The Family That Gives Together (Abramoff family)

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The Family That Gives Together…

Contributing to Republican candidates runs in Jack Abramoff's family
By Courtney Mabeus

January 09, 2006 | Jack Abramoff and his wife were not the only members of their family making political contributions to President Bush, who is giving away money that the disgraced Washington lobbyist and his spouse contributed to his 2004 re-election campaign. Jack Abramoff’s parents, brother and sister-in-law gave at least $8,000 to President Bush’s second campaign—all on the same day in June 2003—according to a review of federal campaign finance records by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

All of the contributions made by Abramoff and his family members, to Bush and other Republicans over the years, appear to be legal. It is unclear whether the Bush contributions—all dated June 20, 2003—were made during a fundraising event that the Abramoff family attended together. On that date, according to published reports, the president was headlining an event in Georgia. First Lady Laura Bush was hosting an event in Tennessee. Bush fundraising "bundler" Steven Burd, the top executive of Safeway, Inc., hosted two events that month in which guests paid $2,000 each to hear the president talk. Burd was a 2004 Bush-Cheney "Ranger" for having gathered more than $200,000 in support for the re-election campaign.

Abramoff himself was designated a "Pioneer" for raising at least $100,000, and he could have applied his family’s contributions toward his total. The White House has said that Bush will keep money that Abramoff helped raise. But joining other politicians rushing to dump contributions connected to the lobbyist, the president is donating $6,000 to the American Heart Association—the amount contributed to his 2004 campaign by Pamela and Jack Abramoff and one of the Indian tribes for which Abramoff lobbied. Bush apparently has no plans to return the contributions from Abramoff’s relatives. The White House did not respond to the Center's calls for clarification.

Reached Jan. 6 at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Abramoff’s father, Franklin, refused to comment on the contributions he and his wife, Jane, made to the 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign. Franklin Abramoff is retired from Diners Club, where he was an executive.

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Full story:
http://capitaleye.org/inside.asp?id=196&format=print