Re: Family Values

["Petem" <petem001@xxxxxxxxx>]

Robert why don't you post this type of thing is Comp.home .automation?

aren't you tired of being a jerk in this NG?

"Robert L Bass" <robertbass1@xxxxxxxxxxx> a écrit dans le message de news:
g4SdnWx-16oMha7YnZ2dnUVZ_vydnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Investigation allegedly into consulting contracts for Republican's
> daughter
> Updated: 8:45 p.m. ET Oct. 14, 2006
> WASHINGTON - The FBI is investigating whether U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon used
> his influence to secure lobbying and consulting contracts for his
> daughter, two people familiar with the inquiry said Saturday.
>
> The inquiry focuses on lobbying contracts worth $1 million that Weldon's
> daughter, Karen Weldon, obtained from foreign clients and whether they
> were assisted by the Republican congressman, they said. They spoke on
> condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality of the criminal
> investigation.
>
> The two people familiar with the investigation told the AP on Saturday
> that the inquiry was being handled by agents from the FBI's field offices
> in Washington and Philadelphia and was being coordinated by the Justice
> Department's Public Integrity Section. Spokesmen for the Justice
> Department and the FBI declined comment Saturday.
>
> Those two people familiar with the investigation confirmed that federal
> agents were examining Weldon's work between 2004 and 2004 to help two
> Russian companies and two Serbian brothers connected to former Yugoslav
> President Slobodan Milosevic. They had hired Solutions North America Inc.,
> a company operated by Karen Weldon and Charles Sexton, a Republican ally
> of the congressman.
>
> Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is a Russian
> speaker regarded by some as a foreign policy expert who has clashed at
> times with the Bush administration.
>
> Weldon, a 10-term Republican from the Philadelphia suburbs, long has
> denied any wrongdoing, and his top aide Saturday said no one had notified
> him of an investigation.
>
> "I think if there was an investigation, somebody would have contacted us,"
> said Russ Casso, Weldon's chief of staff.
>
> 'Caught off guard'
> Casso said Weldon and his staff were "100 percent caught off guard" when
> they learned of the investigation, first reported late Friday by McClatchy
> Newspapers. This account cited two individuals with specific knowledge of
> the existence of the investigation; they declined to be identified because
> of the confidentiality of criminal investigations.
>
> Casso, whose boss is in a tight race against Democrat Joe Sestak in the
> Nov. 7 congressional elections, tried to cast doubt on reports of the
> investigation. "Unidentified sources mean nothing," Casso said. "There's
> no substance in that story. It's a flimsy story."
>
> Last week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee mailed fliers
> to voters in Weldon's district accusing Karen Weldon of getting help from
> her father on lobbying projects.
>
> Michael Puppio, Weldon's campaign manager, questioned the timing of the
> mailing and published reports about the investigation. He accused
> Democrats of "attempting to smear the congressman and his entire family"
> in the final weeks of the campaign.
>
> Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the DCCC, declined comment.
>
> Sensitive time for GOP
> The Weldon investigation comes at a critical time for Republicans who are
> fighting to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives in a midst
> of scandals.
>
> On Friday, Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Ney pleaded guilty in the Jack
> Abramoff lobbying scandal, which has touched on federal lawmakers, former
> aides and members of the Bush administration.
>
> At the same time, an inquiry is under way on Capitol Hill into whether
> Republican House leaders or their top aides covered up questionable
> behavior of former Congressman Mark Foley toward teenage males who worked
> as congressional interns.
>
> © 2006 The Associated Press.
>
>