MORE SUBPOENAS: Feds Talk to Ex-Doolittle Aides, documents given to prosecutors

[L. Coyote]

Congressional Committee subpoenas and investigations is one front in the War on the Culture of Corruption.
Federal investigators are also using their subpoena powers to investigate members of Congress.

==========================
Feds Talk to Another Ex-Doolittle Aide
June 27, 2007 8:16 PM
By ERICA WERNER, AP
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6740561,00.html


WASHINGTON (AP) - California GOP Rep. John Doolittle's former legislative director said Wednesday he was recently contacted by federal investigators in their probe of Doolittle's ties to jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Pete Evich, Doolittle's legislative director from 1998 to 2002 and now a lobbyist, told The Associated Press that he plans to talk to the Justice Department.

The news comes two days after an attorney for another ex-Doolittle aide, former chief of staff David Lopez, said he'd given documents to federal prosecutors under subpoena.

Evich's disclosure suggests prosecutors are widening their investigation in the wake of an FBI raid on Doolittle's home in April ..........

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MORE: JOHN DOOLITTLE: Defiant Doolittle says he won't resign amid inquiry
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x831278#832486

KEVIN RING, Doolittle's Ex-Aide, Could Be Liability for Lawmaker
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x822221#822259

Ex-Aide Could Be Liability for Lawmaker
As California GOP Rep. John Doolittle awaits prosecutors’ next move in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, his future is tied to that of a former aide who also worked with Abramoff.

Kevin Ring, Doolittle’s one-time legislative director, quit his lobbying job last month, the same day FBI agents raided Doolittle’s Virginia home...

[L. Coyote]

1. Kevin A. Ring From SourceWatch

Kevin A. Ring From SourceWatch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kevin_A._Ring


Ring is the second former Jack Abramoff "associate to leave Barnes & Thornburg. Neil Volz resigned in January, 2006, shortly after he was named as 'Staffer B' in Abramoff’s plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Volz later pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors in securing a guilty plea from his former boss, then-Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), who is now serving time in a federal prison in Morgantown, W.V. Abramoff is incarcerated in a federal prison in Cumberland, Md." ...

Abramoff-Reed Indian Gambling Scandal

"Lobbyist Kevin A. Ring sat silently as Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) displayed e-mails and canceled checks to support allegations that Ring and lobbyist Jack Abramoff inflated fees and concocted invoices to defraud their client, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians," James V. Grimaldi wrote in the June 26, 2005, Washington Post.

"Testifying before the committee Wednesday morning, Ring asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination ....

"Before entering private practice, he worked for several years on Capitol Hill as a staffer in both the House of Representatives and Senate. In 1993, Mr. Ring joined the staff of U.S. Representative John T. Doolittle, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and an elected member of the House Republican leadership team. After his promotion to legislative director in 1995, he was charged with implementing the congressman’s legislative agenda and serving as a liaison to the House leadership.

"In 1998, Mr. Ring was named by then-U.S. Senator John Ashcroft to serve as a counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights Subcommittee that Sen. Ashcroft chaired. Among other duties, he advised Sen. Ashcroft on federal judicial nominations. He served there a year before returning to the House to become executive director of the Conservative Action Team (later renamed the House Republican Study Committee), a caucus comprised of 70 House Republicans.

[L. Coyote]

2. WA POST: Lobbyists, Clients Undeterred by Scandal - June 26, 2005

That was then, this is now!

========================
Lobbyists, Clients Undeterred by Scandal
Alumni of Abramoff's 'Team' Still Collecting Fees, Trying to Influence Government
By James V. Grimaldi - Washington Post Staff Writer - June 26, 2005; Page A05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/25/AR2005062500983.html

Lobbyist Kevin A. Ring sat silently as Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) displayed e-mails and canceled checks to support allegations that Ring and lobbyist Jack Abramoff inflated fees and concocted invoices to defraud their client, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

... Ring asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination ...

Ring is still working for the Choctaws as their paid Washington lobbyist. Indeed, he was actively lobbying members of Congress to pass a Choctaw-backed amendment that came up for a vote in the House on Friday afternoon.

Ring is one of more than a dozen lobbyists who were members of "Team Abramoff," the tight-knit group who worked under Abramoff when he was at the lobbying helm of the Washington office of Greenberg Traurig LLP and, before that, Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP.

Members of that influence dream-team continue to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars as registered lobbyists, often lobbying for former Abramoff clients -- unimpeded by the taint of scandal and revelations of suspicious deal-making ...............

[L. Coyote]

3. What will John Doolittle put on the Auction Block next?

Who are Doolittle's friends? DeLay, Blunt, Abramoff, Ney, Boehner, Buckham, Halliburton, oil and gas ...

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What will John Doolittle put on the Auction Block next?
http://www.dccc.org/gopauctionhouse/members/JohnDoolittleCA-4.html

............

TIES WITH THE GOP LEADERSHIP

* Doolittle has taken $1,000 from House Majority Leader John Boehner.
* Doolittle received $10,000 from GOP Whip Roy Blunt's "Rely on Your Beliefs" PAC.
* Doolittle voted with President Bush 88% of the time.
* Doolittle voted the GOP party line 97% of the time.

TIES WITH TOM DELAY AND JACK ABRAMOFF
Doolittle has taken:

* $19,375 from Tom DeLay's ARMPAC.
* $14,000 from convicted DeLay associate Jack Abramoff.
* $11,250 from Abramoff associate and former DeLay staffer Tony Rudy.


* $1,000 from Bob Ney, the first congressman to plead guilty in the Jack Abramoff investigation.
* $7,500 from former Tom DeLay chief of staff Ed Buckham, whose consulting firm closed down after Abramoff's guilty plea.

With all of these ties to the DeLay/Abramoff mess, is it any surprise that Doolittle has:

* Voted to weaken House ethics rules when DeLay proposed doing so as GOP Majority Leader.
* Voted with Tom DeLay 93% of the time (through 3/31/2006)

..... Halliburton gave Doolittle $5,600.

Contributions from oil and gas industries: $121,275
Contributions from ARMPAC: $19,375

Doolittle voted to cut Federal student aid by $12.7 billion

[L. Coyote]

14. FBI searches Republican lawmaker’s home = April 18, 2007 warrants "under seal"

FBI searches Republican lawmaker’s home = April 18, 2007
By Mike Soraghan and Susan Crabtree
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/fbi-searches-republican-lawmakers-home-2007-04-18.html


The FBI searched the Virginia home of Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) last Friday in its investigation into ties between the congressman and his wife, Julie, and disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff ...

...on the same day that his former chief of staff, Kevin Ring, abruptly resigned from his lobbying firm. Ring left Doolittle’s office to work for Abramoff at the law firm Greenberg Traurig and may have played a role in Abramoff’s decision to hire Julie Doolittle’s consulting firm. After the Abramoff scandal broke, Ring went to work for the lobbying firm, Barnes and Thornburg.

... Doolittle refused to return an estimated $50,000 he received from Abramoff clients, mostly tribes, between 1999 and 2004. Abramoff also personally donated $14,000 between 1999 and 2004 to Doolittle’s congressional campaigns.

... Attempts to obtain a copy of the search warrant at the U.S. District Courthouse in Alexandria were unsuccessful. Of the 126 search warrants logged there since the beginning of February, 90 (or 71 percent) are “under seal.”

[L. Coyote]

4. John Doolittle - The Muckraker's Reference Section = Key Points

The Muckraker's Reference Section
John Doolittle
http://tpmmuckraker.com/doolittle.php

Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) is one of four congressmen whom the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have both named as being investigated for their ties to Jack Abramoff. Doolittle and Abramoff are accused of trading favors by using Doolittle’s wife as an intermediary. ...

Key Points:

Doolittle's political action campaign (PAC) paid his wife suspicious amounts of money for fundraising work through her company. ...

Doolittle’s wife has been at the center of recent FBI investigations ...

Abramoff hired Doolittle's wife's firm to put on a fundraising event for his "charity," the Capital Athletic Foundation. Her firm was also hired by Ed Buckham's Alexander Strategy Group (ASG). ...

Dating back to 1999, Doolittle's campaigns and associated committees have received $140,000 total from Abramoff, his lobbying associates, and his clients. ...

Kevin Ring, a former staffer of Doolittle's, went to work for Abramoff. Ring worked for Doolittle from 1993-1998. According to Doolittle, Ring was in frequent contact with his office.

Doolittle held a fundraiser at Abramoff's skybox at the MCI Center and failed to report it. He also used Abramoff's restaurant, Signatures, for fundraising events. ...

MUCH MORE ...

[L. Coyote]

15. Congressman Doolittle, wife profited from Cunningham-linked contractor

Congressman Doolittle, wife profited from Cunningham-linked contractor
Commissions taken on campaign cash
By Dean Calbreath - STAFF WRITER - March 19, 2006
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060319/news_1n19dolittle.html


A week before former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham was sentenced to prison, he stressed to the court that a number of other lawmakers also helped arrange federal funding for the defense contractors who bribed him.

None of the lawmakers Cunningham mentioned by name – Reps. Katherine Harris of Florida, Virgil Goode of Virginia and John Doolittle from the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay – has been accused of criminal wrongdoing. But each has admitted assisting either Mitchell Wade or Brent Wilkes, co-conspirators in the Cunningham case ... Doolittle, received a direct monetary benefit from those contributions through commissions paid to his wife, Julie.

Acting as her husband's campaign consultant, Julie Doolittle charged his campaign and his Superior California Political Action Committee a 15 percent commission ...

Between 2002 and 2005, Wilkes and his associates and lobbyists gave Doolittle's campaign and political action committee $118,000, more than they gave any other politician, including Cunningham. ...

A search by The San Diego Union-Tribune yielded only three other clients of Julie Doolittle ... Greenberg Traurig, the lobbying firm that employed Jack Abramoff ... Abramoff's Washington restaurant, ... third was the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, founded by Ed Buckham, one-time chief of staff for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. ....

[L. Coyote]

5. Brent Wilkes & assocs. gave John Doolittle's campaign and PAC $118K, got $37M

Commissions taken on campaign cash
By Dean Calbreath, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 19, 2006 - http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060319-9999-1n19dolittle.html

A week before former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham was sentenced to prison, he stressed to the court that a number of other lawmakers also helped arrange federal funding for the defense contractors who bribed him.

.. the lawmakers Cunningham mentioned by name – Reps. Katherine Harris of Florida, Virgil Goode of Virginia and John Doolittle ... each has admitted assisting either Mitchell Wade or Brent Wilkes, co-conspirators in the Cunningham case, at a time when the two businessmen were giving them tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions.

And at least one of the lawmakers, Doolittle, received a direct monetary benefit from those contributions through commissions paid to his wife, Julie.

Acting as her husband's campaign consultant, Julie Doolittle charged his campaign and his Superior California Political Action Committee a 15 percent commission on any contribution she helped bring in. ....

Between 2002 and 2005, Wilkes and his associates and lobbyists gave Doolittle's campaign and political action committee $118,000, more than they gave any other politician, including Cunningham. ........... Doolittle helped Wilkes get at least $37 million in government contracts....

........ MUCH, MUCH MORE ............ Greenberg Traurig, Ed Buckham, Tom DeLay, Christine DeLay, Alexander Strategy, Capital Athletics Foundation, Julie Doolittle, Bob Filner, Jane Filner, MailSafe, PerfectWave, earmarks, $50,000, Richard Robinson, Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, $180,000, Las Vegas, Karl Gallant ...

[L. Coyote]

6. Earmarks in Republican-controlled Congress jumped $$ 24 BILLION

K Street's New Ways Spawn More Pork
As Barriers With Lawmakers Fall, 'Earmarks' Grow
By Jonathan Weisman and Charles R. Babcock
Washington Post Staff Writers - Jan.27, 2006; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/26/AR2006012602221_pf.html


An explosion of special interest funding engineered in part by lawmakers with close ties to lobbyists is drawing increased scrutiny ... Doolittle ... helped steer defense funding, totaling $37 million, to a California company, whose officials and lobbyists helped raise at least $85,000 for Doolittle ....

Brent Wilkes, a director of the company, PerfectWave Technologies LLC, and a major contributor to House Republican leaders, was identified as "Coconspirator No. 1" in criminal charges brought against Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (admitting he conspired to take $2.4 million in bribes) ....

Since the Republicans took control of Congress in 1994, the number of home-district earmarks jumped from 4,155 valued at about $29 billion in 1994 to 14,211 worth nearly $53 billion 10 years later ...

Wilkes ... began tapping federal spending sources in the mid-1990s, after Cunningham helped him win at least $80 million in Pentagon earmarks ... Wilkes ... retained the Alexander Strategy Group, a high-powered firm operated by former aides to then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), to lobby for defense appropriations ... individuals related to Wilkes and PerfectWave made large campaign donations to members of the GOP leadership, Doolittle and Lewis ....

Wilkes was successful ....

[L. Coyote]

7. Doolittle's Very Special Arrangement = wife gets 15% of campaign money

Doolittle's Very Special Arrangement
By Paul Kiel - March 20, 2006, 2:19 PM
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000139.php


Rep. John Doolittle's (R-CA) wife, acting as his fundraiser, was getting a 15% cut of contributions coming into his campaign .. a strong case can be made that Doolittle broke the law ... It is against the law for lawmakers to convert campaign money to personal use ...

.... Doolittle's wife had no experience. And she was being paid a 15% commission ... Sounds like a pretty clear violation of the law to me

[L. Coyote]

8. Another one-time top Doolittle aide has been singing to the Feds

Another Top Doolittle Aide Joins the Chorus, Sings "Full Disclosure Now!"
Roger Salazar - June 26, 2007 @ 5:09 PM
http://www.camajorityreport.com/index.php?module=articles&func=display&aid=1997&ptid=9

According to today’s Sacramento Bee, another one-time top Doolittle aide has been singing to the Feds: "David Lopez, a former chief of staff to U.S. Rep. John Doolittle, last year turned over campaign finance records to federal officials investigating the lawmaker's ties to imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff."

... As usual, mum was the word for Doolittle: "Doolittle aide Ron Rogers referred questions about Lopez's cooperation to the congressman's lawyer, who did not respond to a request for comment."

[L. Coyote]

9. Doolittle Opposes House Ethics Probes for Indicted Members

"Shocking" News from Washington: Doolittle Opposes House Ethics Probes for Indicted Members
Roger Salazar - June 08, 2007 @ 9:32 AM
http://www.camajorityreport.com/index.php?module=articles&func=display&aid=1931&ptid=9


In what can only be described as a not-at-all surprising development, Rep. John Doolittle late last night voted against a measure requiring speedy ethics investigations for any member of Congress indicted for criminal conduct.

The Democratic resolution was approved by a 387-10 margin. ...

Something tells me the FBI didn’t raid John and Julie Doolittle’s home over an unpaid traffic ticket.

[L. Coyote]

10. CA: State GOP Congress seats may not be safe

State GOP Congress seats may not be safe
By Dan Walters / The Bee's Capitol bureau
06/06/07 04:28:43
http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/walters/story/52059.html

.... California's Republican congressmen are feeling the pinch, not only the loss of power, but journalistic and official investigations into what they did when they had power. And several could fall by the wayside.

Former San Diego Rep. Duke Cunningham's guilty plea on corruption charges may be merely a harbinger of other downfalls. Four of California's 19 GOP congressmen are feeling some ethical heat....

... Bob Novak ... citing "Republican sources on Capitol Hill," reported that Riverside County's Jerry Lewis, the "ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee who has been criticized on ethical grounds, will not seek a 16th term next year. ... "Lewis," Novak continued, "is one of at least six Republican House members from California who have faced ethical scrutiny." ... Another .. is Rep. Gary Miller, whose personal property dealings are under official scrutiny.

Democrats ... are gunning for Rep. John Doolittle, who barely won re-election ...
.

[L. Coyote]

11. David Lopez - Doolittle Aide Accepted Trip From Abramoff:

David Lopez - Doolittle Aide Accepted Trip From Abramoff:
http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/taxonomy/term/113


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. .....

[L. Coyote]

12. Pete Evich - Feds Contact 2nd Doolittle Aide

Pete Evich - Feds Contact 2nd Doolittle Aide
By Paul Kiel - June 27, 2007, 3:47 PM
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003544.php

And so it continues:

California GOP Rep. John Doolittle's former legislative director said Wednesday he was recently contacted by federal investigators in their probe of Doolittle's ties to jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Pete Evich, Doolittle's legislative director from 1998 to 2002 and now a lobbyist, told The Associated Press that he plans to talk to the Justice Department.

........READER COMMENTS..........

Tick..tick...tick....

....

Pete is now a lobbyist for many of Doolittle's pet programs in his district. He took over the lobbying job of the City of Elk Grove after they got rid of Kevin Ring ... Pete was also one of Doolittle's staff who was mentioned on those Abramoff invoices for lobbying for the CNMI sweatshops

[L. Coyote]

13. CA-4: Feds closing in on Doolittle. Indictment soon?

CA-4: Feds closing in on Doolittle. Indictment soon?
by Nuisance Industry - Jun 25, 2007
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/25/22338/9436


The pattern repeats, and I predict we will soon see the downfall of another corrupt Republican congressman. That California Republican Congressman John Doolittle is one of Jack Abramoff's best friends in Congress is nothing new. Nor is it news that Doolittle's wife pocketed a whole lot of cash under questionable circumstances. It's been a couple of months since the FBI raided Doolittle's Virginia home. So to hear more information about Doolittle's corruption is not surprising.

But the news today is good -- and familiar sounding -- for those of us hoping Doolittle joins his friend Bob Ney in prison, as what happened to Ney is now happening to Doolittle ...

Lopez might be in enough trouble himself to be willing to cut a deal; though there is no indication he is a target of prosecutors, he knows Abramoff well.

...

A long investigation, then confirmation that the (ex-)chief of staff is cooperating with prosecutors targeting the corrupt Congressman. The question now is not if Dolittle will be charged. The questions now are when he will be charged, when he will leave office, and when will taxpayers fund his lifestyle not as a congressman but as an inmate?

[Hubert Flottz]

16. WTG...L. Coyote

K&R

OOOOOOOps to late for the R!

[L. Coyote]

17. Sacramento Bee Nails Doolittle Directly To Abramoff = Aug 5, 2006

Aug 5, 2006
Sacramento Bee Nails Doolittle Directly To Abramoff
by Steve Soto - http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/008383.php


The Sacramento Bee runs a Page One story today that ties local GOP Representative and the aptly-named John Doolittle directly into Jack Abramoff’s web of profit-making opportunities to exploit sweatshop labor from the Mariana Islands. ...

Doolittle helped Jack Abramoff secure a lucrative lobbying contract with the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in 1999 ... Doolittle accepted $14,000 in contributions from Abramoff ... just a few weeks before Doolittle endorsed the election of a key commonwealth politician crucial to Abramoff winning the contract ...

And what was the morally-righteous Doolittle helping Abramoff advocate by taking his money and helping him maintain the lobbying contract with federal money to defend Saipan’s sweatshops and their oppressive practices? Nothing but the usual Moral Majority/Christian Coalition duplicity of preaching piety and then subjugating the defenseless, all of course while enriching themselves.

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http://dwb.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14288629p-15112022c.html
Lobbyist donated cash to Doolittle- August 5, 2006 - Page A1 of The Bee

.... Doolittle also took action on behalf of Indian tribes represented by Abramoff, and the lobbyist once hired the firm owned by Doolittle's wife.

Doolittle has defended his relationship with Abramoff, calling him a close friend but denying any involvement in the lobbyist's improper activities. And Doolittle has consistently declined to return any Abramoff-related campaign money, saying he did nothing wrong in accepting it.

In an interview Friday, Doolittle said all of his efforts were to aid the struggling Mariana Islands and had nothing to do with Abramoff.

... The commonwealth is a U.S. territory east of the Philippines whose garment industry has been widely criticized as a collection of sweatshops employing Chinese, Filipino and other immigrant workers at subminimum wages. Clothing from these plants is sold tariff-free in the United States under a "Made in the USA" label.

Workers there have complained of living in prison-like conditions. Women have said they were shunted into the bustling sex industry. Chinese women told U.S. investigators that they were forced to have abortions after becoming pregnant. ...

[L. Coyote]

18. Abramoff-Scanlon School of Sleaze = Steal from Indians & Donate to Republicans

Abramoff-Scanlon School of Sleaze
By Michael Scherer - Nov. 3, 2005
http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/11/03/abramoff/index.html


Wednesday's Senate hearings yielded more scandalous revelations about how the dynamic lobbying duo bilked American Indian tribes out of millions and used the money to win elections for their Republican clients.

Up-and-coming Republican hacks would do well to watch closely the ongoing Senate investigations of superstar lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his former business partner Michael Scanlon. The power duo stand accused of exploiting Native American tribes to the tune of roughly $66 million, laundering that money into bank accounts they controlled and then using it to buy favors for powerful members of Congress and the executive branch.

But they sure did know how to play the game. ....

Kevin Sickey, the chairman of the Coushatta Tribe, described Abramoff as greedy and corrupt. "He is the golden boy gone bad of the American political system," Sickey said. William Worfel, a former Coushatta Tribal Council member, was even more blunt about the lobbying team. "In my mind, they are educated thieves who must be brought to justice," he said.