LAT: Abramoff, White House(Mehlman) Tied to Firing of Official

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mehlman15oct15,0,1634103.story?coll=la-home-headlines

For five years, Allen Stayman wondered who ordered his removal from a U.S. State Department job negotiating agreements with tiny Pacific island nations -- even when his own bosses wanted him to stay.

Now he knows.

The ax fell after intervention by one of the highest officials at the White House: Ken Mehlman, who acted on behalf of one of the most influential lobbyists in town, Jack Abramoff.

E-mails recently made public disclose that Abramoff, whose client list included the Northern Mariana Islands, had long opposed Stayman's work advocating labor reforms in that U.S. commonwealth, and considered what his lobbying team called the "Stayman project" a high priority.

"Mehlman said he would get him fired," an Abramoff associate wrote after meeting with Mehlman, who was then White House political director.

[rodeodance]

1. mucking up peoples lives!

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. Some of us really did buy all that bullshit that we were suppose to

grow up to be good citizens of the U.S.A. and do our duty for the public interest. Who knew that's the last thing they're looking for these days to fill government jobs?

[katinmn]

2. "Mehlman said he did not recall ..."

How long can we let these lying corrupt bastards get away with this "I can't recall" bullshit?? Bush, Rice, Hastert, they all skin out of EVERYTHING by saying they don't remember. :grr:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mehlman said he did not recall the details of his contacts with the Abramoff team, including discussions about Stayman, the former State Department official. But he said such interactions were part of his job as White House political director.

"I was a gateway," Mehlman said in an interview. "It was my job to talk to political supporters, to hear their requests, and hand them on to policymakers."

[sofa king]

16. Wouldn't it be nice if "I cannot recall" were a crime?

It's not too far of a reach. Mehlman was a political appointee. There's no reason why Congress can't require all Presidential appointees to keep daily journals. Many already do, anyway.

Make 'em keep a journal and if something comes up that they can't recall, throw 'em in the clink for failing to maintain federal records.

[krkaufman]

35. If not a crime.... it's still extremely frustrating ....

... that voters don't take "I cannot recall" as a severe flaw in their leaders, and throw out any and every politician that uses that as a fallback.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. I wonder if he recalls the U2 concert tickets

The senior Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles, points to e-mails suggesting that in June 2001, amid negotiations over whether to fire Stayman, Mehlman requested and might have been given two U2 concert tickets in Abramoff's suite at what was then the MCI Center (now the Verizon Center).

[BrotherBuzz]

27. Henry Waxman is going to become the most feared congressman come January

when he is given to power of the big 'I' - Investigation. Man, oh man alive, Henry is a damn bulldog when it comes to details, and the cockroaches will be running but they can't hide.

[54anickel]

29. There's the position that should be eliminated...Mehlman's.

His job is to take political supporters requests to policymakers. Hmmmm, it's no wonder the American people have no voice. Of, by and for the people - my ass! This government is run by those with the most grease for the wheels.

[Erika]

3. Mehlman has no credibility n.t

[LiberalFighter]

24. He is a snake... a snake oil salesman

[Wretched Refuse]

31. An ANTI-GAY, Gay

snake oil salesman at that.

[LetsThink]

4. Nothing Like the Merits of a Policy to Determine .........

.....one's job security. You know-- is it good policy for the US and our allies or is it ..... hmmmm, bought/ paid for/ sold to the highest bidder ?

[Jack Rabbit]

5. K/R

This is a good example of bad government.

[speedoo]

6. I'd like to see Abramoff and Mehlman in the same cell....

and I'd like to see them sharing the cell with about six hard-time felons with nothing to lose.

[fooj]

7. With any luck, they'll both pay for what they have done to this country.

[aquart]

8. Can he sue their asses?

Or, at the very least, negotiate a settlement?

[Jane Austin]

9. Think Mehlman will be showing up on MTP any time soon?

That would be the kind of question Russert would like to get on the record.

[datadiva]

10. So this is why Mehlman's been hiding!

He must have know this was going to come out! Drip, drip, drip.

[Robbien]

11. There are so many huge stories in these Abramoff papers

All of them getting so little press, but each of them so important.

There is this one about someone getting fired for trying to stop sweatshops and sex shops which being protected by the RNC and GOP Congressmen.

Another one I was just today reading about which concerned Abramoff paying Rabbi Lapin to promote GOP biased news on Channel One in the classrooms.

And there is that whole group of five RNC non-profits which funneled tens of millions of dollars around DC.

But only a few people know because the media has been told to stay away from the story.

[donkeyotay]

37. Collect them all!

The Abramoff-connected scandals are a mosaic of Republican corruption. I'd go so far as to say that the Abramoff scandal collection IS Newtie's Contract On America. This IS what the Republican revolution, the Delay K-Street Project brought us. Nothing less that the selling of our democracy. The resulting corruption repudiates the philosophy and values of the Republican revolution. They had their shot at running the country and this is what they brought. Their revolution has been a colossal failure with the only shoe left to drop being their corruption of the financial system.

[baby_bear]

12. Stayman was a political appointee, serving at the pleasure of W

Therefore this is a matter for the Republican party to debate, i.e., how they want to handle PAs in executive agencies and departments. They have no civil service protections and frankly don't deserve them.

My opinion is that there should be WAY fewer PAs altogether. There is something to be said for those who are career professionals in civil service within the executive branch, namely, that they are better prepared to be in the higher positions than some suck-up politico who handed out flyers for someone running for office who now is going to get paid off by being installed in a very high federal position that will look way cool on his resume.

This happens with Dems too. But it has gotten totally out of hand with the Bush Administration.

As an example, last Friday, it was announced that the new EPA administrator for Region 10 (WA, OR, ID, AK) is a pesticide industry executive.

Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does.

b_b

[remfan]

14. and he was fired by the ultimate Political appointee

White House Political Director, Ken Mehlman.

This is more than something for the GOP to debate. This White House, this administration has placed politics at the heart of EVERYTHING it's done and it's way past time for the country to debate whether we need a federal government driven by politics or by policy. The firing of Stayman is but a glimpse into the inner workings of this administration, and when the FIRST question the GOP asks is always "does it benefit us politically?" and not "does it benefit the country?" there's a serious, serious, problem.

Dems have been handed another page in the perfect narrative, and this one points directly at the top of the heap. The GOP put politics above all else, and if you have enough money, you can buy a seat at their table. There is no 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue anymore, there is only K Street. Main Street , USA will just have to fend for itself.

[skip fox]

13. Wait!!!! . . . Doesn't this have Tom Delay written all over it as well?

Maybe these crises can come to a boil.

Perhaps Foley finally turned the burner on high and now public awareness accumulation of Republican corruption might accompany them to the polls.

I agree, by the way, about Stayman's appointee status, but the post might distract us from the point: Abramoff influenced a high official at the White House on behalf of his corrupt associates (Delay's croonies).

[mcg]

33. Indeed, big time, and this is much worse than the Foley scandal.

We're talking about forced abortions on, the rape of, and the
physical abuse of underage girls who are United States citizens
(the Mariana Islands are a part of the U.S.).

Conservatives have absolutely no excuse for voting for these republicans.

[nickyt]

15. Shouldn't this read:

"The ax fell after intervention by one of the highest officials at the White House: Jack Abramoff, who acted on behalf of one of the most influential lobbyists in town, Jack Abramoff."

I don't have the link, but wasn't it revealed a couple of weeks ago that a pack of inexperienced PAs were sent to Iraq early on, having no clue whatsoever as to why they were there or what they were to do?

Is there no pub untouched in this admin? Sure don't look that way.

[skiddlybop]

17. Mehlmangate will bring down the entire shebang

when the dots are connected to Gannongate.

[UnityDem]

18. Head of Republican Party Mehlman in bed

with Abramoff and this will probably only get a "yawn" from mainstream media. Bet, you don't hear one word of it on any of the Sunday shows. It will be all North Korea fear,fear,fear until 11/7.

[ldf]

25. uh, do you mean figuratively or literally.....?

"Mehlman in bed with Abramoff"

now if it was LITERALLY, the media would be on it pronto.

gotta paint those homos as evil, and wanting nothing but to take over all politics of all parties.

i am feeling literally drunk with power....

:evilgrin:

[Vinca]

19. Wow! No wonder smarmy Ken has been among the missing

over the past couple of weeks. Someone tell him the "I don't remember" mantra doesn't wash in the land of email.:rofl: My day is officially made by this article. Someone somewhere needs to designate a Republican wing at a federal prison.:rofl:

[0007]

20. Water board the son of a bitch and his memory will refresh itself

mighty quickly.

I oppose torture to even a worthless liar

[boobooday]

23. This whole Mariana Islands thing needs a good airing out

I think it could be explained as the ideological nexus of GOP corruption:

The use and abuse of poor people
The hypocrisy on sexual morality and abortion
The corruption of the legislative and electoral process

It's got everything. It should be a main attraction! Perhaps if we amplified the sex part, the economic and political corruption could sneak into the spotlight as well.

[mcg]

32. The people in the Mariana Islands are U.S. citizens...

- not that it should matter that much - but it's good
to point out. We're not talking about a foreign
country here, the Mariana Islands are a permanent
part of the United States.

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cq.html

"indigenous inhabitants are US citizens"

"chief of state: President George W. BUSH of the US (since 20 January 2001); Vice President Richard B. CHENEY (since 20 January 2001)"

The Abramoff gang is responsible for the U.S. government
looking the other way while underage girls are raped
(that's what forced prostitution is) and physically abused,
then forced to get abortions if they get pregnant.

I thought Republicans were supposed to be against abortion.

Sex slavery and forced abortions are happening in the United States
under George W. Bush's watch.

[boobooday]

36. Yes, they are U.S. citizens

But the sweat shops are also importing labor -- charging women from other countries to find them abusive jobs there.

And it is all happening right here -- "Made in the U.S.A."

[madrchsod]

26. that`s the slave labor sex scandal that

everyone has known about this years but were gutless cowards to do anything about it.

[1932]

28. Why anyone who works for a living would vote for a Republican

is beyond me.

[yellowcanine]

30. Outrageous. Democrats should demand the resignation of Mehlhman.

Not only that, but Mehlman should be investigated for possibly accepting a bribe from Abramoff.

[gully]

34. You got it!

nt