The answer is “Just Maybe”.

Via The Hill, the reporting on his connections to Itera is old news:

“As President Bush prepared to announce a new energy cooperation pact with Russia in May 2002, Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) and 10 fellow lawmakers sat down in Moscow with executives of oil and gas trader Itera Group, praising the company as a prime prospect for U.S. partnerships.

Itera had fallen under scrutiny at the time for its ties to Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned natural gas giant, but its congressional clout remained strong, with help from Weldon and his daughter, Karen, whose public relations firm signed a $500,000 contract with Itera four months after the 2002 trip.

Itera is facing new questions this week after federal agents raided the company’s Florida office as well as the homes of Karen Weldon and Charles Sexton, her business partner and a longtime adviser to the embattled ten-term Republican, locked in the toughest re-election fight of his career. But despite Weldon’s public speculation about a politically motivated probe, one Democrat came to Itera’s defense yesterday.

“I only have good things to say about them,” said Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), whose district includes Itera’s Jacksonville headquarters. Brown, who joined Weldon on the 2002 codel to Russia, led a later celebration of Itera’s 10th anniversary in Florida that featured entertainment from Oscar winner Isaac Hayes and two Russian pop singers.

Brown said she was “really surprised by the nature of the investigation” of Weldon’s links with Itera and two other foreign clients of his daughter, which Brown said she first heard of through news reports this week. “I just don’t know how whether or not a person had a [lobbying] client would generate that kind of response.”

Well, like I said in the previous post so are a lot of people surprised. Weldon is the Opie Taylor of Capital Hill, white socks and loafers and all.

Even so the targeting this close to the election is very, shall we say, interesting. Others note:

“William Canfield, a Williams & Jensen lawyer and former Senate Ethics Committee aide who represented Weldon in the 2004 matter, said the Justice Department‚Äôs moves would likely stave off any further House ethics committee action this year.

“Plus, if he doesn’t win, they’re not going to care. … [There is] no impetus for them to do something until after the election,” Canfield said. He questioned why federal prosecutors would rev up their pursuit of new information in the caseatthis late date. “Why it took two years for the Justice Department to read the L.A. Times, I have no idea.”

One of the laughable things about this story is the assertian that just because the FBI is under a Republican Administration that this couldn’t possibly be politically motivated. Those saying that haven’t a clue of just how political the FBI and DOJ are. Just think of all the anti-bush leaks from both agencies during the 2004 election season. It’s hilarious that people are even throwing the idea out there.

Do I think that’s the case now, it’s too early to tell, but at this point if it’s a choice on credibility between Soros babe CREW’s Melanie Sloan and Weldon, Ms. Sloan loses.