Kevin McCarthy Wants To Be Speaker-- And He's Very, Very Corrupt

The DCCC never seems to be very enthusiastic about targeting Republican leaders. This cycle, for example, they made sure there would be relatively strong opponents for the candidates in the districts that surround Kevin McCarthy's CA-23, while ignoring McCarthy entirely. They have no candidate opposing him, not even someone viable enough to build towards a 2020 challenge. CA-25 has a hot race between Katie Hill (D) and Steve Knight (R). CA-22 has a hot race-- although ignored by the DCCC-- between Andrew Janz (D) and Devin Nunes (R) and CA-21 has a warm race between TJ Cox and David Valadao, CA-04 has a hot race between Jessica Morse and Tom McClintock, CA-24 has a Democratic incumbent and CA-08, has two Republicans facing off in the general. And in McCarthy's own CA-23? Not a creature is stirring.

Going into the final stretch, the pitiful and meaningless Democrat "running," Tatiana Matta, has $6,103 up against McCarthy's $4,135,573. Neither the DCCC nor Pelosi's SuperPAC has spent a cent against McCarthy-- something like how they treated Paul Ryan for his entire career. The L.A. Times exposed an interesting McCarthy story today, one that the DCCC will not publicize and that Tatiana Matta doesn't have the means to spread: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s family benefited from U.S. program for minorities based on disputed ancestry

A company owned by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s in-laws won more than $7 million in no-bid and other federal contracts at U.S. military installations and other government properties in California based on a dubious claim of Native American identity by McCarthy’s brother-in-law, a Times investigation has found.

The prime contracts, awarded through a federal program designed to help disadvantaged minorities, were mostly for construction projects at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in McCarthy’s Bakersfield-based district, and the Naval Air Station Lemoore in nearby Kings County.

Vortex Construction, whose principal owner is William Wages, the brother of McCarthy’s wife, Judy, received a total of $7.6 million in no-bid and other prime federal contracts since 2000, The Times found.

The Bakersfield company is co-owned by McCarthy’s mother-in-law and employs his father-in-law and sister-in-law, Wages said. McCarthy’s wife was a partner in Vortex in the early 1990s.

Vortex faced no competitive bids for most of the contracts because the Small Business Administration accepted Wages’ claim in 1998 that he is a Cherokee Indian. Under the SBA program, his company became eligible for federal contracts set aside for economically and socially disadvantaged members of minority groups, a boon to its business.

Wages says he is one-eighth Cherokee. An examination of government and tribal records by The Times and a leading Cherokee genealogist casts doubt on that claim, however. He is a member of a group called the Northern Cherokee Nation, which has no federal or state recognition as a legitimate tribe. It is considered a fraud by leaders of tribes that have federal recognition.

Vortex was awarded more than $4 million in minority set-aside contracts for projects at China Lake. McCarthy has been a staunch advocate in Congress for funding and staffing for China Lake, the Navy’s largest property at more than 1.1 million acres, and spearheaded successful efforts to expand its borders.

McCarthy is no ordinary member of Congress, but one of the most powerful elected officials in California and on the national stage. The contracts obtained by Wages’ company have prompted questions about whether he improperly benefited from being McCarthy’s brother-in-law.

...“There is a direct and symbiotic connection between who McCarthy is and what he does and what his brother-in-law does,” said Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson, a former member of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission. She said Wages’ work on federal contracts important to McCarthy’s in-laws and his district “should never have happened at all.”

...All three Cherokee tribes with federal recognition consider the Northern Cherokee group illegitimate.

“It’s very much a con,” said David Cornsilk, the Cherokee genealogist and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, the largest of the recognized Cherokee tribes.

At The Times’ request, Cornsilk cross-checked Wages and his ancestors against census records and the membership rolls of the recognized Cherokee tribes. Neither Wages nor any of his known ancestors appear on the rolls, which date to the early 19th century, Cornsilk said.

A Times examination of census, birth, death, marriage and other available public records show Wages’ ancestors were identified as white. He is listed as white on his birth certificate.

“It’s disheartening to see this,” Cornsilk said. Native Americans are “the poorest people in the United States,” and “the poverty gets worse” if there are abuses in the SBA program, he added.

Cherokee leaders said the Northern Cherokee group is one of many masquerading as bona fide tribes. Chuck Hoskin Jr., secretary of state for the Cherokee Nation, said “it is particularly disturbing” when minority set-aside contracts are granted to members of “a group that is posing as a tribe.”

UPDATE: Will Tax Cheat Donald J. Trumpanzee Now Welch On The Million Dollars He Owes The Charity Of Elizabeth Warren's Choice?

As you probably know by now, on Sunday Elizabeth Warren released a DNA test that provides "strong evidence" she had a Native American in her family tree dating back 6 to 10 generations. Earlier today, she released the biographical video below. The DNA analysis was done by Carlos Bustamante, a Stanford University professor and expert in the field who won a 2010 MacArthur fellowship, also known as a "genius grant," for his work on tracking population migration via DNA analysis. So when will Trumpy-The-Clown hand over the million dollar check to the National Indigenous Womer's Resouce Center, the charity of her choice, like he publicly promised he would? (SPOILER: Never.) In fact, a couple of hours ago, Trump lied and said that he never promised to send a million dollars to a charity of Warren's choice if she took a DNA test. Maybe he needs to look at his segment in the video below: