Doolittle's Gravy Train Still Alive And Well

All that snooping by federal investigators hasn't stopped John Doolittle from continuing to reward his friends with favors.

Rep. John T. Doolittle, who’s been caught up in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, has requested a substantial earmark for a college represented by one of his former aides, who, coincidentally, has just been contacted by the FBI.

Pete Evich, a lobbyist and Doolittle’s legislative director until 2002, has been representing Sierra College, which could end up receiving $300,000 if the congressman’s request is approved.

My favorite part of this is that it comes right at the time when Pete Evich is being sought by federal investigators for questioning about Doolittle's role in the Abramoff scandal. It doesn't take a genius to see that as a potential payoff; Evich gets his $300,000 for the college, and he suddenly has a memory lapse when speaking with the FBI.

Incidentally, this is just one of the earmarks we know about, Doolittle has repeatedly refused to release the others.

Brown said that with most U.S. debt now owned by OPEC nations and military rivals like China , "every wastefully spent dollar by our Congress represents a national security risk."

"Addressing this growing threat starts with full public disclosure of all earmark requests," Brown said.

Personally, I believe earmarks are occasionally valuable and overblown in their purported role as the most wasteful portion of the budget (I'd direct your attention to the useless WWII-era weapons systems we're still building), but the fact that the only Doolittle earmarks we DO know about are going to friends is pretty telling.