Doolittle’s Legal Bills Top $100KRep. John Doolittle (R-CA) narrowly defeated his Democratic challenger to win re-election last month — but he’s still fighting the Justice Department, if his legal bills are any judge.
Doolittle has spent over $100,000 of his campaign funds on legal fees, his most recent FEC filings show. (He can spend campaign funds that way as long as the legal battle is over his activities in office.) The congressman accepted tens of thousands of dollars from disgraced superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, and he did some mighty favors for the guy.
One of Doolittle’s more unnerving habits, as Paul has documented, has been to give his wife a 15 percent cut of all donations as her “fundraising fee.” Some view this uncharitably, calling it skimming — or worse, if the donor knows 15 percent of his money is headed for the Doolittle’s personal bank account.
But he may be reforming: according to the Sacramento Bee, Doolittle is no longer giving his wife 15 percent of the money. He’s using a bit of bookkeeping magic, recording the cut as “debt” but not paying out. Perhaps he’s fancying the idea that once his legal troubles are sorted out, his campaign will catch up on all those back payments?