Today's Washington Post has a series of articles that, while long, are must reading for anyone who's a constituent of Rep. Tom Davis (R-11). Basically, what the Post does is lay out in great detail a highly questionable, suspiciously slimy web of influence and favors surrounding Tom "DeLay" Davis and his wife, Virginia State Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites. In short, Rep. Davis, who ironically serves as Chairman of the Committee on Government Reform, has extremely close ties - and provides very helpful, highly lucrative favors - to ICG Government, a consulting company for technology firms seeking government contracts. What's the problem with that?
Well, among other things:
*The fact that Davis' wife, Jeannemarie Devolites, is a partner with ICG.
*The fact that - according to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, "[t]he principal of ICG, Donald Upson, is a personal friend of [Rep. Davis'] whom you have known for 20 years."
*The fact that Davis intervened in a highly suspicious manner on behalf of an ICG client, Artel Inc., by pressuring the Pentagon to maintain a $2.2 billion satellite services contract that was facing termination, and which "represented nearly 70 percent of Artel's revenue."
*The fact that Davis denies any knowledge of a letter, largely written by Artel, which has his signature on it and which went to the Pentagon official (Charles Croom) in charge of the satellite services contract.
*The fact that Davis' friend Upson - also a lobbyist for Juniper Networks Inc. - arranged to have Juniper's chairman and chief executive, Scott Kriens, testify at a Congressional hearing on bird flu. Juniper, it turns out, is very interested in bird flu as part of its strategy to push teleworking technology and earn money in that line of business. Getting Kriens a slot testifying before Davis' committee was "create a reputation for Juniper in Congress was, according to the Post, part of "an 18-month plan to create a reputation for Juniper in Congress as a 'thought leader' on technology issues." Obviously, large amounts of money was at stake in becoming said "thought leader."
*The fact that the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, despite being controlled by members of Davis' own party, admonished him by urging him to "avoid a claim that you are allowing your official title to be used for private gain." In addition, the Conduct Committee repeatedly came to the lukewarm conclusion - "Generally, the answer is 'no'" - when asked about possible ethical or conduct standards violations by Davis and his wife. Not exactly a ringing absolution for Tom "Team Abramoff" Davis.
*Finally, the fact that Davis is a major Republican leader in Congress at a time when Congress has completely failed - under pressure by interest groups - to deliver on its promise of major lobbying reform in the aftermath of the Jack Abramoff scandal. In fact, according to the Post, even minor changes "are in jeopardy." (Note: let's not forget that Tom Davis was a recipient of "Team Abramoff's" largesse).
Fascinating, eh? Apparently, for Tom Davis, Ethics R Not Us. Questionable Favors and Cronyism, however, most certainly are.
P.S. As a frequent critic of the "corporate media" in general, and the Washington Post specifically, my hat is off to the newspaper on this journalistic investigation into Rep. Davis. Great work by reporters Robert O'Harrow, Jr. and Scott Higham! This is EXACTLY what the media's supposed to be doing ALL the time - ferreting out corruption and acting as a check on our "leaders."
P.P.S. Go Andy Hurst!
[UPDATE: From the Post live chat comes this question..
Washington, D.C.: Scott & Rob:Great piece, but you only scratched the surface. The trade press has well documented (although from a cheerleader perspective), Davis' near total dismantlement of the procurment oversight and regulatory functions of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) at OMB. In addition, he was largely responsible for putting David Safavian in as Administrator of OFPP (Safavian's wife is Davis' chief investigative counsel). There's just so much to choose from, why don't you expand your story?
Ouch!]
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
I'd love to see an ad - and given that budgets are tight, maybe it's a viral ad that goes on YouTube and stuff - with the theme, "Tom Davis: not who you think he is." The voiceover discusses Davis' not-so-moderate voting record, raises these potential ethical questions, etc., and in the end, makes a viewer realize that Davis has positioned himself as a moderate but that in some ways, he's not acting like it, and he's not necessarily in step with NOVA's increasingly Dem population.
- It gives a huge boost to Andy Hurst and will attract national attention to his race against Davis;
- It puts Ms. Devolites Davis' state Senate seat at risk --hopefully, Chap Petersen will jump into the race against her very soon;
- It imperils Davis' plan to follow John Warner into the Senate in 2008, assuming Warner retires.
Usually, stories like these are only the tip of the iceberg, as they reflect just one example of how corrupt (but sadly typical) pols like Davis operate. There will be more to come and his overhyped reputation will continue to be eroded.
I'm sending a donation to Andy Hurst TODAY!
I'd prefer to see an independent press that simply reports on any and all issues to the best of it's ability. I don't want them helping Dems or Repubs - I'd like them reporting facts and analysis.
Ok, I know, that's a pipe dream given politics and the economic realities of the media business, but let's not encourage the press to take sides.
For someone whose political life depends on his being a moderate it looks like he only has a few ties to DeLay money because he was his own Tom Delay --only a few dollars down the list from DeLay of Congressmen funded by lobbyists (7th of the 435 - the TOP 98%).
I've written about Davis and his Democratic opponent. Andy Hurst is a GREAT GUY. Check him out, clean up the reform committee and Contribute to Andy Hurst.
WHICH IS WHY WE NEED TO THROW THE BUMS OUT ASAP!!!!!!!
Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) and his staff have worked closely with corporations and their lobbyists to help write federal procurement legislation.
Andy, please put that on your next lit piece.
Also, can someone post about this scandal to Kos or MyDD? I am under the weather and unable to do so, but the folks over at the national blogs seem to love Andy and hate Davis (e.g. of my last two diaries on this subject at MyDD, one was front-paged and the other was on the rec list for 48 hours). If someone does write about this, can you provide us with a link?