how republicans do business with our money

Letitia White was a receptionist when she joined the staff of Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif. More than two decades later, she is an influential lobbyist whose connections to Lewis — now chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee and others on the Hill have translated into millions of dollars for her and her firm.

During the year prior to her departure from Lewis' office, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported, her income dropped by around $11,000, to just $80 below the $112,500 salary ceiling that would have triggered an automatic one-year ban on her lobbying of Lewis.

The day after leaving the Hill, on Jan. 9, 2003, White signed up a major client, General Atomics, along with one of its aeronautics subsidiaries. The companies received several multimillion-dollar earmarks that year in the defense spending bill for the 2004 fiscal year, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, including $3 million for General Atomics to provide anti-terror systems at Liberty Island, home to the Statue of Liberty, and $15.3 million for the aeronautics division to develop unmanned aerial vehicles.

By the end of 2003, White had signed up about 15 more clients, mostly defense contractors, and was bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees. Her clients were enjoying similar success to General Atomics in getting earmarks. White, her husband lobbyist Richard White, and her firm's clients were donating generously to Lewis' fundraising committees.

White co-owns a Capitol Hill townhouse with the head of one of her client companies, Trident Systems Inc. Trident's founder, Nick Karangelen, is chairman of a political action committee called Small Biz Tech PAC that has employed Lewis' stepdaughter, Julia Willis-Leon, for fundraising. White and her husband have both donated to the PAC.