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Democrats Smell Blood in the Water for Doolittle--Good News for Democrat Charlie Brown in California CD 4

By Frank D. Russo

Emails started pouring in early this morning about the 4th Congressional District of California where incumbent John Doolittle faced a strong challenge from Democrat Charlie Brown last November. As they day progressed, it just got better and better for a repeat of what happened to Richard Pombo, the Republican Member of Congress who was bounced by the voters with the election of Democrat Jerry McNerney.

The first revelation was in the quarterly reports on fundraising and came from an email from Bob Brigham of an article he had just posted in Calitics. He wrote:

In the fourth district, Charlie Brown raised $98,680.05 and is a few bucks shy of $125,000 Cash on Hand (adjusted for debt).
The adjustment for debt matters most for John Doolittle. He raised $144,241.10 but with a staggering $172,490.84 in debt the congressman is actually $80,000 in the hole. This means Charlie Brown has a $200,000+ warchest advantage -- against a sitting member of congress!

Shortly after that, Miles Kurland of blueshifting.com replied in an email:

Well, yeah!
After all Charlie doesn’t owe more than $136,000 of consulting fees to his wife.

He cited an interesting article from the Sunlight Foundation.

Next came former Congressmember and lifelong Republican Pete McCloskey's announcement that he was leaving the party and becoming a Democrat. McCloskey, who ran against Republican Congressman Richard Pombo in the Republican primary last year and then supported Jerry McNerney and helped him succeed in November, mentioned Doolittle by name as one of his reasons changing his registration. His email had this to say:

The single cardinal principle of political science, that power corrupts, has come to apply not only to Republican leaders like Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney and John Doolittle, but to a succession of White House officials and appointees. The stench of Jack Abramoff has permeated much of the Washington Republican establishment.

Next a note from Roger Salazar, a spokesperson for the California Democratic Party:

Looks like John Doolittle has a Case of the Mondays…
Just a few hours into the new work week, Congressman John Doolittle is already having one heckuva Monday.

First, Doolittle started off his week by announcing that his campaign account is still $81,000 in the red. Apparently convincing donors to help pay off his wife Julie Doolittle’s $137,000 in fundraising commissions is proving to be a tougher sell than the Congressman had ever imagined.

Then, to add insult (or perhaps indictment) to injury, a former top aide to Doolittle quietly resigned from his law firm today amid reports the Justice Department is investigating ties between Doolittle and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

According to Politico, the former aide, Kevin A. Ring, “abruptly resigned from his law firm….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.”

Take a look at the Plitico article, "Abramoff-Linked Lobbyist Resigns."

Salazar concludes: "It’s safe to say that this probably is not how Team Doolittle was hoping to start its week."

That's an understatement. The only question is whether there will be a resignation from Congress and a special election to fill the seat or a battle next November.

Stay tuned. And check out Lt. Colonel Charlie Brown's website. He may be heading for Washington, D.C.

Posted on April 16, 2007

Comments

FBI searches Republican lawmaker’s home

April 18, 2007

The FBI searched the Virginia home of Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) last Friday in its investigation into the ties of the congressman and his wife, Julie, to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to law enforcement and other Congressional and K Street sources.

Doolittle came within three percentage points of losing his election in November after facing months of scrutiny over his relationship with Abramoff, who is in jail for an array of fraud, bribery and money-laundering charges.

Doolittle has been under fire for paying his wife’s company, Sierra Dominion, a 15 percent commission on all contributions that the company raised for Doolittle’s campaign committee and leadership PAC. Her only other clients were Abramoff’s former firm, Greenberg Traurig; Abramoff’s former restaurant Signatures; and the Korea-U.S.

Exchange Council, which Ed Buckham, a former chief of staff to ex-Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), created.

The Justice Department previously subpoenaed Julie Doolittle’s files.

Doolittle also received contributions from indicted defense contractor Brent Wilkes and his associates, and investigators are probing whether those contributions are linked to any official action Doolittle took to help Wilkes’s company obtain millions of dollars in government earmarks.

Wilkes recently was indicted in connection with his investigation stemming from former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s (R-Calif.) bribery conviction and jailing.

Posted by: Ryan at April 18, 2007 01:39 PM

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