Lucrative Deals for a Daughter... (hiring Cong. kin as lobbyists)

[DeepModem Mom]

Good investigative reporting from Los Angeles Times:


February 20, 2004

THE NATION
Lucrative Deals for a Daughter of Politics
Karen Weldon, whose dad is a Pennsylvania congressman, is a lobbyist for three foreign clients who need his help, and get it.

By Ken Silverstein, Chuck Neubauer and Richard T. Cooper, Times Staff Writers


WASHINGTON — Karen Weldon, an inexperienced 29-year-old lobbyist from suburban Philadelphia, seemed an unlikely choice for clients seeking global public relations services.

Yet her tiny firm was selected last year for a plum $240,000 contract to promote the good works of a wealthy Serbian family that had been linked to accused war criminal Slobodan Milosevic.

Despite a lack of professional credentials, she had one notable asset — her father, U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), who is a leading voice in Washington on former Eastern Bloc affairs.

She got the contract after he championed the efforts of two family members, Dragomir and Bogoljub Karic, to win U.S. visas from the State Department, which so far has refused them entry....

***

The Weldons are the latest example of special interests hiring relatives of important members of Congress as lobbyists and consultants. Over the last year, The Times has identified 11 other House members and 17 senators with relatives who lobby or consult, many of them for clients the members have helped through legislative or other action....


http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-weldon20feb20,1,1223455.story?coll=la-home-politics