John Doolittle
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Categories: 110th Congress | California Republicans
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John Doolittle is a Republican U.S. Representative from California, where he represents the Fourth District. He announced that he will resign at the end of 2008.
According to the San Diego Union Tribune, Doolittle received $118,000 in campaign contributions from Randy Cunningham's co-conspirator, Brent Wilkes. In addition, Mr. Doolittle's wife, Julie, ran a fundraising firm Sierra Dominion whose only clients were friends of Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay.
Doolittle voted against the environment on five recent important legialative roll call votes: Energy (House R.C. 132); Artic Refuge (House R.C. 666); Environmental Funding (House R.C. 88); Coastal Protection (House R.C. 192) and Fuel Efficiency (House R.C. 121).
Accordind to Commondreams.org Doolittle once acted as a character witness for a friend convicted of sexually assaulting six of his patients.[1]
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Federal funds for interchange project
On December 15, 2005, The Union, a newspaper for western Nevada County, reported that Doolittle had secured $3 million for eight projects in his district from a recently passed $65.9 billion federal appropriation, and that none of those funds fell within Nevada County borders, (which is entirely within Doolittle's district). Laura Blackann, communications director for Doolittle, called the newspaper claiming the story was incomplete and that "Nevada County didn't receive any money because they didn't ask for any." Text of News Article
Several Nevada County officials (Liberal and Conservative) responded that Blackann's comments were not true.Their response focused on the Dorsey Drive Interchange project, which the County Transportation Commission (CTC) has described as providing direct access to high use sites, including the only hospital within an hours drive. [2].
Nevada City's mayor, Conley Weaver, who is also on the CTC, told The Union that "The county begged. We said we'll do anything for money for Dorsey Drive." Weaver said Nevada City, Grass Valley [3], and Nevada County all passed resolutions asking Doolittle to seek federal funding for the Dorsey Drive project.
Blackann then further clarified her comments: "The Dorsey Drive project was submitted by the city for $11 million. It is such a large project it needed to be funded through the highway bill. (The most recent appropriations bill) doesn't fund projects that large." She said that "The congressman is going to try for the Dorsey Drive project next year." [4]
Small towns pressured to hire lobbyists
Dan Landon, executive director of the CTC (and a LDS Republican), said that he was told (around 2006) by Doolittle's staff that "it also doesn't hurt to have a lobbyist". Sharon Atteberry, city administrator for the city of Oroville, said she had also been urged to hire a lobbyist by Doolittle's staff. "They encouraged us that a lobbyist is very important to any city or county government," she said. [5].
In 2007 the countie hired a lobbyist hired to keep Doolittle doing his job.
"The county Board of Supervisors agreed...to hire a Sacramento lobbyist to help keep state money flowing into the area for key programs and projects.
The decision comes as state government has cut funding to counties to balance its budget. Nevada County experienced some cutbacks this year, and the prospect of a $5 billion state budget next year has raised concern about deeper cutbacks in the future.
"It's a tough row to hoe down in Sacramento without some representation," said Supervisor Ted Owens of Truckee, before voting unanimously with the four other board members to hire the lobbyists for $36,000 per year.
The county has hired Paul Yoder of Shaw/Yoder Inc., along with Peterson Consulting, bringing six lobbyists to bear.
The lobbyists were hired earlier this year by the county for $24,000 but solely to get relief in Sacramento from soaring wastewater treatment plant costs. Under the new agreement, the lobbyists will monitor all bills that might affect the county, work with state legislators on county matters, attend meetings in the county interest and provide regular reports, among other duties.
"We don't just lobby the legislature," Yoder said. "We lobby the bureaucracies and the administration."
Yoder said the two firms work together. They recently landed $146 million for Yuba County's battered levees and $3 million for parks, as well as a veteran's memorial for Butte County.
Nearly two years ago, a staffer for Congressman John Doolittle (R-Roseville) suggested Nevada County hire a lobbyist to land money for the long-stalled Dorsey Drive interchange on the Golden Center Freeway. The comments distressed some residents because of Doolittle's previous ties to a now-jailed lobbyist - dealings that remain under federal investigation.
Owens has discussed the possibility of a Sacramento lobbyist several times at board meetings. Earlier this year, the supervisors also had placed a lobbyist on a priority list.
Lobbying for money to widen Highway 49 from the south county to Grass Valley should be a priority, according to Supervisor Sue Horne, calling it a "huge issue."
"There will be a benefit to this," said Board chairman John Spencer. "Right now, all we can do is mail a letter" to gain influence in Sacramento.
The county's contacts with the lobbyists will be handled by Assistant county CEO Laura Matteson to keep a tight reign on requests and information flow, according to county CEO Rick Haffey."[6]
Doolittle's home raided by FBI
The FBI raided Doolittle's Virginia home in April of 2007 to investigate his connections to ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The raid came shortly after his chief aide, Kevin Ring, abruptly resigned.
Iraq War
2006
Jan 31, 2006
“Tonight, President Bush reminded us all of how important it is to remain committed to the War on Terror,” Doolittle said. “We have seen real progress in Iraq with its recent elections and to cut and run now would only undermine the safety of all Americans, demoralize our troops, and abandon the Iraqi people just as democracy is taking root in the region. [7]
June 23, 2006
"Holding Our Ground
Late last week, the House voted 256 to 153 to approve a non-binding resolution which acknowledges Iraq as a central front in the war on terror and asserts that “it is not in the national security interest of the United States to set an arbitrary date for the withdrawal or redeployment” of troops. Holding our ground during the central struggle of our time is essential. A permanent, democratically-elected government is finally in place in Iraq. The Iraqi military is taking on an increasingly active role in responding to the assemblage of thugs that still murder Iraqi civilians. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been cut down, and papers recovered at the site of his death confirm that the terrorists are on their heels in this struggle. Deciding to cut and run before ensuring stability throughout the transition to Iraqi self-sufficiency would be disastrous.
Yet the minority party in Congress has demonstrated nothing but confusion regarding this fundamental issue. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi declared, “We don’t even have a party position on the war.” In the Senate, Sen. Mitch McConnell forced a vote on Sen. John Kerry’s troop withdrawal resolution. It went down 93 to 6. And yesterday, in an 86-13 vote, the Senate rejected a proposal from the Cut-and-Run Caucus that would require the administration to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by July 1, 2007.
At a time when our forces are achieving real progress, Congress should remain focused on ensuring that they have sufficient equipment, training, and other resources while deployed, and the benefits they deserve upon returning from service."[8]
October 2006
Doolittle charcterized Charles Brown's criticisem of the Iraq War as following a "cut and run" strategy.
He also stated that: "Iraq had weapons of mass distruction", and "I voted to go to war and it didn't matter to me if there were any weapons of mass distruction", [9]
2007
In July of 2007 Doolittle pretended he had grown a pair of balls when he declared Iraq to be a "Quagmire" and talked about how America needed go start going a new direction in Iraq.[10]
He soon after went back to claiming he hadn't changed his mind on Iraq and the evil liberal media was to blame. [11]
July 2007
The Hawkish Major Eric Egland announced he would run against Doolittle in the Republican Primaries. [12] [13]
August 2007
Doolittle was sued for e-mail spamming[14]
Former Placer County Republican Party chairman Ken Campbell, a longtime financial backer of Rep. John Doolittle, withdrew his support for Doolittle.
Campbell based his conclusion on a recent Club for Growth report on votes this year on 2008 spending bills to eliminate "wasteful pork projects." Doolittle scored just 2% the Republican average is 43%. [15]
GovTrack link
External Links
- Official site
- DOOLITTLE, John Taylor from *Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present
- Rep. John Doolittle On the Issues
- OpenSecrets.org: Career Profile of Rep. John Doolittle
- OpenCongress.org: Rep. John Doolittle
- Progressive Punch: Rep. John Doolittle
- Project Vote Smart: Interest Group Ratings of Rep. John Doolittle
- Washington Post Votes Database: Rep. John Doolittle
- Wikipedia
- CA-04: Doolittle's home raided by FBI
- http://www.corruptorineffective.com/home.html
- http://www.dccc.org/doolittlefacts/
- Belle, Nicole. Rep. John Doolittle (R) Aides Subpoenaed by Grand Jury Crooks and Liars, September 4, 2007.
- Beyond DeLay: The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and two to watch): Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA) Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, September 2007.
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