Bloomberg: Former Lobbyist Admits to Impersonating Senate Staff (Update1)

[PhilipShore]

Bloomberg
Jan. 13

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aKHHN.3en36I&refer=us

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- A former Washington lobbyist pleaded guilty today to impersonating U.S. Senate staff members in a case involving the government's probe into bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp.

William ``Art'' Roberts, 63, entered the plea before Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in federal court in Washington. Roberts faces up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced April 20.

[CottonBear]

1. Holy cow! More Friday afternoon news dumping. n/t

[UpInArms]

2. I wonder whose name he put on the document?

more from your link:

When subcommittee staffers balked, Roberts created a phony document by using the panel's Web site to download a blank copy with the panel's letterhead, and sent to the British court, according to court records. The bogus document contained the approval for the bank's investigation, Wainstein said.

[Steve A Play]

3. Now for the obvious questions that everyone will miss

Why did the Senator "balk" at providing the letter in the first place and will there be an investigation of the thoroughness of the original investigation?

He got caught trying to cover something up, but what? :shrug:

Steven P. :kick:

[NYC]

4. How thorough was the investigation?

... Roberts's lobbying firm was hired in June 2004 to help an unnamed German bank get a letter from a Senate subcommittee attesting to the thoroughness of the bank's probe into the collapse of Enron...

[boobooday]

5. I wonder why they don't mention

the name of the lobbying firm?

He represents Miami-Dade, FL, and the Seminole tribe down there, I did find out that much.

[PhilipShore]

6. Lobby Watch Database-Lobbyist William Roberts

William Roberts

Lobbyist Names-------------Lobbying Firms

William Roberts---------Blank & Rome LLP
William Roberts---------Jefferson Government Relations, LLC
William Roberts---------Jefferson Government Relations, LLC
William Roberts---------Verizon Communications Inc.


http://www.publicintegrity.org/lobby/search.aspx?act=indiv&year=2003&term=William+Roberts

http://www.publicintegrity.org/lobby/

[boobooday]

7. Thanks!

[wordpix]

8. blank and rome---that firm's name came up in connection with another

scandal in Washington---Abramoff, maybe?

[salin]

9. looks like Katrina HMS/FEMA contracts:

Dubious Contracts: Examples

1) Akina Bernie Thompson (D-MS) has called for a federal investigation into this Alaska-based company's $40 million no-bid Homeland Security Department contract to repair hurricane-battered schools in Mississippi. The company "has no experience supplying portable classrooms for the federal government." The company's lobbyists are Blank Rome, a top lobbying firm whose CEO, David Girard-diCarlo, was former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's fundraiser when Ridge was governor of Pennsylvania. Other ex-DHS employees at Blank Rome include lobbyist Mark Holman,and Ashley Davis, who worked for Ridge.

http://www.corporatepolicy.org/topics/katrina.htm

[PhilipShore]

10. Blank Rome gives more money to Bush Inc. than any other other law firm

Salon
Joe Conason
Sinking Fast

http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:iriAXFR4gIAJ:www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/09/10/schachte/%3Fsid%3D1262092++Blank+Rome++Bush-Cheney+campaigns+&hl=en

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/09/10/schachte/index_np.html

...Blank Rome gives more money to Republican politicians than any other law firm in the country, and also holds the record as the second largest political donor of them all.

http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/understand/page.cfm?pageid=166

Blank Rome – whose attorneys played a key role on the Bush team during the 2000 Florida recount – lobby in Washington on behalf of clients such as Aetna, Raytheon and World Wrestling Entertainment.

Salon
Joe Conason
Libby's secret defense fund

http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:dQfWG3mWa3cJ:www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2005/11/15/libby_defense/+Blank+Rome++ABRAMOFF&hl=en

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2005/11/15/libby_defense/index_np.html

Nov. 15, 2005 | I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby may have taken the perp walk for the Bush White House, but he will never walk alone. As the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney considers his options -- including possible cooperation with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald -- friends of the administration are rallying to his side. Unlike his old boss Cheney, the indicted Libby lacks the millions of dollars needed to mount a proper Washington scandal defense, but evidently he will have no trouble attracting the assistance of right-wing operatives, administration aides and Republican lobbyists.

Comstock calmed down enough to serve as director of public affairs in John Ashcroft's Justice Department, to run opposition research for the Republican National Committee and, ultimately, after leaving government, to join the powerhouse lobbying firm of Blank Rome, best known for its huge contributions to the Republican Party,...