Folks, while The Republican Temple is a conservative website and internet radio show, I have absolutely no problem outing conservatives who have become corrupt. Case in point? Former congressman John Doolittle.

Concert tickets; baseball tickets; even lavish dinners; all of these freebies were allegedly given to former Representative John Doolittle who today was named a co-conspirator in a corruption case.

Dozens of alleged bribes and favors are now revealed in Federal Court documents obtained by CBS-13. The indictment, filed against a lobbyist working for the firm of Jack Abramoff, was once a staff member in Doolittle’s office. It also links the former Congressman with Abramoff, now in prison for corruption.

“If he’s innocent, he’s innocent, but they need to find out,” said one voter we spoke with about the indictment. Though another thought “we definitely need to investigate more.”

According to the indictment, “Lawmaker #5″, who CBS-13 confirmed through emails and evidence submitted in the court hearings is John Doolittle, was showered with gifts, including a job for his wife that paid more than $90,000 at a non-profit that would make sure she wasn’t “overburdened with work.”

The firm also allegedly helped Doolittle with fundraisers. The indictment says that lobbyists gave him great tickets to sporting events plus private suites for the Dixie Chicks and Faith Hill concerts. He was also wined and dined at posh restaurants.

“Who can you trust,” said Rich Palmer, who lives in Doolittle’s former district. “I look at every ballot. You do background checks on these people and you don’t know what’s really going on.”

So what did the lobbyists allegedly get in return?

According to Federal investigators, Doolittle pushed for Puerto Rico to become a state because the firm asked him to. He supported an anti-gambling bill, also at the request of the lobbyists. He even allegedly asked the INS to investigate the immigration status of a woman at odds with Abramoff. Doolittle is also accused of asking other lawmakers to support funding for projects the lobbyists were pushing.

The 46-page indictment is full of alleged corruption examples, but one of the most troubling could be a statement Doolittle allegedly made about his relationship with the lobbyists. According to his Chief of Staff, the lawmaker felt like he was working for their firm.

It is important to note, however, that Doolittle is not named in the indictment, nor has he been charged or indicted himself individually. It has already been reported, however, that the FBI has raided the former Congressman’s offices and offered immunity to Doolittle’s former Chief of Staff for helping with this investigation.

Federal prosecutors would not comment, however, on whether charges were pending against the former Congressman.

As more troops deploy to Afghanistan, ISAF leaders are working to reorganize troops to avoid over-crowding.

Northeastern Asia is an area of vital national interest to the United States, and American troops stand ready to defend the region, the commander of combined and U.S. forces in Korea said today.

Army Gen. Walter Sharp said during a Defense Writers Group breakfast today that he has three priorities on the peninsula.

The first is the same as it has been since the Korean War Armistice was signed in 1953: to be prepared to fight and win a war against North Korea. The command continually updates the war plan, and conducts exercises to be prepared for an all-out invasion of South Korea by North Korea.

“We’re in very good shape with that war plan,” Sharp said. “Being prepared to fight and win is also about being able to combat instability and preparing for other provocations by North Korea.”

Sharp’s second priority is to strengthen the alliance. The South Korean will take operational control of forces on the peninsula on April 17, 2012. “They will command the war fight,” he said. The command is working to ensure all systems and plans are in place for that date.

Sharp’s third priority is to maintain the quality of life for U.S. servicemembers, Defense Department civilians and their families. This includes taking care of the facilities and pushing along tour normalization, which will allow servicemembers to bring families to South Korea for serve three-year tours. “We can be set up just like Germany and Japan,” Sharp said.

Planners look at every eventuality, and U.S. officials are working with South Korean counterparts to put in place – and then exercise – the organizations needed for greater South Korean control, Sharp said. At the same time, the current mission to respond and deter North Korean threats remains.

Using “ROK,” the acronym for Republic of Korea, South Korea’s official name, Sharp outlined that work ahead. “The biggest task is to make sure we have the command and control picture in place,” Sharp said. “I am confident from a military perspective that the ROK military and the U.S. military will be ready to do operational control transition to the ROK military on 17 April 2012. I think it sends the right signal to North Korea. The ROK military is an extremely strong, well-armed and well-trained military.”

Sharp said he is also looking to the future. Part of the Quadrennial Defense Review – due to Congress in January – will look at what will be needed in Korea in 20 years. “The QDR asks questions like what forces do you need to deter? What forces do you need to be able to rapidly execute current and future war plans? What forces do you need to regionally engage? What forces do you need to globally deploy?” the general said.

All this entails judgments about American forces, the growth of South Korean forces, likely scenarios in North Korea and other strategic inputs. One constant is that U.S. and South Korean forces will continue to work together closely, he said.

And the whole world will be watching.

“All of the things North Korea has done in the last year – the nuclear tests, missile tests and so on – have united the world in opposition to the North Korean behavior,” Sharpe said. “It is much more difficult for them to move money and technology around.”

The same is true for imports, with few countries willing to defy the United Nations and the will of the international community, he said.

Defense Department employees paid under the National Security Personnel System will receive the same base salary increases this year as their General Schedule counterparts, a Defense Department official said today.

The move comes as senior Defense Department, Office of Personnel Management and White House officials work to determine the future of the troubled pay-for-performance system.

Most under the NSPS last year actually received about the same pay increases as they would have under the general schedule, said Brad Bunn, the Defense Department’s executive officer for NSPS. But a report this summer by the Defense Business Board found the system’s “pay pool” process complicated and confusing for most employees.

Employees questioned the assessment and evaluation process and didn’t understand the pay pool process, Bunn said in at interview at the Pentagon.

Last year, a portion of the money allotted for base-salary increases was placed into the overall pay pool, which is then divided among those in the pool based on performance ratings. This year, no money allotted for base-salary increases will go into the pool, Bunn said.

Employees under the NSPS system who receive a satisfactory performance rating of 2 or higher will receive a salary increase equal to their GS counterparts. Those who receive an unsatisfactory rating of 1 will not receive a base salary increase.

Defense officials felt this was the most “prudent course of action,” given the problems reported with the NSPS, Bunn said.

Because most in NSPS received about the same raise as they would have otherwise, this move will not significantly reduce the amount of funds used to reward performance, Bunn said.

“Most employees were getting [an equal pay increase], so paying it out as an across-the-board increase would not have a huge impact on our ability to still recognize and reward those high performers,” he said.

Those funds come from pots that were used for step increases, promotions between grades, and cash bonuses under the general schedule. No changes are planned this year in how performance-based awards are paid.

Future changes to the NSPS need to tie an employee’s performance rating more clearly to any subsequent salary increase, Bunn said.

“It’s about making the system better — making it more credible for the employees,” he said.

About 205,000 of the 865,000 Defense Department civilians are in NSPS. The department stopped the conversion of GS employees to NSPS in March.

The amount of the base salary increase will not be known until the president signs an executive order implementing the 2010 pay adjustment.

The Navy secretary yesterday advocated for allowing women to serve on submarines, which would require ending a long-standing ban.

“This is something the [chief of naval operations] and I have been working on since I came into office,” said Ray Mabus, who was confirmed as the secretary of the Navy in May. “We are moving out aggressively on this.

“I believe women should have every opportunity to serve at sea, and that includes aboard submarines,” he told reporters following a tour of Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Newport News shipyard.

Mabus is one of several top Navy officials recently to call for ending a long-standing policy barring women from serving on submarines. Officials have cited a lack of privacy and the cost of reconfiguring subs as obstacles to allowing female crewmembers to serve aboard the vessels.

Navy Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, acknowledged that special accommodations would be a factor, but one that’s not insurmountable.

“Having commanded a mixed-gender surface combatant, I am very comfortable addressing integrating women into the submarine force,” he said in a statement last week. “I am familiar with the issues as well as the value of diverse crews.”

Roughead said that he has been personally engaged through the years in the Navy’s debate of the feasibility of assigning women to submarines.

“There are some particular issues with integrating women into the submarine force — issues we must work through in order to achieve what is best for the Navy and our submarine force,” he said. “This has had and will continue to have my personal attention as we work toward increasing the diversity of our Navy afloat and ashore.”

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed the issue with the Senate Armed Services Committee this month.

“I believe we should continue to broaden opportunities for women,” Mullen is quoted as saying in response to written questions posed by the Senate Armed Services Committee. “One policy I would like to see changed is the one barring their service aboard submarines.”

Mullen, a staunch champion of diversifying the services, said this month that having a military that reflects the demographics of the United States is “a strategic imperative for the security of our country.”