"Imagine that every time members of Congress received a $1,000 campaign contribution, they could skim $150 off the top and put it straight into their personal bank accounts. Sound shady? That is, in effect, how Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.) and his wife, Julie, operate. According to our review of campaign finance records, Mrs. Doolittle has received at least $215,000 from Mr. Doolittle's various campaign committees since 2001. This doesn't include $6,800 in payments to another of Mrs. Doolittle's companies, Events Plus, before she started doing his fundraising work. She's taken in nearly $100,000 during the 2006 campaign alone.

The arrangement couldn't smell more.

Mrs. Doolittle's company, Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, is based in the couple's Oakton home. It has no phone listing or Web site. A search of campaign databases does not show it doing fundraising work for campaign committees other than those associated with Mr. Doolittle. The only other clients it's reported to have done work for are associated with lobbyist Jack Abramoff: Mrs. Doolittle was hired by Mr. Abramoff's former law firm, Greenberg Traurig, to provide "event planning, marketing and related services" for Mr. Abramoff's Capital Athletic Foundation and his Signatures restaurant. Mrs. Doolittle also provided bookkeeping services for the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, founded by Edwin A. Buckham, former chief of staff to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.)."

Get the Story:
Editorial: The Doolittles' Rich Deal (The Washington Post 4/21)
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Relevant Links:
Rep. John Doolittle - http://www.house.gov/doolittle

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