Lobbyist Confirms Talks With Reid's Office

[cal04]

(snip)
One of Jack Abramoff's ex-colleagues confirms he contacted Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid's office on behalf of the influential lobbyist but says he does not believe Abramoff's billing records accurately reflect the extent of his
work. "When Abramoff first arrived at Greenberg Traurig, I did a new colleague a favor by simply asking Reid staffers about when the minimum wage legislation affecting the Mariana Islands would be voted upon by the Senate. I communicated this to Abramoff," Platt said in a statement e-mailed Friday evening to The Associated Press.

(snip)
In his statement, Platt sought to minimize the extent of his lobbying of Reid's office on behalf of Abramoff, saying he never considered himself ``part of Team Abramoff.'' Abramoff has pleaded guilty in a fraud and bribery case.
``These contacts were incidental, insofar as I simply bumped into Reid staffers at Democratic Party functions or occurred incidental to discussions regarding my clients, not Abramoff's,'' Platt said. ``Any contacts that I may have had in regard to Abramoff's tribal clients would have been similarly incidental.''

(snip)
As for the 21 contacts listed in the billing records, Platt noted Abramoff has pleaded guilty to defrauding clients and said the references in the AP's story were inaccurate. He was not more specific. Platt acknowledged he input his own time entries into his firm's billing system and that "any time billed to the Northern Marianas was to simply monitor the progress of the legislation." He said any help he provided with Abramoff's client ended in late 2001.

(snip)

Platt also said the AP did not attempt to reach him for comment before its story moved Thursday.
The AP contacted Platt's new lobbying firm in late December seeking to interview him about the billing records and was referred to Greenberg Traurig.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/02/11/national/w062451S09.DTL

[Mass]

1. AP is still not saying that Reid voted AGAINST the legislation that Platt

was lobbying for, which pretty much puts to rest the notion that Reid took money against his vote.

[madrchsod]

3. no- no he did

just read the headline....straight from karl`s office of amazing tales

[Mass]

6. Lobbyists talk with Senators all the time - Nothing amazing there.

Abramoff bought some votes. As far as we can tell, Reid did not vote the way the lobbyist wanted.

AP is clearly a GOP mouthpiece, but as much as I find Reid a poor leader, there is very little in the story AP is fielding.

[madrchsod]

2. well i guess ole`reid is up to his eyeballs

in the abramoff scandal! i guess the right wing pundits were correct-another blow to the democratic party

[NYCGirl]

7. You are absolutely wrong.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200602100015

[Debi]

4. I'm getting so dizzy

can the GOP spin any faster??????

[Botany]

5. one more time Abramoff did not give one dime to a dem.

Reid has 22 (?) native tribes in his state

he took more from them before Abromoff got into the mix

what he did was legal

Call Ed Schultz and ask him to play the full interview w/ Reid. This
is an "Al Gore claimed to invent the internet" story .... lie and repeat till
it sticks.

[cali]

9. One more time:

AP has reported that the Couchatta, Saginaw and Mississipi Choctaw Tribes, all gave to Reid only after they'd hired Abramoff. None of those tribes are from Nevada. Now, I believe that Reid did nothing wrong, but he's going to have to get ahead of the spin, because appearances can be damaging. AP also reports that Reid wrote four letters to the exec branch on behalf of these tribes. Is the AP wrong on these facts? I wish I knew.

[Botany]

12. Call Ed Schultz ....

or e mail your ? to [e-mail] ask him to replay the interview w/
Reid or get Reid back on.

If Reid is dirty well that is a problem but .... I sense there is a Creative Response Concepts/
RNC/Rove/corporate media push behind this story ...... this is getting more play than the three new
confirmed (R) Congressperson linked to Abramoff.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060211/ap_on_go_co/lobbyist_probe

<Two of the elected officials referred to in Friday's filings have been identified in published reports as Reps. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, and Don Young, R-Alaska. According to Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, the two representatives wrote to the GSA in September 2002, urging the agency to give preferential treatment to groups such as Indian tribes when evaluating development proposals for the Old Post Office.>

Sorry to be strident but not unless what I heard out of Reid's own mouth was
a complete lie, this story ...... :grr:

peace

[fasttense]

8. I'm not sure I'm ready to jump on the hang Harry Reid band wagon.

The corporate media has tried so hard to spin Abramoff as an equal opportunity congressmen vote buyer that I don't trust them. The corporate media has spread so many lies and spin about democratic leaders being bought by Abramoff that I just don't trust them. What was Reid's vote on minimum wage for the Islands? Did he vote the way Abramoff would have liked or was the legislation killed before it got to the vote? Why is it not mentioned in this news report? I'm waiting to see what else comes out about this. Why doesn't the media go after the repukes like they are going after Reid?

[wildbilln864]

10. Exactly, If they had...

real evidence, they'd have already printed it by now.

[NYCGirl]

11. Info on that:

The AP also suggested that Reid coordinated with Abramoff regarding legislation to raise the minimum wage that would also have applied the U.S. minimum wage to the Northern Mariana Islands, which Abramoff opposed. But the article never mentioned that Reid was a co-sponsor of the bill. The AP also failed to note what subsequent action Reid took on the legislation; in fact, Reid supported the bill's passage in a May 6, 2002, speech on the Senate floor:

REID: The Fair Minimum Wage Act would increase the Federal minimum wage by $1.50 over 2 years. We are not asking it be kept up with inflation from when it was first established. About 80,000 Nevadans and about 9 million Americans would get a raise up to $6.65 during the next 2 years. This modest proposal would bring the real value of the minimum wage within a penny of the value it had in the 1980s.

Moreover, the Abramoff aide that Reid met with to discuss the minimum wage bill in 2001, Ronald Platt, contends that the purpose of the meeting was not to discuss Reid's position on the legislation. In response to the AP article, blogger Joshua Micah Marshall contacted Platt about whether Reid had taken any action against the minimum wage bill following their meeting, to which Platt responded, "I'm sure he didn't":

According to Platt, the purpose of his contacts was to see what information he could get about the timing and status of the legislation. Reid's position on the minimum wage issue was well known and there would have been no point trying to get his help blocking it. That's what Platt says. "I didn't ask Reid to intervene," said Platt. "I wouldn't have asked him to intervene. I don't think anyone else would have asked. And I'm sure he didn't."

Much more here:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200602100001

[RufusEarl]

13. Here'[s a good link about Reid, explains everything I wanted to know!

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/2/9/163540/9804

[leesa]

14. Sounds like this guy is engaging in some fraudulent billing. He asked if

a bill would be voted on by the Senate and that was the lobbying interaction?? He bumped into some staffers at a party and asked about some of HIS clients???

[ticapnews]

15. Nice headline.

How about, "Our reporter screwed up a major story and misled the American public?"

That's a more appropriate headline.