Rohrabacher rues support for Abramoff

[maddezmom]

Rohrabacher rues support for Abramoff
By Susan Crabtree
May 10, 2007
Amid new Justice Department activity in the Jack Abramoff case, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) says he regrets a personal favor for the fallen lobbyist, a friend of more than 20 years.

Rohrabacher said if he knew back in 2000 what he knows now about Abramoff’s illegal activities, he would not have agreed to serve as a reference for Abramoff’s loan application for $60 million to purchase SunCruz Casinos. Abramoff is serving time in jail for wire fraud relating to a false claim that he and a partner had $23 million to purchase the fleet, whose former owner was murdered.

“Now that I know that he was wheeling and dealing and making a lot of bad decisions, I certainly wouldn’t have done it,” Rohrabacher said in an interview, noting that the reference was for Abramoff and not his partner, Adam Kidan, who is alleged to have mafia ties. “He clearly stepped over the line and now he’s serving time for those decisions and those mistakes.”

The expression of regret is a marked change from Rohrabacher’s previous comments about the reference and his views about Abramoff’s character. Rohrabacher was the only member of Congress to provide a letter asking Abramoff’s sentencing judge for leniency.

~snip~

Back in December 2004, the California Republican was granted a waiver from the ethics committee to accept gifts in relation to the birth of their triplet daughters. He also asked for and received a separate ethics committee waiver on the disclosure requirements for the gifts so he would not be forced to list exactly who had given him gifts and what their value was.

more:http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/rohrabacher-rues-support-for-abramoff-2007-05-09.html

[AlCzervik]

1. i wonder if Jack told the feds something about him?

[Bluestar]

2. Oh, I feel so sorry for the surfing congressman

This stinks to high heaven. I have been waiting, waiting, waiting for 15 years to see this asshole go down in flames. This pronouncement is his very transparent effort to convince his constituents that he is oh-so innocent. He will probably get away with it because he is in a heavily Repub district and no one has dared to challenge him. I moved out of his district seven years ago, but I still have a disgusting Repuke congressman. Let's hope the Abramoff thing has long tentacles and that old Dana is caught in the web.