Appropriations staffer will fight subpoena

[babylonsister]

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/approps-staffer-will-fight-subpoena-2007-10-19.html

Approps staffer will fight subpoena
By Susan Crabtree
October 19, 2007

An Appropriations Committee staffer, with the help of the House General Counsel’s office, is fighting a grand jury subpoena issued as part of the investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.).

Greg Lankler, an aide on Appropriations’ majority staff who used to work for Republicans when Lewis chaired the committee, sent a notice to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), as House rules require, alerting her of his decision to resist the subpoena after consulting with the General Counsel’s office. Notice of the letter was read on the House floor Thursday afternoon.

On Oct. 11, a Los Angeles grand jury subpoenaed Lankler, demanding that he testify and turn over documents that the Department of Justice is seeking. Lankler asserted that demands for the records and testimony were inconsistent with the “rights and privileges of the House,” and that the information sought was “not material and relevant.”

The Justice Department is looking into Lewis’s relationship with the lobbying firm of his friend, former Rep. Bill Lowery (R-Calif.), and whether he steered millions of dollars in contracts its way in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions.