(From the diaries. Democrat Charlie Brown came close to taking out Doolittle in 2006. I suspect one way or another, Doolittle will no longer be in Congress in 2009 -- kos)
Remember how Doolittle's top aid, Kevin Ring, abruptly resigned on Friday?
That's generally bad news for a congressman, especially one under investigation for Abramoff links... especially considering that Ring worked for Abramoff before coming over to Doolittle's office.
There was speculation that Ring was going to be selling out the Congressman - speculation that appears to have been correct. Roll Call reports (Via Muckraker):
The FBI has raided the Northern Virginia home of Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.), according to Congressional sources. No details are publicly available yet about the circumstances of the raid, but Doolittle and his wife, Julie, have been under federal investigation for their ties to the scandal surrounding imprisoned former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Update: (via comments) According to the Hill, the raid went down Friday...
Ironically, news of the raid on Doolittle's home comes on the anniversary of Doolittle's 1942 Raid on the Home Islands of Japan. That raid was America's revenge on the Japanese for Pearl Harbor....
Who is Ring?
Politico has a nice summary:
Ring joined Doolittle’s Capitol Hill staff in 1993 and rose to legislative director in 1995. In 1998, he moved to the Senate Judiciary Committee where he worked on the Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights Subcommittee under then-Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.).
In 1999, Ring returned to the House to serve as executive director of the Conservative Action Team, a precursor to the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House Republicans.
In 2000, he went to work for Abramoff at a law firm now known as Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis. A year later, he followed Abramoff to Florida-based law firm Greenberg Traurig where he worked until October 2004.
He landed at Barnes & Thornburg in January 2005 along with two other former Abramoff associates. Many of his clients followed him to the new firm, demonstrating a remarkable loyalty even as he surfaced in several congressional investigations of Abramoff.
In 2005, he was subpoenaed to appear before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee as part of its Abramoff probe. Asked to discuss his work with Abramoff on behalf of several Indian gaming tribes, Ring asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination.