L.A. Members of Congress Paid Hundreds of Thousands in Campaign Cash to Themselves, Relatives

bhnative

Simple questions, why do unknown people, with no money, or skills, sign up to run for any seat year after year.

Rob

I would really like to hear a reply from these politicians listed in this article because I believe that there are alway's two side's to a story.unless there is nothing but truth to the the article.... Hmmm, bet you anything there will never be a reply from these dirty Unamerican P.O.S. people or there low life family members!!!!

Eli

Berman seems to be the worst offender. I've contributed to his campaigns in the past and never knew my money was being squandered. This really annoys me.

I'll be donating money to his opponent now. Brad Sherman > Coward Berman

trojan2002

yeah... you've never contributed to Berman and you don't know him.

IF YOU DID, you would know his brother is a major player in the campaign circuit throughout the state.

The question isn't how much he got paid, but whether he gave Howard Berman a discount.

The article doesn't point out other information that can be picked out of campaign disclosures. For example, Sherman has paid his congressional staffers, like his district director Matt Dababneh, extra money out of his campaign fund. WHICH IS ILLEGAL. I point out Matt because he is the district director getting paid $140K/yr in that position while he is also working and getting paid on the campaign side.

Berman doesn't pay his congressional staffers from the campaign.

Did you know that Eli?

I'm sure you did. Because you are probably a Sherman plant.

Eli

Okay "trojan". So I'm a Sherman plant who knows nothing about Berman? Okay, that makes sense.

I am well aware that Michael Berman has been his consultant for years. How do you justify him getting paid that obscene amount when Berman hasn't had a competitive race since his first election decades ago?

Also, check your facts. It's not illegal for a staffer to get paid by a campaign for work done on their own time.

Eli

lol. Wow. Your allegations are amazing. So let's see me see if I got this right, you apparently work in their office and see these people you've named make campaign calls and Sherman controls the media. Okay. Got it. Hahahaha. Sounds like you're on the Berman campaign payroll.

Be careful in your glass house. This article isn't even about Sherman. It's Berman who's named in this independent report as walking the ethical line. It is Berman who has wasted the contributions of his donors, including me, on his brother. Is Michael Berman the best? He's clearly scared to run his brother in the new 29th, a district that Howard CURRENTLY represents. Apparently, he's afraid of a city councilman. Haha.

trojan2002

House Ethics Manual- Chapter 4. Look it up.You want to get into gray area with me?Own time is the key. As the most members of Congress will tell you, they don't have their staffers working on their campaign because own time is a risk. The handful that ventured down the path of congressional aides as campaign workers got bogged down in ethic investigations.But lets talk about Sherman.Dababneh is not taking a leave of absence. He was getting paid for full time work and full time campaign work. He was, and is, working on the campaign while he is suppose to be a district director. He's making campaign calls from his congressional office. He has called organizations asking for debates while on duty as a congressional aide. John Alford.... is no longer on the congressional payroll. But that was another person.Sherman has ZERO firewall between his campaign office and constituent office. Going back years... Abrams is suppose to be Sherman's inside campaign guy. He got paid from the campaign in 2008 and as a congressional staffer. But he has always worked out of the campaign office. That's illegal. That's what has gotten other members of congress in ethical wranglings.Sherman has NO ethics but because he's butt brothers with NBC and LA Times, no one is going to talk about it or investigate it.Berman's former chief of staff, former district director, retired to work on his campaign. That's following the rules.Michael Berman got paid $170K. Go look up how much other campaigns paid him. They paid more.Why shouldn't Howard Berman hire his brother, the best in the business? The most high paid and sought after consultant. Sherman is trying to point to Berman employing his brother because he has no record, and doesn't want anyone to see what kind of degenerate person he is.

If only Berman would stoop to Sherman's level and show the district how much of a dirty buffoon Sherman is.

Theshipsburnin

No wonder California is in so much trouble..it's led by a bunch of democrats who are corrupt..who care more about themselves then the people..all I can say is wow and the people of California keep voting them in..most of them probably on some sort of welfare or work for the government backed by the corrupt unions..gotta keep suckalin the fat pig while they can at the expense of the state..assholes

bigfire

I've been voting against Waxman since I'm eligible to vote back in 1992. Unfortunately, I don't foresee any improvement anytime soon.

Frawsty

Interesting that all the crooked politicians listed in this article are liberal Democrats. And I wouldn't be surprised if the last time they were up for re-election, they were all endorsed by the LA Weekly. And when election time shows up in November, any that are up for re-election will again be endorsed by the LA Weekly.

Dennis Romero

Fawsty:

We don't do endorsements. But your characterization of the undeserved political stereotype that now follows the Weekly is way out of wack with what other say about us.

And to be clear, I just went through the report and picked out the congress people who represented L.A. County.

Frawsty

After some research, you are semi-correct. You don't do candidate endorsements.... anymore (as of mid-2007). Before that, the LA Weekly was known for endorsing politicians, and only the liberal democrat. Sanchez, Waxman, Berman, and Waters have been in office long before that and have had the endorsement of LA Weekly.And to be clear, I am glad you picked out only crooked Democrats. Liberals need to wake up to the realization that there are crooked Democrats in this world, and that it isn't exclusive to the Republican party.And finally, I know it's almost the weekend and you have already had a few cervezas today, but the name is Frawsty....it's only one inch above your reply.