Gloire au San Diego Union Tribune

Ce canard provincial, si pas local, n’attire guère qu’indifférence et inattention des grands journalistes de la côte Est. Pourtant, nous devons admettre que le San Diego Union Tribune est en train de se tailler une fameuse réputation ; et méritée, sans aucun doute… Ce quotidien s’est fait une spécialité de la chasse aux parlementaires corrompus, précisément la filière des députés de la région (Californie), membre des commissions diverses liées, eux-mêmes liés à la défense, — pieds et poings liés, même.

Le Union Tribune a mis à jour tout un “réseau”, à commencer par Randy Cunningham, effectivement démissionnaire et inculpé, et en posant des jalons pour inquiéter deux ténors des questions de défense à la Chambre, Duncan Hunter et, — le dernier en date, dans un article du 23 décembre, — et Jerry Lewis, personnage important de la commission d’appropritation du budget : « From powerful positions on the House Appropriations Committee, California Rep. Jerry Lewis has greenlighted hundreds of millions of dollars in federal projects for clients of one of his closest friends, lobbyist and former state Congressman Bill Lowery.

» Meanwhile, Lowery, the partners at his firm and their clients have donated 37 percent of the $1.3 million that Lewis' political action committee received in the past six years. Such intertwining of public, political and for-profit business is legal. But because the relationships between campaign contributors, lobbyists and lawmakers are forged out of the public's view, they are not widely known or understood.

» That could be changing as a result of the scandal that toppled Randy “Duke” Cunningham from Congress. In the wake of the Rancho Santa Fe Republican's admission last month that he took $2.4 million in bribes from two defense contractors, there is growing concern about the Capitol Hill environment in which Cunningham prospered.

» One of the defense companies that received federal contracts with Cunningham's support was a Lowery client. And some of the money was disbursed when Cunningham was a member of the defense appropriations subcommittee and Lewis was the committee chairman. »

Mis en ligne le 27 décembre 2005 à 15H38