In his July 16 syndicated column, after asserting that the legislative earmarks of Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) “have provoked an FBI investigation,” Robert D. Novak said of Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) only that his “past earmarking has raised ethical questions.” But according to an April 25 article in The Hill, “The Department of Justice (DoJ) has spent more than a year looking into Lewis's relationship with a lobbying firm and the millions of dollars in contracts its clients received from Congress.” The article continued: “Lewis, the ranking member of the spending committee, has outlaid an estimated $900,000 on defense lawyers since the probe began, but the investigation has been quiet in recent months.” In other words, Lewis, too, is reportedly under federal investigation.

In a June 16 article, The Sacramento Bee reported that the contracts involved “earmarks for campaign contributors”: “The senior Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jerry Lewis of Redlands, reported paying a Los Angeles law firm more than $640,000 last year amid an ongoing federal investigation involving other earmarks for campaign contributors. No charges have been filed, and Lewis denies any wrongdoing.”

From Novak's July 16 column:

While considering the interior appropriations bill, the House kept 11 egregious earmarks alive. Rep. John Murtha, king of Democratic earmarkers, kept $1.2 million for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission in Hollidaysburg (by a 343 to 86 vote), and $150,000 for W.A. Young & Sons Foundry in Greene County (328 to 104). The House voted 323 to 104 to retain $140,000 for the Wetzel County, W.Va., courthouse sponsored by Democratic Rep. Alan Mollohan, whose earmarks have provoked an FBI investigation.

Moving on to financial services appropriations, the House voted 335 to 87 to continue Murtha's raid on the Treasury: $231,000 for the Grace Johnstown (Pa.) Area Regional Industries Incubator. By 325 to 101, the members refused to remove a $231,000 Mollohan earmark for West Virginia University Research Corp. to renovate a “small business incubator.” As usual, dauntless Republican Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona led the way in targeting colleagues' earmarks. He did not exempt Republicans -- including 15-term California Rep. Jerry Lewis, ranking minority member of the Appropriations Committee, whose past earmarking has raised ethical questions.