Posted on 06/06/2006 12:04:31 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Congressman was unaware of their crimes, his aide says
U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz accepted free trips to China from a Houston-based husband-and-wife business team convicted recently in an illegal immigration scheme involving Chinese nationals.
Ortiz spokeswoman Cathy Travis couldn't reach him Monday, but said she is sure he was unaware of the crimes committed by Kenneth and Ping Lee Cohen, of Houston. The Cohens pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and are awaiting sentencing.
These trips are among the 46 paid by organizations for Ortiz and his staff between 2000 and August 2005, according to a Caller-Times analysis of data made available by the Center for Public Integrity.
The nonprofit research organization spent a year compiling and analyzing nearly $50 million worth of travel by members of Congress, their families and staffs paid for by private companies or organizations. Ortiz ranked fourth out of 46 Texas members in travel expenses.
Ortiz's travels paid for by the Cohens coincided with the years in which, according to federal authorities, they made contact with Chinese nationals, helped them obtain fraudulent visas and forged documents showing supposed relationships between U.S. and Chinese companies, which were used in petitions for the Chinese residents to stay in the United States as executive-level employees. An indictment listed nearly $120,000 in payments to the couple for their work.
"I am certain that he didn't know anything about that," Travis said. "When he finds out on his Blackberry he will be very surprised."
Asia Access Corporation, a company listed under Kenneth Cohen's name, paid for Ortiz and his former chief of staff, Florencio Rendon, to visit China four times in those five years, according to a Caller-Times analysis of congressional travel data. Ping Lee Cohen listed her association with Asia Access in a $1,000 political donation to Ortiz in 2000.
Lawyers for the couple either did not return calls or declined to comment.
Ortiz took 12 trips to China between 2000 and 2005. He also traveled to Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Travis said she didn't know the reason for the trips with Asia Access. But many of the other Asian trips, often listed as "fact finding" in travel disclosure forms, benefited his South Texas district, she said. Ortiz has helped bring at least two Asian companies to the area: AMFELS Inc., which she said brought nearly 2,500 jobs to the Port of Brownsville, and a shrimping company. Travis said she didn't know the name of the company or how many jobs it created.
Ortiz also tried to lure a Singapore company to the Corpus Christi International Airport, but that deal fell through. That company paid for two trips to Asia by him and his staff.
Ortiz has helped the two ports in his district, in Brownsville and Corpus Christi, form business agreements with Asian ports, Travis said, and helps business owners here make contacts in Asia.
This was the case with Corpus Christi-based Integrity Communications, which twice paid for Ortiz and Rendon to visit Hong Kong and Beijing, according to travel disclosure forms.
Travis said the company focuses on telecommunications infrastructure. Company president Bill Sugarek did not return calls for comment Monday.
Travis said she didn't know what the Cohens' interest was in China, but said they were on friendly terms with the congressman.
"I don't know when and how he met Ken and Ping," she said. "I know he has known them for a very long time."
Employees or owners with both Integrity Communications and Asia Access have donated to Ortiz's political campaign funds. The Cohens collectively gave $6,000 between 1997 and 2003. Sugarek gave $2,000 in 2005.
The Center for Public Integrity has not yet released information that would show how Ortiz ranks among all representatives and senators, but he was not listed as one of the top 10 travelers.
Congressional travel documents are only available in paper form in Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C., making analysis of overall spending difficult until the nonprofit group compiled the information in an electronic format.
Ortiz faced some criticism for his travel last year. Corpus Christi lawyer Filemon Vela paid $11,100 for the congressmen to fly to China months after Ortiz got legislation passed naming a new Brownsville courthouse after Vela's father, a former judge, and Judge Reynaldo Garza.
Ortiz called the timing a coincidence. He had been pushing for years to get the courthouse named after Vela.
Officials with the U.S. Attorney's office, which prosecuted the Cohens, would not comment on the case. The Cohens will be sentenced in August and face up to five years in prison and $250,000 fines.
Contact Sarah Viren at 886-4316 or HYPERLINK mailto:virens@caller.com virens@caller.com
It is not mentioned anywhere in the article but U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz is a DEMOCRAT.
Solomon P. Ortiz Ping!
Like William Jefferson, Ortiz is guilty as h*ll. Another example of why Congress will not clean up its act. Why do we even have this institution since it's so corrupt and morally lacking? Too bad there isn't a national initiative to vote these creeps out of office and start with all new faces.
DISTRICT 27
District 27 Texas
Current Representative
Solomon P. Ortiz
Democrat
Results of last election
Democrat 61%
Republican 36%
Other 0%
Here's how Ortiz did in 2002 according the the DU website. Anyone want to bet Ortiz will win reelection with at least a 20% margin in November?
"It is not mentioned anywhere in the article but U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz is a DEMOCRAT."
The first line in the article also said, "Congressman unaware of their crimes, his aides said."
You didn't suspect anything out of the ordinary did you?
What are you doing over at the DU website?
Try this one:
http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe
Google sent me there.
I see that he won by an even bigger margin in 2004 than in 2005 in spite of President Bush carrying Nueces County with 56.77% of the vote.
U. S. Representative District 27
William (Willie) Vaden REP 61,955 34.89%
Solomon P. Ortiz(I) DEM 112,081 63.13%
Christopher J. Claytor LIB 3,500 1.97%
-----------
Race Total 177,536
2005 = 2002
2005? Don't you mean 2006?
Thanks, great site!
The US government is a one huge customer and I don't really have a problem with private businesses footing the bill to have elected offices visit their plants. ...as long as everything is documented and legal.
But when the businesses foot the bill for a luxury vacation for politicians under the guise of a seaside business meetings, that's another thing.
GlaxoSmithKline also has co-sponsored at least 30 congressional trips -- some to exotic locations -- at a cost of at least $54,000
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?dist=newsfinder&siteid=google&guid=%7BE7F75EC3-CF64-4FB5-BBA0-26B0BBA7DD9F%7D&keyword=
In 2004, the company was one of a group of sponsors that flew three lawmakers and one staff member to Brazil to focus on expanding opportunities for African-American-owned businesses. The trips -- taken by Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo, Rep. Caroly Kilpatrick, D-Mich., Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and one of her aides -- cost more than $32,000.
A year earlier, GlaxoSmithKline was one of several sponsors, including drug companies Eli Lilly and Pfizer, that sponsored a trip taken by Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Tex., to Puerto Rico. The companies spent at least $5,700, to send Ortiz to a retreat designed to improve relations between the congressional minority caucuses.
Couldn't they do that in D.C.?
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