WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. Jerry Weller, a sixth-term Republican who grew up on a family farm, represents a district in rural Illinois that's a far cry from the sandy beaches of the Caribbean.

But in the past three years Weller has become Capitol Hill's go-to guy for issues dear to the U.S. island territory of Puerto Rico, from getting more federal money for its hospitals to lowering a manufacturing tax that business interests say prevents U.S. companies from locating there.

Since catching the eye of Puerto Rican businessmen in 2003, flying to San Juan on their tab and raising more than $30,000 from them in campaign cash, Weller, a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, has been a key co-sponsor of a number of bills pushed by Puerto Rican interests.

"Weller has been fund-raising in Puerto Rico, raising money in Puerto Rico from wealthy Republicans. He's doing what congressmen do," said Eduardo Bhatia, the official representative of the Puerto Rican government in Washington, D.C. He was appointed by Democratic Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila, who supports the manufacturing bill.

"He's found a gold mine there and he's cashing the cow and milking the cow," he said. "There is nothing illegal about that."

Weller and his staff did not respond to questions from The Associated Press.

Weller's spokesman in his congressional office referred inquiries to Steve Shearer, Weller's campaign manager. Neither he nor any other campaign official returned repeated phone messages left at campaign headquarters.

Weller has been away from Washington during the August recess. His wife, Zury, a senator in Guatemala's Congress who is the daughter and political adviser of a former general who was the country's dictator decades ago, gave birth to the couple's first child this month.

It was not until three years ago that Weller, a House Republican deputy whip and one of his party's best fund-raisers during his time in Congress, reported even one campaign contribution from Puerto Rico to the Federal Election Commission.

At the invitation of the Puerto Rican Bankers Association, which paid his expenses of $2,424.65, he visited the U.S. territory in 2003 on what his spokesman at the time described as a trip focusing on economic development.

Within two months, with the help of bankers, businessmen, attorneys and consultants, Weller received $15,550 in Puerto Rican-based campaign donations.

Weller's campaign fund reported no more contributions with Puerto Rico addresses until May 4, 2005, when - for that single day - it reported receiving a total of $16,000 from 17 individuals with various interests in the territory.

Among the donors were high-ranking officials with Popular Inc. and its subsidiary, Banco Popular, the largest and oldest Puerto Rican bank and the biggest Hispanic bank in the United States, which includes a major operation in Chicago.

Roberto Herencia of Glenview, the president of Banco Popular North America, based in Rosemont, added $1,000 to Weller's total that day, according to records reviewed by a nonpartisan research firm, Political MoneyLine.

The day after the donations, a bill backed by Puerto Rico's business interests and sponsored by Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuno, the island's GOP representative in Congress, and later co-sponsored by Weller was sent to the Ways and Means Committee.

Without a single negative vote in the full House, a largely similar measure advanced to the Senate last December as part of a much larger bill. That bill is pending in the Senate.

Under the proposal, the corporate tax rate for income from goods manufactured in Puerto Rico by a U.S. corporation would be the same as the rate on income from goods manufactured by a U.S. company in the mainland. If it became law, backers say it would end a situation where a U.S. manufacturer could face a 35 percent tax rate on its operations, instead of the 32 percent rate paid in the mainland.

At a November hearing, Fortuno thanked Weller for backing the legislation and displaying "leadership in this process."

"The higher tax burden creates a clear disincentive for U.S. companies to manufacture in Puerto Rico," Weller argued in the Congressional Record last December. "It distorts manufacturing location choices, putting Puerto Rico at a disadvantage relative to the mainland in terms of attracting and retaining investment."

Along with Weller and Fortuno, Popular Inc. was heavily involved in the lobbying effort on Capitol Hill to advance the tax-related legislation. Spokeswomen for Popular had no comment.

Arturo Carrion, executive vice president of the Puerto Rico Bankers Associations, did not respond to phone messages or an e-mail inquiry.

Rep. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., chairman of the House Small Business Committee, and one of the strongest advocates of protecting manufacturing jobs in Illinois, was supportive of Weller and his Puerto Rican backers.

"From my boss' perspective, Puerto Rico should be included in the benefit because Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory," said Manzullo's spokesman, Rich Carter.

Weller's 11th Congressional District has hardly any Puerto Ricans, according to a 2005 U.S. Census Bureau survey that estimated of its roughly 698,000 residents, only 677 to 3,569 are likely to fall into that category - less than 1 percent of the total.

In addition to the manufacturing bill, Weller has also co-sponsored legislation to increase Medicare reimbursements for hospitals in Puerto Rico that advocates say could bring the island by tens of millions of dollars annually and another bill that would let Puerto Ricans vote on whether they want to continue as a U.S. territory.