Tribal Council Rejects Sen. Burns' Money (Donation of Abramoff-Linked $)

[sabra]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1518223

Tribal Council Rejects Sen. Burns' Money
Tribal Leaders Reject Sen. Conrad Burns' Donation of Abramoff-Linked Money

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON Jan 18, 2006 — The Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council has rejected a $111,000 donation from the campaign of Montana Sen. Conrad Burns, with some saying the money is tainted because it originally came from lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his clients.

James Steele Jr., also chairman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said Tuesday evening that the council voted not to accept the donation, which was made up of contributions from Abramoff, his associates and his tribal clients.

Julia doney, president of the Fort Belknap Indian Community Council, a member of the tribal leaders council, said that some of the tribes are "tired of being used" and do not want to appear as if they are helping Burns with his political troubles.

Burns, a Republican, said in December that he would give away and return $146,700 in donations in order to avoid the appearance of improper connections to Abramoff, who pleaded guilty two weeks ago to federal corruption charges.

[roguevalley]

1. Bravo. Show them, Tribal Council, what ethics looks like. :)

[xchrom]

2. this is the gift that keeps on giving.

:rofl:

[MidwestTransplant]

3. Maybe a donation to the Scooter Libby legal defense fund is in order

[truthisfreedom]

4. "your money's no good here." this is very strong stuff... i love it!

[Rose Siding]

5. Burns jumped the gun and portrayed this as a done deal last week

He tried to give them ALL of his Abramoff money-

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x139198

Former Burns staffer is lobbyist for group that received returned Abramoff cash
Burns said money would be returned to original donors

WASHINGTON D.C. (LEE) — Sen. Conrad Burns vowed last month to return most of $146,700 in campaign contributions connected with confessed felon Jack Abramoff to its original donors, but most of the money went to the Montana Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council, whose lobbyist is a former Burns staffer.

A Burns campaign official said legal questions kept Burns from using his re-election funds to return to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Michigan Indian tribes, all former clients of Abramoff, the money they originally contributed to a different Burns account, which no longer exists. But at least one tribe originally wrote its check to Burns’ principal re-election account before the contribution ended up in the now-defunct account.

[MagickMuffin]

6. Former Burns staffer is lobbyist for group that received returned Abramoff

I was just reading about this @ Think Progress, they have a link to this article which is dated 1-14-06. I suppose his former staffer was out of the loop when the council voted to return the money.

Sen. Conrad Burns vowed last month to return most of $146,700 in campaign contributions connected with confessed felon Jack Abramoff to its original donors, but most of the money went to the Montana Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council, whose lobbyist is a former Burns staffer.

A Burns campaign official said legal questions kept Burns from using his re-election funds to return to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Michigan Indian tribes, all former clients of Abramoff, the money they originally contributed to a different Burns account, which no longer exists.

But at least one tribe originally wrote its check to Burns’ principal re-election account before the contribution ended up in the now-defunct account.

Burns decided to give the $101,000 in question to charity and donated it to the Montana Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council. Stan Ullman, who was Burns’ legislative assistant and worked in his Washington office for four years, is registered as that group’s only lobbyist.

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2006/01/14/montana/a05011406_02.txt

[Wetzelbill]

7. yes, those are my peope there!

:)

[Sadie5]

8. The Tribe is ethical, but...

This is money which was originally stolen from the Tribe. It is their money, why not get some of it back.

[clydefrand]

9. I agree that the money could be used by the ones from whom

it was taken under false pretenses. This is a mighty costly statement some people are making ont their behalf.

[NVMojo]

10. Good for them. The tribes have been used ..with Congress' seal of approval

[appleannie1]

11. Maybe we should

elect Indians to run our government. They sure have more honesty than the ones in control now.