• Barbara Boxer,  Doug Boxer

    CA-Sen: Barbara Boxer and the Indian Tribal Legislation that Benefits her Non-Native American Son

    While the Golden State struggles under the weight of an unemployment rate that has soared to 12.3 percent and with more than 2 million Californians out of work, Barbara Boxer is living off the spoils of elected office, having watched her salary more than double, become a millionaire and paid her family members hundreds of thousands of dollars out of her special-interest-funded political committees.

    Well, Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer has NOT sponsored much legislation during her 18 years in the United States Senate but the laws she does seem to benefit her own family members, particularly her son, attorney, Doug Boxer.

    Ten years ago, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)– currently chair of the Senate Ethics Committee– personally moved legislation that has financially benefited her son, Capitol Confidential has learned.

    Boxer, then in her second term as a U.S. Senator, carried legislation restoring federal recognition to a Native American tribe, the Coastal Miwoks.  At the time, the Miwoks claimed to be a “nongaming tribe.”  However, Boxer’s legislation, as signed into law by President Bill Clinton, allowed for a casino to be constructed– a result that would specifically have been blocked under similar legislation introduced by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

    Now, with a major relevant condition having been met, local residents are bracing themselves for construction of a new casino, a project that has been pushed by none other than Boxer’s son, Doug Boxer.  Questions are being raised about the younger Boxer’s involvement and his mother’s legislative actions that paved the way for what looks like a financially lucrative deal benefiting him personally.

    Less than a year after Boxer’s tribal bill was signed into law, Doug Boxer helped negotiate a casino partnership between the tribe and Station Casinos of Las Vegas.  Doug Boxer’s firm also acquired options on 2,000 acres of land that was later transferred to Station Casinos for an undisclosed price, but which some reports indicate could have been as much as $24 million.

    In addition, Doug Boxer’s firm took a consulting fee for brokering the land deal.  The amount of that fee has also remained undisclosed, but in May 2003, tribal chairman Gregory Sarris told the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat that the consulting fee was “too much, more than I would like.”

    If and when the casino does in fact open, Doug Boxer will profit then, too: According to Boxer campaign spokesman Matthew Kagen, Doug Boxer and the developer involved in the project are partners in a limited liability corporation that would financially benefit from such a move.

    Sen. Boxer, for her part, appears to have been aware of the bad optics surrounding this situation for some time.

    Back in 2003, when news broke regarding Doug Boxer’s involvement in efforts to develop the casino, but long after her legislation was signed into law, Boxer “recused” herself from further Miwok dealings, citing a “flip-flop” by the tribe on the gambling matter.

    However, she predicted that the legislation, and her son’s apparent profiting from it, would prove a liability in future re-election campaigns.  Since then, Boxer has remained tight-lipped about the entire matter, with one notable exception: Pinned on it during an interview with the Sacramento Bee last month, Boxer said “I can’t talk about any developments because my son was a lawyer who was part of some consultant that was somehow related to this.”

    Indeed, Boxer’s pursuit of the legislation and her son’s involvement in the casino negotiations have riled fellow Democrats.  In 2003, Sonoma County Supervisor Valerie Brown told the Los Angeles Times “when the son of a senator works with a tribe to negotiate with an investor from Las Vegas, I have some questions. … It just doesn’t look good.”

    Barbara Boxer is a sleazy POL who has been caught sponsoring legislation which enriches her son. In the meantime, some California cities are experiencing over 15% unemployment. How about sponsoring some legislation for them, Ma’am?

    Granted this deal was ten years ago but what other sweetheart deals for Doug Boxer are there? And, he as already received over $500,000 from Mama Boxer’s campaign committees from 2001-2009.

    Strictly speaking, Boxer’s payments to her son are not illegal, the Senate having repeatedly rejected moves to change rules relating to the employment of family members. In 2008, Boxer voted “present” on a Senate amendment that would have blocked campaigns from paying relatives for campaign work.  She has also defended payments to her son as ethical and appropriate.

    Ethics are not in Barbara Boxer’s vocabulary list.