The Hill: Brown outpaces Doolittle in race for Calif. 4th district

[Adlai Stevenson]

By Susan Crabtree
July 17, 2007

Rep. John Doolittle’s (R) opponent in the race for California’s 4th district seat in 2008, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charlie Brown (D), has raised nearly double and has three times as much cash on hand as Doolittle, according to second-quarter campaign finance documents.

Doolittle has $74,383 in cash on hand and is $106,633 in debt, according to his most recent campaign finance documents.

The FBI is probing Doolittle’s and his wife’s ties to imprisoned former lobbyist Jack Abramoff; the couple’s Virginia home was raided in mid-April.

Doolittle faces a difficult rematch against Brown, who came within three percentage points of defeating the congressman in November. Brown has raised nearly twice as much this quarter, $193,238, and has $268,574 in cash on hand. He also has donated $5,000 to veteran groups.

Doolittle’s campaign committee has paid $50,583 in legal fees since April — $20,583 to Wiley, Rein & Fielding and $30,000 to Williams and Mullen. The committee also paid his wife’s company, Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, $40,905. He still owes her $76,471 for fundraising she did last cycle.

Doolittle stopped using his wife’s company to fundraise after heavy criticism last cycle for paying her a 15 percent commission on the money she collected for both his personal campaign and leadership committees.

On June 28, Doolittle filed paperwork with the House Legislative Resource Center to form a legal defense fund; he did not report raising any money at the time. He has said he will use the fund to pay for his legal expenses, not his wife’s, noting that his wife’s firm will not solicit money for the fund.

In a written statement, Doolittle said the amount he has raised so far this year is the same as what he raised during the same time period in 2005 and demonstrates that Republicans in the district are still behind him. In 2005, however, Doolittle’s legal trouble had just begun and his opponent was not considered a serious threat.

Doolittle said he remains a “sought-after” keynote speaker at other GOP fundraising events in the district.

“In July Congressman Doolittle was the featured speaker at the El Dorado County Republican ‘Celebrate America’ BBQ and will headline the Plumas County Republican BBQ and Placer California Republican Assembly and Federated Republican Women BBQ in August,” the release said.

Other lawmakers under FBI investigation continued to pay large legal bills from their campaign committees. For instance, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) doled out another $54,000 to Gibson Dunn and Crutcher and Williams & Jensen this past quarter for legal services, bringing the total he has spent in the last year and a half to $954,000. Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), whose home was raided earlier this year in an FBI probe of a land deal, spent $25,000 on legal expenses, while Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.), who is under investigation for real estate deals and his partnerships, spent $22,857 on legal fees this quarter.