First, the
really juicy stuff from an interview with GOP strategist Ed Rollins on the Charlie Rose show yesterday:
ED ROLLINS. . . If this House scandal is as big as I think it is from talking to people that are around it -- of course it started with Cunningham and it`s moving beyond that.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Duke Cunningham.
ED ROLLINS: Duke Cunningham, a congressman from San Diego who took bribes. There was a real little cabal on the Defense Appropriations Committee in which a couple of people who basically made an awful lot of money off of defense contractors and basically rewarded a bunch of members, Republicans.
Rollins estimates the number of indictments in extended.
In order to be a chairman of a committee today, you have to go raise millions and millions of dollars to be able to dole out. Not that there`s competitive races, but that`s part of the process. So we have -- let me just finish. We have created a culture in which a whole bunch of people have taken a whole bunch of money, and now that you`ve earmarked this stuff -- if you end up with eight or nine or as many as 15 members of Congress, even a couple Democrats, getting indicted in the next three or four months, that may be sufficient.
8-15 members of Congress? I wouldn't be suprised, given the incestuous culture of today's Hill. Over the past few days, some background info has emerged on some of those allegedly involved in the scandal as well as some possible explanations as to how the corrupt puzzle fits together.
Saturday, G10 detailed, Shirlington Limousine's questionable business background not being a factor in obtaining a $21.2 multi-year DHS contract. You see, they'd have to actually conduct an exhaustive background check in the first place. (Shirlington's the limo services alleged to have ferried around members of Congress and their carnal gifts.)
Josh at TPM unearthed Shirlington's annual reports. From 1995 to 1999, Shirlington listed a Jerome Foster as one of its few directors. Just where is Jerome Foster from? You guessed it, sunny San Diego, CA. And just what is Foster doing spearheading a transportation business? That remains unclear. Foster, a San Diego State Univ. professor turned entrepeneur, is no stranger to K Street, however. His Pentech Energy Solutions employs one of the more notorious lobbyists in former Rep. Bill Lowery (R-CA) of the lobbying firm Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton & White. Lowery was also one of Wilkes' lobbyists on behalf of Wilkes' ADCS, Inc.
Lowery, a Representative from 1981 to 1993, was ironically ousted from Congress by a mixture of redistricting, Cunningham's move into Lowery's new district and various corruption scandals.
From Wikipedia:
In 1992, congressional districts were re-drawn from the 1990 census. Republican Congressional freshman Randy "Duke" Cunningham changed his residence from a Mission alley condo back to his home near Del Mar, putting both Cunningham and Lowery in the same district. At that time the "Rubbergate" scandal was exposed, and several members of Congress were found writing bad checks on the House bank. Lowery was one of the worst offenders. Furthermore, Lowery was heavily involved with Don Dixon, who as part of the savings and loan candals of the 1980s, plundered his Texas savings and loan and forced the U.S. government to bail it out for $1.3 billion. Cunningham repeated his 1990 campaign theme of "A Congressman We Can Be Proud Of," [sic] and built up a huge lead in the polls. Believing that he had no chance of staying in Congress, Lowery dropped out of the Republican primary a few weeks before the election.
...
Lowery has worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. after serving in Congress. He specializes in adding "earmarks" into apropriation bills for his clients. Lowery has been particularly effective lobbying from his friend Rep. Jerry Lewis. Lowery, his firm, and clients have donated 37% of Lewis' $1.3 million PAC income in the past six years.
Dixon has a verrrry interesting background well worth a diary and further research in its own right. But I digress...
Lowery and Rep. Lewis (R-CA), chair of the House Appropriations Cmte. have an extensive relationship with one another, dating back to their early days working with together in the House. The White in Lowery's lobbying firm is Letitia White, a former assistant to Rep. Lewis.
Jerry Kammer, one of the two reporters who broke the Cunningham scandal last year and went on to win a Pulitzer for his reporting, wrote of White:
Many of the earmarks went to clients of Lowery's firm, which grew even more prosperous when Lewis' principal defense-earmarks gatekeeper, Letitia White, joined the firm in 2003.
...
At the request of Copley News Service, budget watchdog Ashdown examined appropriations bills to see how Letitia White's clients have fared. Ashdown said he was astonished at her success in getting earmarks.
The overall success rate for earmark requests submitted to Congress is 1 in 4, Ashdown said. In baseball terms that's a .250 average.
"Letitia White is hitting about .600 or .700," Ashdown said. "She might be the lobbyist batting champion. If I were looking for an earmark, I'd hire her in a heartbeat."
Ashdown said White is cashing in on her relationship with Lewis.
"Special interests want to buy influence," he said. "People know that if you keep Letitia White happy, you keep Jerry Lewis happy."
Just call her the Ty Cobb of earmarks. Jeffrey Shockey left Lowery's firm to work for Lewis. To compensate for the drop in pay, Lowery's firm hired his wife as a subcontractor.
[For the visual learners out there, the San Diego Union-Tribune has a handy graphic detailing the connections between Lowery and Lewis.]
Laura Rosen also reported:
A contact who knows Wilkes and his limo driver Chris Baker and Foggo -- the whole crew -- from way back called me as I was running out the door for lunch. I was trying to write as I was walking down the street on a scrap of paper, and commit the rest to memory, mostly just context for some of the stories above and below. In any case, some of this person's recollections: apparently Wilkes used to basically live and work out of the Watergate when he was in DC. Later, he got a deal on a presidential suite at the Westin Grand, so his business office, and apparently the poker parties moved there. Two of the former congressmen who this person remembers at some of the poker parties are Bill Lowery and Charlie Wilson, the latter as the SDUT has already reported.
So not only is Lowery said to have represented one of Shirlington's former director's main company, but he also is said to have attended the parties themselves. It doesn't seem far-fetched to imagine the possibility of preferential treatment given (in the way of contracts) to Shirlington by Lowery and associates. If Lowery and his associates have such an open ear in Lewis, why not?
For now, this story continues the build day by day. Keep checking out TPM Muckraker and Ken Silverstein's Washington Babylon for more details.
If Democrats are to make large gains in November, ethics must be a priority. Reshaping the fundamental way in which our elected officials are held accountable for their oft shadowy connection to lobbyists and corporations is essential to the functioning of our democracy. The system feeds on money, feeds on money, feeds on feeding on money. Perhaps the wheels starting to crunch will provide an opportunity for an alternative? Maybe, but only to the extent that voters call a spade a spade and empower themselves to become active.
An alternative must arise which offers substantial reform. The Dems must hold Republicans accountable for their sham lobbying reform bill, a bill that puts a band-aid on a gaping chest wound. Why break the cycle when it works so well for your machine, right?
In today's unfavorable Congressional culture, such an innovative reformist approach is exactly what's needed to take back the House and Congress. Smart political strategists would get in front of these scandals before they really break into the open, with reforms already conceptualized. These ideas should be focused not only on lobbying reform but campaign finance as well. The two can't be separated.