Best Breakdown of who received what & when for the Abramoff scandal

[LynneSin]

Of course it's Open Secrets, they track all the campaign contributions that were handed out and they have a great presentation with a variety of ways showing how the money was received and distributed.

It is correct to say that Abramoff directly did not contribute to any democrats; however, there are democrats who received monies through many of the PACS and other groups

http://www.capitaleye.org/abramoff_donor.asp

Check it out for the best information!

[fasttense]

1. That's interesting but I couldn't find one single Dem on your link.

So Abramoff did NOT give a single penny to a Democratic politician. That is the truth.

Now some of those clients of Abramoff, you know the ones that got swindled out of their money by Abramoff, now some of them gave to Democratic politicians.

But if every client of Abramoff's is considered suspect then I guess we better not deal with any Tribes, lawyers or PACs in the future.

[LynneSin]

2. That's exactly it

I mean, I'm still trying to figure out how all of this stuff works out.

What we need to do is another look at election finance reform. Obviously the Feingold/McCain bill is a joke and nothing is being resolved with making sure that it's the people being represented by the candidates and not the corporations.

I'm still trying to figure out why Santorum isn't being investigated with his Accuweather connection!

[Dolomite]

3. There are indeed a good number of (D)'s that were funneled cash.

Sorting the list by contributions - all of the repubs are on pink lines, the dems in blue.

Now, just because none of the checks to the dems were signed by he and his wife - am I supposed to believe that the dems getting the checks were totally clueless about exactly where the money came from?

There's a lot of guilt to be spread around.

[LynneSin]

5. I think what people are trying to say is Abramoff himself did not...

...contribute to democrats.

But we have to wake up and smell the coffee and realize that democrats did receive monies through the various tribes.

As soon as Abramoff sings like a Canary we'll find out how it'll affect us

[karynnj]

6. Aggregating them is misleading too

Thanks for this link - it's much better than either the aggregate one (which suggests guilt when there may be none and the just Abramoff one that may miss bribes paid for by the tribes). The important thing is to wait for the indictments. That the Democrats were only on the other lists is good. That Abramoff has made very RW anti-Democratic statements is good too. At least some of the Democrats have long term relationships with Native Americans and if there votes were consistent over their careers, the contributions may be very standard legitimate campaign contributions.

One example is Rep Kennedy (RI) who has worked on Native American rights throughout his career - he has received money from the various tribes long before they became involved with Abramoff. Unless there is additional information that shows he voted in quid por quo manner for money, there is nothing here. He does good for Native Americans and they support him.

The Kennedy family's long term commendable relationship with Native Americans was used to get votes for Kennedy's junior Senator and other Democrats. Ted Kennedy and Vanessa Kerry went to a big SW convention to successfully get votes for Vanessa's dad. Later, John and Teresa in Aug, 2004 appeared at a NM convention and were given a blessing by one of the tribes.

[fasttense]

7. Give me the link,

because when I looked at it, Abramoff only gave money to republicans and PACs. It is not a crime to accept money from Tribes, lawyers or PACs. Am I suppose to believe because Democratic politicians got money from the same people Abramoff hoodwinked, the Democratic politicians are corrupt? You are mixing apples and oranges and buying into the Rove spin.

[w13rd0]

4. Furthermore...

...if that's the "criteria for guilt", than Bush has supported both bin Laden and Hammas. Oh, and the Saudi Royals, but that's no big f'n shock.