Wife, Friend Tie Congressman to Consulting Firm:Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.

[jbfam4]

Wife, Friend Tie Congressman to Consulting Firm
Company's Clients Say They Get Access to Va. Republican

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/27/AR2006072701846_pf.html

By Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Scott Higham
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 28, 2006; A01



Two months before Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) became chairman of the powerful House Government Reform Committee in January 2003, one of his close friends formed ICG Government, a consulting company for technology firms seeking government contracts.

Donald W. Upson had risen with Davis through the burgeoning Northern Virginia technology community, where they worked side by side as executives at a company that sold computer systems to the government.

Davis went on to Congress, where he became a leading voice on government contracting and an advocate for his technology industry constituents in Fairfax and Prince William counties. Upson became the top technology official for the Virginia government before reentering the private sector and starting ICG.

From the beginning, Upson worked with Davis and his staff as he built his consulting business, which holds seminars on procurement and advises clients on winning government technology contracts worth billions of dollars. Those contracts often came under the oversight of Davis's committee. One of Upson's first hires was Jeannemarie Devolites, a Virginia politician who later married the congressman.


In an opinion issued this week, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct told the congressman that his wife can work for the consulting firm as long as the couple does not personally benefit from any official acts by the congressman. The committee told them to take care to "avoid a claim that you are allowing your official title to be used for private gain."

[Penndems]

1. Tom, you are SO busted

I read this article on-line at washingtonpost.com. What a damning indictment it is for both Tom and his idiot wife. This expose was a long time coming.

Davis has been in office WAY too long. This has got to be manna from heaven for Andy Hurst's campaign.

[The Deacon]

2. What Strikes Me...

...is the arrogance of these people. To sit there and argue that it is perfectly okay for a lobbyist to write a threatening letter to a procurement officer to go over a congressman's signature "as long as it represents the congressman's views." Well, sheeit, how's the congressman supposed to know what his view is until his financial masters tell him what it is?
Republicans have raised corruption to an art form, but the real problem is allowing Congress to write its own ethics standards AND the amount of money spent on political campaigns these days.
I have an idea for an ethics rule - if you accept ANYTHING from a lobbyist & later vote on ANY legislation sponsored by ANY client of that lobbyist you are guilty of a felony punishable by not less than six years in a Federal prison. If you accept ANY Congressional position you must first sign an agreement that you may not work for ANY lobbyist who has ANY business before Congress FOREVER. NO spouse or family member may work for ANY lobbyist who has ANY business before Congress or might have in the future. ANY lobbyist who has employed a spouse or family member of a person with a Congressional position MAY NOT bring ANY business before ANY congressperson.
Lets see just how many lobbyists & congresspeople remain in the game after that.

[peacebird]

3. Is Devolites STILL in the Virginia House of Reps? Does working for a

lobbying firm pass the muster THERE as well?