Fossella's friend Rep. Doolittle (R) in trouble (again)

Vito Fossella's friend and donor Rep. Doolittle is moving more and more into the realm of deep trouble and Fossella looks the other way. Fossella has taken $2,000 from Rep. Doolittle and returned none despite Doolittle's house being raided by the FBI. Now Doolittle has been served with a subpeona from a grand jury in DC. Rep. Fossella it has long been time for you to return that money. FBI raid, check. Subpeona, check. Of course you have exerpience with these scenarios after all of your donors Rep. Ney is serving jail time, Rep. DeLay has a pending court date, Rep. Foley will not see a jail because of statutes of limitations. I await adding Doolittle to that list and seeing you quietly rid yourself of his corrupt money (or not).

Democratic House pickups likely in 2008

via Chicago Sun Times;

Private House Democratic polls of the 50 most competitive congressional districts project a gain of 9 to 11 seats in the 2008 elections that would be an unprecedented further surge by the party after its 2006 gain of 30 seats to win control of the House.

All previous major surges of House seats have been followed by losses in the next election. The 54-seat Republican gain in 1994 that produced GOP House control was followed by an eight-seat loss in 1996. However, the current Republican political slump, fueled by President Bush's unpopularity, would reverse that pattern if the election were held today, according to the Democratic polls.

Now remember the DCCC press release earlier in the year that showed a few House targets;

We will aggressively work in districts targeting ethically challenged incumbents like Tim Murphy (PA-18), Gary Miller (CA-42), Rick Renzi (AZ-01), John Doolittle (CA-04), Jerry Lewis (CA-41) and Vito Fossella (NY-13).

Rep. Renzi has resigned all his committee seats after the FBI raided a family business.
Rep. Doolittle has resigned all his committee seats after his house was raided by the FBI.
On deck is Jerry Lewis followed by Fossella.

Rep. Vito Fossella and Rep. Doolittle connected in corruption

On Thursday, Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA-04) resigned his seat on the House Appropriations Committee after the FBI raided his home. The FBI it appears is continuing its investigation into the corruption case of Jack Abramoff. Via the Modesto Bee;

Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, Julie Doolittle's company, was hired by Abramoff to do fund-raising work for a questionable charity from 2002 to 2004. But her one-person company, in the couple's home, continued to be paid long after the one event it was hired to coordinate was canceled. Senate Indian Affairs Committee records made public as part of its Abramoff investigation showed that the company was paid $67,000.

About the time that work was ending, Sierra Dominion started working for Doolittle's political action committee and then his re-election campaign. It was paid a commission of 15 cents for every dollar it brought in. There have been questions about whether those commissions were a way to steer money from contributors into the congressman's pocket

A former aide to Doolittle resigned from his job on Thursday and Abramoff has been offered a newly reduced sentence, both potential signs that prosectutors are looking to go after Rep. Doolittle.

Rep. Vito Fossella of course has taken money from Doolittle, just as he has from many other corrupt Republicans. You can see a sampling of those other donors to Rep. Vito Fossella on the right side of this site.