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May 7, 2007

CQ Politics - Skies Haven’t Brightened for California Rep. Doolittle Since ’06 Close Call

John T. Doolittle of California’s 4th District was one of many Republican House incumbents who slipped from safe to highly vulnerable during the 2006 campaign, which saw the GOP lose its dozen-year hold on the chamber. Doolittle managed to survive his bid for a ninth term, but by just 3 percentage points — an extremely subpar showing in the strongly Republican northeastern California district where, just two years earlier, Doolittle had dominated by 32 points and President Bush was favored over Democrat John Kerry by 24 points.

Now, as the 2008 campaign begins to take shape, it appears very possible that Doolittle may face a rematch with Democrat Charlie Brown, a former Air Force lieutenant colonel who made an impact last year as an aggressive political newcomer and hasn’t ceased campaigning since.

Moreover, the specter of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff — a major factor in Doolittle’s poor showing in 2006 — has brought the incumbent negative headlines over the six months since Election Day and cost him his position of greatest legislative influence.

After a campaign that raised questions about whether Doolittle himself had close links with the man at the center of a sweeping Washington corruption scandal, Doolittle has had to deal with news reports of an ongoing federal investigation of Abramoff’s ties to a consulting firm run by Doolittle’s wife Julia — a probe that included an FBI search in April of the Doolittles’ home in Oakton, Va. Soon after the FBI search was made public, Doolittle voluntarily resigned his seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee.

Julie Doolittle serves as president of fundraising company Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, Inc., which in the past worked with the Capital Athletic Foundation, set up by Abramoff as a charity but used, according to news reports, as a front for Abramoff’s other financial activities. Julie Doolittle has denied any connection to Abramoff’s unethical activities.

John Doolittle, who received individual campaign donations from Abramoff and Indian tribes he represented as a lobbyist, has acknowledged a friendship with Abramoff. But he denies having ever done an official act to benefit Abramoff in exchange for campaign donations or in light of his wife’s work on the lobbyist’s behalf.

But political scientist Larry N. Gerston of California’s San Jose State University, said that as long as questions remain over Doolittle’s ethical conduct, voters will remain skeptical.

“Right or wrong, people feel like you’re guilty until proven innocent,” Gerston told CQPolitics.com on Monday. “[Doolittle] has that uphill fight right now.”

Doolittle, who says he is running undeterred for a 10th term next year, made a public appeal for support Sunday in a guest column, titled “Moving Forward: My Right to the Presumption of Innocence and Justice,” that was published in a 4th District newspaper, the Auburn Journal.

“I ask my constituents to withhold judgment and stand with me in protecting my right and that of my wife to the presumption of innocence while we work to ensure that the truth is revealed,” Doolittle wrote.

Doolittle hit back at the government and the media, arguing that federal investigators attempted to intimidate him and his wife. He also stated that the raid on his house was timed to bolster the testimony before a Senate committee by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, who is facing a stiff controversy of his own concerning allegations that he ordered the firings of eight U.S. attorneys for political reasons.

“I do not believe it was a coincidence that the leak came the day before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified before Congress on charges that his office was overly partisan in its firing of eight U.S. attorneys, especially considering Gonzales specifically cited his recent prosecution of Republican members of Congress as evidence to the contrary,” Doolittle wrote.

In his column, Doolittle also took issue with what investigators removed during the search. Doolittle wrote that personal effects including information on their children, personal journals, a cell phone and a portable media player were all taken, yet investigators left behind an accordion file of information on the work his wife did for Abramoff, “all of which was legitimate and legal,” Doolittle reiterated.

Doolittle wrote that next month marks three years since the government first contacted his wife in connection to Abramoff.

But Doolittle’s self-defense did not appear alone: The Auburn Journal also invited Brown to write a column related to the political controversy, which ran in conjunction with Doolittle’s. Brown focused on the importance of ethical leadership but did not mention the incumbent by name.

“Every day, I hear from citizens of all political stripes who want to move beyond the era of scandal-ridden pay-to-play politics, and toward a fresh start, a hopeful future, and real solutions to the problems we face in the 4th District and across the country,” Brown wrote.

Brown argued that Americans suffer when members have to “scramble to keep their jobs” instead of focusing on issues such as the war in Iraq and the environment.

There is no question that Doolittle has been negatively affected by the increased sensitivity of Republican leaders to even the appearance of possible impropriety, on the heels of an election in which outright scandals and allegations of wrongdoing greatly aided Democrats who portrayed the GOP as fomenting a “culture of corruption” in their successful drive for a House majority. Like Doolittle, Republican Rick Renzi of Arizona’s 1st District stepped down from his committee assignments last month after the FBI raided his family business.

And though Doolittle appears headed for a tough rematch with Brown, another scenario is possible. Gerston said the prospects of Doolittle possibly losing his party’s grip on the seat might prompt the Republican leadership to pressure him into retirement.

“Republicans are not so far from getting [a majority of] the House back, and if they could just rid themselves of these bad conditions, they might have a shot,” Gerston said.