Rep. Doolittle wants wife to keep raising PAC money

By Erica Werner, Associated Press

January 24, 2007

Republican Rep. John Doolittle on Tuesday said he wants his wife to continue raising money for his political action committee, less than two weeks after dropping her as his campaign fundraiser.

"It's my desire that she do it, but that's still up in the air. She hasn't decided she wants to do it," Doolittle said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I was for keeping her on the campaign committee, but she didn't want to do it."

Julie Doolittle's work for her husband became an issue during last year's re-election campaign because it allowed the family to profit directly from political donors.

While the campaign committee raises money for Doolittle's re-election bids, the political action committee collects money that can be donated to other lawmakers.

Julie Doolittle was paid on commission as she raised money for her husband's campaign, a practice that gave the family a 15 percent cut of all donations raised. Other fundraisers earn a flat fee.

Earlier this month, Doolittle moved to counteract the ethics questions that dogged him throughout the campaign. He announced a series of changes meant to reconnect him to his district, including hiring an outside fundraiser for his campaign committee.

But he defended hiring his wife and the method of payment, saying it was meant to "make sure she wasn't earning money for work she didn't do."

"It never even dawned on me" that people would think it was a problem, said Doolittle, who is in his ninth term representing a district that stretches from Sacramento east to the Nevada border and north to Oregon.

If Julie Doolittle elects to remain as fundraiser for his Superior California Federal Leadership Fund, she will be paid a flat fee rather than a commission, he said.

Federal records show that she earned more than $100,000 in commissions raising money for her husband's campaign committee during the last two years. According to a tally by The Sacramento Bee, she earned an additional $86,000 raising money for Doolittle's political action committee.

Doolittle's opponent last year, Democrat Charlie Brown, said the congressman hadn't gone far enough in erecting a wall between his household and political donors seeking to buy influence.

"It's the same old rhetoric. There's no real change in what he's doing," Brown said Tuesday in reaction to Doolittle's comments about his wife's fundraising. "He should totally cut the ties between any contacts to him and his personal household account."

Doolittle defeated Brown 49 percent to 46 percent, a narrow margin for a district redrawn to heavily favor Republican candidates.

Julie Doolittle's activities also were connected to convicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who paid her a fundraising retainer from 2002-2004. Her records were subpoenaed in 2004 during the Justice Department's influence-peddling investigation of the now-imprisoned lobbyist.

Abramoff was a close friend of Doolittle's. The congressman accepted campaign money from him and interceded with federal officials on behalf of his clients. That relationship was a focal point of criticism from Brown during last year's campaign.

Doolittle has been paying an attorney to talk to the Justice Department in connection with the probe, but on Tuesday said he has never heard directly from prosecutors.

"As far as I know, I never did anything wrong," Doolittle told the AP. "And I would be thrilled, and will be thrilled, to have it cleared up."

He expressed regret that the 2006 campaign focused on questions about his ethics.

"The thing that I feel bad about is I really have worked very hard to be a good representative and to take care of our district, and I feel like I've made some major accomplishments there," Doolittle said.

"I would like people to know that I had a lot more going for me than simply knowing Jack Abramoff."

If Julie Doolittle elects to remain as fundraiser for his Superior California Federal Leadership Fund, she will be paid a flat fee rather than a commission, he said.

Associated Press Writer Samantha Young in Sacramento contributed to this report.