WP: GOP Leaders Seek Distance From Abramoff

[kskiska]

Hastert to Donate Money Given by Lobbyist's Clients

Wednesday, January 4, 2006; A10

With a House Republican committee chairman implicated in the criminal case and the highest echelons of the Republican Party increasingly vulnerable to charges, GOP leaders moved yesterday to distance themselves from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and prepare to combat a growing corruption scandal.

Hours after Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion charges, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) announced that he will donate to charity the tens of thousands of dollars that he has received from Abramoff's Indian tribe clients. Top Republican strategists pushed GOP leaders to embrace legislation to curb the influence of lobbyists.

And former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) called on House Republicans to elect a new majority leader to permanently replace Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), Abramoff's most powerful ally in Washington, who faces a trial on unrelated criminal charges of violating Texas campaign laws.

"Unequivocally, the House Republicans need to select a new majority leader in late January or early February," said Gingrich, who cited revelations in The Washington Post that a public advocacy group organized by DeLay associates had been largely financed by Russian energy interests.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/03/AR2006010301609.html

[marmar]

1. Sorry Repugs...

you're joined at the hip to Abramoff. May this scandal force your corrupt outhouse of a party to crash and burn.

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

[kainah]

2. on page A10????

good to know the editorial board is still working hard to suppress any bad news.

[tridim]

3. Even if you give the money back to the bank you just robbed

You're still in big trouble.

Suck it Repukes.

[Atman]

5. Excellent point!

Giving back the shit you've stolen only after you've been caught doesn't mean you didn't do the initial crime. Try that logic out next time you get stopped for speeding. "Yes, officer, I was doing 85 right up until you caught me, but I've been driving 65 ever since!" See if the trooper lets you off.

[mom cat]

10. And if you wait till the robber confesses, OOPS!

[Lasher]

16. Right, Stewie, you can't un-ring a bell (EOM)

[Why Syzygy]

4. Nice Salon article ** warning - spoiler **

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/01/04/abramoff_plea/

In the meantime, Abramoff faces a decade in prison, probable bankruptcy and a lifetime of shame. The former president of the College Republicans who rose through the ranks to the top of the political totem poll, Abramoff has long been known as a devoted conservative, a religious man and a die-hard Republican partisan. With his plea today, he made final his betrayal of everything he once claimed to hold dear.

[Frances]

6. These politicians say they're now donating the

contaminated money to charity. My question is which charity. Didn't DeLay and Ralph Reed both set up phony charities to hide their ill-gotten gains?

[0007]

7. Next week the MSM will be telling that us that Tom DeLay and Ney

helped to bring down the despicable no good rotten commie bastard terrorist, Abramoff. And Ronnie Earle had big time connections with Jack Abraboff.

[rodeodance]

8. too late Repugs---the stench is on you also!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. Horse, meet closed barn door.

:eyes:

[stepnw1f]

11. Too Late!

Game's over.

[C_U_L8R]

12. Darn Slime

Just doesn't wash off....
now does it ??

[ShockediSay]

13. "Legislation to curb the influence of lobbyists?"

Might as well try to legislate prostitution out of existence

by the whoring legislators

and the loophole legislation

lobby lawyers write.

How about we transcribe all communications, directly and indirectly, between lobbyists and government personnel?

[UpInArms]

14. 2003: * Abramoff donates more than $100,000 to President Bush's reelec

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-lobbyist-fraud-timeline,0,2987604.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

excerpt:

* Oct. 5: David Safavian, former chief of staff of the General Services Administration, is indicted on charges he made false statements and obstructed a federal investigation into his dealings with lobbyist Abramoff.

* Aug. 29: Abramoff pleads innocent to Miami fraud charges.

* Aug. 11: Abramoff and associate Adam Kidan indicted by a Miami federal grand jury on fraud charges in the casino boat deal.

* __

2004:

* Sept. 29: Abramoff refuses to answer questions from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee about his work on behalf of American Indian tribes and casino issues. The Senate committee's staff concluded after a seven-month investigation that Abramoff and his business partner, Michael Scanlon, had charged six tribes in six states a total of $66 million for lobbying and may have manipulated at least two tribal elections to ensure they would get contracts with tribes.

* __

2003:

* Abramoff donates more than $100,000 to President Bush's reelection campaign.

...more...

So when does dimson return the money????

[bettyellen]

45. CNN just said Bush is giving back 6K ?

6K? WTF?

[Straight Shooter]

15. I can't wait to find out who the new leader will be.

There's nothing quite as amusing as watching a bunch of stampeding elephants trying to play King of the Hill. :)

[A Simple Game]

44. That could take a while.

Didn't Hastert get the job because he was the only one who hadn't screwed around on his wife?

Between bribes, kickbacks, and extramarital sex, who can they pick?

[rucky]

17. Not Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA)

"I think he's been dealt a bad hand and the worst, rawest deal I've ever seen in my life," U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-Calif.) said recently of Abramoff. "Words like bribery are being used to describe things that happened every day in Washington and are not bribes."

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0106/04edabramoff.html

[radfringe]

18. FYI: Abramoff Lobbying and Political Contributions, 1999 - 2006

Jack Abramoff Lobbying and Political Contributions, 1999 - 2006*
http://www.capitaleye.org/abramoff.asp

[mdelaguna2000]

19. At least give it back to the tribes, stupid.

Charity! It's not their money to give, stolen $$$ should go back to the tribes. What a bunch of crooks.

[connecticut yankee]

20. Surprise! Surprise!

the rats are leaaving the sinking ship.

Wonder when they'll blame it on Clinton.

[The Backlash Cometh]

21. Why is Hasteret giving his share of the loot to charities? Why doesn't

he just give it back to the Indians?

I smell a weasel here. My right-wing conservative sister-in-law does this kind of shit every Christmas. She doesn't like any of us to begin with so she weaseled out of a Christmas exchange by saying that she's donating to a charity in our name. Well, it's just going back to a right-wing organization, so please don't put my name on it!

And that's what Hasteret is going to do. Just launder it back to a right-wing organization which may find a way to return it to him somewhere down the road.

[mzteris]

22. And he gets a tax write-off. n/t

[usregimechange]

23. Hastert donates Abramoff-linked money (no you can't get away)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert became the latest lawmaker to dump campaign contributions from clients of high-flying lobbyist Jack Abramoff, giving about $70,000 to charity Tuesday.

The donation came after Abramoff pleaded guilty to corruption charges and agreed to cooperate with a federal corruption investigation in Washington.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/03/abramoff.fallout/index.html

Much like when an addict tells you he has been doing drugs right before you tell him you are needing a urine analysis.

[NanceGreggs]

24. Like a bank robber who gets caught ...

... and hands the money back to the bank. "I'm NOT guilty of anything now, right?"

Too little, too late ... not to mention TOO F*CKIN" OBVIOUS!!!!

[Erika]

25. Hastert, being a bean counter, knew better

CPA's are supposed to abide by the rules unless they are the Enron type.

[Mind_your_head]

30. self-delete

[banana republican]

40. ooops

there goes his license.....

report him to the state board of accountancy....

[usregimechange]

26. Or a teenager after getting caught with a bag of weed...

in his pocket. "That isn't mine, I don't know how it got there."

[NanceGreggs]

27. OMG ...

... that's EXACTLY what Hastert should have said!

"I found this unaccounted-for $70,000 -- I have NO IDEA how it got in my bank account!"

[usregimechange]

29. Plus, who would question him when we are at war?

I mean, really, that should be the excuse for everything.

[NanceGreggs]

31. Or the ever-popular ...

... 9/11 defence, to whit:

"I was SO RATTLED by what happened on September 11th, I didn't even NOTICE that I was taking a bribe!"

[Straight Shooter]

32. LOL.

Good one. :7

9/11 changed everything. In fact, 9/11 even transformed bribes into gifts.

[NanceGreggs]

35. SSHHHHH!!!!

You know THEY troll this site ... don't give them any ideas!

Doesn't that sound like something right out of Rove's bag of verbal tricks?

:rofl:

[Straight Shooter]

36. Ewwww.

Don't ever use the term "Rove's bag" again. :7

[NanceGreggs]

37. Sorry ...

... It's pretty late (2:30 a.m. here) and I guess I'm not thinking straight ...

Now THERE'S a visual you'll NEVER get out of your head, thanks to me ...

[DanCa]

28. On the bright side a bread and water diet might do him some good.

See there's allways an upside.

[SoCalDem]

33. The money was scammed from Native Americans, given to

crooked politicians who then "donate" it to THEIR favorite charity?? It should be sent back to the Native Americans who got scammed..

[MagickMuffin]

38. That's exactly what I've been saying

Why isn't the money going back to the very people they defrauded?
I'm sure the Repubs would expect the same respect if they were defrauded.

Also let's not forget that Ole Denny had a lot of FREE Meals at Abramoff's restaurant Signatures. No wonder he is over bloated.:puke:

[Frances]

39. I agree that giving the money to the charity of his choice

is not good enough.

[banana republican]

41. You don't think is DeLay's Charity do you naw couldn't be n/t

[SoCalDem]

34. duped..oops

.

[wicket]

42. LOL, so ol' Newt has decided to inject himself into this???

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[politicaholic]

43. This is asinine on a few different levels...

1) What charity is Hastert donating to? The Christian Coalition or Rev. Moon perhaps? I doubt it'll be United Way or Doctors Without Borders. Perhaps there should be someplace in Washington that's half orphanage, half PAC.

2) Do you REALLY think Hastert is going to give ALL of the money back? He only needs to give away the sum he received from Abramoff directly. The money from his cronies is in no way related to the situation at hand and so there is no need to blah, blah, blah...

3) Look what Newt is doing! Hey, everyone, Newt is talking! What's he REALLY saying? "Wait until the end of the month or longer before deciding on Tom 'pulls wings off of butterflies' Delay's fate because there's still a chance that he could be let off. Don't worry about the people in New Orleans, they can wait because that's old news and they're useless poor sinners anyway."

4) The Bush administration and Hastert aren't the only ones running at full speed away. This should be called the "Great Republican Marathon". Watch as money is given back to the doner, then cycled through another source, and end up back to where it was. Republicans can't just let go. Of all the taxes in the world they hate paying the "mistake tax" the most.