SACRAMENTO / Rep. Doolittle awaits fallout in lobbyist case / GOP stalwart's links to Jack Abramoff drawing scrutiny

Sacramento -- Despite representing a northeastern California district that breaks nearly 5 to 3 Republican to Democrat, conservative Rep. John Doolittle's bid for re-election next year to the seat he has held since 1990 could face complications.

The lawmaker's name has surfaced in the federal investigation into Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a friend of the congressman who is at the center of a scandal that has shaken the House of Representatives. The Washington Post reported last month that Doolittle is one of several representatives who have come under scrutiny as investigators probe Abramoff's dealings with lawmakers.

"They say the FBI is looking at 20 congressmen. If Doolittle's in there and Abramoff cuts a deal where he is giving damaging testimony and Doolittle gets caught in that, it's conceivable if the charges against him are serious enough he could lose. But the timing has to be right," said Bruce Cain, director of the University of California's Washington Center.

Abramoff is the target of a federal investigation into whether he bilked Indian tribes as he lobbied on their behalf and whether he made illegal contributions to lawmakers. His former partner, Michael Scanlon, has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe public officials and agreed to return $19 million to Indian tribes. Abramoff is reportedly considering a deal in which he would plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors.

"The congressman has not been subpoenaed or questioned by the Justice Department," said Laura Blackann, a spokeswoman for the representative. Doolittle declined a request to be interviewed for this story.

Abramoff, whose clients operated casinos, gave Doolittle, an opponent of casino gambling, use of his skybox at a Washington, D.C., arena for a fundraiser in February 1999. Doolittle has since paid Abramoff for the use but failed to report the in-kind contribution it represented until February of this year, after news reports about the fundraiser.

In 2002, Doolittle was one of 27 lawmakers who signed a letter urging the Bush administration to reject a proposed Louisiana casino opposed by Abramoff's casino-operating clients on the grounds that gambling is societal evil.

Two months later, Abramoff's Indian casino clients contributed $16,000 to Doolittle and an additional $15,000 by the end of the year. Abramoff's restaurant also catered a Doolittle campaign event.

Doolittle's wife, Julie, who owns an event planning and fundraising firm called Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, was hired by the law firm Abramoff worked for.

U.S. Justice Department investigators have subpoenaed some of her company records.

"Sierra Dominion complied fully with the subpoena given to it. It has no objection to the Justice Department disclosing those records should it determine to do so,'' said William L. Stauffer Jr., Julie Doolittle's lawyer.

Bespectacled and boyish looking, Doolittle, 55, has been an elected official the past 25 years and has often been a lightning rod for his conservative policy views, but he has forged alliances with Democrats over internal and administrative issues.

This fall, Doolittle broke ranks with his party -- and California's governor -- to side with liberal Democrats to oppose Proposition 77, an initiative to redraw legislative district lines to make seats more competitive.

Doolittle said the new reapportionment plan could cost Republicans three California congressional seats.

Cain said Doolittle is weakened by being linked to Abramoff. But in examining previous scandals over the past 30 years, Cain said, voters tend to give their representatives a grace period.

That may explain why Doolittle's connection to Abramoff doesn't appear to be hurting him yet in his district, which runs along California's eastern edge through Lake Tahoe and Lassen and Modoc counties. The population center is fast-growing Placer County, which includes Doolittle's hometown of Rocklin.

Doolittle has a primary opponent, Mike Holmes, a 65-year-old retired Navy captain who plans to run a grassroots campaign -- often a synonym for being short on campaign funds. Doolittle has no such problem.

"He may not have broken any law, but it seems to me there are some serious questions," said Holmes, who said he was asked to run by a group of disgruntled Doolittle constituents.

"He portrays himself as having high moral values and against casino gambling, but he takes money from Indian tribes who operate casinos," Holmes said.

Democrats Lisa Rea, a former state legislative staff member who runs a nonprofit, and Charles Brown, a retired Air Force colonel, have also declared their candidacies.

"I don't think people are buying it. People know John," said Ken Campbell, a dentist and member of the Placer County GOP central committee. "He's going to win with a huge margin again."

Elected to the state Senate at 30 by bumping off a longtime Democrat, Doolittle advocated stiffer criminal penalties, widespread AIDS testing and free market economics.

Opposing a 1984 bill banning job discrimination against gays and lesbians, Doolittle said the bill "is going to make an affirmation that the state endorses homosexual conduct." If passed, he said, gays could be "hired to work with your children."

But once elected by his caucus to the Senate Rules Committee, the body responsible for the upper house's staffing and organization, the flexible insider emerged.

"He was very conservative ideologically, but he could broker deals, especially in the administration of the house," said David Roberti, the Democratic leader of the state Senate at the time. "He was a 'player' and was very easy to work with unless there was an ideological issue. We were pleasantly surprised."

Bill Campbell, the state Senate's GOP leader when Doolittle was first elected, described Doolittle as bright and genial.

"He was very flexible on Rules and agreeable on member prerogatives. He made friends of a lot of Republicans and Democrats being on that committee," Campbell said.

Doolittle was elected to Congress in 1990.

In late 2002, he became secretary of the Republican Caucus, the sixth-ranking GOP leadership slot in the House of Representatives. Coupled with his seat on the Appropriations Committee, that makes Doolittle a formidable presence on the Hill.

During his first term in Congress, Doolittle was one of 10 newly elected Republican lawmakers who worked on internal reform of the House in the wake of a scandal involving its bank.

But at the same time, in his first month as a representative, he and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, sent a letter to the chair of the House Administration Committee advocating adoption of many of the perks the two had enjoyed as state lawmakers.

Among the proposals in the three-page letter was permitting fundraising calls from Capitol offices, buying an automobile for each member, hiring staff members to drive representatives to and from airports and allowing campaign funds to be used to buy equipment or office furniture as well as lunches in the House restaurant. The recommendations were rejected by the House leadership.

In 1994, Doolittle carried legislation to re-establish federal recognition of the United Auburn Indian tribe, which is within his district.

Doolittle has said the tribe told him at the time it had no plans to build a casino, it wanted federal recognition only for various benefit programs.

The tribe now operates Thunder Valley, a 200,000-square-foot casino near Lincoln (Placer County).

He has long advocated a second dam on the American River above the one in Folsom but pledged to the late Rep. Bob Matsui of Sacramento -- and his wife, Doris, who succeeded him -- to support improvements in Folsom Dam's ability to channel water.

"John could have said Bob's no longer here, I didn't make an agreement with Doris, but that's not the way he's acted," said Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold Run (Sacramento County). "He has stayed with his commitment."