California produces big crop of ethically challenged House m
- From: Nomen Nescio <nobody@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:20:05 +0200 (CEST)
California produces big crop of ethically challenged House members
By Associated Press
Saturday, June 9, 2007 - Updated: 12:52 PM EST
WASHINGTON - Hollywood party girls don?t have a monopoly
on trouble in California. A disproportionate number of the
state?s congressional Republicans are facing ethics questions
that threaten to sink their careers and their party?s political
fortunes too.
Of 201 House Republicans, at least six are known to
have attracted the attention of federal investigators _ and
four are from California. Their woes come in the wake of
the lurid corruption scandal that sent ex-GOP Rep. Randy
"Duke" Cunningham of San Diego to prison last year for
taking $2.4 million in bribes.
Although their situations have a few common
threads, some analysts attribute the cluster of California
cases to coincidence, plus the state?s large size and
district lines drawn to protect incumbents.
"When your seat is so safe that you?re not concerned
about perception, you become too wedded to Washington
and you lose touch with your constituency, and you lose
touch with your real purpose," said Karen Hanretty, a
Republican strategist and former California Republican
Party spokeswoman.
Rep. John Doolittle, a nine-term Northern California
conservative under investigation in the influence-peddling
scandal around jailed GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has
his own theory about why federal corruption investigations
seem to be concentrated in California.
"I think it?s part of this manufactured culture of
corruption that the Democrats have come up with
and they decided to, given what?s happened with Duke
Cunningham, they decided that California Republicans
on the Appropriations Committee would be a great place
to start," said Doolittle, who plans to seek re-election next year.
The ethics cloud is discouraging the party faithful
who?ve already watched the GOP shrink to minority
status in California. And they add to the dilemmas of
Republican strategists aiming to retake Congress next
year following election losses blamed partly on GOP ethics
problems.
"There is a sort of feeling among Republican activists
who work hard to elect Republicans of, ?What the heck
is going on here??" said Los Angeles GOP analyst Allan
Hoffenblum.
Republican Rep. Richard Pombo was chairman of the
House Resources Committee when he lost in a GOP-leaning
Central California district last November amid questions
about his ties to Abramoff.
That reduced the number of Republicans in the
nation?s largest congressional delegation to 19, the
lowest since their numbers shrank from 24 once district
lines were redrawn after the 2000 census.
There are 33 Democrats from California, led by
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, and none
are known to be facing active FBI scrutiny. A 34th
California Democratic seat is vacant after the cancer
death in April of Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald.
The GOP hopes to take back Pombo?s seat next year.
The districts of the four incumbents with ethics issues
are heavily Republican, and will probably stay in GOP hands.
But their problems make them less valuable allies for
Republican presidential candidates looking to compete
in California?s primary, newly advanced to February. And
the ethics clouds discourage a GOP base already chafing
at moderate Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger?s
constant compromises with Democrats.
"This is presenting a huge distraction from the debate
over ideas that really needs to happen in terms of who?s
going to control Congress," said Jon Fleischman, a GOP
activist in Orange County. "It creates a degree of cynicism
that is certainly real."
Besides Doolittle, California Republicans with ethics problems
are:
_Rep. Jerry Lewis, now in his 15th term and chairman of the
Appropriations Committee last year when federal prosecutors
in Los Angeles began investigating his ties to a lobbyist with
clients in his district.
_Rep. Gary Miller, in his fifth term, who?s drawn scrutiny
over a tax deferral strategy he used in a profitable real estate
sale to a Southern California town outside his district.
_Rep. Ken Calvert, in his eighth term, who denies any
conflict over pushing federal funding for a planned freeway
interchange 16 miles from property he sold at a profit. The
FBI pulled Calvert?s financial disclosure forms a year ago,
but he says there?s no evidence he?s under active investigation.
The four deny wrongdoing, and it?s not clear that Miller,
Calvert or Lewis are in immediate legal or political jeopardy.
Not so with Doolittle, who barely won re-election last year in
one of the most heavily Republican districts in California.
Many local officials still publicly back him, but some
Republicans in Doolittle?s district are starting to say they
can?t risk having him as their nominee.
"The fact of the matter is John Doolittle will be defeated
by a Democratic candidate in an overwhelmingly Republican
district because of the ethical morass of his own creation,"
said Steve Schmidt, a former White House adviser who backs
a potential primary challenge by Eric Egland, a former Doolittle
supporter.
.
- Prev by Date: Re: CAIR membership falls 90% since 9/11
- Next by Date: Re: Lieberman favors military strike on Iran
- Previous by thread: Re: CAIR membership falls 90% since 9/11
- Next by thread: Bush's Wristwatch Stolen in Albania?
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
Loading
