Gentle Readers and Fans of Northern CA: Today, Monday, September 8, 2008, 2 things happened in CA- 04. Charlie Brown, the Democrat running to replace Republican John Doolittle, the Abramoff- scandal encrusted retiring incumbent, released recent polling data that showed he has a lead over the SoCal Republican imported to the district to replace him. This is great news. http://www.charliebrownforcong…
And a former staffer of John Doolittle, as you may have heard by now, was arrested at his home and indicted, and pled not guilty to many different aspects of bribing and corrupting Congressional Representative Number 5.
This is just really interesting, so we’ll do a little background refresher.
August 4, 2006. Doolittle exits Coco’s Restaurant after an Auburn Dam Council meeting, to find a sea of protestors and media questioning him about the Abramoff scandal. photo by author
This was a long time coming. Kevin Ring, who has made silence a lifestyle choice when looking at a subpoena, the one who pleaded the 5th against self incrimination in testimony before the Senate, has now run out the clock.
http://deepbackground.msnbc.ms…
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/hom…
Our New Abramoff Indictee Factsheet:
Who: Kevin Ring, Rep. John Doolittle’s former legislative director, and former lobbyist
What: Ring arrested today Mon 9/8/08 at his home in Maryland
indicted + charged with 10 counts of bribery, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy in federal court in DC.
Reaction Now: Ring pled not guilty.
Possible Chain Reaction Later: If he doesn’t want to go to jail, he may implicate others involved and plea bargain. Given the number of people Ring worked with who are already convicted in the Abramoff scandal, the case against Ring is very serious. John Doolittle is Ring’s former boss and a known beneficiary of his lobbyist talents. John Doolittle has always claimed in public that Jack Abramoff was a friend, and that he didn’t have to give the money back. If Doolittle were to be indicted before Bush left office, Bush would pardon him to prevent him from testifying against others.
Where: Federal Court in DC
When: 3 days after lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to 4 more years in prison on Sept 5 for bribing government officials. http://www.washingtonpost.com/… Because of his cooperation with the Federal government, he received a reduced sentence in exchange for helping to convict 13 other people so far. Abramoff pled guilty in January of 2006 to fraud and conspiracy charges in regards to his buying SunCruz floating casino ships, and was serving time in jail since then while working with federal prosecutors in the other conspiracy case against him of bribing government officials, in his job as a lobbyist for Greenberg Traurig.
Why this matters: Rep. John Doolittle (R, “Chevron”) is the current Republican Congressperson in CA- 04. Doolittle decided not to run for re election in 2008 against Charlie Brown (D, Roseville) after his polling numbers, campaign donations and influence abruptly nosedived after the FBI raided his Oakton, VA house April 13, 2007, as he was on his way to an Indian Casino in Oroville, CA, to give a speech to the local Oroville Chamber of Commerce. On that same April 13, his former chief of staff, Kevin Ring, suddenly resigned without warning from the lobbying firm he was employed with. Kevin Ring helped Julie Doolittle get a job with Jack Abramoff.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi… That “job” paid her $67,000 over 2 years.
What is wrong with having worked for Jack Abramoff? From Think Progress, Abramoff , the House That Jack Built http://thinkprogress.org/abram…
CAPITAL ATHLETIC FOUNDATION – (JULIE) DOOLITTLE RAISED FUNDS FOR ABRAMOFF’S BOGUS ORGANIZATION: “You get tired of dinners and receptions. This time we wanted to do a gala event to raise awareness for the Capital Athletic Foundation, and back that awareness up with funds,” said Doolittle in 2003. But, the Capital Athletic Foundation didn’t raise money for children, as it was advertised to do. “[T]ax and spending records of the Capital Athletic Foundation obtained by The Washington Post show that less than 1 percent of its revenue has been spent on sports-related programs for youths. Instead, the documents show that Jack Abramoff…has repeatedly channeled money from corporate clients into the foundation and spent the overwhelming portion of its money on pet projects having little to do with the advertised sportsmanship programs.” [Hollywood Reporter, 3/5/03; (Use the WAPO Link) Washington Post, 9/28/04]
From the Sept 28 2004 WAPO Foundation’s Funds Diverted From Mission
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
{{{ The Capital Athletic Foundation’s Web site portrays youths at play: shaking hands over a tennis net, learning how to hold a bat, straining for a jump ball. Its text solicits donations for what it describes as “needy and deserving” sportsmanship programs.In its first four years of operation, the charity has collected nearly $6 million. But tax and spending records of the Capital Athletic Foundation obtained by The Washington Post show that less than 1 percent of its revenue has been spent on sports-related programs for youths.
Internal records state, for example, that Abramoff and his wife, Pam — who are listed as the foundation’s sole directors — spent more than 70 percent of its revenue from 2001 to 2003, or $4.03 million, on a Jewish school that Abramoff founded in Columbia. The Eshkol Academy operated for two years and schooled two of his sons before closing this spring with unpaid bills, faculty members said. }}}
Jack Abramoff also became a lobbyist for 3 Indian Tribes, the Saginaw Chippewa, the Mississippi Choctaw, and the Coushatta of Louisiana. They donated more than 2 million to the same Capitol Athletic Foundation that Julie Doolittle was fundraising for. The reason they did that was that the lobbyists and the politicians were playing them off against each other implying the other tribe(s) would get better Casino deals. But there was something else going on, the politicians were doing money laundering of foreign funds thru these casinos. There was also a lobbyist named Michael Scanlon doing money laundering thru these donations.
Remember this, and ask, will John Doolittle let Julie take the fall for him?
Julie Doolittle worked for Jack Abramoff. Abramoff’s in jail. Kevin Ring helped get her that job. Kevin Ring just got indicted. All this time, she’s avoided the consequences. So did Ring. Until Now.
Julie Doolittle also has a “business” called Sierra Dominion Financial Services. She started it in 2001. That firm did fundraising for John Doolittle’s Superior CA LeadershipPAC. She took a percentage. Another client was Greenberg Traurig, Jack Abramoff’s company. Another client of SierraDominion was Abramoff’s restaurant, Signatures. And the last client was an alleged non profit called the Korea- US Exchange Council. This was run by Tom Delay’s ex chief of staff, Ed Buckham. (Tom Delay’s wife, Christine, also “worked” for it. ) The Korea- US Exchange was part of Alexander Strategy Group. Brent Wilkes was a client of Alexander Strategy. That means he hired and paid them to lobby for his business and bring him government contracts. These are all the clients Julie Doolittle had. Her husband. Jack Abramoff. Tom Delay’s ex COS, Buckham.
If you are writing a job resume, this would not look good. Delay and Doolittle and Abramoff. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle Trifecta of Tragic Lobbying Associations.
During the fall 2006 election cycle, when Republican Doolittle, who was being challenged by Democrat Charlie Brown, had to rely on multiple visits from VP Dick Cheney, George, and even Laura Bush to prop up his sagging campaign, Doolittle repeatedly denied being under federal DOJ investigation since 2004, until it was revealed that he was paying legal defense firms thousands of dollars monthly by using his campaign contributions. Doolittle did this in 2 ways, one, by paying his wife fees as a “fundraiser” and two, by claiming that since he needed legal counsel to give him advice on the campaign trail about answering questions about the investigation, he was entitled to use campaign funds and treat it as a campaign activity. (the advice was, of course, not to answer any questions. This is how law firms prosper).
Local Angle: Kevin Ring was still a lobbyist for the city of Lincoln, CA, in the summer of 2006, because John Doolittle had recommended him for the job, http://solongjohn.blogspot.com… and was instrumental in obtaining earmarks from John Doolittle for the fastest growing city in the state during the early years of Bush’s “War On Terror.” (should have been called the War on Your Pocketbook ) John Doolittle gained notoriety during this time for not only telling local CA- 04 towns to “hire a lobbyist” if they wanted to talk to him, and expecting those “talks” to bear donations, but for having his wife Julie Doolittle collect a 15% percentage of every campaign donation as a “fundraiser’s fee” including many from local Real Estate speculators and developers. Many of these developers are involved in land use mitigation where they try to swap property they want to develop that contains endangered habitat or species for property to be set aside elsewhere, so properties end up being sold several times to different developers trying to get zoning and EIR approval. Zoning… may be influenced by campaign contributions, as many cities in the district now hire lobbyists to work in the state capitol of Sacramento, as well as in Washington, DC. Julie runs her “fund- grazing” under the name of Sierra Dominion Financial Services. John Doolittle, who said he was going to stop paying Julie ” 15%” percent of each donation after the 2006 election, instead continued to do so, according to his FEC financial filings from January 2007 onwards. This is because he was using that portion of the family “income” to pay a team of white collar criminal defense lawyers for himself and his wife to fight his staff records being subpoenaed by the Dept of Justice. One of those law firms was Wiley Rein & Fielding. One of the names in that title is George W Bush’s White House Legal Counsel, Fred Fielding, who replaced Harriet Miers in January 2007. (Fielding left WR&F during this time) Another of John Doolittle’s defense attornies, David G Barger, specializes in getting settlements between the IRS and clients in tax trouble whereby the client avoids jail time. Barger worked for Ken Starr in the Whitewater Investigation against the Clintons. Julie Doolittle has her own attorney, William Stauffer. John Doolittle also established a Legal Defense Fund for his ongoing legal expenses, as he is heavily in debt.
More Local Angle: A local Defense Contractor in CA- 04 contributed money to that legal defense fund. So did Congressman Wally Herger(R) in neighboring district CA- 02, donating $5000 in Dec of 2007 as a ….. “neighborly gesture.” So did Orrin Hatch’s (R, Senate, Utah) Orrin PAC, which cheerfully doubled the amount, to $10,000. OrrinPAC is heavily funded by Health Insurance lobbyists. This is your health insurance premiums at work, folks. Did I mention that the highest category of donation source to Doolittle’s would be Republican replacement, McClintock, is from the health insurance industry, per opensecrets?
Still More Local Angle: Do some of Doolittle’s former and current financial and political backers now support Republican Tom McClintock, who is trying to replace him after terming out of his southern California district ? You betcha.
Gonzogate of CA: http://solongjohn.blogspot.com… http://www.dailykos.com/story/… The Attorney General Firing Scandal, where 6 career prosecutors with the DOJ suddenly found themselves political targets being told to resign in , was sculpted in part by the need to keep DOJ Southern CA district Atty General Carol Lam from filing bribery charges against Brent Wilkes, the federal Defense contractor who was bribing convicted Congressman Duke Cunningham (R), who is now in jail. Lam obtained a conviction against Cunningham in March 2006. Atty Gen Carol Lam also did manage to indict Brent Wilkes and Dusty Foggo, ex CIA operative, on 2/13 before her forced resignation by former US Atty Gen Alberto Gonzales on Feb 15, 2007. Gonzales would resign later over this scandal, after his underlings, such as Monica Goodling, testified before Congress. Wilkes eventually went to trial in October of 2007 in San Diego, the trial was delayed by Southern CA wildfires, finally went to jury on Halloween, and Wilkes was convicted on Nov 5, 2007, and sentenced in February 2008 of bribing Cunningham for a total of $46 million. http://www.signonsandiego.com/… Other sources say the amount was closer to $80 million in government contracts in return for about $600,000 in bribes. http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi… SEE LINK HERE for Trick or Treat, Doolittle’s still not off the Hookergate Wilkes Trial: http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
John Doolittle also earmarked $37 million dolllars in money for Brent Wilkes “Perfect Wave”. ( He also tried to earmark for Wilke’s “Mailsafe” technology after the anthrax contamination mail scare, but it didn’t fly.) In return the Doolittles got donations from Wilke’s company, ADCS, totaling at least $118,000. The San Diego Union Tribune estimated this meant $14,000 went into Julie Doolittle’s “fund grazing” business. http://www.signonsandiego.com/… Brent Wilkes flew Tom DeLay, (ex Texas Congressman, used to be the Republican Majority Leader) to a Las Vegas Casino fundraiser for Doolittle at the Venetian Hotel in May 2004. {{{{{{ see above “trick or treat” link, see also sign on sandiego link }}}}. John Doolittle also was subpoenaed to appear in the Brent Wilkes trial, but he had his lawyers tell them he didn’t need to show up. http://www.dailykos.com/story/… Mark Geragos, Wilke’s celebrity attorney, was going to try to use a defense that would claim that the defense contractors were getting abused by the Republican Congressional delegation that was shaking them down for earmarks and gifts.
Remember. Brent Wilkes hired Alexander Strategy Group as his lobbyist, which was Ed Buckhams’s company. Buckham=Tom Delay’s ex COS.
Julie Doolittle, John’s wife, “worked” for Alexander Strategy, doing “fundraising” and “bookeeping.”
Christine Delay, Tom’s wife, also “worked” for Alexander Strategy. Same deal. She’s a “consultant.” 1998 to 2002.
So, there is the wife of somebody on the House Appropriations Committee, a very powerful position, and the wife of the House Majority Leader, getting large monthly retainers for about 2 years for Julie, and 4 years for Christine, for “event planning” to raise money for Alexander Strategy, the Capitol Athletic Foundation, the US- Korea Exchange. And it’s wasn’t hard work. It was barely work at all. Just show up at the lobbyist’s office and schedule opportunities to collect money from very willing donors. And it was very lucrative. One problem. Not everyone in the world is allowed to give you money, when you work for the US government.
The government of Malaysia, using unsourced funny money, hires a lobbying/consulting firm called Bell Haven Consultants.
Bell Haven hires Alexander Strategy. On September 27, 2001, only sixteen days after America’s 9/11 terror attack on the World Trade Center in NYC, this Alexander Strategy Group starts working for Belle Haven Consultants, seeking to “provide a better image of Malaysia to the USA.” Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country.
Belle Haven, Jack Abramoff, and Alexander Strategy share the same office in Hong Kong.
Ed Buckham of Alexander Strategy also formed another non profit called the US- Malaysia Exchange.
John Doolittle will take a trip to Langkawi, Malaysia in February of 2005. The trip cost $29,400, and was paid by front groups paid by…. Alexander Strategy Group. (long comment I left in another diary with sources) http://www.dailykos.com/commen…
John Doolittle hid the fact that he had stock in Chevron Oil until he revised his yearly financial statements after the FBI raid.
Malaysia has a government owned national oil company named Petronas, a huge company with projects in 31 companies, some with Chevron. (which might have been involved in funding Belle Haven Consultants )
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/qu…
Alexander Strategy will eventually go out of business in January of 2006. http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
We may never find out completely what John Doolittle was up to. Nor what Jack Abramoff did. But in the aftermath of September 11th, 2001, a national tragedy…. there was something really suspicious going on. Would that war not be seen as just another business opportunity.
Remember, when all this started to unravel, the Bush administration insisted there were weapons of mass destruction, that we were going to fight the Terrorist evildoers, that Al Queda was funded by Saddam Hussein and Iraq. And one of Bush’s most loyal supporters and rubber stampers of policy and legislation has been Rep. John T. Doolittle.
Because so much has been written so much more eloquently about the Marianas Islands (CNMI) and John Doolittle’s involvement in blocking immigration and wage reform in these Pacific Ocean United States commonwealth territories, I will recomend Dengre’s 2006 and 2007 diaries for that storyline. http://dengre.dailykos.com/
A recent story, “Abramoff gets 4 years. McCain should not. ” has great info on how Jack Abramoff was hired by the CNMI to lobby specifically against human rights advocate Wendy Doromal and her efforts to change the system of labor abuse which John Doolittle was protecting in return for campaign donations from people running sweatshops… and worse: http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
And dailykos poster leveymg has written a very good piece in June, on the relationship between Sen John McCain and Abramoff & the GOP Foreign Money Machine
http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
In that commentary, I left a very long comment concerning John Doolittle’s 2005 trip to Malaysia, which was paid for by 2 alleged “non- profits” funded by South Korea and Malaysian lobbyists(think Oil money) using Alexander Strategy Group as the front.
http://www.dailykos.com/commen…
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Tuesday morning update: When I checked the online version and dead tree version of the Sacramento Bee this morning, it was edited so heavily and dumbed down enough to make it sound as if Doolittle was just taking restaurant meals and concert tickets from Ring and Abramoff in return for a few favors. The lack of detail as to how sitting Congressmen were being bribed by lobbyists using foreign funds and defense contractors during wartime is appalling. I am more convinced than ever that the Bush Administration (and the new management at SacBee) is handling Doolittle extremely carefully because if he testified against anyone, it would show that even the Dept. of Justice was compromised during this time period.
Links were also added.
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Humor Angle: According to the AP, Abramoff has written a book in prison titled “The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, ” which blames the current Republican Presidential nominee and the WAPO for his current incarceration. Jack, Jack, Jack…. you still don’t get it. But thanks. Every little bit helps.
Other Humor Angle: I just lost my electricity Monday while writing this at 4:07 pm. Typical. Electricity back up at 6:10 pm.
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editing update: more links added. cross posting at http://www.eenrblog.com and http://www.dailykos.com/story/…