Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo said Monday he and other congressmen weren't attempting to block a federal investigation of a prominent Texas political contributor, but were trying instead to keep a government agency from wrongly seizing the man's property. At issue were attempts by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to recover $300 million from Houston millionaire Charles Hurwitz for his role in the 1988 collapse of United Savings Association of Texas, which cost taxpayers $1.6 billion. A report in Sunday's Los Angeles Times said Pombo, R-Calif.; Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif.; and Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, sought...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two Republican congressman from Northern California used their positions to try to stop a federal investigation of a Texas businessman who had given them political contributions, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. Reps. John T. Doolittle and Richard W. Pombo, along with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, fought an investigation by federal banking regulators of Houston millionaire Charles Hurwitz, according to government documents and copies of letters between the congressmen and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. officials obtained by The Times. The FDIC was seeking $300 million from Hurwitz for his alleged role in...