Congressman Doolittle and Contributions

This morning's Sacramento Bee has an editorial that should be read by everyone in the area. Doolittle is a career politician who started in the state senate and then moved to congress after about a decade in the state senate. He has been there since 1991. His legislative record in both bodies is paltry. He is a classic insider - a member of the House Administration committee and the GOP conference secretary. His ability to move to sanctimony is huge. In the last several months it has become known that the congressman's wife, who set up her own political consulting firm, takes a 15% commission for fund raising. According to the Bee that was not Doolittle's practice before 2002. What this looks like is a way to supplement the Doolittle's income. At best, this practice is unethical. But Doolittle refuses to respond directly to questions. It is the same way he has done for the last year on a number of issues including answering to his ties to lobbyists like Jack Abramoff.

As we drove through the district yesterday we saw a ton of signs imploring voters to "stand by" the congressman. Does that mean we should stand by him completely, or should we simply stand by him with a 15% deduction? I am not sure who about his opponents. In the primary (and this is a GOP district - Doolittle has schemed at least twice with the democrats to get a district to his liking - even at the expense of making other GOP seats more vulnerable) he is facing the Vice Mayor of Auburn. But Doolittle will be loaded with cash and the size of the district makes it hard to oust an incumbent. It's too bad that someone like Doolittle cannot be held a bit more accountable. That may be too much to wish for.