by wordspeak » Mon Oct 16, 2006 4:55 pm
<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/14/congressman.contracts.ap/index.html">www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS...index.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>Sources: FBI investigating lawmaker, daughter's contracts<br><br>WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI is investigating whether Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., used his influence to secure lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter, two people familiar with the inquiry said Saturday.<br><br>The inquiry focuses on lobbying contracts worth $1 million that Weldon's daughter, Karen Weldon, obtained from foreign clients and whether the congressman helped steer them, they said. They spoke on condition of<br>anonymity because of the confidentiality of the criminal investigation.<br><br>Weldon, a 10-term Republican from the Philadelphia suburbs, long has denied any wrongdoing, and his top aide said Saturday no one had notified<br>him of an investigation.<br><br> "I think if there was an investigation, somebody would have contacted us,"<br>said Russ Caso, Weldon's chief of staff.<br><br>Caso said Weldon and his staff were "100 percent caught off guard" when they learned of the investigation, first reported late Friday by McClatchy<br>Newspapers. This account cited two individuals with knowledge of the existence of the investigation who declined to be identified because of<br>the confidentiality of criminal investigations.<br><br>Caso, whose boss is in a tight race for re-election on November 7 against Democrat Joe Sestak, tried to cast doubt on the report of the investigation. "Unidentified sources mean nothing," Caso said. "There's no<br>substance in that story. It's a flimsy story."<br><br>>> Two people familiar with the investigation told AP on Saturday that the<br>>> inquiry was being handled by agents from the FBI's field offices in<br>>> Washington and Philadelphia and was being coordinated by the Justice<br>>> Department's Public Integrity Section. Spokesmen for the Justice<br>>> Department and the FBI declined comment Saturday.<br>>><br>>> Those two people familiar with the investigation confirmed that federal<br>>> agents were examining Weldon's work between 2002 and 2004 to help two<br>>> Russian companies and two Serbian brothers connected to former Yugoslav<br>>> President Slobodan Milosevic. They had hired Solutions North America Inc.,<br>>> a company operated by Karen Weldon and Charles Sexton, a Republican ally<br>>> of the congressman.<br>>><br>>> Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is a Russian<br>>> speaker regarded by some as a foreign policy expert who has clashed at<br>>> times with the Bush administration.<br>>><br>>> Over the past few days, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee<br>>> has mailed fliers to voters in Weldon's district accusing Karen Weldon of<br>>> getting help from her father on lobbying projects.<br>>><br>>> Michael Puppio, Weldon's campaign manager, questioned the timing of the<br>>> mailing and published reports about the investigation. He accused<br>>> Democrats of "attempting to smear the congressman and his entire family"<br>>> in the final weeks of the campaign.<br>>><br>>> Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the Democratic committee, said it's "bizarre,<br>>> paranoid and absurd" for the Weldon campaign to imply there's a link in<br>>> the timing of the mailing and the published reports.<br>>><br>>> The Weldon investigation comes at a critical time for Republicans who are<br>>> fighting to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives in a midst<br>>> of scandals.<br>>><br> <p></p><i></i>
