slime on down the road
Powerful Lawmaker's Relative Linked Financially to Contractor
By Peter Pae, Tom Hamburger and Richard Simon
The Los Angeles Times
Thursday 08 June 2006
Washington - A political fundraising committee headed by a defense contractor has paid thousands of dollars in fees to the stepdaughter of House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) at a time when the contractor has been lobbying Congress for funding.
Lewis' stepdaughter, Julia Willis-Leon, has been paid more than $42,000 by the Small Biz Tech Political Action Committee, according to campaign finance records. The PAC is led by Nicholas Karangelen, founder and president of Trident Systems Inc.
Records show the company received at least $11.7 million in earmarked funds in recent defense spending bills over which Lewis' committee has jurisdiction.
The Small Biz Tech PAC was created early last year "to establish a strong and clear voice for small technology businesses" dealing with Congress, according to its website, which features a photo of Lewis at one of its events.
PACs customarily collect money from donors and distribute it to political figures in the form of campaign contributions. But in the case of Small Biz Tech, almost one-third of the $115,350 it has reported raising was given to Lewis' stepdaughter, according to figures in its financial disclosure reports.
In fact, the payments to Willis-Leon exceeded the $15,600 total it has contributed to political candidates and other PACs.
Lewis is chairman of the House committee that - with its Senate counterpart - writes all federal spending bills. He is a prominent figure in the broad federal investigation into the relationships that powerful members of Congress and their senior aides have with the government contractors and lobbyists who seek to curry favor with them.