John Doolittle
Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) is one of four congressmen whom the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have both named as being investigated for their ties to Jack Abramoff. Doolittle and Abramoff are accused of trading favors by using Doolittle’s wife as an intermediary.
The AP reported in September 2007 that prosecutors subpoenaed "virtually every record including legislative records" of Doolittle's for the past eleven years. According the Sacramento Bee, this document sweep includes subpoenas for six of Doolittle's staffers, including Doolittle's senior executive assistant. This is not the first round of questioning or subpoenas for Doolittle (his wife) or Doolittle's staff. On September 4, 2007, The AP reported that the chief of staff and deputy chief of staff (Ron Rogers and Dan Blankenburgand) were subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to answer questions related to a federal probe into ties between Doolittle, his wife and jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The two aides have already appeared before the grand jury testimony. On June 27, 2007, the Sacramento Bee reported that federal prosecutors contacted as "many as half a dozen former aides" to Doolittle, including the congressman's legislative director (Peter Evich). In 2004, investigators subpoenaed records for Doolittle's wife's consulting firm due to her work for Abramoff.
Doolittle had seats on two powerful committees for granting favors: the Committee on House Administration as well as the Appropriations Committee. Doolittle gave up his seat on the Appropriations Committee after the FBI conducted an April 13, 2007 search of his home (which also houses his wife's business) in Virginia. The raid occurred after Doolittle was given an opportunity to enter a guilty plea but refused. Doolittle holds the sixth highest ranking elected position in the House Leadership, the Secretary of the House Republican Conference. However, following the FBI raid on his house in Virginia, Doolittle has stepped down from both positions.
Doolittle, a Mormon and "ardent opponent of casino gambling," was "particularly close to Abramoff," according to former Abramoff associates. Doolittle himself has admitted this.
For more information on the investigation, check out Doolittle on the Grand Ole Docket. For breaking news, try TPMmuckraker.
Key Points:
Doolittle's political action campaign (PAC) paid his wife suspicious amounts of money for fundraising work through her company.
Julie Doolittle owns a consultancy called Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, which is run out of the Doolittle's home. Doolittle's PAC paid Julie 15% of any amount she raised for them. However, she reportedly raised every dollar that has come into the PAC's coffers since 2003. But the PAC paid two additional people to raise money, raising questions about the size of Julie Doolittle's payments.
Doolittle’s wife has been at the center of recent FBI investigations
Julie Doolittle owns a consultancy called Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, which is run out of the Doolittle's home. In 2004, the company’s files were subpoenaed for use in the government’s investigation of Jack Abramoff. On April 13, 2007, the FBI raided the Doolittle’s home in Virginia with the intention of gathering evidence about Sierra Dominion.
Abramoff hired Doolittle's wife's firm to put on a fundraising event for his "charity," the Capital Athletic Foundation. Her firm was also hired by Ed Buckham's Alexander Strategy Group (ASG).
From January 2003 to February 2004 (or 2002 to March, 2004 - reports differ), Abramoff hired Sierra Dominion to organize and put on a fundraiser for the Capital Athletic Foundation, a sham charity that Abramoff used as a slush fund. The event never took place because "it had been scheduled to take place just as the Iraq war was commencing," according to Julie Doolittle's attorney.
ASG founder Ed Buckham, whose firm worked closely with Abramoff, hired Julie Doolittle to do bookkeeping for a nonprofit group he created called the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council. The council paid Sierra Dominion almost $30,000 over the course of two-and-a-half years. In addition, the council flew the Doolittles to South Korea in February 2005, and covered their $14,000 bill. (Source: National Journal, July 15, 2006)
The Justice Department subpoenaed Sierra Dominion's records in 2004.
Dating back to 1999, Doolittle's campaigns and associated committees have received $140,000 total from Abramoff, his lobbying associates, and his clients.
Abramoff made $2,000 in personal contributions to each of Doolittle's 2000 and 2002 re-election campaigns ($4,000 total). Kevin Ring and other Abramoff colleagues gave $9,000.
Abramoff's tribal clients and lobbying associates gave substantially to the Doolittle. As much as $92,000 flowed to his Superior California Federal Leadership PAC since 2002, another $20,000 went to Doolittle's state leadership PAC, and $15,000 to a PAC Doolittle controlled for a conservative Republican group called the Conservative Action Team.
Doolittle has denied any wrongdoing and has refused to return any money received from Abramoff. Doolittle has similarly refused to return $11,250 in contribution money from convicted felon Tony Rudy.
Kevin Ring, a former staffer of Doolittle's, went to work for Abramoff.
Ring worked for Doolittle from 1993-1998. According to Doolittle, Ring was in frequent contact with his office. On April 13, 2007, the same day that the FBI raided the Doolittle’s Virginia home, Kevin Ring resigned his position at Barnes & Thornburg LLP.
Doolittle held a fundraiser at Abramoff's skybox at the MCI Center and failed to report it. He also used Abramoff's restaurant, Signatures, for fundraising events.
Doolittle used the skybox on Feb. 25, 1999 and did not report the use in his federal election records. When the broadening Abramoff investigation uncovered this, Doolittle's office responded that it was an "oversight" and sent Abramoff a check in late 2004.
Doolittle, among 26 other lawmakers, wrote a letter (2/27/02) to Interior Secretary Gale Norton urging her to prevent a Louisiana Indian tribe from opening a casino. Two of Abramoff's tribal clients in neighboring areas did not want the casino open, and Abramoff was lobbying to stop it.
According to the AP, Doolittle "received $1,000 from Abramoff several weeks before he signed the group letter, then got $16,000 from two of Abramoff's casino-operating tribal clients about two months later. By year's end, Doolittle also had used Abramoff's restaurant to cater a campaign event and received an additional $15,000 from tribes."
In 2003, Doolittle wrote Interior Secretary Gale Norton again, this time acting on behalf of two tribes seeking to build casinos.
In June he wrote a criticism of the Bush administration's handling of a tribal government dispute involving the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa. In October he wrote on behalf of the Mashpee Wampanoag of Massachusetts, who were seeking government recognition. Both tribes were Abramoff clients.
In 2001, Doolittle's chief of staff, David Lopez, took a trip to Puerto Rico paid for by Abramoff's firm.
Doolittle signed the travel disclosure form, which stated that Greenberg, Traurig LLP was funding the trip. "House rules prohibit lawmakers and staff from taking trips paid for by registered lobbyists or lobbying firms."
Through his wife, Doolittle pocketed nearly $15,000 from his campaign contributions from Brent Wilkes.
In exchange for helping him secure the $37 million earmark for PerfectWave, Brent Wilkes paid Doolittle $14,400 through Doolittle's wife. Julie Doolittle's consulting firm, Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, has no phone listing or Web site and no other known employees. Two of her clients are her husband's leadership PAC and campaign, for which she does fundraising. She gets a 15% commission on contributions, which is an unusual arrangement for a lawmaker's spouse.
Julie Doolittle has gotten $180,000 in commissions since late 2001 just from political fundraising for her husband. Neither Doolittle nor his wife will say who her other clients are, but three others are known: Greenberg-Traurig, Jack Abramoff's lobbying firm; Signatures, Jack Abramoff's restaurant; and the Korea-US Exchange council, a front group run by Ed Buckham, another major player in the Abramoff scandal.
The Federal Election Commission has since issued a request for info about the Doolittle fundraising commissions.
As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Doolittle helped steer $37 million to a company called PerfectWave.
PerfectWave was owned by Brent Wilkes, one of two defense contractors from whom Duke Cunningham admitted taking bribes. From 2002 to 2005, Wilkes and his associates helped raise $85,000 for Doolittle.
Doolittle claimed that his support for PerfectWave was based "on the project's merits and the written support of the military."
However, Doolittle's only evidence of this was "a letter of praise from Robert Lusardi, a program manager for light armored vehicles at the Marine Corps dated Feb. 25 - two and a half years after PerfectWave got its first earmark. By the time Lusardi wrote his letter, the company had received at least $37 million in earmarks."
Research by Josh Hudelson, Will Thomas, and Peter Sheehy
return to the homepage
