Tom Davis, Reform Committee Holiday Party Paid for by Lobbyists, Profiteers

By: Andrea Chamblee
Published On: 12/7/2006 1:08:59 AM

Cross posted at DailyKos.
Tom Davis promised to repeat having his Holiday Party paid for by Jack Abramoff, postal reform interests, Federal Telephone System bidders, and Iraq and Katrina contractors like IDS.

The donors were allowed to host 2005's lavish event in the Rayburn House Office Building. The invitation is here.

A UPS spokesman didn't know how much that party cost but said they'd sponsor it again in 2006. A spokesman for Davis said he'd be happy to have lobbyists and contractors pay again next time.

Call Davis at 202-225-1492 and his Committee at 202-225-5074 and ask who is paying for his staff's party this year. More phone numbers are here.
This will be the fourth year that Davis taps lobbyists and regulated industry for Christmas cheer.  Sponsors in 2005 included lobbyists at PodestaMattoon whose name partner Dan Mattoon worked with Davis and Abramoff in a scheme detailed here and here.  Defense contractors General Dynamics, BearingPoint (formerly KPMG), and Innovative Defense Strategies also chipped in. MCI, bidding on the biggest contract GSA ever awarded, also paid, despite bankruptcy proceedings in which it claimed it would not pay its own employees retirement funds. More are listed by the Project on Government Oversight here, which estimates that each of the nine sponsors could spend up to $450 per staff or member of Congress. "ThatGÇÖs quite a party!"

Senator John Warner (R-VA) pays for his own party for his staff. A lot of staffers are starting to pay for their own parties, as well. Davis hopes to join Jim Webb in the Senate in 2008 when Warner is expected to retire. Davis seems to have no interest in emulating Warner.  For now the Chair of the Reform Committee, who oversees the activities of these lobbyists and contractors, wants to stick the bill to them.

Davis and the Committee has one of the biggest staffs on the Hill, a staff that has already helped itself to trips so frequent and so lavish that it made headlines this year. The staff has plenty of time for private jets to Italy because it has taken a break after issuing 1,052 subpoenas for testimony on Clinton's Christmas card list; it has issued only 11 subpoenas related to allegations of Republican abuse. Staffers can relax without having to worry about bringing a pot-luck dish, well-deserved after a tough year of not holding hearings on Iraq, Abu Gahrib, Valarie Plame, WMDs, and Jack Abramoff.

One party planner, IDS, is run by Richard Carroll, who may be represented by the consulting and lobbyist firm that has hired Davis's wife, ICG. ICG preps company execs for testimony before Davis's Reform Committee. Carroll has donated $10,000 to Jeannemarie Devolites Davis as Richard Carroll of Virginia and Richard Carroll of Florida. According to the FEC, he donated $11,000 to Tom Davis and another $7,000 to the NRCC when Davis was Chair.  Carroll is on the Board of the Small Business Technology Commission that testified before Davis's Committee on Iraq contractor-related issues several times that year, e.g., here at p 94.

The story made Lou Dobbs report: 

Maybe the Senate Intelligence Committee should have the CIA pay for its party... The International Relations Committee, maybe they could have Russia kick in, maybe a little from China?

More telephone numbers for Davis are here.

Comments



Good old Tom Davis is at it again (pitin - 12/7/2006 10:49:14 AM)
Hey WaPo "reporters" you reading this?


Still for the life of me (totallynext - 12/7/2006 9:24:05 PM)
I cannot get why that this gets absolutely no trackson....

With all the "lobbist" scandles and the Abramoff connections that he just slided into re-election.



I blame the Post for covering Davis's tracks (Mookie - 12/7/2006 10:33:02 PM)
I don't think they did ONE STORY mentioning Abramoff and Davis in the same article. Why is the Boston Globe covering him better than the Post is? Maybe they don't want an FCC investigation: I don't know how they get to own two radio stations - 1500 AM and 107.7 FM - that read me their paper, and a paper that reprints their magazine - Slate. They also own tv stations:  "As of 2006, Post-Newsweek owns 6 VHF stations, all of which are in the Top 50 markets. All but one has a network affiliation." http://en.wikipedia....
Public airwaves aren't supposed to be dominated by one company in one market, because then news is suppressed. Airwaves are public and use is supposed be awarded in the public interest.


traction not trackson - sorry (totallynext - 12/7/2006 9:25:42 PM)