Another top US Republican faces ethics probe

[Ron Burgundy]

AFP - Yet another top Republican lawmaker has been caught up in a scandal, this one involving lobbying deals for his daughter, just weeks before crucial US midterm elections, media reported.

In the latest ethics probes to rock the beleaguered ruling party, the Justice Department reportedly is investigating whether Representative Curt Weldon (news, bio, voting record) of Pennsylvania traded his political influence to help secure lucrative lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter Karen Weldon.

Disclosure of the probe comes just three weeks before the congressional elections, and presents a new headache for Republicans already groaning under the weight of numerous scandals as they fight to retain House and Senate majorities.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that federal agents raided the home and office of Karen Weldon, as officials investigate her father's alleged efforts between 2002 and 2004 to aid two Russian companies and two Serbian brothers with ties to late strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

The Russian companies and a Serbian foundation run by the brothers' family each hired a firm co-owned by Karen Weldon for nearly one million dollars per year.

Her father Curt Weldon, 59, is a powerful 10-term member of the House of Representatives and a leading member of the House Armed Services Committee. He also is one of the key voices in the US legislature on North Korea, and has led congressional delegations to the closed communist country on two separate occasions.

He is locked in a tight race to hold onto his House seat, which is endangered because of his strong opposition to a US military pullout from Iraq and his ties to US president George W. Bush, a very unpopular figure in Weldon's home state of Pennsylvania.

Last month, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a Washington advocacy group, put Weldon on its list of most corrupt public officials for allegedly abusing his position to win jobs and favors for friends and family.

If the allegations are borne out, it would add to what is becoming an increasingly crowded rogue's gallery on Capitol Hill.

Among the most explosive recent scandals, last month Republican Congressman Mark Foley of Florida resigned after disclosures that he had sent sexually-explicit e-mails to teenage congressional aides.

Last week, Republican Representative Robert Ney of Ohio pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges relating to a corruption probe.

Two other top House Republicans, Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California and Tom DeLay of Texas, also have quit amid scandal.