Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) wants the Attorney General to explain why the public corruption unit of the U.S. Attorneys Office in Los Angeles was shut down.  That's the office investigation Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), who was named one of the most corrupt members of Congress in CREW's report, Beyond DeLay.

According to The Hill, Feinstein is demanding an explanation:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Wednesday called on Attorney General Michael Mukasey to explain the decision to eliminate the public corruption unit in Los Angeles that has been investigating Rep. Jerry Lewis's (R-Calif.) ties to a lobbying firm.

The U.S. Attorney for the central district of California in Los Angeles reassigned the 17 lawyers in the public corruption unit and disbanded it earlier this month. The decision has stirred ill will and low morale within the office and raised questions about whether pending and future public corruption cases will be rigorously pursued, according to press accounts.

Attorneys in the Los Angeles office have spent years reviewing an FBI investigation into Lewis's connection to a lobbying firm and the earmarks its clients received. Lewis has doled out more than a million dollars in attorney fees related to the probe.

Today, CREW sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader Boehner asking that the House leaders start cooperating with law enforcement authorities pursuing legitimate criminal investigations involving members of Congress.  The letter can be found here.

Leaders of the House have been improperly shielding members of Congress – including former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) and Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) -- from criminal investigation and prosecution through an expansive and aggressive interpretation of the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution.

Members of Congress, like all other citizens, can hire attorneys to ensure that their constitutional rights are protected; this is not, however, the job of the House general counsel, hired at taxpayer expense.

A key excerpt from CREW's letter to Pelosi and Boehner:

Members of Congress are not above the law, but the House's aggressive use of the Speech and Debate Clause to impede law enforcement authorities from investigating members' potentially illegal activities is unseemly.

Unseemly, indeed. 

Rep. Jerry Lewis, the ranking member on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, is under federal investigation. Despite that investigation, House Republican leaders have kept Mr. Lewis in that coveted spot. CREW named him one of the most corrupt members of Congress in our report, Beyond DeLay -- and we asked for his removal from the House Appropriations Committee.

Lewis is spending a lot of his campaign funds on legal fees. Last month, that total spending topped $1 million. TPM Muckraker has the details:

Congratulations to Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) lawyers! They've surpassed $1 million in legal fees from the lawmaker.

Lewis, long-time TPMmers will remember, has been under federal investigation since the spring of 2006 for his ties to defense contractor and convicted criminal Brent Wilkes and lobbyist buddy Bill Lowery.

Since June of 2006, Lewis has paid just over $1 million in campaign funds to some heavy-hitters at the law firm Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher, according to campaign disclosures. A $62,000 payment on December 12th last year put him over the top.

Why does the House need to protect itself from the Department of Justice?

As reported in the post below, the House General Counsel’s Office is helping House Appropriations Committee staffer Greg Lankler resist a grand jury subpoena issued as part of the investigation into Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Jerry Lewis (R-CA). Mr. Lankler is arguing that the Justice Department’s demand for records and testimony is inconsistent with the rights and privileges of the House. In other words, he is claiming that the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause prevents him from complying with the subpoena. But the truth is the Speech or Debate Clause privilege can be waived. Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey and Ranking Member Lewis could allow Mr. Lankler to tell the grand jury what he knows.

The “cleanest Congress in history” should not be using the Speech or Debate Clause to impede House staffers from testifying about congressional corruption. It is the people who need protection from corrupt members of Congress, not corrupt members who need protection from the Justice Department.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) is the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee. That's a very powerful position, especially considering the on-going federal investigation of Lewis. CREW has twice designated Rep. Lewis one of the most corrupt members of Congress.

Late yesterday, we learned that a top aide to Rep. Lewis has been subpoenaed in the on-going investigation of the Congressman:

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles has issued a subpoena for a House Appropriations Committee staffer as part of the ongoing probe of Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the powerful panel.

Greg Lankler, a staffer on the House Appropriations Committee's Defense subcommittee, was recently subpoenaed by a federal grand jury looking into Lewis, according to House insiders.

The subpoena is for both documents and testimony, although it is unclear at this point whether Lankler will cooperate. The matter has been forwarded to the House general counsel's office, which is still studying the subpoena.

As we've noted below, there's been controversy swirling around Rep. Jerry Lewis and his coveted seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.  In April, CREW called for his removal from that committee, but nothing has happened yet.  CREW has also named Lewis one of the most corrupt members of Congress for the second year in a row.

Given all the attention Lewis is receiving, we wanted to shine the spotlight on how he earned the "most corrupt" designation again this year:

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) is a 15th-term member of Congress, representing the 41st district of California. Currently the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, his ethics issues stem primarily from the misuse of his position as chairman of the committee to steer hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks to family and friends in direct exchange for contributions to his campaign committee and political action committee. Rep. Lewis was included in CREW’s 2006 report on congressional corruption.

Relationship with Bill Lowery and Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White

Rep. Lewis has a close relationship with lobbyist and former Congressman Bill Lowery, and his lobbying firm, formerly known as Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White (“Copeland Lowery”). As chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Lewis approved hundreds of millions of dollars in federal projects for Mr. Lowery’s clients. In exchange, Mr. Lowery, his partners and their spouses contributed $480,000 to Rep. Lewis’ campaign committee and Future Leaders PAC between 2000 and 2005, often giving the maximum contribution allowed under law.

Copeland Lowery’s staff includes Letitia White, who joined the firm in 2003 after working in Rep. Lewis’ office for 22 years, most recently as a staffer to the Appropriations Committee.

At Copeland Lowery Ms. White, who became known as “K Street’s Queen of Earmarks,” quickly built a client list of two dozen defense firms that were seeking earmarks.

Jeffrey Shockey, another staffer for Rep. Lewis until 1999, also left to join Copeland Lowery. Mr. Shockey stayed with the firm for six years before returning to Capitol Hill in January 2005, for a second stint with Rep. Lewis as deputy staff director of the Appropriations Committee. To compensate for Mr. Shockey’s drop in income, Copeland Lowery paid him nearly $2 million in departure payments and hired his wife, Alexandra Shockey, as a subcontractor.

Rep. Lewis is also under investigation because of his dealings with the same contractors who had ties to former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA). After Rep. Cunningham pleaded guilty, Rep. Lewis resisted an independent investigation of Rep. Cunningham’s activities on the Appropriations Committee, stating that his own personal informal review of Rep. Cunningham’s earmarks was satisfactory and that the earmarks Rep. Cunningham doled out were legitimate. In total, Rep. Lewis has received $88,252 from now indicted contractor Brent Wilkes and his associates, making him the third-highest recipient of campaign contributions from Mr. Wilkes, after Rep. Cunningham and Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA). Rep. Lewis has received a subpoena requesting documents relating to the investigation of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham and contractor Brent Wilkes.

Federal officials currently are investigating Letitia White and Jeffrey Shockey and the cozy relationship between Rep. Lewis and Copeland Lowery, now know as Innovative Federal Strategies (IFS). Rep. Lewis sponsored $55 million in earmarks for IFS clients in the 2008 Defense Appropriations bill.

In 2006, Rep. Lewis’ congressional committee, Lewis For Congress Committee, spent $881,145.83 on legal fees. The campaign committee’s quarterly reports filed in April and July 2007 indicate that the committee has spent $66,561.61 so far this year.

If Rep. Lewis has traded legislative assistance for campaign contributions, he may be charged with bribery and honest services fraud and may have violated House rules prohibiting the dispensation of special favors and acting in a manner does not reflect credibly on the House.

In the post below, we learned that Robert Novak was reporting on a secret meeting of GOP leaders where it was decided Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), who is facing an FBI investigation, could keep his seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

Apparently, this is a touchy subject for GOP leaders. According to The Politico, the participants in that meeting denied Novak's report:

“Mr. Novak’s source is misinformed, and the report is incorrect," the leaders said in a joint statement released by Boehner's office. "The leadership team has made no new decisions regarding the status of Congressman Jerry Lewis or any other Republican member, and is committed to dealing equally and aggressively with all members of the Republican Conference with respect to ethical matters, regardless of their seniority.”

Boehner has been criticized in conservative circles for failing to punish Lewis despite an extensively reported Justice Department probe into his relationship with lobbyists whose clients have garnered lucrative contracts from the spending panel he chaired until Republicans lost their majority last fall.

Boehner forced GOP Reps. John Doolittle of California and Rick Renzi of Arizona to resign their committee posts earlier this year after the FBI raided the former's home and a family business tied to the latter in separate probes. Lewis, meanwhile, remains the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee and has continuously denied any wrongdoing.

So, this begs the question: When will the decision be made about Rep. Lewis? By not making any decision, Boehner is deciding to keep the ethically challenged Lewis in a very, very powerful position.

In April, CREW called on Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) to step down from his seat on the powerful investigation pending an ongoing FBI investigation.  He hasn't.

Today, we learn via Think Progress that the Minority Leader in the House, John Boehner, has endorsed that decision:

In his column tomorrow, Robert Novak will report that Boehner is now coming under fire from “reform-minded House Republicans” who say he has “a double standard” for rank-and-file members of Congress and GOP leaders embroiled in federal investigations, after ruling that Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) can keep his seat on the Appropriations Committee despite being investigated:

In a secret meeting Wednesday of the House Republican leadership, Minority Leader John Boehner ruled that Rep. Jerry Lewis of California will continue as the party’s ranking member of the Appropriations Committee while under federal investigation on ethics charges. That widened the gap between Boehner and reform-minded House Republicans, including members of the leadership. […]

Republican reformers complain that Boehner imposes a double standard that is harsher on rank-and-file members of Congress than on leaders. While Lewis keeps his leadership position on Appropriations, Rep. John Doolittle left the committee in April because he is a federal corruption target.

Lewis is under investigation by the Justice Department “in part” because of “a lobbying firm that hired some of his former staff members.” The investigation has been repeatedly stalled, however, by attorney departures and budget shortfalls.

Well this is interesting:

Ed Gillespie, President Bush's counselor and a former chairman of the Republican Party, acknowledged that ethical scandals have hurt the GOP. He predicted that by 2008, the party "will not have candidates who have any kind of ethical considerations that will be a concern to the voters."

Does this mean the GOP is going to prevent Ted Stevens and Pete Domenici from running for re-election? What about Jerry Lewis and John Doolittle, among others, in the House?

The Associated Press prepared this handy overview of the members of California's Congressional delegation who are facing ethical controversies. Coincidentally, all four current members profiled were named in CREW's report, Beyond DeLay, as among the 20 most corrupt members of Congress:

Rep. John Doolittle – The nine-term conservative from far Northern California is under investigation in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal that's already resulted in 12 convictions of congressional aides, Bush administration officials and others, including a guilty plea from one former Republican member of Congress, Bob Ney of Ohio.

Doolittle, whose ties to Abramoff include accepting his campaign money and helping his clients, relinquished his seat on the Appropriations Committee in April after FBI agents raided his home in Virginia with a search warrant for a fundraising and event-planning business run there by his wife, Julie, that had done work for Abramoff and drawn commissions from Doolittle's campaigns.

Doolittle denies wrongdoing.

Rep. Jerry Lewis – In his 15th term representing inland Southern California, Lewis was chairman of the Appropriations Committee last year when federal prosecutors in Los Angeles began investigating his ties to a lobbyist who represented a number of towns and businesses in Lewis' district. Clients of lobbyist Bill Lowery received valuable federal spending approved by Lewis' committee, and the firm and its clients have been generous donors to Lewis and his campaign committees.

Lewis remains top Republican on the Appropriations Committee and denies wrongdoing.

Rep. Gary Miller – A real estate developer serving his fifth term representing inland Southern California, Miller drew scrutiny after the Los Angeles Times published stories highlighting a tax deferral strategy he used in connection with profitable real estate sales to two Southern California towns outside his district. Officials in both towns say they've been interviewed by FBI agents, but Miller says he's done nothing wrong.

Rep. Ken Calvert – A year ago the FBI obtained copies of Calvert's annual financial disclosure forms after the Los Angeles Times reported on federal funding Calvert pushed for a planned freeway interchange 16 miles from property he sold for a large profit. Calvert denied any connection or any profit to himself and said he'd done nothing wrong; there's no public evidence that he's under active investigation. Still, conservative bloggers protested after House GOP leaders tapped Calvert to replace Doolittle on the Appropriations Committee.