Slang among political ops for "I am looking for dirt on your candidate." May or
may not be connected to the classic line from The Godfather: "Clemenza sleeps with the
fish." Meaning he's been whacked, per orders. So "
Fishing for your Goombas," maybe, started out meaning "looking for the bodies in your candidate's background." (Classically such bodies would be a live boy or a dead girl).
"Hey, what's this bullshit with a
guy with a camera in the parking lot at four in the morning?"
"I am fishing for your Goombas,
asshole. If your boy can't keep it zipped, the
people got a right to know."