More evidence of chaos in the financial, insurance and real estate financial cabal (FIRE) is news, however late, the the Virginia home of Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, was raided last Friday by the FBI. Investigators were looking for evidence of the congressman and his wife's connections with Jack Abramoff. They didn't have to look too far. According to The Hill, Kevin Ring, Doolittle's former chief of staff, left his office to work for Abramoff, who subsequently hired Doolittle's wife, Julie's consulting firm. Ring later moved to another lobbying firm, from which he resigned suddenly last Friday.
FIRE has evidently, at least momentarily, lost the juice to protect one of its very own, Doolittle, the greatest friend the Roseville-based regional and national developers ever had. He was also a great friend of Indian casinos and worked effectively to locate one in his district, between Roseville and Lincoln.
Yet, Doolittle, hopefully dragged down irretrievably into scandal and possibly prison, will always be known for his ardent support of a dam for the American River canyon east of Auburn. Perhaps that plan, which so far has not been a part of current demands for more reservoirs in Northern California, will die with his wretched political career. Another casualty to be hoped for is the powerful, developer-funded Republican Party of Placer County, that has so fervently pushed real estate development from the winter pastures of western Placer to the shores of Lake Tahoe, effectively co-opting an entire generation of environmental protectionists that got off to a good start defeating the Auburn Dam 30 years ago.
In October, President Bush campaigned in California for Doolittle and another Abramoff friend, former Rep. Richard Pombo, Buffalo Slayer-Tracy, now a lobbyist with Oregon-based Pac/West Communications. The firm has also hired Pombo staffer, Steve Ding, to open a Sacramento office to continue the fight on behalf of special interests against environmental law and regulation. Former Rep. Pete McCloskey, a Republican who ran against Pombo in the primary, tied Pombo to Abramoff in a series of well researched articles that continued through the general election campaign, resulting in Pleasanton Democrat, Jerry McNerney's victory. McCloskey announced last weekend that he switched registration and is now a Democrat.
After the successful defeat of Pombo, led by state and national environmental groups, and after the successful defeat of the latest of Pombo's 13 attempts to gut the Endangered Species Act, another Pombo staffer, Todd Wilkens, newly appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, incorporated much of the last bill into proposals now floating around the Department of Interior to once again gut the ESA. The principal "bipartisan" co-author of Pombo's Last Try was Rep. Dennis Cardoza, Shrimp Slayer-Merced, the nether half of the Pomboza with the "D - for -Democrat" on his rally sweater.
AS UC Merced hangs by the environmental petard partly of cardoza's making and foreclosure rates skyrocket in the aftermath of the speculative housing boom stimulated in his district by the campus, Cardoza tries to remake himself as a good Democrat, even contributing money to McNerney's reelection campaign. This is something he did not do in the high-flying days of the Pomboza.
Let us hope that the net the FBI is dragging is wide enough to catch little fish like Cardoza as well as the larger species. The people of his district need a representative of their interests rather than the interests of international financial speculation, national developers, UC research in weapons of mass destruction, and the largest landowners (disguised as "agriculture"). The frenzy of greed this region has endured has filled the communal mind with the well known substance. However, neither does this congressional district need a cipher with a "D" after its name totally controlled by San Francisco and Baltimore.
Attempts to obtain a copy of the search warrant at the U.S. District Courthouse in Alexandria this week were unsuccessful. Of the 126 search warrants logged there since the beginning of February, 90 (or 71 percent) are “under seal.” -- The Hill, April 19, 2007
Bill Hatch
----
Note:
4-19-07
The Hill
FBI raids Doolittle home
By Mike Soraghan and Susan Crabtree
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/fbi-raids-doolittle-home-2007-04-18.html
The FBI searched the Oakton, Va., home of Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) Friday in its ongoing investigation into the congressman and his wife’s ties to former lobbyist Jack Abramoff...