No contributions yet for Doolittle’s defense fund

Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) reported no contributions to his legal defense fund Monday, noting that that it was created in late June just three days before the end of the second quarter’s reporting period.

“As you know, this legal expense fund was just recently approved by this committee on June 27, 2007,” Doolittle wrote in his memo to Reps. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), who chairs the House ethics committee, and Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), its ranking member. The reporting period ended June 30.

{mosads}According to rules governing legal defense funds, however, Doolittle could have transferred campaign funds into his trust as long as he used the money for legal and administrative expenses.

Doolittle’s campaign fundraising has struggled in recent months. His opponent, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charlie Brown (D) came within three percentage points of beating the lawmaker last year. So far this year, Brown has raised nearly twice as much as Doolittle and has three times as much cash on hand as the congressman, according to second-quarter campaign finance documents.

The FBI is probing Doolittle and his wife’s ties to imprisoned former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Doolittles’ Virginia home was raided in mid-April, the start of the second-quarter fundraising period. Doolittle has denied any wrongdoing.

Doolittle’s campaign committee has paid $50,583 in legal fees since April — $20,583 to Wiley, Rein & Fielding and $30,000 to Williams and Mullen.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) still is paying for the legal ramifications of disclosing a tape that contained an illegally recorded call between now-Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and GOP leaders in 1996.

His legal defense fund reported receiving $15,859 from 33 donors in the second quarter, including $2,500 from Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and $250 from Christine Cegelis, an Illinois Democrat who lost a race for Congress last year.
McDermott spent $10,842 in defense funds mainly on postage, fundraising and printing, according to the second-quarter report.

Boehner, who was then Republican Conference chairman, participated in a conference call of Republican leaders, including then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.). The GOP leaders discussed Gingrich’s decision to accept a reprimand from the ethics committee in exchange for the committee’s pledge not to hold a hearing. A D.C. appeals court ruled in early May that McDermott disclosed the tape illegally because at the time he was a member of the ethics committee and subject to rules prohibiting him from disclosing evidence in an ongoing case.

Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.), who established a legal defense fund on July 20, reported no contributions or expenditures beyond the $10 of his own money he contributed when it was formed. He created the fund to defend himself from a lawsuit that his 2004 and 2006 opponent filed in February charging that English defamed him by intentionally distorting portions of a philosophy text he authored.

Reps. William Jefferson  (D-La.), who was indicted in an alleged bribery scheme, and Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), whom the FBI questioned about a golfing trip he took with Abramoff, had not filed second-quarter legal defense fund reports as of press time.