The former chief of staff to Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) went on a trip to Puerto Rico paid by Jack Abramoff’s lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig. According to the Associated Press, “House rules prohibit lawmakers and staff from taking trips paid for by registered lobbyists or lobbying firms.” The Doolittle staffer, David Lopez, went on the week-long “fact-finding” trip in 2001. Doolittle has increasingly come under the microscope for his ties to Abramoff. The congressman received tens of thousands of dollars from Abramoff’s tribal clients and $14,000 from the lobbyist himself; his wife was hired by the Alexander Strategy Group, which has since gone under due to an investigation into their dealings with Abramoff; and he and Rep. Richard Pombo have been accused of undermining a federal investigation into an Abramoff client.

Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) will not talk about the letters that he wrote to the Interior Department in an effort to help Indian tribes who hired Jack Abramoff as a lobbyist, according to the Sacramento Bee.  One of Doolittle’s letters complained about the closing of an Indian casino contradicting Doolittle’s career-long anti-gambling stance.  Doolittle has even claimed that the reason that he wrote letters opposing Indian casino openings that threatened Abramoff clients was because he is anti-gambling.  Doolittle's contradictory letters follow one pattern: helping Abramoff clients who contributed $130,000 to him and his leadership PAC.