A Congressman, A Thief, And A Bar...

Buck's the crook on the right

Well, not exactly, but almost. Already swimming in scandals, Buck McKeon adds one more. On Monday, McKeon announced that Morris L. Thomas will be joining the staff to fill “fall guy” Bob Haueter’s spot as district director. Morris Thomas was the general manager of the district’s largest newspaper, The Signal. McKeon’s hometown newspaper was known for protecting its incumbent congressman and ignoring critical stories, including follow-ups to the Countrywide mortgage scandal, the Mammoth Mountain quid pro quo, stories about McKeon’s incompetent wife as his paid campaign treasurer, and exorbitant payments to his son for “web services.” This doesn’t even include the huge gambling debt story about to break.

This seemed like the typical revolving door of press to official government post. But a day later stories surfaced that McKeon’s pick for his “ambassador” to his constituents was not just someone slanting the news in his favor, but a convicted felon. In 1992, Morris Thomas was an attorney and he was convicted of grand theft for taking property from a client and refusing to return it. He spent 18 months in prison for stealing a large sum of money from a client. Citing unethical behavior, the California Bar ruled him not eligible to practice law and, pending certain disbarment, he resigned a few months later.

McKeon’s latest statement suggests that he knew about the felony conviction and decided to hire Thomas anyway. What kind of background check does the district director to a congressman with a top security clearance get? While felons have their voting rights restricted in many states and a new law barring felons from running for office was just signed this week by Governor Brown, there are apparently no restrictions for a felon to work for an elected official in government. Obviously, McKeon thinks it’s okay to hire a convict who violated the attorney-client trust by robbing him to be in charge of constituent services. When the people of California’s 25th district are robbed will anyone say, “Well there weren’t any red flags”? McKeon’s constituents should be used to being robbed by now because not only does he ignore their important issues, like stopping the country’s largest aggregate mine from polluting their valleys, but he’s been stealing from his donors for years by converting that money to personal use.

This is only McKeon’s latest violation of public trust. McKeon keeps spinning that revolving door as is evident by his recent hire of a Northrop Grumman lobbyist, Thomas MacKinzie, to be a top staffer on the House Armed Services Committee. Just days before taking his new government post, MacKinzie was paid a $500,000 “bonus” by Northrop Grumman as a good will parting gift. Now, MacKinzie advises McKeon and the HASC on arms purchases.

So it should be no surprise to us that McKeon would surround himself with a convicted thief to be his “ambassador.” Perhaps that’s a moment of honesty in McKeon’s self-image because he robs the American people on a daily basis in Congress.