MORE BAD NEWS FOR JERRY LEWIS-- BUT IS THE DECK STACKED SO MUCH IN HIS FAVOR THAT IT WON'T EVEN MATTER?

Lowery's the dog; the other scumbag is Lewis

AP is reporting that Greg Lanker, a Jerry Lewis staffer who worked for one of the all-time most corrupt centers of criminality in Washington-- the Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee-- has been subpoenaed by a grand jury in Los Angeles investigating ties between an especially filthy Republican lobbyist/ex-congressman, Bill Lowery, and Lewis.

Judicial Watch paints a rather grim picture for Lewis.

A well-connected 15-term U.S. Congressman, Lewis has been under federal investigation for nearly a year and he has spent close to $1 million on top criminal attorneys while refusing to publicly deny the serious corruption allegations.
The veteran lawmaker is suspected of steering hundreds of millions of dollars in federal earmarks to family and friends in exchange for contributions to his campaign and political action committees. Now federal authorities are probing the connection between Lewis and a former congressman turned lobbyist who personally donated hefty sums to Lewis and got wealthy clients to do the same.

In return, the lobbyist’s (Bill Lowery) clients received federal tax dollars in the form of earmarks approved by the House Appropriations Committee, which Lewis chaired until Republicans lost control of Congress last year. He still maintains quite a bit of power as the highest ranking Republican on the committee.

If Lewis exchanged legislative favors for campaign cash, he will be charged with bribery and honest services fraud. One group that closely tracks crooked politicians has extensive documentation of Lewis’s misdeeds over the years and concludes that he is among the nation’s most corrupt members of Congress.

Lewis has spent well over a million dollars (in campaign funds) to hire well-connected Republican shysters to keep him out of court. They have managed to get several U.S. Attorneys removed from the case-- even hiring one themselves!! (only in bizarro world of the Bush Regime and with a Speaker like Nancy "Off the Table" Pelosi could something like this happen-- and have been quite successful in muddying the waters so consistently that Lewis' poor constituents don't know what to believe about their corrupt congressman. But that hasn't stopped him from getting back-up insurance: Louie Contreras, his very own Democratic "opponent."

As today's San Francisco Chronicle points out there is every reason in the world the believe that Lewis is at the center of a huge, multimillion dollar corruption scandal:

Lewis has received campaign donations from Lowery, his clients and his colleagues. Meanwhile, Lowery's clients have received targeted federal spending, known as "earmarks," approved by the committee, which Lewis chaired until Republicans lost control of Congress last year.

In the summer of 2006, after media reports detailing that mutually beneficial relationship, the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles issued subpoenas to more than a half-dozen Lowery clients in Lewis' district seeking information on why they hired Lowery's firm and communications with the firm and Lewis.

Lewis has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has said he has not been contacted by the Justice Department. His spokesman, Jim Specht, said Thursday that he couldn't comment because he was not aware of the subpoena. Lewis announced in late August that he planned to seek a 16th term in Congress.

But you won't find him on any DCCC target lists. Odd, huh?

JERRY LEWIS-- UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE BUSH REGIME, GETS A PASS FROM BOEHNER; HE'S RUNNING AGAIN: FOR OFFICE AND FROM "THE LAW"

Although the Bush Regime keeps hiring and firing U.S. Attorney's for southern California in an attempt to keep the Jerry Lewis bribery investigations from ever moving forward, early this summer Bob Novak reported that Lewis would resign. The usually well-informed Republican propagandist got it wrong. Instead, the Justice Department replaced yet another U.S. Attorney and Lewis says he's running for re-election. (It also looks like he's gotten the same shill candidate, Louie Contreras, who didn't run against him in 2006 to be his "opponent" in 2008-- and the state of Art Torres' California Democratic Party is so pathetic that they won't even lift a finger to look into it.)

So Lewis, probably the single most corrupt man in Congress, has the Republican nomination locked up and the Democratic nomination rigged. All he has to do is not get indicted. He's spent over a million dollars in legal fees to keep that from happening. And according to Novak John Boehner hopped on board Lewis' corruption train on Wednesday at a "secret meeting" of the House Republican leadership, where he "ruled that Rep. Jerry Lewis of California will continue as the party's ranking member of the Appropriations Committee while under federal investigation on ethics charges."

Little Howdy Doody (R-FL) and others who are afraid the party will sink even further if it is associated with crooks like Lewis squawked and squeaked-- but to no avail. "Under investigation for sponsoring questionable earmarks, Lewis remains a major Republican spokesman in Congress... Republican reformers complain that Boehner imposes a double standard that is harsher on rank-and-file members of Congress than on leaders. While Lewis keeps his leadership position on Appropriations, Rep. John Doolittle left the committee in April because he is a federal corruption target."


UPDATE: WEIRD!

Presumably you've read Contreras' comment below. I'd like to suggest that you also take a look at this piece from yesterday' San Bernardino Sun by George Watson. He disputes, rather authoritatively, Contreras' claim to have been endorsed by Jack O'Connell. He also says that Tim Prince has decided to run against Lewis afterall.