Rep. [tag]Curt Weldon[/tag] (R-Pa.) has been something of a laughing stock for a while. We learned a few months ago, for example, that Weldon plotted a secret mission — for himself — in which he’d personally go to Iraq, shovel in hand, and find the elusive stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. Seriously. As Kevin Drum put it, Weldon planned to simply freelance the whole thing, and once successful, “he was going to call in the press and declare himself Weldon of Arabia, Discoverer of WMD.”
As if being crazy weren’t enough, it turns out Weldon may also have a bit of a corruption problem.
The Justice Department is investigating whether Republican Rep. Curt [tag]Weldon[/tag] of Pennsylvania traded his political influence for lucrative lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter, according to sources with direct knowledge of the inquiry.
The FBI, which opened an investigation in recent months, has formally referred the matter to the department’s Public Integrity Section for additional scrutiny. At issue are Weldon’s efforts between 2002 and 2004 to aid two Russian companies and two Serbian brothers with ties to strongman Slobodan Milosevic, a federal law enforcement official said.
The Russian companies and a Serbian foundation run by the brothers’ family each hired a firm co-owned by Weldon’s daughter, Karen, for fees totaling nearly $1 million a year, public records show.
Karen Weldon was 28 and lacked consulting experience when she and Charles Sexton, a Weldon ally and longtime Republican leader in Delaware County, Pa., created the firm of Solutions North America Inc. in 2002. Both are registered with the Justice Department as representatives of foreign clients.
The controversy is not entirely new. As Paul Kiel noted, the LA Times broke the story two years ago that Weldon’s daughter ran a lobbying firm that was raking in approximately $1 million a year — “and by some strange coincidence, her three main clients all had developed a relationship with her father, Curt.” The [tag]FBI[/tag] [tag]investigation[/tag] is, however, a new twist.
A few things to consider:
First, the evidence against Weldon looks pretty damning.
Second, I’m afraid I’ve lost count of how many House Republicans have faced, or are facing, criminal investigations: Cunningham, DeLay, Ney, Foley, Frist, Pombo, Doolittle, Weldon … remind me again why the GOP insists it’s the morally-superior party?
And third, let’s also not forget that Weldon is in a surprisingly competitive House race right now, and word of this criminal investigation may be the tipping point. Billmon, who lives in Weldon’s district, notes that this looks like another district that’s likely to go from red to blue.
Even before this news broke, Weldon was in deep electoral doo doo. The machine is strong, in an orcish sort of way, but the Republicans fucked up: Back in 2001, when they last gerrymandered the state, they figured Curt was so safe he could afford to give up some reliable GOP turf to help out his fellow Uruk hai. Weldon’s less well known — and, if recent polls are correct, much less well-liked — in some of the areas that were added to his district. And now he’s got a genuine race on his hands against a well-funded (for a Democrat) opponent, Joe Sestak. The new areas, up towards the Main Line, appear to be breaking heavily against Weldon.
Stay tuned.