Lobby Firm Is Scandal Casualty, Abramoff, DeLay...Blamed For Shutdown

[Rose Siding]

One of Washington's top lobbying operations will shut down at the end of the month because of its ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former House majority leader Tom DeLay.

Alexander Strategy Group, which had thrived since its founding in 1998 thanks largely to its close connections to DeLay (R-Tex.), will cease to operate except for a relatively small business-development division, Edwin A. Buckham, the former top DeLay aide who owns the company, said yesterday.

Buckham said in a telephone interview that the company was fatally damaged by publicity about the ongoing federal investigation into the affairs of Abramoff, who pleaded guilty last week to fraud and conspiracy charges......

"Reports in the press have made it difficult to continue as a lobbying/political entity," Buckham said.

Buckham's firm employed DeLay's wife, Christine, for four years. It also benefited by working closely with Abramoff. Abramoff's plea agreement mentioned his close ties to Tony C. Rudy, one of Buckham's colleagues at ASG, identified in the court papers as "Staffer A."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/09/AR2006010901996.html

[niyad]

1. awww, me widdle heart just bweeeds!!!

[InsultComicDog]

2. Beat me to it

:nopity:

[Steve A Play]

3. One down, more to come

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2029877

Steven P.

[agates]

4. The company was fatally damaged

Cry me a fucking river. I'm sure they'll all have jobs in other lobbying firms or as republican congressional staffers by Feb 1.

[hvn_nbr_2]

21. They'll probably change the sign on the door, ...

re-incorporate with a new name, and continue just as before.

[lovuian]

5. companies who launder money and commit fraud usua;lly

got to jail... not just close...

[UpInArms]

6. I hope Blunt goes down with his "friends"

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w051003&s=judis100805

excerpt:

Of that amount, it spent only $126,000 on candidate or party contributions. Much of the money went to the Byzantine network of lobbying and political consulting firms that DeLay had established with his former aides Ed Buckham and Jim Ellis. (Buckham has since become known for his ties with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and Ellis for being indicted in Austin along with DeLay and another associate.) Blunt's non-federal PAC paid $70,000 to Alexander Strategy Group, which Buckham set up in 1998 with a huge initial lobbying contract that DeLay secured from Enron. DeLay's wife, Christine, also worked for the Alexander Strategy Group and for ARMPAC, which was run by Ellis.

But the connections don't end there. Alexander Strategy and ARMPAC operated out of a Washington, D.C. townhouse that the U.S. Family Network, another DeLay-Buckham-Ellis operation, had purchased. In the first quarter of 2000, Blunt's non-federal PAC paid rent to the U.S. Family Network. In the second quarter, it paid rent to Ellis's consulting firm. Blunt's PAC also contributed $10,000 to the DeLay Foundation.

From July 1, 1999 to July 1, 2000, Blunt's PAC gave $83,454.03 to DeLay-linked causes and consultants. That raises the question of whether ARMPAC was using Blunt's PAC to recycle contributions to DeLay's family and his political network. That may not be against the law; but I would argue that it's not exactly ethical either.

Blunt's PAC also seems to have put some of the money to the Blunt family's use. Rely on Your Beliefs sent $1,000 to the Arkansas Republican Party, but it sent $100,000 to the Missouri Republican Party and $25,000 to Missouri's Seventh District Republican Congressional Committee. According to the Associated Press, the Missouri Republican Party then contributed more than $160,000 to Matt Blunt's successful campaign for secretary of state, while the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the seventh district committee contributed over $76,000 to Matt Blunt's campaign.

...more...

[WCGreen]

7. A good lobbyist will not hitch his horses to one wagon....

But rather pull all the carts he can....

So this guy really wasn't a lobbyist at all but someone with access to one person....

[MagickMuffin]

8. Gotta love this quote:

Buckham said that he will be leaving the lobbying business and hasn't any regrets. "I'm at peace with all this," he said. "I'm not bitter. I'm not resentful. I harbor no ill feelings toward anyone. The important thing in life is having a clean heart and I do. I'm not even upset with the press.":eyes:

[donkeyotay]

17. What a guy. He forgives us. I hope he goes to jail. nt

[WhiteTara]

9. good n/t

[banana republican]

10. Can't wait until Staffer ZZ... n/t

[ShockediSay]

11. I read somewhere that Dick Army is working for one of these whorehouses

(IMHO) in Texas. And where is Bob Dole working these days?

[salin]

12. not to worry, its not buh-bye time, yet for Buckham

predict he still has a little perpwalk for a finale in his future.

[susu369]

13. Doncha love it: it's the reports in the press that brought the downfall

NOT the crime....

"Reports in the press have made it difficult to continue as a lobbying/political entity," Buckham said.

:rofl:

[donkeyotay]

18. "I'm clean!" cried another rat as he sidled for the exits.

Take his passport and make sure he keeps hisself "available."

[Miss Chybil]

14. Time to change costumes and drive on...

Now they can bilk the country under a different name.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

15. Is it just me or is the very existence of entities called "lobby firms"

a destroyer of all hope in mankind?

[donkeyotay]

19. They have legalized bribery. Why else do companies who exist to make

profits give the people whose job it is to represent us money? There is no other explanation than they are buying influence, which used to be illegal. We should make it illegal again and free our representatives from the burden of fund raising by making campaigns paid for by the public. As a twofer, we would also get rid of the corrupting influence the media is having on our "free" elections.

People actually think this would cost them money, as if this corruption had no cost. People in Washington seem unable to imagine how they'd get by without lobbyists. I guess they're worried about their free lunch.

[Tight_rope]

16. Like I said in on this other tread. Just yesterday Bush claimed he didn't

know Jack Abramoff.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2028375&mesg_id=2032665

[warrens]

20. There's nothing wrong with K Street

Than an industrial-strength fumigation wouldn't take care of. While the rats are at their desks.

Paid lobbying should be made illegal.

[rman]

22. corruption is bad for business. nt