Following the money, part II

ABC News is reporting that Speaker of the House, Rep. Hastert is under investigation by the FBI. Rep. Hastert's PAC KEEP OUR MAJORITY is a large mover of money, so much so that his PAC has already doled out nearly $500,000 for the 2006 House cycle. Not to be shown up by Neil Volz (recently plead guilty to corrupting public officials), Rep. Hastert has been a big donor of Rep. Fossella's re-election campaigns. Here is the money Fossella will have to give back should this develop into a more severe situation for Hastert:

$5,000 in 2006
$2,000 in 1998

Considering the Culture of Corruption that is enveloping the Republican Party Rep. Fossella may soon look back and realize it would have been easier to take some heat and not give back any dirty money rather than hurt his wrist writing refund checks.

NY13, Safe Republican

CQPolitics has the seat as a safe seat for Fossella. Here are the NY seats, with the 2004 percentages (Rep/Dem):

No Favorite
NY24 - Boehlert (retiring)

Republican Favored
NY19 - Kelly (67/33)
NY20 - Sweeney (66/33)
NY23 - Walsh (91, no major dem opponent)
NY29 - Kuhl (50/41)

Safe Republican
NY03 - King (63/37)
NY13 - FOSSELLA (59/41)
NY23 - McHugh (71/29)
NY26 - Reynolds (56/44)

In 2004 NY13 was the third closest seat that did not flip to a Democrat. Now it is at best the seventh best chance for a pickup ahead of only NY03 and 23. King in NY03 currently does not have a major Democratic competitor.

Rep. Fossella donates dirty money

Today we learn that Rep. Fossella will donate the two contributions he took from Neil Volz to the American Cancer Society. Tuesday we reported that Rep. Fossella was only one of 21 members of Congress to receive a contribution from Neil Volz, a former lobbyist who worked with Jack Abramoff. Volz pled guilty Monday to conspiring to corrupt public officials.

Rep. Fossella has yet to mention any plans to return the $10,000 he has taken from former congressman Tom DeLay who is currently indicted on money laundering.

Neil Volz and Rep. Fossella

via San Francisco Chronicle

A former top aide to Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, (Neil Volz) pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring with the lobbyist Jack Abramoff to corrupt public officials.

bold text, my own

Neil Volz, the aide mentioned above now faces up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. Fortunately Rep. Fossella found the time to accept his money (updated url) during his 2004 re-election campaign. It is no wonder that Rep. Fossella and his fellow Republicans in Congress keep company like Neil Volz, Jack Abramoff and Tony Rudy.

update
Neil Volz made two contributions to Rep. Fossella once in 2004 and once in 2005

The friends you keep

via ABC News today;

The criminal investigation of Abramoff's lobbying operation has now claimed Abramoff and three former congressional staffers: Neil Volz on Monday, as well as Tony Rudy and Michael Scanlon, who both worked for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

All four are now government witnesses whose prison terms may depend in part on how cooperative they are with federal prosecutors in the investigation involving lawmakers, their aides and members of the Bush administration.

In light of today's news we feel it is time to remind everyone that our favorite congressman Rep. Fossella took a little trip to Vail Colorado with soon to be retired/indicted Rep. Ney and a few lobbyists and who could forget that baseball game fundraiser with Jack Abramoff and Tony Rudy.

A point system

Via Matt Stoller, via The Hill

In his latest bid to rally his Democratic colleagues to the cause of winning back the House in November, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) is instituting a point system to track how much individual House Democrats engage in political work helpful to the party.

The DCCC has long tracked how much money each Democrat raises for the committee and how much each contributes in quarterly dues. The new system is expected to be much broader, assigning point values to less easily quantifiable items such as whether members travel to other districts for political work, whether they hold press conferences in other districts, or whether they serve as a mentor to a challenger.

I mentioned below in my Funding the Race entries that our own NY congressional delegation needs to start spending some more time focusing on races in our state that are competitive and less time counting their money. Take note members of congress. Not only am I disappointed by the lack of effort from some of you to help us retake the House but Rahm and Nancy are now too.

5 of 20 didn’t give to Rep Higgins’ race in 2004.
7 of 20 didn’t give to Rep. Bishops’s race.
15 of 20 didn’t give to Samara Barend’s race.