Problems for DeLay's Buddies

“But you know there is a part of me that hopes they will burn Hastert like they did Lott...thank God for the Dems, without them most of the moron Moderate Liberal Republicans would be in positions of power.”

“A registered lobbyist opened a retirement account in the late 1990s for the wife of then-House Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and contributed thousands of dollars to it while also paying her a salary to work for him from her home in Texas, according to sources, documents and DeLay's attorney, Richard Cullen.

The account represents a small portion of the income that DeLay's family received from entities at least partly controlled by lobbyist Edwin A. Buckham. But the disclosure of its origin adds to what was previously known about the benefits DeLay's family received from its association with Buckham, and it brings the total over the past seven years to about half a million dollars.
[...]
Another lawmaker, Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.), has similarly come under Justice Department scrutiny in the past year because of fees paid to his wife's consulting firm -- in that instance as compensation for soliciting corporate campaign contributions.

Abramoff, who was friendly with both DeLay and Doolittle, put Julie Doolittle's firm on his lobbying firm's payroll to plan a fundraising event for a nonprofit group he created. A nonprofit organization that Buckham created also hired her firm to keep its books; the organization subsidized a $28,000 trip to South Korea by DeLay and his wife.

Laura Blackann, a spokeswoman for John Doolittle, confirmed that a grand jury investigating Abramoff's lobbying activities subpoenaed Julie Doolittle's firm in 2004 to obtain some of its records. In February, the FBI subpoenaed another nonprofit group created by Buckham, seeking records of any dealings with DeLay, his wife and his daughter, according to a copy of the subpoena.
[...]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/06/AR2006060601320.html”

“Has the vile man ever admitted some Dems took Abramoff dirty money yet???
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL”

“Name one.

Duhduhduhduhduhduhduhduh!”

“Ha Ha”

“�Ha Ha�

StoveStomper
1:30:59 PM
6/07/06

All right, who bought StoveStomper the book of witty comebacks?

Sheesh, don't use them all up in one day!”

“LOL”

“I'll answer for him,'All of them'.”

“Ha Ha
LOL

*snicker*”

“June 20 (Bloomberg) -- Former White House[top federal procurement] official David Safavian was convicted of hiding his aid to lobbyist Jack Abramoff and obstructing an inquiry into their trip to Scotland, in the first trial stemming from an influence-peddling probe.

A federal jury in Washington today found Safavian, 38, guilty of three counts of making false statements and one count of obstructing justice. He was acquitted of another obstruction charge. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Safavian plans to appeal.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aFBFIifl_FN0&refer=us”

“Dang, what have we got here a bunch of liars and crooks?”

“Giddy Up Oom Poppa Omm Poppa Mow Mow”

“Looks like Government to me....the more power the more corruption....Face the facts. The Republicrats think BIG GOVERNMENT IS BAD ...unless they have the reigns....Democrat Socialists see government in a similar way.”

“...threaten him with certain death. Withhold medication. Bombarded with deafening noise and harsh lights, depriving him of sleep anyone?”

“Um..Freshman year in college?”

“...The report also contained evidence of Abramoff's strong ties to the Bush White House. One White House political official, Leonard Rodriguez, told Fine's investigators he kept Abramoff aware of information relevant to Guam "at the behest of Ken Mehlman, the White House Political Director," the report said. There was no explanation of why Mehlman would have wanted the information shared with Abramoff.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13642769/”

“It just might be Hammer Time again due to the DEMS being stupid and slimey.
After that Dem judge ruled Tom Delay's name could not be removed from the ballot in the upcoming election, ol' Tom may just come back and run for his seat.

Now wouldn't that be funny.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL”

“WASHINGTON - The political committee Tom DeLay set up to fund a national political takeover for the GOP has agreed to shut down and pay a fine for campaign finance violations.

In a settlement with the Federal Election Commission, the Americans for a Republican Majority political action committee admitted to violating complex federal election rules and will pay a $115,000 fine, officials said Thursday.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4061858.html”

“Hundreds of contacts between top White House officials and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates "raise serious questions about the legality and actions" of those officials, according to a draft bipartisan report prepared by the House Government Reform Committee.
The 95-page report, which White House officials reviewed Wednesday evening but has yet to be formally approved by the panel, singled out two of President Bush¹s top lieutenants, Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman, as having been offered expensive meals and exclusive tickets to premier sporting events and concerts by Abramoff and his associates.

In total, the committee was able to document 485 contacts between White House officials and Abramoff and his lobbying team at the firm Greenberg Traurig from January 2001 to March 2004, with 82 of those contacts occuring in Rove's office, including 10 with Rove personally. The panel also said that Abramoff billed his clients nearly $25,000 for meals and drinks with these officials during that period.

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/1_1/breakingnews/15254-1.html”

“One exchange of e-mails cited in the report suggests that former Abramoff lobbying team member Tony C. Rudy succeeded in getting Mehlman to press reluctant Justice Department appointees to release millions of dollars in congressionally earmarked funds for a new jail for the Mississippi Choctaw tribe, an Abramoff client. Rudy wrote Abramoff in November 2001 e-mails that Mehlman said he would "take care of" the funding holdup at Justice after learning from Rudy that the tribe made large donations to the GOP.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/28/AR2006092801918.html”

“Is this gonna end like the Plame fiasco?”

“WOW...and we spent how much investigating the influence of the CHICOMS in the Clinton Admin? Double standard strikes again (LOL).”

“Ha Ha
Nigal is correct, no one cares about the Dems using Abramoff to try to scare voters.
Fairminded folks see right thru the Dem crap and also see where all that Abramoff influenced money went to many Dems as well, something violin has never had the ethics to admit.

He also has never admitted his lies about Plame all these years.
[VBG]”

“Abramoff and Plame are meaningless.

How effective is the Iraqi police force?

What is our counterinsurgency plan?

How will we maintain effective deterrence around the world while our military is stuck in Iraq?

Those are the important questions.”

“WASHINGTON — For five years, Allen Stayman wondered who ordered his removal from a State Department job negotiating agreements with tiny Pacific island nations — even when his own bosses wanted him to stay.

Now he knows.

Newly disclosed e-mails suggest that the ax fell after intervention by one of the highest officials at the White House: Ken Mehlman, on behalf of one of the most influential lobbyists in town, Jack Abramoff.

The e-mails show that Abramoff, whose client list included the Northern Mariana Islands, had long opposed Stayman's work advocating labor changes in that U.S. commonwealth, and considered what his lobbying team called the "Stayman project" a high priority.

"Mehlman said he would get him fired," an Abramoff associate wrote after meeting with Mehlman, who was then White House political director.

The exchange illustrates how, more than two years after the corruption scandal surrounding the now-disgraced Abramoff came to light, people are still learning the extent of the lobbyist's ability to pull the levers of power in Washington. The latest revelations provide more detail than the Bush administration has acknowledged about how Abramoff and his team reached into high levels of the White House, not just Capitol Hill, which has been the main focus of the influence-peddling investigation.

The e-mails, disclosed as part of a report by the House Government Reform Committee, show how Abramoff manipulated the system through officials such as Mehlman, now the chairman of the Republican National Committee. Doing so, Abramoff directed government appointments, influenced policy decisions and won White House endorsements for political candidates — all in the service of his clients.

The report found more than 400 lobbying contacts between Abramoff's team and the White House.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mehlman15oct15,0,1634103.story?coll=la-home-headlines”

“How did that Plame stuff work out for you smart libbies?
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!”

“If you hadn't noticed, Jack took a plea.

Funny that Mehlman and the Bush White house were doing his bidding.

LOLOLOLOLOLOL.
last edited: 10/15/06 8:38:02 PM”

“Jack Abramoff, the lobbying scandal figure, has become such a chatty rat that probe insiders say he's been given a desk to work at in the FBI. We're told he spends up to four hours a day detailing his shady business to agents eager to nail more congressmen in the scandal. And when cooperative witnesses spend that much time inside, they get a desk. As a result of his help in the ever expanding investigation, we hear that the Feds hope to keep him in a nearby prison after he's sentenced on his conspiracy admission.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/articles/061022/30whisplead.htm”

“That's almost funny!”

“Yep the FBI was made in Bills Image in 1992. LOL..thats why they couldn't catch domestic terrorists....2,700 WTC victims are not available for comment.”

“but you are always available with a WW2 refrence or a slam at clinton”

“

“And in exchange for his tattle tailing and witness testimony Mr. Abramoff has been given certain legal immunities and has been promised protection by the government from White Spy.”
















last edited: 10/23/06 3:48:42 PM”

“But Clinton BEGS to be slammed...come on look at the fact that you guys PUBLICLY SUPPORTED a RAPIST...and a man who physically molested a woman when she came to his office right after he HUSBAND had committed Suicide!

Thats pretty low...even for Defeatocrats. This is the same party that is the DEFENDER of WOMANHOOD..yet you destroyed the reputation of any woman who sought legal redress for actual wrongs done them.
The is the party of a man who could be giggling while walking up the steps to the funeral of a close friend, see a TV camera and switch to the SORROWFUL KNITTED BROW....”

““Yep the FBI was made in Bills Image in 1992. LOL..thats why they couldn't catch domestic terrorists....2,700 WTC victims are not available for comment.”
Xl400236
4:33:28 PM
10/23/06

Yep, those devestating attacks on America that came in the year 2000, despite warnings of planned terrorist attacks. Clinton ignored those warnings, unlike Bush 18 months later who demanded immediate action when told Al-Qeda was planning a strike on the US.

We'll never forget the 2700 plus who died on Clinton's watch, the 2700+ US troops who died in Iraq on Clinton's watch, North Korea re-opened their nuclear reactor and threw out the IAEA inspectors and their equipment on Clinton's watch, hundreds of US workers were killed in Iraq on Clinton's watch. Oh yeah and Bush was the only one who made an attempt to kill Bin Laden, Clinton never tried.

If it's good, Bush and the Republicans did it. If not, clinton is responsible.

The gaping deficit narrows a little bit, Bush's economic policies are triumphant. The fact that we have the gaping deficit at all? Clinton's fault!”

“Bush is the best president ever. He's just had really really lousy luck, even worse press and a predecessor who messed things up so bad, they keep going wrong because of him six years later.”

“Somebody's in a snit.”

“repeat after me:

war is peace
wrong is right
death is life
lies are truth

and never forget, Bill Clinton did it”

“LOL....remember in the inbriefing papers from the Clnton Admin to the Bush Admin references to Osama and AlQaeda rated one paragraph.”

“Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Representative Bob Ney was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison after becoming the only lawmaker to admit guilt in the influence-peddling investigation of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a6f05jzMmRRI&refer=home”

“One down.................many more to go.

”

“That's quite the doghouse for a Congressperson.”

“Good riddance.”

“A look at the lawmakers, lobbyists and Bush administration officials convicted so far in the Jack Abramoff public corruption cases:


_ Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, sentenced Friday to 2- 1/2 years in prison, acknowledged taking bribes from Republican influence peddler Jack Abramoff. Ney was listed as Representative No. 1 in the agreements in which Abramoff and the others pleaded guilty over the past year. Ney was in the traveling party on the golfing trip to Scotland that was at the heart of the case against former Bush administration official David Safavian.


_ Abramoff is serving six years in prison on a criminal case in Florida. He has not yet been sentenced on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion stemming from his Washington lobbying work. A Texas Indian tribe filed a federal lawsuit in July against Abramoff and several of his colleagues, alleging that they engaged in fraud and racketeering. Abramoff is cooperating in a bribery investigation involving lawmakers, their aides and members of the Bush administration.


_ Tony Rudy, lobbyist and onetime aide to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, pleaded guilty in March to conspiring with Abramoff. He is cooperating with investigators.


_ Safavian, a former chief of staff for the General Services Administration, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October after he was found guilty of covering up his dealings with Abramoff. Safavian is appealing his conviction.


_ Michael Scanlon, a former Abramoff business partner and DeLay aide, pleaded guilty in November 2005 to conspiring to bribe public officials in connection with his lobbying work on behalf of Indian tribes and casino issues. He is cooperating with investigators.


_ Neil Volz, a former chief of staff to Ney who left government to work for Abramoff, pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to corrupt Ney and others with trips and other aid.


_ Roger Stillwell, a former Interior Department official, was sentenced to two years on probation this month after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge for not reporting hundreds of dollars worth of sports and concert tickets he received from Abramoff.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/01/19/national/w105415S20.DTL&type=politics”

“Too bad you guys don't feel the same way about Dems breaking the law.”

“Among the biggest beneficiaries were Capitol Hill's most powerful Democrats, including Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) and Harry M. Reid (Nev.), the top two Senate Democrats at the time, Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.), then-leader of the House Democrats, and the two lawmakers in charge of raising funds for their Democratic colleagues in both chambers, according to a Washington Post study. Reid succeeded Daschle as Democratic leader after Daschle lost his Senate seat last November

Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) ran second, with $128,000 in the same period. From 1999 to 2001, Kennedy chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which solicited campaign donations for House candidates.


Democratic leaders Reid and Daschle each received more than $40,000 from the tribes and from lobbyists on Abramoff's team during the period. Gephardt got $32,500.

Of the 18 largest recipients of tribe contributions directed by Abramoff's group, six, or one-third, were Democrats. These included Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), who chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2001 to 2002, and Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (N.D.), a leader in Indian affairs legislation.

Daschle was familiar with another of Abramoff's Democratic lobbyists, Michael Smith. According to Steve Hildebrand, who was Daschle's campaign manager last year, Smith "helped with a lot of Democratic campaigns." In addition, Daschle was a favorite of Indian tribes and received donations from 64, including five Abramoff clients. "We took about $150,000 in this last election cycle from Indian tribes around the country," Hildebrand said. "Tom is viewed as a champion of Indian issues. We have nine tribes in South Dakota, and they worked hard for him."

Murray also was said to have never laid eyes on Abramoff. "Our office has not had any contact with Jack Abramoff," said the senator's spokeswoman, Alex Glass. "She's been active in Indian health care and in supporting their sovereign governments; that is why they decided to contribute to her. They see her as an advocate."

During the time Murray chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Abramoff's major tribes were significant contributors. Election reports show that the grand total from the tribes to that committee in 2001-2002 reached $175,500.”

“"It was the booze talkin'" sez Bob.”

“Let the (poker)chips fall where they may.”