There's no doubt that the federal investigation of former Rep. John Sweeney (R) and his lobbying pal from upstate New York is delving into the time Congressman Kick-Ass spent on the House Appropriations Committee.

And freshly unsealed court papers show the prosecutors have a key informant who's helping to build their case. Who that is remains unclear.

The new disclosures came after the Albany Times Union convinced a federal judge to unseal documents related to the raid conducted on Powers & Company, the lobbying firm, in June.

Investigators appear to be looking for evidence that Sweeney may have steered federal money toward Powers' clients or that Powers provided favors for Sweeney's ex-wife, Gayle Sweeney, who worked for the lobbying office when Sweeney was in the House.

The search warrant affidavits show prosecutors are digging through Sweeney-related records dating back to 2001, when he landed a coveted seat on the appropriations committee. Others from that committee have been targeted in the broader investigation of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was one of Sweeney's travel buddies at the time.

And the fact the raid was orchestrated through the Department of Justice's Washington-based Public Integrity Unit rather than the local U.S. Attorney in New York gives a further clue into what the focus might be.

The DOJ didn't fight release of papers showing what the FBI agents seized. But they did urge the judge to block release of their initial request for the search warrant, which spelled out their justification for the raid -- and named their informant.

"Unsealing the affidavit would reveal the identify of a cooperating witness whose help is important to the ongoing investigation," wrote Public Integrity Unit Chief William Welch II in a letter to the Albany judge.

The federal agents in the raid seized documents and computer equipment with records dating back to January 2001. Specifically, they were looking for "communications in any form" between Powers' office and Sweeney, his Congressional office or staffers.

The warrants also sought "any thing of value paid to or received by Gayle Sweeney or John Sweeney ... (including) gifts, loans, offers of employment, contracts, billings, financial transactions, travel, tickets, souvenirs or photographs of sporting or entertainment events, or dining at restaurants."

The documents also suggest that prosecutors had previously received materials from Powers & Company and may have suspected some sort of tampering. The agents sought "the author, timing, extent and purpose of modifications of electronic data provided to the FBI on our about March 28, 2008'".

Also listed among the items seized was a letter from Sweeney to President Bush. What was that doing in Bill Powers' office?

We were as surprised as anyone to hear last week that the FBI had searched the congressional office of former Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) shortly after he lost his reelection bid in 2006.

The Albany Times Union reported that the FBI "took computers, cellphones, various electronic devices, equipment and records from his aides, two sources familiar with the matter said."

That sounded like a pretty big deal to have gone unreported for 18 months, especially since in the meantime Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) successfully challenged the constitutionality of an FBI search of his Capitol Hill office.

So we started calling around to see what more we could find out about the Sweeney raid. The people we talked whom you would think would know about such a raid expressed the same surprise we did.

"There haven't been any other searches that I'm aware of," said Amy Berman Jackson, one of Jefferson's attorneys who helped appeal the search. During the time period between the Jefferson raid in May 2006 and the final court decision in the case in August 2007, the FBI was "really hamstrung" regarding investigations of congressional offices, she said.

Kerri Hanley, the deputy Sergeant at Arms for the House, said she'd heard nothing about it. And a spokesperson for Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office was unfamiliar with any raid on Sweeney's office.

Nevertheless, a person with knowledge of the investigation tells TPMmuckraker that the FBI did take the unusual step of asking Sweeney to preserve his computer records for further investigation after he left office. He did so voluntarily, which made any search mostly unnecessary, according to this source.

We repeatedly called Sweeney's attorney, E. Stewart Jones in Troy, NY, and got no response.

A grand jury in Washington is scheduled to convene on Friday to hear evidence in the investigation of Sweeney and his wife. And we're still curious whether the name Jack Abramoff will come up during that proceeding.

We know the feds have had their eye on former Rep. John Sweeney for a while.

DOJ investigators pulled some of Sweeney's financial records from the House clerk in 2006 and reviewed them along with those from other lawmakers linked to convicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Now we're learning about a previously unreported search of his congressional office just about the time voters kicked him out of office in late 2006.

The Times Union up in Albany has made two references (here and here) to the search in its recent coverage:

The FBI also entered Sweeney's congressional office on his last day in Congress in 2006 and took computers, cellphones, various electronic devices, equipment and records from his aides, two sources familiar with the matter said.

A source close to Sweeney's former congressional office said the FBI first indicated its interest in Sweeney's activities when it seized records and computers of his staffers at the end of 2006.

It's not precisely clear whether this was a search of Sweeney's office on Capitol Hill or an office back in his district. Whatever the FBI got during that search might not be much help. A federal judge has since ruled that FBI searches in Congressional offices can violate the constitution. (Thanks to Rep. William Jefferson, whose Hill office was raided in May 2006.)

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So the feds are not only looking into former Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY), but also his ex-wife?

That's sure how it looks, since they subpoenaed files about Sweeney and the fundraising firm run by his wife, Gayle Ford Sweeney - who was married to the upstate New York Republican until shortly after he left office in 2006.

As speculation mounts that John Sweeney is the latest target in Jack Abramoff's lobbying ring, the New York Times noted that Abramoff investigators have found a pattern of money funneled to Congressional spouses.

Take Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA). The FBI raided his house last year and he's opting not to run for reelection. Doolittle's wife, Julie, was running a one-person company that got large payments from campaign funds and PACs run by Doolittle. In addition, Abramoff's firm paid Doolittle's wife, Julie, $67,600 to plan an event that was ultimately canceled.

Or look at Tom Delay, the former Rep. from Texas. His wife was running a group called the Delay Foundation for Kids. It's donors? Well, whaddya know. They were a diverse set of special interest who appeared to be seeking favors from Tom Delay.

Sweeney's wife was campaign and fundraising consultant who got a cut of the money raised for her husband.

She was also taking a salary from Sweeney's friend and lobbyist Bill Powers's firm. And she left Sweeney just a few months after voters kicked him out of office.

We'll be interested in hear what the feds find in all that paperwork.

The Jack Abramoff investigation is a gift that keeps on giving.

Nearly three years after the feds flipped the corrupt Washington lobbyist, we've learned just today that former U.S. Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) may be the next lawmaker in the cross hairs of the feds' ongoing investigation.

Sweeney's ties to Abramoff over the years may have been overshadowed by Sweeney's more colorful scandals that repeatedly involved booze and women half his age.

In 2001, Sweeney was among a handful of lawmakers who took a trip to the Northern Marianas -- Abramoff's infamous client -- and failed to disclose that the trip was privately funded. While there he parroted Abramoff's favorite line -- that reports of sweatshops there were overblown.

In March 2006, DOJ investigators pulled some of Sweeney's financial records from the House clerk and reviewed them along with a handful of others linked to Abramoff.

Back then, when records showed Sweeney had taken $2,000 from Abramoff's firm, he gave that money away to a local hospital to publicly cleanse himself of ties to the convicted felon.

With the latest news that the feds have raided the firm of Sweeney's political mentor, Bill Powers, has the Abramoff investigation zeroed in on Sweeney? The New York Times suggested as much today, but it cited no source for that proposition. So it's not immediately clear what the connection is between Sweeney and Powers and Abramoff. Powers was a chairman of the state GOP throughout the 1990s, and Sweeney was one of his executive directors before being elected to Congress. The New York papers are reporting Sweeney may have steered big federal grants to Powers' clients while Sweeney was still in Congress.

By the way, Sweeney's then wife (now ex-wife) went to work for Powers' firm a few years after he was elected to Congress, and left the firm shortly after he lost his reelection bid. More on that shortly.

We've enjoyed cataloging the dubious record of former Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY).

Maybe he's best known for helping to instigate the "Brooks Brothers Riot" with other Republicans during the Florida recount in December 2000.

Yet at home in upstate New York, he has also been accused of beating his wife, getting conspicuously drunk with college kids, drunk driving and taking free trips from Jack Abramoff.

Now he may be getting roped directly into the Jack Abramoff investigation, as the feds are looking into whether he steered a series of grants to his longtime friend and lobbyist Bill Powers, an elder statesmen of the New York State GOP.

The New York Times reports:

Federal law enforcement agents have raided the offices of an influential lobbying firm in Albany as part of the latest investigation connected to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal in Washington.

The Times provides no source for the Abramoff link. Other reports do not explicity tie in the raid with Abramoff, but note the DOJ investigation is run from Washington rather than Albany.

From the Albany Times Union

A federal criminal investigation is focusing on the relationship of lobbyist William D. Powers and former U.S. Rep. John E. Sweeney in connection with a series of federal grants that were steered to Powers' clients, according to several people familiar with the probe.
...

Several people familiar with the case said it is centered on a period when Powers' clients received the earmarks while Sweeney's then-wife, Gayle, was working for Powers' Albany-based lobbying firm.

The FBI swarmed the Albany office of the lobbying firm run by Powers, a former head of the New York Republican Party and longtime patron to both Sweeney and former New York Gov. George Pataki.

Double-parking their cars, about 15 agents descended on the State Street suite of the former party official, William Powers, and herded the employees into a room while the agents searched for files.

Sweeney appears to be getting most of the investigators' attention. The New York Daily News reports:

The agents issued grand jury subpoenas for records about the firm; ex-Republican Rep. John Sweeney; Sweeney's campaign committee and leadership PAC; Sweeney's ex-wife, Gayle, who worked for Powers; and Gayle Sweeney's former fund-raising firm, Creative Consulting. The Daily News obtained copies of the subpoenas and the FBI confirmed being at the offices.

Abramoff is set for sentencing in September. Does this suggest that three-year-old investigation still has legs?

Last night, David Kurtz (nee TPM's Reader DK) noted that the New York State Police demoted a 28-year veteran detective following the pre-election leak of a police report detailing a 9-1-1 domestic disturbance call from the house of Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY). Sweeney's attorney insists he was the guy who leaked the police report to the press.

So Sweeney got his retribution, it would seem. But he should have been warned -- whom the gods would destroy, they first make angry. And this morning, the story just turned sharply against Sweeney: This morning, the Albany Times-Union reports that the State Police may have faked a vague version of the original police report filed from the incident, to protect Sweeney in case the document became public:

State Police took steps to "lock up" a 911 report about a call to Congressman John Sweeney's home last year by creating an alternate version that lacked key details, an informed source said Thursday.

The full report on the domestic incident was concealed because of concern it could be used against Sweeney during his re-election campaign this fall, the source said.

Since the emergency call did not result in any arrest -- Sweeney and his wife, Gaia, called off the alert -- State Police officials created a less specific version to guard against leaks of the original, according to the source.

When Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) announced there there'd be a press conference today, expectations were high that he was going to finally release that promised "authentic" police report. You know, the one that would disprove all those news accounts which said an officer was called to his house because he was knocking his wife around.

Alas, he's not giving up the document. Instead, he's starting his own investigation into who "leaked" the "false" records. From The Albany Times-Union:

E. Stewart Jones apologized to TU reporter Brendan J. Lyons, who is over at Jones’ office in Troy, saying he has no documents to release today.

The news, Jones said, is that he has been hired by the Sweeney campaign to investigate who leaked police records related to the Dec. 2, 2005 911 call by GOP U.S. Rep. John Sweeney’s wife, Gaia/Gayle, that summoned State Police to a domestic incident at the couple’s Clifton Park home.

It's not entirely clear, but it sounds as though Sweeney's no longer contesting the integrity of the police reports cited in news accounts.

Sweeney has said that recent reports of police documents showing he abused his wife were forgeries, and that he'd consent to releasing the originals so they could see they'd been duped. But for over a day and a half, he's declined to sign the official order to allow those docs to be made public.

As TPM readers no doubt know, The New York Daily News and Albany Times-Union both published accounts earlier this week of a police blotter report that showed that an officer had been called to the Sweeneys home in December of last year on a domestic abuse call. Sweeney's wife allegedly told a 9-1-1 dispatcher that he was "knocking her around the house," and when an officer arrived, he was told that Sweeney had "grabbed [his wife] by the neck and pushed [her] around the house," but that everything was fine now.

Sweeney responded to the report by claiming that the blotter report was forged. But oddly, the Sweeneys did confirm that there had been a 9-1-1 call -- but that nothing like what's alleged in the blotter report happened.

There's a very clear way to get to the truth, of course: the police could release the official report. To do that, all they need is a signed and notarized letter from the Sweeneys. Now, Sweeney has said that he would authorize the police to release the report. But somehow, despite the fact that numerous news organizations have offered to facilitate the process, Sweeney just hasn't gotten around to sending the police that letter.

And more than 24 hours after his promise to release the report, we're all still waiting.

Rep. George Miller (D-CA), in a conference call with reporters today, criticized Rep. John Sweeney's (R-NY) visit to the Northern Mariana Islands in 2001.

In response to questions from The Albany Times-Union, Sweeney said that he was not aware of the mistreatment of workers on the islands when he visited. He also claimed not to have witnessed anything worrying while he was there.

Miller, whose various attempts over the past decade to regulate the labor conditions and immigration laws on the islands were consistently foiled by Jack Abramoff, wanted to know how Sweeney had managed to tour the islands and not witness evidence of abuse. "Why did you take the trip? What did you do?" he asked. "It’s a very small island."

"If you didn't look into the human rights abuses... what were you doing there?"

Miller added that when he'd visited the islands, he'd visited with federal and state investigators, human rights advocates, local workers, and others to investigate reports of abuses. By contrast, Sweeney met with the local chamber of commerce and business leaders.

Sweeney's spokeswoman told the Times-Union that Sweeney was invited "because of his experience as state labor commissioner under Gov. George Pataki" in New York.

"If they were seeking his advice what happened? He never came back and said we’re going to correct this situation," Miller said.

Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) joined the Abramoff party today. And his blithe remarks about the lack of apparent mistreatment in the Northern Mariana Islands could mean political trouble.

In 2001, The Albany Times-Union reports, he took a trip to the Northern Marianas (CNMI), Jack Abramoff's infamous client, but failed to disclose that the trip was privately-funded, as Congressional rules require. Sweeney says he thought the trip was paid for by the Marianas government; it was actually paid for by the island's chamber of commerce. Pretty small potatoes for an Abramoff story.

But it gets better. The paper quotes remarks that Sweeney made during his visit to the U.S. territory, which had become notorious stateside for its human rights abuses:

Sweeney was quoted in the Saipan Tribune on Jan. 15 as saying reports of poor working conditions in the CNMI were overblown, and that he had seen worse sweatshops back home in New York. Carlson said Sweeney was "absolutely not" aware of any severe mistreatment of workers or forced prostitution before he made these comments.

The mistreatment of CNMI workers, of course, was no secret. They had been the subject of numerous news stories, Congressional hearings, and federal investigations. And it seems that Sweeney was more aware of the CNMI's reputation than he's letting on:

On Jan. 15, 2001, the Tribune reported Sweeney had indicated in his speech that the CNMI needed to continue efforts to combat its poor image back in the states.

"The reputation of the commonwealth is not really what ought to be," Sweeney said. "I come (sic) here and found that the truth projected to me in Washington was not the truth at all."...

Abramoff viewed these Congressional trips as prime opportunities to raise the islands' profile. Over the years, he ferried dozens and dozens of lawmakers and staffers to see for himself that the so-called human rights abuses over there weren't so very bad. Somehow they never saw what human rights activitists had seen. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), who's worked for more than a decade to improve conditions there, said that "a blind pig could run into the human rights violations and the exploitation of workers on the islands." Abramoff's travellers, of course, ran anything but a blind course.

What does the yacht industry use to lobby Congress? Yachts, of course.

As yesterday's Chicago Tribune reported, the recreational boat manufacturer's trade association has been hosting lawmakers and staffers on one of its yachts for years -- it calls the events the "Congressional Cruise Series."

Having read the story, I went to the group's Web site, eager to see a picture of Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) at the helm of the 38-foot Meridian 381 Sedan, which the news story had mentioned. It was one of a number of photos of lawmakers on the National Marine Manufacturers' Association's boat, enjoying -- literally -- a free ride.

But alas, I found that NMMA.org has suddenly gone down for "routine maintenance." A coincidence, I'm sure.

Thankfully, the muckrakers at Capitol Confidential saved a copy of the NMMA's newsletter (pdf) before it disappeared, which they've hosted online. And at the end, voila! there's Captain Sweeney at the helm (at an unfortunately low resolution).

Although hundreds number of lawmakers and staffers (650 last year alone, according to the Tribune) climbed aboard the NMMA's yacht, a few took advantage of the boat to throw classy fundraisers. One of those was Sweeney, who threw two campaign events -- and also happened to sponsor legislation that makes personal flotation devices tax deductible for boat manufacturers, legislation the NMMA strongly supports. (He reimbursed the organization $500 per event.)

And so we add this picture to an already fine photographic collection of Sweeney's activities, and as a bonus to earlier classic photos of Congressional maritime activities.

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Responding to press reports late last week that he'd shown up to frat party drunk, Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) now says that he "wasn't drunk and wasn't even drinking" at the frat party he attended at Union College last month.

So we called up the reporter for the Union College newspaper, John Tomlin, who had described Sweeney in his piece as "openly intoxicated." He stood by his story. Students at the party he spoke to agreed: Sweeney was clearly drunk. And one perceptive student told him not only that Sweeney had been drinking at the party, but that his beverage of choice was a Keystone Light beer. Another student confirmed to us that he'd seen Sweeney drinking beer.

"I distinctly recall being there [at the party] and thinking to myself, 'This guy is drunk,'" Tomlin said. Ha talked to a number of people there, and they agreed.

But I guess you never know. Maybe a room full of frat boys don't know a drunk guy when they see one.

As we noted in an italicized euphemism earlier, it appears that one of the young college students partying with Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) was smoking something that may not have included tobacco. Others -- the Stakeholder, <cough cough> -- had similar suspicions.

Here is the original of that picture:

We jumped on the story at once. We tracked down someone from the party, and even got our hands on more photographs, including a high-resolution copy of the photograph that appeared in the local college paper. Our photo-forensic team pored over the snaps, and came to a unanimous conclusion: it's a legitimate smoke. You can see the definitive close-up below ...

That's not to say the dude isn't a major tokaholic -- there's a picture of Bob Marley pinching a joint on his shirt. But it's no spliff he's holding in the pic. Sometimes, a cigarette is just a cigarette:

A reportedly inebriated Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) took a break from kissing babies last Friday to hug some frat boys. I wonder if they're of drinking age?

Bonus: Notice how he appears to be in the er, smoking section of the frat house.

Sweeney's appearance was reported by the Concordiensis, Union College's newspaper. Full text of the article below. You can see the article as it ran in hard copy here.

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Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY), like Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), paid his wife on commission for campaign fundraising, a highly unusual arrangement that means that the Sweeneys benefitted personally from every contribution. Ethics experts we spoke to earlier this week about Doolittle's wife said that they'd never heard of a similar arrangement. Well, we found one. And it might explain why the Justice Department recently examined Sweeney's financial records.

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