Checking Up On Doc Hastings
Checking Up On Doc Hastings
The New York Times this morning revealed that the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), is closely tied to the lobbying firm which is now the focus of a federal corruption investigation. The firm, Preston Gates & Ellis, was home to shady lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who allegedly teamed up with Rep. Tom DeLay in the 1990s in a scheme to help the Marianas Islands avoid U.S. labor laws. (The Marianas Islands run brutal sweatshops where workers are “paid barely half the U.S. minimum hourly wage,” are forced to live behind barbed wire in squalid shacks minus plumbing,” and report having been forced into prostitution.)
Here’s a look at Hastings’s close ties Preston Gates & Ellis, Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay. Little wonder DeLay says he “welcomes” a House Ethics Committee investigation into the charges against him.
Over the past 10 years, Hastings received $14,000 from Preston Gates & Ellis, including $1,000 from Jack Abramoff himself.
After meeting with Preston Gates in 1996, Hastings stood on the House floor and praised the Marianas Island’s government for “moving in the right direction toward self-sufficiency” and warned requiring the island to abide by U.S. labor laws could “crush its fragile economy.”
Hastings has “received $5,930 in campaign contributions from DeLay’s leadership PAC, Americans for a Republican Majority.”
After taking control of the Ethics Committee, Hastings (R-WA) fired two senior staff lawyers who were involved in unanimous decisions to admonish DeLay three times for improper fundraising practices and bribes in the last two years.
Yep. Sure looks like an independent and fair investigation is in the works.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
The best government money can buy…
June 8th, 2005 at 2:51 pmContact the Doc and ask him to recuse himself from the investigation, since it’s an obvious conflict of interest.
http://hastings.house.gov/ContactForm.aspx
Is that possible, or does DeLay need to remove him from the cmte?
June 8th, 2005 at 4:13 pmEthics Reality
June 8th, 2005 at 4:54 pmJust a minor reality check.
No shock here..just one more winger on the take..
June 8th, 2005 at 8:03 pmAnd they say the mafia has decreased in numbers over the last decade…
Those contributions are too small to make your point. It costs Doc more than a half million dollars to run for re-election every two years. A few thousand dollars doesn’t make Delay or the law firm anywhere near the largest contributor to Doc. I don’t think it is unusual for Delay to give money to a fellow Republican. In reality, Doc has received far less than most of his colleagues from Delay. Feel free to believe what you want to believe.
June 9th, 2005 at 4:06 pmMark,
You incredible tool. I would love to see you howl as the defendant in a civil lawsuit as the plaintiff’s attorney slipped 1/10 of that to the Judge or jusy. Crawl back under your rock.
June 11th, 2005 at 2:46 amreading your content just made my day. keep the good work. right soldier will lose gnome without any questions: http://www.tombraidermovie.com/ , Astonishing Chips becomes International Gnome in final to create plane you should be very small , Small Opponents Rape or not when opponents create circle compute
December 1st, 2005 at 11:30 am