FBI Raids John Doolittle, Investigates Abramoff Lobbyist Scandal

While anti-war & animal rights activists, treesitters and anarchists usually bear the brunt of the FBIs' home invasion wrath, it is unusual to witness the FBI raiding the homes of wealthy politicians and their corporate funders. However, sometimes even the wealthy political elite engage in such blatant criminal behavior that the FBI is required to do their jobs and go after the real criminals who have remain entrenched in corporate criminal scandals over several years..

In recent news the FBI has decided to further their investigation into John Doolittle's ties with lobbyist Jack Abramoff by paying him a visit at home..

This from Muckraker;

"The FBI has raided the Northern Virginia home of Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.), according to Congressional sources. No details are publicly available yet about the circumstances of the raid, but Doolittle and his wife, Julie, have been under federal investigation for their ties to the scandal surrounding imprisoned former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
More soon, I'm sure.

Update: Remember that a former key aide to Doolittle, Kevin Ring, who'd worked with Abramoff, resigned suddenly from his job late last week. As I wrote before, that's a clear sign that Ring may be preparing to plead guilty and implicate Doolittle.

Update: According to The Hill, the FBI searched the home last Friday -- the same day that Ring resigned."

read on @;
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/cats/john_doolittle/

While the ties between Doolittle and Abramoff are well known by the public in CA, Doolittle's earlier involvement with another corporate criminal is usually forgotten by many. The Texas Savings and Loan collapse orchestrated by Micheal Milkin, Ivan Boesky and Charles Hurwitz, the current CEO of Maxxam Holding Inc. (primarily responsible for current Pacific Lumber bankruptcy) ties in with Doolittle..

While Milkin and Boesky served time in federal prison for their crimes of fraud that cost US taxpayers millions in S&L collapse, Hurwitz was off the hook and remained free to be a wealthy CEO of the ruthless takeover corporation Maxxam Inc. thanks to the hard work of John Doolittle who blocked the FDIC's investigation of Hurwitz..

This from NC Journal;

"POMBO MAMBO: With some fancy investigative footwork, Los Angeles Times writers Richard A. Serrano and Stephen Braun have obtained documents that show how former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Reps. John Doolittle and Richard Pombo, both of California, actively tried to stop the FDIC's investigation into Maxxam owner Charles Hurwitz's role in the case of his collapsed Texas savings and loan. In their Jan. 8 article, the Times writers compare the Hurwitz case to the Jack Abramoff scandal: "... members of Congress using their offices to do favors for a politically well-connected individual who, in turn, supplies them with campaign funds." But, they add, while such favors are common, "... it is unusual for members of Congress to take direct steps to stymie an ongoing investigation by an agency such as the FDIC."

Which is what Pombo, DeLay and Doolittle did. In 1999, DeLay wrote to the chairman of the FDIC to decry its investigation. Then, Doolittle and Pombo, using "their power as members of the House Resources Committee," subpoenaed sensitive records from the FDIC, which included evidence the commission had gathered in its case against Hurwitz. The FDIC begged that such information not be made public.

Doolittle and Pombo spun around and, in 2001 (shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks that had everyone distracted, as was noted at the time in the Sacramento Bee), they put some of the sensitive documents into the Congressional Record -- which meant Hurwitz' lawyers could see them."

article cont's @;
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/011206/news0112.html

Original Doolittle/Hurwitz article as appeared in la times found @;
http://havenworks.com/people/a-z/d/doolittle-john-t/

What is the pattern here of Hurwitz and Doolittle's partnership? The results are clear as exposed clay in Humboldt County's redwood ecosystem following Maxxam's '85 takeover of locally owned Pacific Lumber. The continuous clearcuts and resulting erosion flooded regional streams and people's homes, and the steep hillsides devoid of protective canopy trees lost their topsoil to the sea. As predicted by earlier EF! activist and IWW organizer Judi Bari, the tripled (3-4X) rate of harvest and clearcuts following Maxxam's takeover of PL would eventually completely degrade the redwoods ecosystem, losing jobs, topsoil and ancient trees in the process..

"In this half-hour Radio Curious interview by Barry Vogel, Judi gives a brilliant analysis of how Texas corporate raider Charles Hurwitz took over Pacific Lumber with the help of junk-bond king and convicted felon Michael Milken. Hurwitz then immediately began liquidating PL's assets, including tripling the previous rate of cutting of the largest remaining privately owned stands of old-growth redwood forests. Judi explains how, instead of using the proceeds of the liquidation logging to pay off the junk bond takeover debt, Hurwitz then used financial trickery to line his own pockets to the tune of hundreds of millions. Hurwitz split PL into three parts, leaving the bondholders the cut-over timberlands while putting Headwaters Forest into a debt-free subsidiary controlled entirely by himself, so he could sell it off to the government and pocket hundreds of millions."

audio interview @;
http://www.judibari.org/`audio_index.html#RCurious95

There's another question (repeated Xmal) for the FBI; "Who DID bomb Judi Bari?", yet we still have no answers..

Judi Bari was not alone in making these predictions. That PL would eventually become bankrupt was visible to people as far away as the bay..

"What We Know

* After the take-over in 1985, Maxxam nearly tripled Pacific Lumber's (PL) rate of cut, doubling the operating income but still lost an average of $20 million a year.

* PL cut 10 years worth of trees in 7 years. In 1987-1997 it cut half its inventory. The 1999 "Headwaters Deal" allowed 178 million board feet/year, which would deplete the timber inventory in 18 years. PL logs at 2-4 times the rate of other companies in the area, like Green Diamond, Hawthorne Timber, and Mendocino Redwood Company.

* Over 80% of the land in the Freshwater Watershed has been logged in less than
15 years.

* Maxxam, in 1985, spent very little of its own money to purchase Pacific Lumber, an asset-rich company nearly free of debt. With the help of the infamous junk bond swindler Michael Milken, Maxxam CEO Charles Hurwitz financed the (barely-legal) take-over with junk bonds, loading an $868 million debt burden onto the company (the purchase price was approximately $900 million)."

entire article @;
http://www.headwaterspreserve.org/html/publications_article_52.html

also;
http://www.headwaterspreserve.org/

We're very curious what the outcome would have been if only Doolittle had not interfered with the initial FDIC investigations of corporate criminal Charles Hurwitz. Now that Pacific Lumber is 700+ million dollars in debt, & the PL bankruptcy hearings are being held in Corpus Christi Texas far away from unemployed workers, what is the outcome for the people and ecosystem? Another good question to investigate is the validity of Scotia Pacific, the recent shell corporation that enabled Hurwitz to move the PL bankruptcy trial so far away from PL's hometown of Scotia, CA!!

Unlike students and homeowners, when corporations like Maxxam go into debt, the banks are always eager to please, while collection agencies are nonexistant. Even the old growth redwood forests of CA, considered as shared community land by most indigenous cultures, can now be offered as collateral to bankers to pay off corporate debt. Could all this unpaid debt by Maxxam/PL be transferred to students and homeowners in the form of predatory lending??

"Old Growth Forests as Collateral: The Case of Maxxam

Another case of leveraging debt into deforestation occurred when Citibank invented a new form of collateral for backing loans. In March 1993, it was announced that Scotia Pacific Holding Company would be offering $385 million of notes, and Pacific Lumber would be offering $235 million in notes to be sold through underwriters led by Salomon Brothers and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. What was unusual about the deal was not only that Scotia Pacific Holding was a new corporations specifically created to facilitate the sale, and that Scotia was a subsidiary of Maxxam's Pacific Lumber Company - but that redwood trees, or "prime California timber" as the Wall Street Journal called them, were being used as collateral."

article cont's @;
http://www.endgame.org/citigroup.html

Fraudulent THPs submitted by Maxxam/PL are also being investigated by Humboldt DA Paul Gallegos. Unfortunately Gallegos and the Humboldt DA's office is too preoccupied with harrassing treesitters and houseless campers to ever get their fraud lawsuit against Maxxam up and running..

While activists and regulators pursue Hurwitz's stolen millions from ecocide of CA's coastal redwoods and PL's jobs, let's not forget to hold John Doolittle accountable for interfering with the FDIC & thereby allowing Maxxam CEO Charles Hurwitz to remain free despite his earlier S&L crimes..

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Doolittle#Doolittle_and_Hurwitz

Time for a bit o' housecleaning, eh Johnny D??

Dump Doolittle!! Chronicling a lame duck's stumble into oblivion..
http://solongjohn.blogspot.com/

As a constituent in Doolittle's 4th district, am asking John Doolittle to show at least a shred of respect for public office and step down from office..