Akkam’s Razor

It's a biggie… 

Alternet posits that the actions of Curt Weldon are proof positive of the Military-Industial Complex that Ike Eisenhower warned us about in his Farewell Speech:

Editor's Note: When President Eisenhower warned in his Farewell Address of the dangers of growing, unchecked power in America, he originally described a "military-congressional-industrial complex," but dropped "congressional" in later drafts of the speech. He was right the first time, the writers say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY

DaddyDemocrat points to Phil Heron's editorial in the DelcoTimes, where Heron states:

It still is inexplicable, however, that he has not released “the letter.”

For the past two years, whenever he was asked about the meteoric lobbying career of his daughter Karen and Sexton, Weldon always responded that he voluntarily went to the House Ethics Committee with all the particulars and was given a clean bill of health. More recently he’s said that the committee wrote him a letter closing the case.

Why, then, has he not produced it? With his family and friends under fire and his job on the line, why won’t Weldon release the one piece of paper that could give him an exculpatory boost?

DD goes on to point that Weldon's claim of this exonerating letter, considering his other claims of "proof", like Able Danger's discovery of Mohammed Atta pre-9/11, the documents Sandy Berger stole, and personal evidence of the locations of Iraqi WMD are part of a pattern:

What we have here is clearly a pattern of claiming to have evidence where it does not exist. I have a hunch that when Curt was a kid, he tried the “Dog ate my homework trick” a lot too.

Billmon links to an Inquirer article detailing some more of the details of the relationship of Curt Weldon's daughter to Serbian strongmen linked to Slobodan Milosevic (remember, Serbia-Bosnia, ethnic-cleansing, Genocide, and all that):

As her father the congressman publicly supported a Serbian family with close ties to war criminal Slobodan Milosevic, lobbyist Karen Weldon in 2003 won a $240,000 contract to help improve the family's image.

[...]

A newly obtained State Department cable shows that she tried to help the wife of Serbian tycoon Bogoljub Karic get a visa to visit Florida. The State Department - noting the request came from a congressman's daughter - opposed the visa, citing links to "terrorist activities."

"Karic wanted the visa to try to make himself respectable," recalled Ambassador Richard Gelbard, who was President Bill Clinton's personal envoy to the Balkans. "Getting a U.S. visa is like getting the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval."

Bogoljub Karic has been on the lam since being charged in February with embezzling Serbian state funds. The Karics were once referred to as "the Rockefellers of Serbia."

The FBI is now investigating Karen Weldon's work for the Karics and other clients, trying to determine whether Curt Weldon used his position to help her win contracts.

The Hill points to another Weldon-connected politician, Rick Weldon, a Maryland state-legislator, who professes Unka Curt's innocence (joining the "handwritten" pink photocopied letter placed in mailboxes by Mary Weldon, Curt's spouse):

Somehow, hearing a trusted, loving family member defend a relative’s innocence rings a bit hollow.

In a recent interview with The Hill, Rick Weldon, nephew to Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) and a Maryland state lawmaker, said his uncle’s brewing scandal is not jeopardizing Rick’s career or his reputation.

[...]

Asked why he believed in the congressman’s innocence without knowing more about the case than the general public, he replied, “Because I know the man. That’s the answer.”

Run13one, a PA-7 suburbanite blogging from City of Brotherly Love states that she's had her Sestak signs stolen off her lawn - she also states that indications from the campaign are that as off yesterday,  there were upwards of 1,000 missing signs, replaced by Weldon signs.

I suspect Weldon (and his wife's) pleas to give him "the benefit of a doubt" will fall on deaf ears.

Meanwhile, the outrage du jour will be that UPENN President Amy Gutman was photographed next to a student dressed as a suicide bomber.  Future DelcoGOP and deployed Iraqi War Soldier Nick Micarelli is quick to bemon the current state of affairs and hitch his wagon to Weldon's future:

Nick Miccarelli is a member of the National Guard and has served in Iraq. Now he's fighting on a political front at home. The 24-year-old is a College Republican and a political director for Pennsylvania Rep. Curt Weldon's bid for re-election, one of the most hotly contested races in the country.

Miccarelli says Weldon connects with people like him and his family.

"We're Catholic, blue-collar types," Miccarelli says. "We want secure jobs, and especially now, a secure country."

Nick, your a local, and I assume a good kid, nice Italian-Catholic, a real Reagan Democrat.  You really oughta rethink who you're associated with, and how it will reflect on you throughout your (presumable) political career…these internets have LONG memories…