Posted on 07/28/2006 9:07:56 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
The pay of a former staffer of Inland Rep. Jerry Lewis was cut less than a year before she took a job with a Washington lobbying firm, enabling her to avoid a rule prohibiting high-ranking congressional staff members from lobbying their old bosses or committees for one year, House records show.
Letitia White worked as an assistant to Lewis, R-Redlands, on the House Appropriations Committee before leaving to take a job as lobbyist in 2003 with the firm then known as Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton & Shockey.
Congressional staff members who earn 75 percent of a House member's salary are subject to the one-year cooling off period as part of the Ethics in Government Act, which prohibits them from lobbying their former offices. For White, that would mean Lewis' office and the House Appropriations Committee.
In 2002, House members earned $150,000 so White's salary had to be less than $112,500 to avoid the lobbying ban. Although her monthly salary in January 2002 would have put White above that amount, her salary dropped in February 2002.
From then until she left Capitol Hill on Jan. 8, 2003, her salary amounted to $112,420, $80 less than the limit, House records show. She began work for the lobbying firm the next day.
White was paid $122,536 in 2001.
Patrick Dorton, a spokesman for White and Copeland Lowery, called the pay cut insignificant but would not comment on the reasons for the reduction. He said White complied with all ethics guidelines.
White received a bonus in 2001 but did not get one in 2002, Dorton said. That's the main difference in pay, he said.
Lewis has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
"I have always made every effort to carefully follow the rules of the House of Representatives in all aspects of my Congressional work," Lewis said in a statement his office released Thursday. "I am confident that any review will confirm this."
Lewis has come under scrutiny as part of a wide-ranging federal investigation into White's lobbying firm.
In May, a federal grand jury subpoenaed documents from several Inland cities, counties, businesses and other groups about their decisions to hire Copeland Lowery
Neither Lewis nor the firm has been accused of any wrongdoing.
Lewis is a friend of firm partner Bill Lowery, a former congressman who had served with Lewis on the House Appropriations Committee. Lewis is now chairman of the committee, which controls about $900 billion in federal spending. Two former members of his staff, including White, have also worked for the firm.
Clients of Copeland Lowery, which split into two firms in June, have received millions of dollars in earmarks.
The practice is under increased scrutiny by federal authorities since former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Rancho Santa Fe, pleaded guilty in November to conspiring to accept bribes in exchange for earmarks.
Earmarks are special projects inserted into federal funding legislation by lawmakers.
White's first clients as a lobbyist were defense contractors, including General Atomics, she had contact with while a congressional staff member. She took a trip to Italy in April 2002 that was paid for by General Atomics, according to White's financial-disclosure report.
White's clients have received millions of dollars in earmarks. General Dynamics, for instance, has received more than $50 million in federal funding since White became a lobbyist, records show.
"It creates a circumstantial case that there was an intent or a plan by Letitia White to leave and become a lobbyist while she was still earmarking projects for people that would become her clients when she left," said Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense, which monitors federal spending.
Jan Witold Baran, a Washington, D.C.-based ethics lawyer and a former general counsel of the Republican National Committee, said people can debate whether the apparent salary cut violates the spirit of the ethics act, but it's not illegal.
"It's one of the rare areas in the law where compliance is mathematical," he said. "You either make a certain amount of money or you don't."
Letitia White, a former staff member for Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, had to earn less than $112,500 in the year before she left her congressional job in January 2003 to become a lobbyist to avoid a one-year "cooling-off" period.
2000
$113,308
2001
$122,536
2002
$112,420
So, the lesson here is you can't sell out on a whim - you have to plan to sell out at least a year in advance.
....wheeling and dealing at it's finest.....no party immune to back office goofiness
Well, if what they say about the bonuses is true [i.e. that the 2002 number is base pay only], then one needs the numbers on base pay. The actual base pay cut might have been minimal.
Why are bonuses paid? These aren't profit centers, there are no productivity gains to be had.
Doesn't seem like a big deal to me...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.