FBI raid spurs more questions than answers

17 Oct 2006 // Is U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon a crook? That was the question on everyone’s lips Monday as word spread that the FBI had raided the homes of his daughter, Karen; a key political confidante, Springfield GOP leader Charles Sexton; a Philadelphia attorney and a Florida business.

The feds are investigating the role of the 10-term incumbent 7th District Republican from Thornbury in the creation of an international consulting firm run by Karen Weldon and Sexton - and how it quickly won some $1 million in contracts from foreign entities tied to the congressman.

Weldon and all those involved (who could be reached for, or were willing to, comment) deny any wrongdoing. And they have since the matter first became public in 2004.

Word of the probe first surfaced Friday with a story by McClatchy Newspapers. Weldon’s staff immediately denied that there was any investigation at all.

"There is no investigation," said Weldon spokesman John Tomaszewski. "There is no formal investigation and there is no inquiry. There’s nothing. This is nonsense, ludicrous."

Weldon himself was repeating that line at an unrelated press conference Monday morning, even as the FBI was executing its search warrants and carting away documents.

As of this morning, there are many questions and few answers. But this much is known:

- In 2002 Karen Weldon was a 29-year-old with an undergraduate degree in education and a graduate degree in information systems who was previously employed at Boeing Helicopters, one of her dad’s biggest benefactors. She and Sexton, a wealthy businessman and one of the biggest power brokers in the Delaware County Republican machine, formed Solutions North America Inc. in Media.

- The very same month, the firm won a $500,000 a year contract with a Russian natural gas company boosted by the congressman. Six days before, Curt Weldon had hosted a soiree in the Library of Congress to introduce it to his colleagues.

- Solutions North America was awarded $240,000 to promote the good works of a pair of rich Serbian brothers who were barred from entering the United States because of their relationship with accused mass murderer Slobodan Milosevic. Curt Weldon was one of their leading proponents in Congress.

- After Solutions North America won a $20,000 a month contract with a Russian aerospace manufacturer (plus 10 percent of any new business it generated), the congressman began trying to drum up interest in the technology with the U.S. Navy. The finder’s fee provision of the contract was later declared illegal.

Rep. Weldon insists that he turned over the entire matter to the House Ethics Committee, which found no cause of action. But the notoriously weak-kneed committee has declined to publicly confirm that account, and Weldon has declined to release any records supporting his claim.

The story was embraced by a left-leaning government watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which called Weldon’s actions "possibly criminal" and asked the U.S. Justice Department two years ago to investigate. Until this weekend, there was no indication that the feds were complying with that request.

That hasn’t stopped Weldon from claiming that politics is behind the investigation - and the fact that it became public three weeks before the toughest election day in his career. Still, there is no indication that his Democrat opponent, retired Navy Adm. Joe Sestak, or his allies have anything to do with the probe, or the leak about its existence.

One might point at the fact that the Justice Department has been controlled by the Republican Party for the last six years to refute Weldon’s protestations of partisanship. But in reality, investigations of sitting members of Congress are kept out of the hands of political appointees in Washington and are handled by by-the-book public corruption professionals. Those folks don’t play around.

In all likelihood, Monday’s search warrants were executed because word of the probe had leaked over the weekend. Agents usually act in cases like this to preserve evidence that could potentially be destroyed. Cartons of documents were removed from the target sites Monday, and no one who knows what the FBI has is talking.

In all, the situation is eerily reminiscent of developments during the 2003 re-election campaign of Philadelphia Mayor John Street. An FBI bug was found in the ceiling of his office weeks before the mayor faced a strong challenge from Republican Sam Katz. Street and his allies - citing the Republicans in charge of the Justice Department - cried politics and won re-election handily. It probably helped that Street was a Democrat.

So, the question remains: Is Curt Weldon a crook? The bottom line is, nobody knows. And, unfortunately, voters will have to make their decision on Nov. 7 before any firm determination can be made.