Abramoff pleads guilty

Claymore · Jan 11, 2006

Ever wonder why Congress doesn't have an Inspector General? Shiit like this, that's why.

Revolt · Jan 12, 2006

Is Harry Reid under investigation? Or Not?

The Justice Department is not focusing on Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada as part of an investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a source close to the probe said Wednesday in challenging a published report.
The source, who requested anonymity, said the Justice Department is leading the investigation, which includes other agencies.
"But the Justice Department does not have a list of lawmakers who are being investigated," the source said.
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http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Jan-12-Thu-2006/news/5324874.html

Revolt · Jan 12, 2006

Here's a BushCo problem....

A senior Labor Department official appointed by President Bush in 2001 has more detailed ties to fallen conservative lobbyist Jack Abramoff than previously believed, according to documents reviewed by RAW STORY.
The official, Patrick Pizzella, was an Abramoff lieutenant who lobbied on behalf of at least five clients that are now the subject of investigations: E-Lottery, Naftasib, the Mississippi Band of Choctaws, the Commonwealth of the Marianas Islands and the Saginaw Chippewas. Pizzella paired with Abramoff at Washington lobby shop Preston Gates Ellis and Rouvelas Meeds, working together on more than $11 million in accounts.
Rediscovered records show that Pizzella lobbied on behalf of a Bahamian company the Washington Post revealed to be a front organization for a Russian oil business. They also show that Pizzella arranged numerous trips for conservative activists with Abramoff and another Preston Gates lobbyist, David Safavian, to a U.S. territory in the Pacific, paid for by the territory.
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Pizzella was appointed to be a deputy labor undersecretary just months after departing Abramoff's retinue.
Abramoff cheered the appointment in a letter to the Commonwealth. Notably, Abramoff seemed to reference Pizzella’s new post in a January 2001 letter even though he wasn’t officially appointed until April 2001.
"Our standing with the new administration promises to be solid as several friends of the CNMI (islands) will soon be taking high-ranking positions in the Administration, including within the Interior Department," Abramoff wrote.
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http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Documents_show_extent_of_ties_between_0112.html

Samarkand · Jan 12, 2006

Revolt said:

Is Harry Reid under investigation? Or Not?
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He's not. The Reeps are flaying around wildly, trying to muddy the waters with as many Democrats as possible to say that it's an equal thing. It's not. To date, there are ZERO Democrats.

To quote Rich Lowry of the National Review: "But this is, in its essence, a Republican scandal, and any attempt to portray it otherwise is a misdirection."

BudWiser · Jan 12, 2006

Revolt said:

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Documents_show_extent_of_ties_between_0112.html[/URL]
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This kind of stuff blows your mind. I mean look at the article photo, and there he is, an Abramoff worker with an innocent smile and the flag in the background, while Abramoff brags about having him in the administration

Like I've been saying, THE MORE this kind of stuff gets out to the public THE BETTER

Revolt · Jan 12, 2006

Get ready to throw up in your mouth:

Since 1998, lobbyists have served as treasurers of 79 lawmakers' campaign committees and leadership PACs, according to the Center for Public Integrity. These committees often pay for senators and House members to enjoy such fundraising events as golfing in Palm Springs, Calif., and fishing tournaments off the Florida Keys -- outings at which the lobbyists will also be prominently in attendance.
· Major trade associations have bought Capitol Hill townhouses for fundraisers so that lawmakers can quickly go back to cast votes and then return to the event.

· At election time, many lobbyists put on a new hat and become political consultants, guiding incumbents to reelection. Afterward these lobbyists return to their traditional roles, being able now to ask for votes from those they helped put in office.
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The pivotal point in Washington's changing culture, according to lobbyists and congressional ethics analysts, came in 1995, shortly after Newt Gingrich and his "Republican Revolutionaries" roared to power in the 1994 midterm elections. Tom DeLay, the new majority whip, and his allies began the "K Street Project" -- the pressuring of trade associations and lobbying firms to hire Republican, and to contribute to Republican campaigns if they wanted access to key leaders and committee chairmen in the House.
"We're just following the old adage of punish your enemies and reward your friends. We don't like to deal with people who are trying to kill the revolution. We know who they are," DeLay told The Washington Post.
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Ugh:

One lawmaker hoping to move up in the GOP leadership is Rep. John A. Boehner (Ohio), chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. He maintains the lobbyist-financed Freedom Project, with a lobbyist as treasurer and an all-lobbyist executive board. It has raised $5.94 million over 10 years and has contributed $3.26 million to fellow Republicans.
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Recent years have even shown how the traditional lobbyist-lawmaker financial pipeline can flow in both directions. In addition to helping legislators raise reelection money, lobbyists have received large sums from politicians' PACs for vaguely defined services.
The soon-to-be-closed Alexander Strategy Group, for instance, received funds from committees associated with acting House Majority Leader Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and DeLay -- $386,552, and $392,740, respectively.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/11/AR2006011102318_2.html

BudWiser · Jan 12, 2006

The newspapers are more than happy to report this stuff. Maybe even desperate. Gives the lobbyists less power, and the newspapers more power.

It's gonna be a fun election season....

Revolt · Jan 13, 2006

Clarence Page:

WASHINGTON -- It is not healthy to blow your favorite evening beverage through your nostrils. But that's how surprised I was to hear Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean deny that any Democrats had taken money from Jack Abramoff,...

...

He's right, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, which keeps track of such things. The center's analysis of FEC records shows that Democrats received about a third of the $4.2 million donated between 1998 and 2005 by Indian tribes that had hired Abramoff to represent them in Washington.

The problem with such analyses is that they tell you how much money someone gave to a political candidate without telling you why the money was given. By all indications, donations from the Indian tribes were no less legitimate than the political donations any individual, organization or industry with an interest in legislation frequently gives to candidates. If anything, the tribes are the true victims in the Abramoff saga. Federal investigators claim Abramoff used racist slurs when he referred to his Indian clients in his e-mails and represented rival tribes competing for the same casino turf, the mother of all conflicts of interest.

Nevertheless, the stink of scandal is so fierce in Washington these days that numerous Democratic as well as Republican senators and representatives have been giving money to charity equal to the amount they received from tribes linked to Abramoff in order to avoid even the appearance of wrongdoing.

As a result, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), for example, gave up a measly $2,000 donation she received from a tribe and the Bush-Cheney campaign gave up a $6,000 donation. But as Democrats are quick to point out, the Bush campaign kept the $100,000 that Abramoff directly raised, which earned Abramoff the coveted "Pioneer" status among Bush campaign donors.
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This is in response to the question about whether the Indian donations were dirty - or not. I don't think this really sways me to believing the dems have clean hands here, but I am convinced the reeps are dirty and corrupt.

Chris M. · Jan 13, 2006

It's late Friday afternoon. Surprise! Another Republican bites the dust:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10841406/

Embattled Ohio Republican Bob Ney is in talks with House Speaker Dennis Hastert about resigning his chairmanship of the House Administration Committee, a senior House GOP aide told The Associated Press on Friday.

Ney has been linked to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and has denied wrongdoing in the burgeoning scandal. But he is facing the loss of his chairmanship as House Republicans seek to implement an ambitious lobbying reform agenda, much of which would pass through his committee.

BudWiser · Jan 13, 2006

Chris M. said:

It's late Friday afternoon. Surprise! Another Republican bites the dust
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