He took, she took ...
November 17, 2005News & Politics
My guess, given Abramoff's modus operandi and DeLay's K Street Project, is that probably 29 or 30 of the 33 lawmakers were Repubs - with a few bucks thrown to Dem leaders like Harry Reid for good measure. I don't have the time right now to run it down. But I shouldn't have to; it's just irresponsible of the AP to neither list the 33 lawmakers nor give a breakdown by party affiliation.
Having said that, let me repeat a rather obvious point I've made before: wouldn't it be nice to have a party with clean enough hands that they could speak about the Repubs' "culture of corruption" without hypocrisy.
Shame on you, Harry Reid.
This AP exclusive pisses me off:
Nearly three dozen members of Congress, including leaders from both parties, pressed the government to reject a Louisiana Indian casino while they collected large donations from rival tribes and their lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Many intervened with letters to Interior Secretary Gale Norton within days of receiving money from tribes represented by Abramoff or using the lobbyist's restaurant for fundraising, an Associated Press review of campaign records, IRS records and congressional correspondence found.
Lawmakers said their intervention had nothing to do with Abramoff, and the timing of donations was a coincidence. They said they wrote letters because they opposed the expansion of tribal gaming - even though they continued to accept donations from casino-running tribes.
Many lived far from Louisiana and had no constituent interest in the casino dispute. […]
At least 33 lawmakers wrote letters to Norton and got more than $830,000 in Abramoff-related donations as the lobbying unfolded between 2001 and 2004, AP found.The story names five Republicans (Hastert, DeLay, Jeff Sessions, Vitter and Ensign) and one Democrat (Reid). That leaves 27 "lawmakers" out of the spotlight.
My guess, given Abramoff's modus operandi and DeLay's K Street Project, is that probably 29 or 30 of the 33 lawmakers were Repubs - with a few bucks thrown to Dem leaders like Harry Reid for good measure. I don't have the time right now to run it down. But I shouldn't have to; it's just irresponsible of the AP to neither list the 33 lawmakers nor give a breakdown by party affiliation.
Having said that, let me repeat a rather obvious point I've made before: wouldn't it be nice to have a party with clean enough hands that they could speak about the Repubs' "culture of corruption" without hypocrisy.
Shame on you, Harry Reid.
