Abramoff and His Vanishing Friends
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, January 6, 2006; Page A19
It almost makes you feel sorry for Jack Abramoff.
Republicans once fell all over themselves to get his "moolah," the term used famously by the disgraced superlobbyist, and to get his advice on dealing with that warm and cuddly entity known as "the lobbying community."
-snip-
Roll Call reported on
March 12, 2001, that "GOP leaders on and off Capitol Hill are organizing a new drive to lean on major corporations and trade associations to hire Republicans for their top lobbying jobs." The article spoke of a
"Who's Who of Republican lobbyists" who had held a meeting on the subject the week before.
At the top of the list was Jack Abramoff.
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This careful judge of what it means to be an "honorable public servant" had reason to prefer the Bush administration's taste in appointees. After the 2000 election,
Abramoff was named to the Bush transition team for the Interior Department, which regulates the Indian casinos that paid Abramoff his inflated fees.
"What the Republicans need is 50 Jack Abramoffs," his friend Grover Norquist told National Journal in 1995. "Then this becomes a different town." Norquist got his different town. It's why the place so badly needs cleaning up.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/05/AR2006010501903.html