« on: October 16, 2006, 02:09:40 PM »
Here is the latest on Curt Weldon"s little problem.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/15772927.htmHere is the take of Billmon:
The Knock on the Door
Or, as the Grateful Dead put it: If you've gotta warrant, I guess you're gonna come in:
Federal agents raided the homes of the daughter of U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R., Pa.) and his longtime friend Charlie Sexton this morning.
The agents left Karen Weldon's three-story brick house on Queen Street in Philadelphia carrying armfuls of boxes.
As I mentioned the other day, Sexton is the boss of the local Republican machine in my county -- an organization about which the odor of corruption persistently lingers, like the proverbial stink on the proverbial shit, even if it does usually tend to get lost in the much stronger smell wafting from the city of the brotherly love. If Sexton has to start singing to keep his own sorry ass out of the slammer, Crazy Curt and his daughter aren't the only ones who could go down.
But the timing of the raid reinforces a suspicion I had when news of the FBI probe originally leaked on Friday. It seemed to me then, and still does, that someone was actually trying to do a little damage control work on behalf of Curt and/or the Republican Party. Except now I'm wondering whether the tip off was an attempt at news management or more of an exercise in document management -- if you know what I mean. Have the shredders been working overtime at Chez Weldon over the weekend?
In any case, I don't imagine the FBI is very happy about having its hand forced this way. But I'm sure Joe Sestak doesn't mind a bit.
Update 3:40 PM ET: Looks like the FBI is "settling all family business" today:
Debra Weierman, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office, said the agency conducted six searches today "in relation to a pending investigation.'' Four were in the Philadelphia area and two were in the area of Jacksonville, Florida, she said. Weierman declined to give further details, saying affidavits supporting the search warrants were sealed.
Jacksonville is home to the U.S. headquarters of Itera International Energy, a Russian company that McClatchy and the Los Angeles Times reported had hired Karen Weldon's firm for $500,000. On Jan. 25, 2003, Weldon traveled from Philadelphia to Jacksonville at the expense of Itera, according to a disclosure Weldon made to Congress. The telephone at Itera's Jacksonville office was busy or disconnected.
I think the latter is also what Curt's congressional office phone is going to be come next January.
peace,
noel
Logged
You're all trying to destroy me! You're all against me, you bastards! You broke my heart, and now you want to kill me! But I won't let you, do you hear me? I won't let you! I'm going to live, damn you, I'm going to LIVE!
