Foreign Lobbies Took the Guise Of Nonprofits (New Doolittle scandal)

[Rose Siding]

(Susan Schmidt is one of the writers, so buyer beware)

Early last year, two little-known nonprofit groups paid for Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.) and his 12-year-old daughter to travel to South Korea and Malaysia. Their last stop was the Berjaya Beach & Spa Resort on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, where they bunked at an oceanfront chalet staffed with a personal butler, got massages and rode water scooters on Burau Bay.

Doolittle's junket, which cost $29,400, was among the most expensive privately sponsored trips by members of Congress in recent years. The two groups that split the bills were not ordinary nonprofits. They were fronts for vigorous lobbying campaigns bankrolled by foreign entities and were operated by a Washington lobbying firm, Alexander Strategy Group, according to public records and people who worked with the firm.
...
Federal law prohibits members of Congress from knowingly accepting overseas travel from foreign governments except as part of a cultural interchange program approved by the State Department. The travel in this case was not part of such a program, government officials said. House rules ban members from taking trips paid for by lobbyists or foreign agents. Nonprofits and their officers are prohibited under federal tax law from using a charitable organization for private commercial gain.
...
Some of the lawmakers on the trips were in positions to help other Alexander Strategy clients. Doolittle, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, told The Washington Post this year that from 2002 to 2005 he sponsored $37 million in spending-bill earmarks that went to a firm controlled by a key Alexander Strategy client. The client, Brent R. Wilkes, is a target of the federal investigation stemming from the bribery case and guilty plea of former representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.). Doolittle's wife, Julie Doolittle, was hired by Alexander Strategy to help keep the books for the Korean nonprofit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/02/AR2006110201883_pf.html

[AlCzervik]

1. his opponent Charlie Brown--no relation has made this a horse race

Doolittle's district is the reddest in Ca, redder than san diego, Brown is down by 10 points as of yesterday but this story might close the gap---let us hope!!!

[SoCalDem]

2. Am I the only one who thinks it sounds waaay creepy??

Was Mom there? Dad & daughter getting massages? What with these GOOPers and their massages, anyway?

[Katzenjammer]

3. I was just thinking the same thing...Dad and *daughter* go?

*Adolescent* daughter? Mom's not with them? hmmmm....