by KYW’s Ian Bush
The Justice Department is probing possible influence-peddling by Delaware County US congressman Curt Weldon. Weldon says he's given no special favors to his daughter, and says the investigation is politically motivated.
Weldon calls the timing of the investigation -- just weeks before the election -- suspicious:
"The person who filed the one complaint against me with the Justice Department, Melanie Sloan, was a key staffer for John Conyers, who stands to become the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee assuming the Democrats win control of the Congress. I think it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this district could swing control of the Congress."
Melanie Sloan heads the left-leaning, nonprofit group "CREW" (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington), which filed a complaint over two years ago alleging that Weldon violated federal bribery law (see related story).
Sloan says she hasn't heard from the government since, and that her group has no influence over timing or actions taken by investigators:
"We don't control what the Justice Department does. The Justice Department is investigating Curt Weldon, and I can't force the Justice Department to do anything."
KYW's John Ostapkovich reports that at a news conference on Tuesday, US senator Rick Santorum said he also finds "suspicious" and "disturbing" the timing of the FBI raids that occurred Monday involving family and friends of congressman Curt Weldon, a fellow Republican.
Santorum would not speak about the case itself, saying the facts will lead where they lead. But, he says, with the election only three weeks away, the Justice Department should understand that, while it is independent of politics, it does not operate in a vacuum.
The senator says this calls to mind how an FBI bug was found in Mayor Street's office a few weeks before his re-election.
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