In an egregious display of brazen nepotism, Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) has been trying to amend the Defense Authorization bill to give a company his son consults for, up to $35 million from the Pentagon.

Rep. McKeon is the outgoing chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. And he’s used his position to try and get a program the Defense Department doesn’t even want added on to their budget anyway. All to benefit a company his son Howard D. McKeon Jr. consults for. Roxana Tiron broke the story for Bloomberg:

“The company, Granite Bay Employment Solutions of Sacramento, previously had pitched its proposal to the Defense Department and was turned down. It hired Howard D. McKeon Jr., the chairman’s son, as a consultant. McKeon Jr. helped Granite Bay draft the legislative language, according to Kirk Uhler, who owns a minority stake in the company.”

Let’s recap: Rep. McKeon’s son helps a company that’s had no luck pitching their program to the Defense Department write some bill text that would require this program anyway. Then, his father makes sure that language gets added to the very bill that funds the Department of Defense.

But the way McKeon Sr. went about doing this is a little odd.

Rep. McKeon could have added the language his son helped to write into the original draft for the Defense authorization bill. But instead, he put his son’s legislative language into its own STAND ALONE AMENDMENT. It’s hard to know if this was hubris, or stupidity. Either way, Rep. McKeon was smart enough to know he shouldn’t tell his colleagues his son stood to benefit. As Tiron reports:

“He brought it up as a separate, stand-alone amendment, and pitched it on merits to members of his committee without mentioning the connection to his son, according to a video and transcript of the deliberations. The House went on to pass the measure.”

What’s most disgusting about this story, though probably not surprising, is that Rep. McKeon doesn’t even have any shame about what he’s trying to do. He described his actions as “pretty transparent.” And in an interview with Bloomberg, he talked up the program’s merits.

But outside observers saw it differently:

“‘It is obscured in the open,’ Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said in an interview. 'Members may have voted a little different if they had known a little bit more about it.’”

Rep. McKeon’s attitude appears to be: “It’s O.K. if I’m a nepotistic scumbag, using my influence to line the pockets of my son at the expense of the taxpayer, so long as I’m a scumbag in the open.”

But unlike his father, McKeon, Jr. wasn’t interested in talking about the story. Tiron notes: “McKeon’s son didn’t return two phone calls seeking comment.”

Feel free to let Rep. McKeon know how you feel about this story: his twitter handle is @BuckMcKeon

Read the full article @ Bloomberg