Will Steve Stockman Be The Next Republican Criminal Not Locked Up In Prison After Mikey Suits?

The Honorable Steve Stockman (R-TX), domestic terrorist

Steve Stockman made a name for himself the first time he somehow wound up in Congress. The ex-drug addict and derelict-turned right-wing extremist, involved himself with fringe anti-American militia groups and domestic terrorists and had some connection-- one that was quickly hushed up-- with Timothy McVeigh and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people and caused over half a billion dollars in physical damages. The next year, Democrat Nick Lampson defeated Stockman's reelection bid 53-47%. He ran several unsuccessful campaigns for several different offices and was finally reelected to Congress in 2012 in a newly create, deep red district.

Back in Congress, he immediately set out to distinguish himself as the most radical extremist inside the GOP caucus. He was widely disliked and shunned and after a few months decided it was time to move on-- to the U.S. Senate. He ran a laughable kamikaze campaign against John Cornyn as a teabagger and ended up with 19.1% of the vote.

Usually when you see the kind of deranged extremism coupled with over-the-top opportunism-- not to mention a history of drug abuse-- corruption is always a significant part of the picture... as it has been in Stockman's case. He's gone from Congress now but his legal problems are still active. He has already been fined $40,000 by the FEC from his first term but now he seems in much bigger trouble. Hannah Hess had the story Tuesday for Roll Call:

When Stockman set up shop on Capitol Hill for his most recent stint, he promptly hired two loyal allies. Both Jason Posey, his longtime associate and campaign treasurer, and Thomas R. Dodd, had ties to the Leadership Institute, a conservative Northern Virginia center where more than half of Stockman’s campaign staff trained. Stockman and Dodd previously worked on its staff.

According to OCE [Office of Congressional Ethics], Stockman reported receiving $7,500 from Posey’s father and another $7,500 from Dodd’s mother. Each donated the maximum allowable amount toward each of the three elections-- primary, general and runoff-- in which Stockman was a candidate in 2012. After the Sunlight Foundation began poking into the matter, the campaign amended the filings.

In its 89-day review of the matter-- the maximum length of time OCE is allowed-- the office asked for testimony from Stockman, Dodd, Posey and two other members of his congressional staff. They also reached out to Dodd’s mother, Posey’s father and a certified public accountant who volunteered for Stockman’s congressional committee for testimony. Additionally, OCE requested information from the treasurer of the campaign committee, and three other congressional staffers. All 12 refused to cooperate.

...The OCE voted to send its referral to the committee in late February, a few months into Stockman’s quixotic campaign to challenge Sen. John Cornyn in the Texas Republican Senate primary. According to the OCE report, Stockman might have illegally filed false payroll forms around the time he launched the Senate bid that purported to document the firing and re-hiring of Posey and Dodd, in an effort to cover his tracks.

Stockman had lost his Senate bid by June, when the committee made the probe public in accordance with disclosure rules. Also released was Stockman’s response, a 48-page letter that slammed the OCE for perceived incompetence. The committee opted to continue a fact-finding review, rather than forming an formal investigation into charges against the outgoing congressman.

In November came the disclosure that Stockman and three of his staffers have been served with subpoenas for a criminal grand jury investigation in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

During a recent conversation in the Speaker’s Lobby, Stockman told CQ Roll Call he couldn’t talk about the grand jury but said he was complying.

The subpoena could be legal action from the FEC over failure to pay back political donations after his loss to Cornyn. Since he opted not to run for his House seat, FEC rules require Stockman to settle up with campaign contributors.

Stockman's campaign accounting reports have dozens of irregularities showing a pattern of larcenous intent. The FEC keeps threatening to audit him... but still hasn't. There is a little matter of $350,000 Stockman seems to have lined his pockets with in a way no one can understand... and he refuses to explain. The grand jury investigation hasn't wrapped up yet and there is a better than even chance that Stockman won't be allowed to spend any of that $350,000 on canteen in prison. If he were a black congressman-- like Jesse Jackson, Jr., say-- he would absolutely be going prison. Chances are the Feds can nail Stockman for accepted illegal contributions that he falsely attributed to someone else, although there are at least half a dozen different serious violations of law they can chose to indict him on, including paying featherbedding staffers with federal tax dollars even though they had other paid jobs and worked primarily on his campaign, not in his congressional office.