Earmark Lord Retiring From Congress After 33 Years
WASHINGTON — Rep. Jerry Lewis of California became the latest Republican to announce his retirement from Congress after new boundaries drawn through redistricting promised to make the road to re-election more difficult.
Lewis, 77, is the former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. He made his mark in Congress by steering hundreds of millions of federal dollars over the years to a congressional district that includes portions of San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
The Justice Department investigated whether Lewis improperly steered federal projects to clients of friends and a former colleague, but it closed its investigation in 2010 without taking any further action. Lewis had hoped the DOJ's decision would help him retain the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee when Republicans retained control of the House, but he lost that bid last year.
Voted to the list of "10 Worst Members of Congress...Ever", and "Top 10 Most Corrupt Congressmen in History"
As chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Lewis oversees nearly $900 billion a year in federal spending – anyone looking for a slice of that money has to deal with his best friend, lobbyist Bill Lowery. "If you want an earmark from Lewis, you have to hire Lowery," says Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "There's a direct exchange." In return for the business, Lowery and his clients made more than $480,000 in contributions to Lewis – more than a third of the congressman's total campaign money since 2000. Lowery's firm, in turn, tripled its revenue to $5 million – and his clients pocketed hundreds of millions in federal pork projects from Lewis.
The revolving door spins so fast between Lewis and Lowery that their offices operate almost as a single machine to swap taxpayer dollars for corporate donations
Insert standard "The Democrats did it too" list here: ____________________________
Good riddance....
Another open California Republican seat for the Democrats in the fall... It's not outside of the realm of possibility that the Dems might take back control of the House... The GOP has proven itself incapable of anything except obstruction, and the voters are p*ssed....
