LA Times Uncovers Richard Pombo Pay to Play Scheme
I’m going to be busy with meetings all day, including the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund meeting in San Ramon. While you impatiently wait for me to report back on the event (as if!) I figure I’d leave you with something to whet your appetite. Thanks to the enterprising folks at Daily Kos (and Say No to Pombo reader Gina, who alerted me to the diary) I was able to see that the LA Times published a story likely to give Pombo indigestion. Here are the first two paragraphs:
WASHINGTON — In a case that echoes the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, two Northern California Republican congressmen used their official positions to try to stop a federal investigation of a wealthy Texas businessman who provided them with political contributions.Reps. John T. Doolittle and Richard W. Pombo joined forces with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas to oppose an investigation by federal banking regulators into the affairs of Houston millionaire Charles Hurwitz, documents recently obtained by The Times show. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was seeking $300 million from Hurwitz for his role in the collapse of a Texas savings and loan that cost taxpayers $1.6 billion.
The article reveals some pretty nasty doings by Richard Pombo and John Doolittle. Apparently they subpoenaed documents from the FDIC and then published them in the Congressional Record despite the fact that the FDIC lawyers had alerted them that any public dissemination of the documents could harm the government’s case. Class acts these two. Hopefully spending some time in the clink will give them the chance to figure out the whole rule of law thing. One can hope in any event.
I encourage everyone to read the whole sordid story. You can use the comment section to discuss the article or as an open thread. I’ll be back late tonight and ought to have the report from the Defenders meeting up by Monday afternoon at the latest.
posted by Matt @ 1:58 AM
8 Comments:
No surprise here.
this Pombo has displayed this kind of arogance and disregard for faor practices since day one
If either this scandal or the Abramoff-Pombo scandal really blows up, I wonder if Machado would jump into the race?
I wonder too about Machado, but everything I hear suggests he's not going to enter the race. Of course, an indictment might change his mind, so who knows.
It is interesting too me that I heard this story on KCBS am radio on the way tp work monday morning. Then read it in the LA times and the SF examiner. So I hurried home to read how our local rag THE RECORD reported it. And ,no surprise, no mention at all. The only place Pombo was to be found was on the editorial page where he was praised for trying to get the battle ship to Stockton. More cops?
Money for 205? no the perfect future photo op of him wrapped in the flag posing in front of a WW@ relic.
The Record ran the story on Monday inside the A section.
the story WAS NOT in monday's record
My mistake. The Record ran the story in Sunday's paper, not Monday's.
The editor of the Manteca Daily said that Pombo is the victim of environmental extremists.
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