Washington -- A nonpartisan watchdog group has asked the Justice Department to determine whether Republican Rep. Michael Oxley blocked legislation as a favor to a company that helped him raise money for political campaigns.
The practice would violate federal campaign finance and bribery statutes, said the Campaign Legal Center's letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday.
The center said that Oxley, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, reportedly blocked bills that would strengthen regulation of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., or Freddie Mac. This occurred, the center said, while Freddie Mac raised money for Oxley and other politicians, paying professional firms for fund-raising events that grossed $3 million between 2000 and 2003.
Corporations are barred from contributing or acting as conduits for contributions, and Freddie Mac in April agreed to pay a record $3.8 million fine. The Federal Election Commission did not accuse Oxley, of Findlay, of wrongdoing. But 90 percent of the fund-raisers held by Freddie Mac were for Oxley's benefit, according to Freddie Mac documents...
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