F.B.I. Investigating Complaint Against California Lawmaker

[brooklynite]

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3 — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating whether Representative Gary G. Miller, Republican of California, improperly used an unusual tax provision to avoid paying capital gains taxes on profits from land sales to California cities, law enforcement and government officials said.

Last summer, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service saying that Mr. Miller had failed to pay capital gains tax on the 2002 sale of 165 acres in Monrovia, Calif.

The complaint said Mr. Miller invoked a rarely used provision that allows tax deferment if the land that is sold is facing an eminent domain threat and the protected proceeds are reinvested within two years.

Mr. Miller, who would have faced about a 30 percent tax on the property under a normal sale, used the roughly $10 million in profits from the Monrovia sale to buy property in Fontana, Calif., from Lewis Operating Corp., one of his major campaign contributors, and then resold some of that land to the City of Fontana in 2005 and later in 2006.

[TacticalPeek]

1. Link?

:kick:

[salin]

2. TPM Muckraker covered some of this last fall.

He also had some very funky loan arrangements to do the land acquisitions, if I recall correctly...

Two cal republican congressmen are on the quick road to big trouble: Mr. Miller, and rep Lewis, former chair of the Appropriations Committee. Remember his cozy relationship with a former congressman now lobbyist - and big contracts given to the lobbyist contracts - and that one-third of Lewis's PACs funds come from the lobbyist and/or his clients? Then his chief of staff (Latitia White?) left to go to the lobbyist and made HUGE bucks lobbying her boss?

Then on a very different front there is an Alaskan investigation into the former head of the State Senate the son of US Sen Ted Stephens which seems to lead to some shenannigans tied to former Sen and current Gov Frank Murkowski and possibly right back to Sen. Stephens himself.

These are the most direct investigations likely to lead to political demise - though some others still simmer... ala California Rep. John Doolittle (tied both to abramoff and DeLay scandals).

[brooklynite]

3. Sorry about that

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/us/04miller.html

[kestrel91316]

4. This can't be right...........

Repubics are all pure as the driven snow.

:evilgrin:

[Peace Patriot]

5. I grew up in Fontana, and remember endless green fields, orange groves,

grape vineyards and magnificent mountain views--a hot, deserty but fruitful place--the quintessential '50s town, a "Leave It to Beaver" sort of town. Now it's all paved over, from San Bernardino to Los Angeles, and choked with smog. So sad. And there has been corruption, all along the way, I'm sure, having to do with ungodly amounts of development, to bring it to its present state.

San Bernardino County (where Fontana is located)--and also nearby Riverside County--are two of the most corrupt counties in California with regard to election officials and Diebold's evil influence. These Republican county election heads joined with the very corrupt head of Los Angeles county elections, Connie McCormack (does sales brochures for Diebold, best friend was Diebold's chief salesperson in California), in a cabal to oust our good Secretary of State, Kevin Shelley (who had sued Diebold and decertified their touchscreens, prior to the 2004 election). Dirtiest bit of business I've ever seen in California politics. These Republican Congressmen were--more than likely--never elected in the first place. That illegitimate, unelected, blowhard rightwing demagogues feel no restraints on their behavior, and feel no accountability to anyone, and steal from the people of this country, hand over fist, shouldn't surprise us, given who their leader is, and how HE was...ahem...elected.

It is one of my hopes that Fontana (home of Kaiser Steel) and San Bernardino--which used to be strong union territory and very progressive and Democratic (back in the days of Gov. Pat Brown)--will make headway in re-democratizing itself. We now have an honest CA Secretary of State again (Debra Bowen), no doubt elected by far more votes than the "official totals" show--and perhaps she can clean up San Bernardino/Riverside elections. There are a lot of good people in that region (called "the Inland Empire"--I never knew why "empire"*), who have been horribly mis-represented in Congress and in local government for some time. Like many Americans these days, they probably have no idea why. But that is changing very fast. Go, Fontana! Go, Sam Berdoo!

----------------------

*(Just found out! Maybe. Good 'ol wikipedia!

Imperial County (note: same region of CA as SB/Riverside--to the southeast) was formed in 1907 from the eastern half of San Diego County. The county took its name from Imperial Valley, itself named for the Imperial Land Company, a subsidiary of the California Development Company, which at the turn of the 20th century had reclaimed the southern portion of the Colorado desert for agriculture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_County,_California

The name "Inland Empire" was first used in the 1950s to distinguish the region (note: SB/Riverside) from the communities of the Los Angeles area, and Los Angeles itself. Within Southern California it's known as "L.A. and OC's (note: Orange County's) New Jersey."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inland_Empire_(California)

So, the notion of "empire," "monarchy" and "imperial" all may have come from some hubristic land shyster, who gave his real estate scam the grandiose title of the "Imperial Land Company."

[Peace Patriot]

6. Added note: I have never heard anyone in Southern California call the

Inland Empire "L.A. and Orange County's New Jersey."

I presume what is meant by this is a lower middle class/working class region, not at the center of power, money and big city glamor. That is true enough. But I never heard it said. And I'm not sure that most of the people it was said about could find New Jersy on a map. So it's a snob remark--the remark of New York carpetbaggers trying to figure out where the Beverly Hilton is located, and finding themselves in Claremont. Perhaps this is more the key to the origin of "empire" and "imperial" than the real estate developer of Imperial County--"empire" being the working class' resentful/envious reply to big city snobbery.

The wikipedia article says "citation needed" for this phrase, and I wonder if it was ever spoken by anyone. Or maybe this just tells you who I mostly hung out with, in my Southern California days. (And it weren't the nabobs.)