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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Lobbying Investigation Prompts Raid of Albany Firm

ALBANY — Federal law enforcement agents have raided the offices of an influential lobbying firm in Albany as part of the latest investigation connected to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal in Washington.

Comment on This Article The raid was part of an investigation of former Congressman John Sweeney, an Albany-area Republican with ties to Mr. Abramoff. During the raid on Friday, about 10 F.B.I. agents spent several hours collecting computers and files from the office of Powers & Company, the lobbying firm.

The company is run by the former chairman of the state Republican Party, William D. Powers. Mr. Sweeney’s ex-wife, Gayle, worked for Powers & Company until early last year, and Mr. Powers was a longtime political patron of the congressman.

The raid was reported on Tuesday by The Times Union of Albany on its Web site.

In early 2006, Jack Abramoff, once a top Republican lobbyist and a power broker in Washington, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to corrupt public officials.


...Mr. Sweeney lost his Congressional seat to Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, in the 2006 election. Mr. Sweeney’s campaign was marred in its final weeks by reports in The Times Union that the congressman may have violated House rules by not reporting who paid for a trip that he took to the Northern Mariana Islands with an associate of Mr. Abramoff.

And then days before the election, a domestic violence police report surfaced involving Mr. Sweeney and Gayle, who was then his wife.

Mr. Sweeney was arrested on drunken driving charges late last year. He later pleaded guilty to those charges and paid a fine.

Mr. Powers has been an influential figure in Republican politics, leading the state party from 1991 to 2001 and serving as its chairman when George E. Pataki, who had previously been a little-known Republican state senator, was elected governor. He also helped with Rudolph W. Giuliani’s mayoral campaign.

....Investigators have also focused on the wife of Representative John T. Doolittle, a California Republican who announced this year he would retire.

Comments

....Investigators have also focused on the wife of Representative John T. Doolittle, a California Republican who announced this year he would retire.

Another corrupt politician. Was paying his wife for doing his fundraisers.

ellinas on June 11, 2008 at 09:53 am
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