Yesterday's indictment of Kevin Ring, a former legislative director to Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) and colleague of disgraced superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, is further evidence of the need for accurate financial disclosures by members of Congress and their top aides.
The 10-count indictment alleges that Ring made false statements about receiving a $135,000 kickback himself, as well as showering Doolittle and others with illegal gifts. Prosecutors say that congressional officials were filing false financial disclosures regarding these gifts because doing so would have been admitting to receiving illegal gifts.
The indictment says that Ring provided legislative and executive branch officials with gifts in exchange for official actions. They include all-expenses-paid domestic and international trael, fundraising assistance, meals, drinks, golf, sports tickets and employment opportunities to spouses, including Doolittle's wife.
Ring's attorney said his client had cooperated with authorities but would not plead guilty to false charges.
Since earlier this year, LegiStorm has provided all available financial disclosures for congressional staffers. Kevin Ring's own disclosures, as well as salary data, are not on our site because he quit work on Capitol Hill more than a decade ago, before the earliest records in our database. But it highlights the need for this data to be more available for public scrutiny.
