Harpers: Former Lewis Aide Took Sketchy Commissions on EarmarksKen Silverstein over at Harper’s has new dirt on Letitia White and Trident Systems Inc., two names that rarely come attached to good news for House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA).
For one, Ken says sources inside Trident are telling him that the defense firm, which hired White to cajole fat earmarks out of Lewis’ committee, was paying Letitia White (a former Lewis staffer known as “the queen of earmarks”) what amounts to a commission based on the amount of the Pentagon contracts she secured. That’s a big no-no.
Silverstein also said that contrary to insistences from White and Trident owner Nick Karangelen, his sources say White did not pay for half of the house the two co-own (along with their spouses) on Capitol Hill (see the Little House of Scandal). “[S]ome of the Trident officials have said that Karangelen actually put up the entire amount, along with additional monies for furnishings,” Silverstein writes.
If true, that’s very bad news for White and Karangelen. And with a federal investigation creeping up on Lewis, bad news for those two is bad news for him. If there’s anything to be had on Lewis, investigators are going to get it through folks like them: close aides and business partners who are willing to avoid jail by turning on an old pal.
