Despite investigation, Rep. Lewis won't give up his seat on powerful Appropriations Committee
Apparently, the new standard for forfeiting one's seat on a powerful committee is the actual raid on one's home or business. That seems to be the standard outlined by the staffer for Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA). Lewis, who is currently under investigation by the Department of Justice, is the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. Last week, CREW called on Lewis to give up that seat pending the outcome of the on-going investigation:
Lewis spokesman Jim Specht said Lewis’s home has not been searched and that the California Republican has had no “direct contact” with DoJ officials. Other than a subpoena issued late last year seeking documents related to the investigation of Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) that now is targeting former CIA official Dusty Foggo and businessman Brent Wilkes, Lewis has received no letters, calls or other contact from the DoJ, Specht said. He added that Lewis’s defense lawyers voluntarily have reached out to the DoJ.
Specht said he did not know why, with the case so quiet, Lewis has spent so much on attorney fees, referring the question to Lewis’s lawyers. Barbara Comstock, Lewis’s spokeswoman on the legal matter, did not return a call for comment.
JERRY LEWIS MUST GIVE ACCOUNT OR RESIGN
There is much that REP. LEWIS needs to adress and explain. Not the least is this business of $900,000 of campaign funds which has gone into the hands of his attorneys.
As this is the basis for electoral representation, it is his Constitutional duty to account for himself to the public. REP. LEWIS is one of those who culpably and flagrantly ignore this stricture. On this point alone he should be forced out by his colleagues in the House. He is not entitled by custom or Law to put personal considerations before his responsibilities of office. If he finds himself in such a position, he should resign or be forced to.
The fact that he is allowed by his GOP colleagues to maintain himself in a manner contrary to decency and Constitutional obligation put the onus of cupability on them, as well.
YOU of the GOP: do you think that you can duck this one? Do you hope that the public will buy the lame excuses given out by LEWIS and BOEHNER and their fellows? If that is what you think, then you deserve what is coming when the voter says....BE DAMNED, EVERYONE OF YOU.
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"Exhibit A"
As it has been put by the WSJ. This is the sort of thing that the GOP is skewered on. That $900,000 is going to raise more questions than Boehner has evasions. Eventually Rep. Jerry Lewis will go onto the compost heap with the others, but not until Boehner and the rest of us are thoroughly smeared with the foulness of the whole thing. Those who are clean will have to oust Boehner if we are to stay clean and survive the swinging scythe of voter disgust.
I would point out what we are hearing: Specht says that Lewis' defense lawyers have "voluntarily reached out to the DoJ". Mr. Specht and Rep. Lewis, please be informed that your GOP Colleagues are not so easily fooled, although you certainly make us feel foolish.