. The industry is declaring that if this law passes the Senate than it would increase foreign investment in the Gulf of Mexico. After the vote in the House I did a quick run-down on oil-and-gas contributions to the Republicans who voted "Yea" and found that they took a significantly less from the industry than the average Republican. My colleague Larry Makinson did a more extensive review of career numbers and found the same pattern.
- And for some lighter news: "A struggling art galley is hoping a showing and possible sale of a pair of paintings by imprisoned ex-U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. will keep it open."
Emergency Supplemental to be Pared Down:
The two Appropriations Chairs, [sw: Jerry Lewis] (R-CA) and [sw: Thad Cochran] (R-MS), are meeting to get the emergency supplemental to the President and have agreed to pare down the Senate's earmarks to make the bill fit Bush's $92.2 billion maximum demand. That's good news, although reading the Associated Press article makes you think that they're cutting A LOT more money out than is actually being cut:
An additional $648 billion obtained by Sen. [sw: Robert Byrd], D-W.Va., to beef up security at U.S. ports is to be dropped, while $1.2 billion in aid for the Gulf Coast fishing and seafood industry obtained by Sen. [sw: Richard Shelby], R-Ala., will be sharply scaled back.I think they meant to say "million". Continue reading
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