Ah, California, land of ethically challenged congressmen.
The Los Angeles Times reports this morning on another California rep and another questionable real estate deal. No, this one doesn’t feature a crooked defense contractor.
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), it turns out, is quite the real estate mogul. Only it seems he has something of an unfair advantage over the average investor. Being a member of Congress, he has the power to earmark funds for transportation projects that just happen to run near his investments:
Last year, [Calvert] and a partner paid $550,000 for a dusty four-acre parcel just south of March Air Reserve Base. Less than a year later, without even cutting the weeds or carting off old septic tank parts that littered the ground, they sold the land for almost $1 million….During the time he owned the land, Calvert used the legislative process known as earmarking to secure $8 million for a planned freeway interchange 16 miles from the property, and an additional $1.5 million to support commercial development of the area around the airfield.
A map of Calvert’s recent real estate holdings and those of his partner shows many of them near the transportation projects he has supported with federal appropriations. And improvements to the transportation infrastructure have contributed to the area’s explosive growth, according to development experts.