Doolittle's future depends on Ring
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Fri May 04, 2007 at 10:56:46 AM EST
The wait must be kiling Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) right about now. He may have heard about other lawmakers being raided, but he's still waiting prosecutors' next move in their investigation of his and his wife's ties to Jack Abramoff.
What that mext move is likely depends largely on what they learn from Kevin Ring, Doolitt's former legislative director.
Ring, a 36-year-old married father of two, figures prominently in his former boss' connections to Abramoff, a friend of Doolittle's who gave the congressman campaign cash and use of his sports box. Doolittle, who has denied wrongdoing, tried to advance the agendas of Abramoff's clients both in Congress and with the Bush administration.
What Ring tells prosecutors could determine Doolittle's fate.
"The incentive for the subordinate to cooperate is to save his own skin by implicating a superior," said Kenneth Gross, a political law attorney in Washington.
According to the article, Doolittle wanted Abramoff to find work for his wife Julie. In 2000, the year Ring joined Abramoff's lobbying firm, he emailed Abramoff about Doolittle's request. The Doolittles say they don't recall that happening, and in any case no job came from it. However, in 2002 Abramoff did hire Julie Doolittle for some consulting work at about $5000/month, for about a year and a half.
What else Ring can enlighten investigators about regarding his actions as a go-between for Doolittle and Abramoff remain to be seen.
Doolittle's electoral future is predictably bleak
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Wed May 02, 2007 at 03:53:06 PM EST
The Sacramento Bee has a stark assessment of Rep. John Doolittle's (R-CA) political future. The scandal-ridden Congressman hasn't hinted about resigning or not seeking reelection next year, but the writing is already on the wall.
Doolittle has stepped down -- temporarily, he says -- from his powerful position on the House Appropriations Committee, and while he continues to insist that he's done nothing illegal and is mystified about the direction of the federal investigation, there's little doubt that his political career is irreparably damaged, even if he escapes prosecution. The fact that Doolittle's wife, Julie, received contracts for unspecified work from Abramoff while Doolittle was helping Abramoff's clients is a political smoking gun, if not a legal one.
And Doolittle hasn't done a very good job of making and keeping friends in his district who might support him in such troubled times:
Doolittle still has hard-core backers in his district, but his escalating legal and political problems are music to Democrats' ears and perhaps even more so to those of anti-Doolittle Republicans, who have bridled for years over his heavy-handed, machinelike involvement in local city, county, school district and internal GOP politics.
Although Doolittle sycophants often branded critical Republicans as closet Democrats, their struggles were less ideological than personal -- many local GOP activists simply resenting the Doolittle faction's insistence on having its way no matter how small the office or position involved. Indeed, the Doolittle coterie acted more like a big-city Democratic machine, dispensing patronage to its friends and punishment to its rivals, than a more typically collegial suburban political organization.
Jack Abramoff is obviously cooperating with investgators
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 05:31:45 PM EST
Jack Abramoff is yakking away - at least, that's the implication the Sacramento Bee gives in an excellent article summarizing the sudden flurry of Abramoff-related activity around the country.
"It's not clear to me or my lawyers exactly what they're doing," Doolittle said Thursday of his own case.
Really? This might clarify some things for you, sir:
The flurry of activity can be traced to the federal courthouse in Miami, where prosecutors revealed last month that they're prepared to reduce Abramoff's sentence for fraud in connection with his purchase of a fleet of gambling ships.
Prosecutors said he had more to tell about Washington corruption, and they were offering a lower sentence as an elixir to lubricate his tongue.
Seems to have worked, no? Since Bob Ney went to prison, nothing much had been happening in the investigation. Then, all of a sudden in the last couple of weeks we get:
- Rep. John Doolittle's (R-CA) home is raided.
- Kevin Ring, former aide to Doolittle and close friend of Abramoff's, resigns from his law firm.
- Mark Zachares pleads guilty to conspiracy with Abramoff.
- Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) announces he's being asked questions about an Abramoff-funded golf trip he took in 2003 - the same trip Zachares was on.
- Reports surface that Ed Buckham, former aide to Tom DeLay and lobbyist extraordinaire, may be nearing charges, which chould ensare DeLay. Buckham could also be a link between the Abramoff investigation and the Duke Cunningham bribery case (see also Brent Wilkes).
The common denominator? Jack Abramoff.
Yep, he's talking.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Thu Apr 19, 2007 at 11:33:35 AM EST
Oh, man, is the heat up on John Doolittle, even more than we speculated about earlier this week.
On the same day Kevin Ring, Doolittle's former Legislative Director, resigned from his law firm amid Justice Department inquiries, Rep. Doolittle's house was raided by the FBI. The Congressman's office maintains that the focus of the raid was Doolittle's wife Julie, whose ties to Abramoff have been under investigation for some time.
From Roll Call (sub. req'd.):
On Wednesday evening, Doolittle issued a statement standing behind his wife.
"My wife has been cooperating with the FBI and the Justice Department for almost three years and that cooperation is going to continue in the future," Doolittle said.
"I support my wife 100 percent and fully expect that the truth will prevail."
And this is not going to make the GOP leadership happy:
The news could present a political problem for Boehner and Cole, because the two leaders have been particularly forceful in sending the message to their colleagues that ethical and legal scrutiny will not be tolerated in the new minority. Republicans lost in 2006 due, in part, to the relentless stream of scandals coming from their side of the aisle in the 109th Congress.
To be fair, though, this really is just a continuation of the Abramoff scandal, not an entirely new one. More details inside about the Doolittle household's ties to Jack Abramoff...
Former Abramoff associate's resignation may do a lot to Doolittle
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Tue Apr 17, 2007 at 12:27:23 PM EST
Whenever I hear Rep. John Doolittle's (R-CA) name, I'm reminded of an old advertisement hanging in Public Campaign's office during my intern days. It said something along the lines of "Tell Congress that when it comes to HR 1234, you expect them to do more than DeLay and Doolittle," with pictures of the two men who apparently were holding up the legislation.
One thing Doolittle was quite busy with, however, was his relationship with Jack Abramoff. From the Politico:
Doolittle, according to news reports, helped direct appropriations to Abramoff's clients, weighed in on their behalf in disputes, used Abramoff's skybox for a fundraiser, [and] received over $130,000 in political donations from Abramoff, his clients and associates.
And now, amid whispers that he's under investigation by the Justice Department for his ties to Abramoff, he's got something else to worry about - his former Legislative Director, Kevin Ring, has resigned from his position at the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg:
Ring, 36, was an aide to Doolittle for five years and later worked for Abramoff at Florida-based law firm Greenberg Traurig. He often served as an intermediary between Abramoff's clients and Doolittle's office, according to news reports, and has remained close to Doolittle and his wife, Julie, who did consulting work for Abramoff.
Doolittle has denied any wrongdoing. But, there's speculation:
"It's typical prosecutorial methodology to work their way up the ladder, put pressure on underlings, cut a deal with them to save their skin and to bring in the bigger fish," said Kenneth A. Gross, an ethics expert at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Uh oh. That doesn't sound too good for Mr. Doolittle.
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