Why is it that Democrats always have issues with technology? Hillary Clinton’s server, Anthony Weiner’s sexting issues, and now an IT scandal spanning across Democratic congressmen? You really can’t make this stuff up.
Reports are surfacing that multiple Democratic members of Congress hired a family of unqualified information technology (IT) administrators, resulting in a scam costing roughly $5 million since 2003, according to Legistorm.com, which tracks congressional staff data.
The first IT fake, Imran Awan, joined Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s staff in 2005. He then finagled for four family members and his best friend to appear on approximately 80 other Democratic congressional payrolls at one time or another. The six IT administrators were virtually unknown in IT circles around DC and had little technology background, but made salaries equal to that of a chief of staff.
The family so rarely showed up to do IT work that they had time to operate a car dealership in Northern Virginia, which was financed by Dr. Ali Al-Attar, a onetime Iraqi politician who fled the U.S. on tax charges and who reportedly has links to the terrorist group Hezbollah. A high school friend of Awan’s supposedly did the actual IT work, when needed.
Politico reported the “House staffers are accused of stealing equipment from members’ offices without their knowledge and committing serious, potentially illegal, violations on the House IT network.”
This scheme poses a large security threat as well as a financial threat; House IT administrators can read all communications sent and received by members whose accounts they service, and have access to office computer files as well.
Despite investigations by the Capitol Police and House authorities banning Imran from accessing official computers, Wasserman Schultz refuses to fire her IT administrator. Politico also describes Wasserman Schultz as having a “friendly personal relationship” with Imran and his wife.
Other Democrats caught up in the scandal include but are not limited to Reps. Marcia Fudge, Tim Ryan, Jim Costa, Sander M. Levin, Yvette D. Clarke, Gregory W. Meeks, John P. Sarbanes, Jackie Speier, Diana Degette, Karen Bass, Tony Cardenes, Lois Frankel, Andre Carson, and Ted Deutch.
