The Sunlight Foundation asks, “Is Congress A Family Business, Round Two:
Once again we’re looking at the House of Representatives, this time investigating what I like to call the Sierra Dominion phenomenon—that of congressional spouses who work for a firm that in turn works for the member’s campaign. Sierra Dominion Financial Resources is the name of the firm whose sole employee is the wife of Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., Julie Doolittle. Sierra Dominion Financial Services, has been paid more than $60,000 for “fundraising commissions” by Doolittle’s campaign since January 1, 2005. (That’s not all Sierra Dominion did, of course—it also took money from one of the lobbying firms Jack Abramoff worked for, Greenberg, Traurig, as well as fundraising commissions from a PAC associated with Doolittle—for more information, visit the authoritative Congresspedia entry here.)
The first round of this effort produced some remarkable citizen reporting. Now it’s time to take it deeper.
(Note: The Sunlight Foundation has given this Center a grant for its VoteGuide.org project.)