Is This Legal? Deputy Secretary Of Treasury & Lobbyists Real Estate Deal!

Is This Legal?
by daninvirginia
Sun Oct 22, 2006

So, there is this monster mansion in Arlington that I drove by while it was being built. It's the HGTV lover in me that loves to watch homes get built, and this was a spectacular and amazing mansion.
Arlington allows you to look up the property tax records, and me being nosy, I wanted to see who owns the house, what they paid for it, and how much the taxes are on it....

Here is the property tax record....http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/RealEstate/reassessments/scripts/Inquiry.asp?action=view&lrsn=7466


And so I am surprised by the idea that some company owns the house in the name of some guy. So I google the guy's name and find out this... He is, in fact, high up in the Bush White House.... Deputy Secretary of the Treasury no less.....

OK, so I wonder who on earth this company is.... The Rooney Group... and low and behold, what does google tell us, but they are.... LOBBYISTS!!!! I am making the assumption that this is the same Rooney Group that owns the house.

So my question is this: Is it legal for a lobbying firm to own a house in the name of a White House official, deputy sec'y of the treasury???

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/22/194213/51


Rooney Group International specializes in influencing the actions and policies of Federal Governmental agencies and activities through our relationships with the Legislative and Executive branches. Our objective is to ensure that our clients' interests are fairly considered and that a "level playing field" exists.

http://www.rgiinc.com/pgs/pg_2.htm

WaPo 4/26/05: Rooney Group involved in Delay travel scandals....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/25/AR2005042501414.html

This certainly sounds fishy. This needs to get out soon (before the elections) so it can be investigated.

Industrial Committee of Ammunition Producers

The Rooney Group is listed about a third of the way down the page.

The original is a word doc here: http://www.osc.army.mil/br/icap/sector.doc

:kick: