Incumbents on the Ropes Over Ties to Abramoff
2006-10-27
Source: New York Times
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rss feedIn the past decade, Representatives Richard W. Pombo and John T. Doolittle, Republicans of California, have shared rising political careers, a love for conservative politics and years of cruising to re-election.
Now they share a pressing problem: questions about their relationships with Jack Abramoff, the former Washington lobbyist at the center of an extensive corruption investigation. While the Abramoff scandal no longer dominates national headlines, it has been a keystone of the Democratic strategy against Mr. Pombo and Mr. Doolittle, who are locked in tightening re-election campaigns despite the benefit of representing solidly Republican districts.
Both congressmen, whose districts are separated by 20 miles of Central Valley farmland, have denied any wrongdoing, and the Justice Department has not publicly named either of them in its Abramoff investigation. Still, their association with the lobbyist, his associates and clients - who gave tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to their past campaigns - remains difficult to shake as Election Day nears.
Only a few months ago, the Doolittle and Pombo seats were considered safely Republican, but the electoral landscape for Republicans has changed so significantly that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee now includes them on a list of "emerging races" for Democrats. This week, the committee began broadcasting an anti-Pombo advertisement.
The National Republican Congressional Committee says the Democratic candidates on that party's emerging-races list are underfinanced "bottom tier candidates." But the Republican committee is taking a different tack on the ground in California, pumping money and big-name support into both races.
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