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From Russia With Love
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Bribes, congressional wives, lobbyist children, far-flung countries, and jet-setting congressmen. Add it all together and you’re reading the ingredient label of a old fashioned congressional scandal, circa 2004-2006. Hot off the shelf is the investigation into former-Rep. Curt Weldon’s dealings with Russia companies with ties to Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal added new dynamite to an investigation that led to FBI raids on Weldon’s offices, the lobbying offices of his daughter - a lobbyist, and the offices of her employer, the shady Russian energy giant, Itera. One of Weldon’s ex-staffers, Russell Caso, is currently cooperating with the Feds after pleading guilty for failing to disclose payments made to his wife from a firm “helping American businesses operate in Russia.” That firm is now identified as the International Exchange Group, an organization with deep ties to Weldon. (more…)
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Earmarks Unrelated to Campaign Contributions, Earmark Recipients Claim
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In the Denver Post, Anne C. Mulkern reports on the earmarks of Rep. Doug Lamborn and finds one of those “only in Washington” wordings that make the head spin:
Lamborn made seven requests for projects tied to specific companies. Of those, five were to businesses whose political action committees had given him campaign contributions.
Officials with two of the companies, Goodrich Corp. and Aeroflex Inc., said there’s no connection between their contributions and their requests for earmarks.
The political action committees support lawmakers who back defense spending, both said.
The committee wants to help lawmakers who are the most responsive to their business needs, said Thomas Bezas, Aeroflex’s vice president of government and trade.
“We want to do everything we can to make sure they stay in office,” Bezas said. “The longer they stay in office, the more it benefits our company.”
So they make contributions to a member who’s most responsive to their business needs, who supports defense spending, but their business needs have nothing to do with earmarks, and awarding defense earmarks is unrelated to defense spending?
