http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1402/19/lvab.02.html
GRIFFIN: Want an example? Take Kristi Clemens Rogers.
Four years ago, she married the powerful chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers.
Up until 2012, she was also the CEO of the American branch of Aegis, a defense and security contracting firm, where. according to her new employer, the law firm, Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, Kristi Rogers successfully developed and led a two-year pursuit and capture strategy to win a five-year, $10 billion contract under the Department of State’s Worldwide Protective Services program.”
And, yes, it’s an area her husband’s committee has Congressional oversight, making sure diplomats and their staffs are properly protected.
You would think Congressman Mike Rogers would at least disclose that family connection, or that in appearing before Congress, Kristi Rogers would disclose her marital ties.
But on his Web site, Congressman Rogers only states he’s in fact married, no name, and Kristi Rogers in an appearance before a presidential commission back in 2010 didn’t mention the name of the man she just married, even though she missed her first appearance due to her honeymoon.
KRISTI CLEMENS ROGERS, WIFE OF REPRESENTATIVE MIKE ROGERS: It was an unfortunate perfect storm. I had just come off my honeymoon. That was not the perfect storm —
GRIFFIN: The congressman declined our interview request, and his press secretary set us straight in this email, telling us this is all old news.
“Kristi Rogers is not a lobbyist,” she writes, and “is not engaging in those activities.”
“She has also never met with any member of Congressman Rogers’ staff or staff members of the intelligence committee in any professional capacity on any issue.”
Kristi Rogers is now the managing director of Federal Government Affairs and Public Policy from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
She is not a registered lobbyist. She just happens to work for a firm that does extensive lobbying, and on its Web site, touts its “strong relationships in Congress” with a “solid record of success in securing legislation and federal funding on behalf of clients.” NYHART: And it’s this kind of conflict of interest that leads to this deep distrust.
GRIFFIN: What we are told constantly by the members is, I never talk to my spouse about this issue.
I never talk to her on this business. There’s a firewall between me and my sons who are lobbyists.
Do you buy that?
NYHART: Well, whether you buy it or not, here’s the question of the appearance. I’m sure there’s some reality.
I can’t quite believe that members of Congress don’t care about the fortunes of their family members.
GRIFFIN: And the fortunes go both ways. Mike Rogers’ wife, Kristi becomes CEO of defense contractor, then is hired by a lobbying firm.
Rogers becomes chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and according to the Federal Election Commission, political donations from the defense industry quadruple, all legal, all within the rules, all routine in the family business of Washington.
Drew Griffin, CNN, Washington.
http://www.freenewspos.com/news/article/b/705782/today/rogers-wife-say-careers-don-39-t-overlap
Rogers, wife say careers don’t overlap
Oh Look, Rep. Mike Rogers Wife Stands To Benefit Greatly From CISPA Passing...
Thanks Maggie
He is also a former FBI agent.
This is not the nineteenth century. Do they think we’re too stupid to use the Internet and expose them? No way this is not going to blow up in the collective faces.