DEMOCRAT DIRTY LAUNDRY: Fattah Made Earmark Request for Son’s Employer

SPIN CYCLE: Then-Speaker Pelosi Promised that Democrats Would “Demand the Highest Ethics from Every Public Servant”:

“Our goal is to restore accountability, honesty and openness at all levels of government. To do so, we will create and enforce rules that demand the highest ethics from every public servant, sever unethical ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, and establish clear standards that prevent the trading of official business for gifts.” (Nancy Pelosi’s “A New Direction for America,” Page 21)

RINSE CYCLE: Chaka Fattah’s (D-PA) Request for $375,000 Earmark for School His Son Worked for Links Him to Ongoing Investigation by the Department of Justice:

Rep. Chaka Fattah sought a “green vehicle” earmark for a for-profit school where his adult son, Chaka Fattah Jr. — now under investigation by the Justice Department — worked as director of business development.

The FBI searched the home and office of the younger Fattah, known as Chip, on Wednesday as part of an investigation of his company’s work for Delaware Valley High School, an alternative school that gets millions of dollars from the city of Philadelphia.

The raids were first reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, which revealed that Fattah Jr.’s company, 259 Strategies, has a $450,000 contract with the school. The city pays the school more than $4 million per year, the paper reported.

The earmark request brings the story to the doorstep of the Capitol — and to the Pennsylvania congressman’s inner circle — for a second time.

Fattah Sr., who oversees DOJ’s budget as the top Democrat on the appropriations subcommittee responsible for funding the agency, denied any involvement in his son’s case.

First elected to Congress in 1994, he said he did nothing wrong in receiving the $375,000 solicitation for federal funds from the school and then advocating that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee earmark money for the project in a 2009 surface transportation bill that never got off the ground.

“I stand by my son. Nothing came of the request for funds, and my son had nothing to do with any request for funds,” the congressman said in a statement to POLITICO. “I will await the results of the investigation before making further comment.”

When asked if the congressman would recuse himself from funding decisions for the Justice Department, Fattah’s chief of staff, Maisha Leek, said, “Absent an allegation we will await the conclusion of the investigation.”

—

In 2009, the Transportation panel asked lawmakers to submit earmark requests for “high priority projects” between April 27 and May 8. The congressman made the ask for that and other projects in May, according to his office.

It is not clear whether the earmark request was made before or after the younger Fattah went to work for Delaware Valley High School, but the elder Fattah has long been a supporter of the institution.

The congressman’s office could not provide a record of when the ask, a request for the federal government to subsidize the cost of replacing the school’s existing fleet with “green” vehicles, was forwarded to the committee for consideration. (Jonathan Allen, “Feds investigate Chaka Fattah’s inner circle,” Politico, 3/1/12)

—

To read the entire story, click here.

Fattah Made Earmark Request for Son’s Employer http://ow.ly/9pARL #demdirtylaundry