Olbermann: Did Washington wives benefit from Abramoff?

[sabra]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10774913/

Did Washington wives benefit from Abramoff?

That Abramoff scandal itself was possibly kicked off by a jilted fiancee, if the political blog Raw Story is to be believed. And now it seems, a group of Washington women who actually made it down the aisle may be in legal jeopardy because of it.

In addition to the luxury golf trips, the Super Bowl tickets, and the bundles of campaign cash, turns out Jack Abramoff was also compensating the wives of lawmakers handsomely for jobs requiring them to do not much.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Would the wives be in legal trouble?

I mean, if Spouse One is given some sort of soft job, would that be illegal? What about if Congressman One suddenly gave favors to Abramoff in what looks like a direct quid pro quo? I could see where Congressman One would be in deep doo doo, but would his wife also have legal problems? Or would it depend on whether she really had a job or just took money?

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

2. I wonder if Karen Santorum is one of them? Hmmmm....

:shrug:

[Joy Anne]

4. could be

One uncritical story about Virginia's family said Karen was getting $4,000/month for "work" she was doing at home for a DC outfit. I wondered at the time what value she could provide for that much money while she was homeschooling 5 children and also disabled by that chiropractor she sued.

So ever since I heard that news on Friday, I've been waiting for details.

[FreedomAngel82]

6. I thought they also

lived in another state or something weird like that. :shrug:

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

9. Live in Virginia full-time, keep a rental in PA

but somehow feel it's okay and ethical to charge their kid's cyberschool tuition 100% to a PA school district.

Here is a GREAT LTTE from a Pittsburgh Nun re: Santorum's ripoff that you might enjoy (you can almost hear the nun's ruler smacking Ricky's wrist):

Not moral messages


As a teacher for the Diocese of Pittsburgh for 14 years, one important lesson I learned was that no matter what I said to the child, whatever the parents said superseded my message. What parents say and how they live sends a message stronger than any teacher's voice no matter what the issue.

Sen. Rick Santorum and his wife have taught their children a powerful lesson on civic responsibility by refusing to pay any tuition money to the Penn Hills School District for their children who attended the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School ("Penn Hills Loses Bid to Charge Santorum," July 12). Released from that payment on a technicality shows that even an upstanding, moral gentleman like Sen. Santorum teaches his children the following lessons:

1) Take advantage of the system whenever you can.

2) The little guy pays while the rich and powerful guy gets away with it.

3) As a Catholic, you have no obligation to pay your share to the common good in spite of Catholic social doctrine.

Finally, I am shocked that our religious leaders who see Sen. Santorum as some sort of faith-and-morals hero have not spoken up on this issue at all.


SISTER XXXXXXXXXXX
Sisters for Christian Community
Bloomfield

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

7. Here's some info on her "work"...may be some ties in here

Wonder if there are ties between Abramoff and this John Brabender(BrabenderCox company)?????

<snips>

During his past two campaigns, rising Republican star Sen. Rick Santorum paid $10 million to a Pittsburgh advertising firm to help him win office. In the years between the campaigns, the company paid the senator's wife, Karen Santorum - now a full-time mother home-schooling six kids - to work as a consultant, according to campaign finance records and financial disclosure forms.


The company that hired Karen Santorum is BrabenderCox, a political advertising firm run by GOP media guru John Brabender, credited with helping craft Santorum's 1994 upset win against Sen. Harris Wofford and 2000 defeat of Democratic Rep. Ron Klink.




The 1994 upset engineered by BrabenderCox reflects Santorum's meteoric rise in American politics. First elected to Congress in 1990 at age 32, Santorum is now the third-highest-ranking Republican in the Senate. He had positioned himself as a possible successor to former Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.

That 1994 win over Wofford was a boon to BrabenderCox also, catapulting it from a small Pittsburgh ad agency to a major GOP political consulting firm with clients like New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and congressional candidates from across the country.


http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/cs/Uus-santorum.RJcM_DS9.html

[Joy Anne]

10. those poor kids

are really getting a poor excuse for an education, including, as the nun said, their morals training.

[EST]

3. He funneled a lot of money to selected pols and

their aides through their wives. $25,000.00 to one, supposedly for her "idea."

[FreedomAngel82]

5. Didn't Tom DeLay's wife gain money?

He paid her lots of money.

[Indykatie]

8. Delay's Wife Paid $3400 a Month

over course of 3 years to develop a list of the favorite charities of congress members. A job that should have taken a week at most even if my lazy nephew was doing it. I hope this gets traction. I think it's a slam dunk.

[lostnfound]

11. Also the wife of Republican John Doolittle.

Keep it coming.

[upi402]

12. Well yeah... I mean, who is *really* in power here?

DOH!:silly: