Brown Rips Into Bush Administration Official

MIAMI - U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown verbally attacked a top Bush administration official during a briefing on the Haiti crisis Wednesday, calling the President's policy on the beleaguered nation "racist" and his representatives "a bunch of white men."

Her outburst was directed at Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill. Noriega, a Mexican-American, is the State Department's top official for Latin America.

"I think it was an emotional response of her frustration with the administration," said David Simon, a spokesman for the Jacksonville Democrat. He noted that Brown, who is black, is "very passionate about Haiti."

Brown sat directly across the table from Noriega and yelled into a microphone. Her comments sent a hush over the hourlong meeting, which was attended by about 30 people, including several members of Congress and Bush administration officials.

Noriega later told Brown: "As a Mexican-American, I deeply resent being called a racist and branded a white man," according to three participants.

During the meeting, Brown criticized the administration's response to the escalating violence in Haiti, where rebels opposing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government have seized control of large parts of the country.

After her comments about white men, Noriega said he would "relay that to (Secretary of State) Colin Powell and (national security adviser) Condoleezza Rice the next time I run into them," participants said. Powell and Rice are black.

U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach, who organized the meeting, called the comments "disappointing."

"To sit there and browbeat this man who is a Mexican-American and call him names, it was inappropriate," Foley said.

Brown has criticized the detention of Haitian migrants fleeing their country and the freezing of millions of dollars in aid over flawed 2000 legislative elections in the impoverished Caribbean nation. In a statement Wednesday, she made parallels to the disputed 2000 election in Florida.

"It simply mystifies me how President Bush, a president who was selected by the Supreme Court under more than questionable circumstances (in my district alone 27,000 votes were thrown out), is telling another country that their elections were not fair and that they are therefore undeserving of aid or international recognition," Brown said.

Participants at the meeting included eight members of Florida's congressional delegation, U.S. Reps. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; John Maisto, U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States, and Adolfo Franco, an assistant administrator with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Congress: America's Criminal Class: Part I

Rep. Corrine Brown and her long trail of lies, deceit and unpaid bills

* Part II -- Rep. Jim Moran: Virginia's bombastic Congressman
* Part III -- How Newt Gingrich took care of his own
* Part IV -- Sen. Bob Byrd: Playing the Congressional immunity game
* Part V -- A long tradition of corruption and ambivalence

By the staff of
Capitol Hill Blue

August 16, 1999

America, Mark Twain once said, is a nation without a distinct criminal class "with the possible exception of Congress."

If anything, the Congress of today is even worse than it was in Twain's time more than a century ago.

The 535 men and women who make up the House and Senate of the United States include, at best, a collection of rogues, con artists, scofflaws and bad check artists. At worst, they comprise, as Twain once observed, a distinct criminal class.

Over the past several months, researchers for Capitol Hill Blue have checked public records, past newspaper articles, civil court cases and criminal records of both current and recent members of the United States Congress (since 1992). We have talked with former associates and business partners who have been left out in the cold by people they thought were friends.

Using a scoring system developed by American Express, we ran credit checks on members and applied the financial and criminal record scoring procedures used by the Department of Defense to determine eligibility for a Top Secret security clearance.

All checks were made through public records. Our researchers were not allowed to break any laws or misrepresent themselves to obtain this information.

What emerges from this examination is a disturbing portrait of a group of elected officials who routinely avoid payment of debts, write bad checks, abuse their spouses, assault people and openly violate the law.

They include current Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla), whose trail of bad debts, lies to Congress and misstatements to the Internal Revenue Service have spawned a number of investigations. Then there is Rep. James Moran (D-Va) whose wife has charged him with abuse, who has assaulted other members of Congress on the floor of the House and is a former stockbroker whose judgment in trades is so bad he is broke from poor investments. The list also includes Joe Waldholtz, a con man and husband of former Rep. Enid Greene Waldholtz (R-UT) who kited more than a million dollars in bad checks and ended up in prison.

Others, like former Ohio Senator John Glenn, have driven creditors into bankruptcy because of unpaid debts left over from aborted Presidential campaigns. Even millionaire Senator Ted Kennedy has left a trail of unpaid debts from past campaigns.

In recent years, members of Congress have gone to jail for child molestation, fraud and other charges.

Our research found 117 current and recent members of the House and Senate who have run at least two businesses each that went bankrupt, often leaving business partners and creditors holding the bag. Seventy-one of them have credit reports so bad they can't get an American Express card on their own (but as members of Congress, they get a government-issued Amex card without a credit check).

Fifty-three have personal and financial problems so serious they would be denied security clearances by the Department of Defense or the Department of Energy if they had to apply through normal channels (but, again, as members of Congress they get such clearances simply because they fooled enough people to get elected).

Twenty-nine members of current and recent Congresses have been accused of spousal abuse in either criminal or civil proceedings. Twenty-seven have driving while intoxicated arrests on their driving records. Twenty-one are current defendants in various lawsuits, ranging from bad debts, disputes with business partners or other civil matters.

Nineteen members of current and recent Congresses have been accused of writing bad checks, even after the scandal several years ago, which resulted in closure of the informal House bank that routinely allowed members to overdraw their accounts without penalty. Fourteen have drug-related arrests in their background, eight were arrested for shoplifting, seven for fraud, four for theft, three for assault and one for criminal trespass.

Over the next five days, Capitol Hill Blue will take a closer look at some of the more notorious members of America's Criminal Class - the Congress of the United States. We will not run lists of every member who has written a bad check, punched somebody out or been charged with slapping a spouse. Rather, we will examine those whose pattern of behavior suggests a blatant disregard for both law and propriety.

Part I: Rep. Corrine Brown - running on a record of fraud

In just seven years in Congress, Rep. Corrine Brown has eluded creditors, filed false financial disclosure reports and lied to the Internal Revenue Service.

"She cons people, pure and simple," says Sheryl Wilson, a former travel agency owner in Tallahassee who knew Brown. "I don't think she has an honest bone in her body."

Rep. Brown has a poor memory when it comes to remembering her business dealings. The financial records that every member of Congress is required to file shows the Jacksonville, Florida Democrat failed to disclose the $40,000 sale of her Tallahassee travel agency and improperly reported the sale of her Gainesville agency. And she has omitted other required details from her reports.

Brown has left a trail of unpaid bills from businesses she owned in Gainesville, Jacksonville and Tallahassee during the early 1990s.
In 1994, a consortium of airlines sued Brown for $94,000 in because her company, Springfield Travel Agency Inc., falsified sales reports and did not pay its bills. Delta Air Lines revoked her authority to write tickets because of an unpaid $7,237 bill. She also owed $5,697 to the University of Florida and tried to pay part of the bill with a bad check.

The IRS also went after Brown for $14,228 in unpaid taxes and the Whirlpool Corp. had to go to court to try and collect $10,227 in unpaid bills for appliances.

In addition, the House ethics committee is investigating Brown over her dealings with an African millionaire who was imprisoned on bribery charges. Two committee investigators went to Miami recently to interview witnesses for that case.

Brown not only avoids personal responsibility for her financial dealings, but also routinely violates congressional rules and the law.
Members of Congress are required to file reports to reveal any potential conflicts of interest. As a member of the House aviation subcommittee, Brown oversees the very airlines that sued her for unpaid bills.

But Brown not only fails to truthfully report transactions involving her travel business, she also spends money she never reports and buys expensive homes and other items even though she is deeply in debt. Although she recently paid $25,000 for a down payment on a $300,000 townhouse, those who know her say they have no idea where she got the money.

"Somebody is always bailing her out," says a former staff member. "You can bet the money came from sources nobody wants to discuss."

Members who file incomplete or false reports face criminal charges under federal law. Republican George Hansen of Idaho went to prison for 11 months in 1984 and paid a $40,000 for failing to report more than $300,000 in loans and profits.

Last year, Brown's daughter received a $50,000 car from a close associate of the African millionaire who faces bribery charges.
Brown's financial dealings show a long, consistent record of deceit.

In 1985, she started a travel agency, Springfield Travel, while serving as a Florida state legislator. Papers she filed with the Florida Department of State, listed two prominent state legislators as her vice presidents-Reps. Doug "Tim" Jamerson of St. Petersburg and James Hargrett of Tampa.

But Jamerson or Hargrett say didn't know they were affiliated with her company until years later.

"I was somewhat surprised to learn I was even on the board," said Jamerson, now a Tallahassee lobbyist. "It would have been nice to have been asked."

Brown opened the agency's first office in her hometown of Jacksonville and started a second office in Tallahassee where she spend most of her time while serving in the Legislature.

Brown often used the agency to take advantage of the free trips offered to travel agents.

"She was always getting tickets to Aruba and places like that," former employee Ed Curry told The St. Petersburg Times.

But while Brown was running off to Aruba on free trips, creditors were calling to ask why they weren't getting paid.

Brown occasionally paid her employees in cash or wrote personal checks to cover payroll, Curry said. More than once, the paychecks bounced.

Brown also failed to pay unemployment taxes to the state. The State Department of Labor filed a $353 state tax lien against the company. As of last week, the lien had not been paid.

Even though she couldn't pay her bills, Brown sought to expand her company in 1991.

Barnett Bank gave her a $10,000 loan, but could never get a full accounting of how it was spent. At the same time, Brown started a new company, Springfield Enterprises, which she said would resell appliances and seafood.

Whirlpool Corp. filed suit against Springfield Enterprises for an unpaid $10,227 bill, saying Brown bought more than a dozen large appliances and didn't pay for them. Brown finally paid the bill after the company obtained a judgment.

But Brown was busy opening other businesses. In February 1992, she opened Gator Travel at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Seven months later, she was five months behind in her rent and owed the university $7,066. The IRS also filed a lien against Springfield Travel for $14,228 in unpaid taxes. Brown, who was running for her first term in Congress, was busy looking for someone to buy the travel agency.

Two buyers-Melvin Stith, dean of the Florida State University business school, and Edward Scott II, a Tallahassee dentist, paid her $40,000 for the agency, according to a contract filed with the state. Brown did not report the sale on her mandatory congressional disclosure, which required her to list sales of all assets worth more than $1,000.

The cash allowed her to make payments on some of her debts. The University of Florida got a personal check for the overdue $8,479 bill. The IRS withdrew the lien against her in March 1993.

But Brown was soon in trouble again

In February 1993, she wrote the University of Florida a check for $1,413 - partial payment for a $5,600 bill.

The check bounced.

A month later, Delta Air Lines revoked her authority to write tickets because of an unpaid $7,237 bill, a move that effectively put her travel agency out of business (Delta was the primary airline serving Gainesville).

Enter three Miami businessmen who were willing to take over her failing travel agency.

Emilio F. Torres and his partners at Douglas Executive Travel agreed to pay Brown's overdue rent to the university and take over the agency, but the transition to Torres' company took more than six months because Brown owed the airlines so much money. Finally, the airlines seized Brown's official ticketing plates and Torres was allowed to take over the lease.

Brown, however, lied about the transaction on her financial disclosure reports to the House of Representatives. Her 1993 report claims Torres bought her agency for an amount between $50,000 and $100,000. Since then, her reports claim she is owed $50,000 to $100,000 by Torres and his partners.

But Torres never bought Gator Travel. He just assumed the lease.

"We didn't buy anything from her," he says. "I don't owe her anything."
State records support his claims.

Torres also did not pay Brown's overwhelming unpaid debts to the airlines.

The Airlines Reporting Corp., a consortium of the airlines that handles ticket transactions with travel agencies, filed a lawsuit against Brown in U.S. District Court in Washington in September, 1994 (while Brown was running for her second term), saying Brown failed to pay about $94,000 for plane tickets and lied about her financial transactions.
Brown eventually paid the $94,000 and the suit was dismissed.

But Brown never reported the debts on her disclosure forms. Florida state records show she signed a contract in 1992 taking personal responsibility for the bills.

Her disclosure forms also fail to show where she got the $94,000 to pay off the airlines. Her 1994 form said she didn't have enough money to make the payment.

Her latest report shows no savings accounts, no money market funds and no stocks that she could redeem. The only asset she listed is a Jacksonville condo that she rents.

Yet she still hasn't paid back the money she borrowed from Barnett Bank in 1991 and has mortgages on a $110,000 waterfront house in Jacksonville and the $300,000 Alexandria, Va., townhouse she recently bought with her daughter.

Nobody seems to know where Brown got the $25,000 down payment for the townhouse. Brown's daughter, a political appointee for the Environmental Protection Agency, said in her financial disclosure report that she didn't have any assets over $1,000.

"She's always pulling a scam on someone," says Oliver Roster of Jacksonville, who has known Brown for years. "Somebody, somewhere, got the money for her. What we don't know yet is what she had to do or promise to get it."

Brown also forgot to disclose a $10,000 check she received in 1996 from a secret Wisconsin bank account Baptist leader Henry J. Lyons allegedly used for money laundering.

The money came from a secret account in Milwaukee that is a focus of charges against Lyons. Federal prosecutors say Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, hid more than $1 million in the account.

Brown's office did not return phone calls seeking comment on this report.

(The report was coordinated and written by Capitol Hill Blue editor Jack Sharp with assistance from researcher Marilyn Crosslyn and private investigator James Hargill.)

Tomorrow - Virginia's battling Jim Moran, the Congressmen who admits he "likes to hit people" and the former stockbroker whose trades have left him busted.

Ethics finds troubling conduct by Rep. Corrine Brown

September 21, 2000
Web posted at: 2:42 PM EDT (1842 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House ethics committee said Thursday that Rep. Corrine Brown exercised "poor judgment" and created "substantial concerns" in her connections to an African businessman. But the panel said its inability to reach key witnesses led it conclude that no rules or laws were broken.

African businessman Foutanga Dit Babani Sissoko had provided lodging to the Florida Democrat in his luxury Miami condominium and his chief financial officer had given a $50,000 Lexus sedan to Brown's daughter.

"Although the evidence ... raised concerns as to whether Representative Brown may have violated standards of conduct ... the subcommittee did not obtain sufficient evidence" to "adopt or to prove a statement of alleged violation," said the panel, whose official name is the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

"This was due in large part to the fact that key witnesses who had actual knowledge of the events within the subcommittee's jurisdiction were beyond the reach of the committee's subpoena power and could not be compelled to give testimony."

Despite the lack of proof, the subcommittee "does believe that Representative Brown's actions and associations in connection with Sissoko demonstrated, at the least, poor judgment and created substantial concerns regarding both the appearance of impropriety and the reputation of the House of Representatives," the committee said

Brown said in a statement, "For more than a year I have looked forward to the day when this matter would be put to rest and I am grateful that this day has finally come. The people of the Third District of Florida have sent me to Washington to serve them and I do so proudly."

Brown, of Jacksonville, is serving her fourth term, winning in 1998 with 55.4 percent of the vote despite the questions about her conduct. The ethics probe was formally launched June 9, 1999.

Sissoko was famous for giving away cash, jewelry and expensive cars to friends, lawyers and needy strangers. In 1997, he pleaded guilty to paying an illegal gratuity to a U.S. Customs Service officer to allow helicopters to be shipped to Africa. He was sentenced to four months of house arrest and four months in prison and required to pay a $250,000 fine.

In the summer of 1997, Brown sought help from other members of Congress and wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno, urging her to release Sissoko under a law that lets nonviolent criminals be deported before their sentence is completed. The effort failed and Sissoko went to prison.

Her daughter, Shantrel, accepted the car a few weeks later.

Brown gave her side in a deposition earlier this year -- in a lawsuit brought by a Dubai bank that accused the businessman of stealing more than $240 million.

The lawmaker said there was no connection between her lobbying campaign and the Lexus. She testified she stayed in Sissoko's luxury condominium in Miami in 1997 but reimbursed him $2,500.

Congressional Accountability Project
1611 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 3A
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 296-2787
fax (202) 833-2406

June 9, 1998

The Honorable James Hansen, Chairman
The Honorable Howard Berman, Ranking Member
House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
HT-2, The Capitol
U. S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

RE: Ethics Complaint Against Representative Corrine Brown and Call for Investigation into Possible Violations of Criminal Law and House Rules

Dear Representatives Hansen and Berman:

This letter constitutes a formal ethics complaint against U.S. Representative Corrine Brown (D-FL), and a request for an inquiry into whether Rep. Brown received illegal gratuities, bribes or improper gifts, and violated financial disclosure laws, by accepting an expensive car and lodging from Mr. Foutanga Dit Babani Sissoko and a $10,000 payment from Rev. Henry Lyons.

This complaint is pursuant to House Rule 10, which authorizes the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct ("Ethics Committee") to investigate "any alleged violation, by a Member, officer, or employee of the House, of the Code of Official Conduct or of any law, rule, regulation or standard of conduct applicable to the conduct of such Member, officer, or employee in the performance of his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities."(1)

On June 3, 1998, the St. Petersburg Times reported that Rep. Brown repeatedly intervened with the Justice Department and other Members of Congress on Mr. Sissoko's behalf, and, subsequently, Mr. Sissoko gave an expensive car to Rep. Brown or her daughter.

A $50,000 luxury car bought by a West African millionaire went to the daughter of U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown after the lawmaker led a feverish lobbying campaign to keep the businessman out of federal prison.

Foutanga Dit Babani Sissoko ordered his aides to buy the car for Brown as a token of his friendship shortly before he went to prison in Miami for bribery, said one of his attorneys, Tom Spencer.

By the time of the September purchase, the Jacksonville lawmaker had written two letters to Attorney General Janet Reno, lobbied colleagues in Congress and met with foreign diplomats on behalf of Sissoko. She later visited him in prison.

"I was told that it was just a thank you, it was just a gesture of friendship," Spencer said of the car....

Brown launched an extensive lobbying effort in Congress [to keep Sissoko out of jail]. She enlisted colleagues to urge Janet Reno to release Sissoko under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the attorney general to deport non-violent criminals before their sentence is completed.

"Corrine was the one who asked me to get involved," recalled Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. "I did not get deeply involved. I just didn't have time."...

[Sissoko lawyer David] Ross said Brown was persistent.

"She went to conservative Republicans as well as liberal Democrats," Ross said. "She really pushed. I was with her one time when she called 10 guys in Congress. She buttonholed people and followed them into their offices."...

Spencer, Sissoko's attorney, said the Lexus was intended as a gift for the congresswoman. He did not know why it ultimately was given to her daughter.

"If, in fact, it was given to the daughter, it would be a gesture of thanks to the family for support," Spencer said. "It was apparent to me that they were very close."...

State records show the car was titled in Shantrel Brown's name last Sept. 11. Records indicate that someone paid about $50,000 cash for the car and that Shantrel Brown did not take out a loan for the car. (2)

The St. Petersburg Times also reported that Rep. Brown also accepted lodging from Mr. Sissoko on Florida's Brickell Key.

Last summer, Brown came to Miami many weekends and stayed at one of Sissoko's apartments on Brickell Key, Spencer recalled. "Every time I turned around, I heard she was in town," he said, adding that Shantrel Brown accompanied her mother on many of those trips.

Rep. Brown repeatedly intervened with the Justice Department to keep Mr. Sissoko out of prison. She wrote two letters to Attorney General Janet Reno urging her to deport Mr. Sissoko to West Africa instead of sending him to prison.(3) In addition, one of these letters refers to a phone conversation between Attorney General Reno and Rep. Brown regarding Mr. Sissoko. In that letter, Rep. Brown felt the need to clarify that, during their phone conversation, she was "not asking for a personal favor" to keep Mr. Sissoko out of prison.

A: Ethics Committee Should Determine Whether Rep. Brown Violated the House Gift Rule or the Code of Official Conduct

House Rule 51 prohibits House Members from accepting gifts, with exceptions, and waivers granted by the Ethics Committee. The rule also prohibits House Members from allowing family members to accept gifts given because of the official position of the Member.

A gift to a family member of a Member, officer, or employee, or a gift to any other individual based on that individual's relationship with the Member, officer, or employee, shall be considered a gift to the Member, officer, or employee if it is given with the knowledge and acquiescence of the Member, officer or employee and the Member, officer, or employee has reason to believe the gift was given because of the official position of the Member, officer, or employee.(4)

The gift rule allows some gifts made on the basis of personal friendship, but forbids House Members from accepting gifts worth more than $250 without the prior written approval of the Ethics Committee.(5) In addition, the House Code of Official Conduct states that:

A Member, officer, or employee of the House of Representatives shall receive no compensation nor shall he permit any compensation to accrue to his beneficial interest from any source, the receipt of which would occur by virtue of influence improperly exerted from his position in the Congress.(6)

We urge the Ethics Committee to investigate whether Rep. Brown has improperly accepted an expensive car or vacations and personal hospitality which are impermissible under the gift rule or the Code of Official Conduct.

B: Ethics Committee Should Determine Whether Rep. Brown Violated Federal Financial Disclosure Laws

Federal financial disclosure law requires Members of Congress to publicly disclose information regarding their holdings, compensation, and financial transactions, as well as other personal financial details.(7) Specifically, it requires disclosure of gifts worth more than $250. We urge the Ethics Committee to review whether Rep. Brown complied with these financial disclosure requirements.

C: Ethics Committee Should Determine Whether Rep. Brown Accepted Illegal Gratuities or Bribes

The St. Petersburg Times account calls into question whether Rep. Brown and Mr. Sissoko conformed their conduct to the letter of the law. In particular, Section 201 of the U.S. Criminal Code may have been triggered by their activities. We strongly urge the Ethics Committee to investigate whether Rep. Brown has accepted a car and lodging on Brickell Key that constitute illegal gratuities or bribes.

Federal bribery law states that it is a crime for a federal official to "directly or indirectly, corruptly" receive or solicit "anything of value personally or for any other person or entity, in return for...being influenced in the performance of any official act."(8) Federal law on illegal gratuities states that it is a crime for a federal official to directly or indirectly solicit or receive anything of value other than "as provided by law...for or because of any official act performed or to be performed."(9)

Although Rep. Brown was not the ultimate decision-maker regarding whether or not Mr. Sissoko would be kept out of jail, her letter-writing and lobbying campaigns on behalf of Mr. Sissoko were affirmative "official acts" within the meaning of the federal bribery statute.

D: Ethics Committee Should Determine Whether Rep. Brown Accepted an Illegal $10,000 Payment from Rev. Henry Lyons

On April 14, 1998, the St. Petersburg Times reported that:

During her campaign for re-election in 1996, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown of Jacksonville accepted $ 10,000 from a secret Wisconsin bank account Baptist leader Henry J. Lyons allegedly used for money laundering.

A longtime political ally of Lyons, Brown did not report the money on either her financial disclosure statements or her campaign contribution reports....

[Brown's attorneys said that] She did not use the money for personal expenses, nor did Lyons get special treatment because of the payment, they said. The $10,000 was solicited from Lyons, they explained, to help pay for a rally Brown organized to protest a legal challenge to the shape and racial makeup of her congressional district....

The money came from a secret account in Milwaukee that is a focus of the charges against Lyons. Prosecutors allege that Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, hid more than $1-million in the account.(10)

We strongly urge the Ethics Committee to determine whether, in receiving this $10,000 payment, Rep. Brown has accepted an illegal gratuity in violation of section 201 of the U.S. Criminal Code, accepted an improper gift in violation of House Rule 51, and failed to disclose the $10,000 payment as required by federal financial disclosure law.

E: Conclusion

The St. Petersburg Times articles suggest that Rep. Corrine Brown may have violated criminal laws and House Rules which safeguard the integrity of Congress. We strongly urge the Ethics Committee to swiftly authorize an investigative subcommittee to investigate Rep. Brown, and to appoint an outside counsel to conduct the investigation.

Sincerely,

Gary Ruskin
Director

Certificate of Service

This is to certify that I have today, by hand delivery, provided an exact copy of this complaint to the Respondent in this matter, Representative Corrine Brown, at the following address:

Representative Corrine Brown
1610 Longworth House Office Building
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Gary Ruskin
Complainant

Endnotes

1. House Rule 10, clause 4(e)(2).

2. Bill Adair and David Dahl, "The Representative, The Millionaire, and the Luxury Car." St. Petersburg Times, 3 June 1998. Attachment #1 also includes Jim DeFede, "The Baba Chronicles." Miami New Times, 25 September 1997.

3. Correspondence from Representative Corrine Brown to Honorable Janet Reno, 11 June 1997 and 17 June 1997. See Attachment #2.

4. House Rule 51, clause 1(b)(2)(A).

5. House Rule 51, clause 1(e).

6. House Rule 43, clause 3.

7. 5 U.S.C. app. 6, §§101-111.

8. 18 U.S.C. § 201(b)(2)(A).

9. 18 U.S.C. § 201(c)(1)(B).

10. Monica Davey, David Barstow and David Dahl. "Lawmaker Got $10,000 from Lyons Fund." St. Petersburg Times, April 14, 1998. Attachment #2 also includes "A $10,000 Mystery." St. Petersburg Times, April 15, 1998.

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