Abramoff's White House "Fruit"...RE: Rep. Henry Waxman's Report

[ElsewheresDaughter]

Despite administration denials, superlobbyist-turned-felon Jack Abramoff did have political traction in the White House, according to a damning draft report released Monday by Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-Calif.) House government oversight committee. Among the findings: Before he was disgraced, Abramoff provided gifts and meals to White House officials, met with President George W. Bush at least six times, and influenced a State Department dismissal and a presidential political endorsement.

While the draft report does not allege that Abramoff influenced any decision taken by President Bush himself, the latest revelations seem to confirm the conclusions of an earlier oversight committee report sketching out Abramoff's influence in the White House. The first report, issued in September 2006, used billing records and emails from Abramoff's firm as its main sources of information. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino subsequently attacked the first report for being based on "fraudulent" records, and then-White House spokesman Tony Snow claimed Abramoff "got nothing" from his efforts at 1600 Pennsylvania.

Instead of giving up in the face of the administration's attacks on the committee's first report, Rep. Waxman requested the White House's own information about its contacts with the superlobbyist. The White House's own records confirmed what Tony Snow had denied: Abramoff often got what he wanted from the White House, even when what Abramoff wanted went against the advice of the president's own party. In the new report, the committee hammers the administration for allowing its representatives to initially mischaracterize Abramoff's relationship with the White House: "the White House failed to conduct even the most basic internal investigation of the White House relationship with Mr. Abramoff before making public statements characterizing the connection between Mr. Abramoff and the White House."

The latest findings strongly imply that Abramoff's success was at least partially due to his use of what one administration official referred to as "fruit": Gifts including meals and sports tickets. According to the White House documents and testimony, White House officials asked for or received tickets from Abramoff associates on 21 confirmed occasions. The report says:

The White House documents corroborate that White House officials joined Abramoff team members for expensive meals and that White House officials were offered and accepted expensive tickets to sporting and entertainment events from Abramoff associates. In fact, the White House documents contain numerous examples of tickets offered to White House officials that were not reflected in the .

Whether or not the "fruit" was actually part of a quid pro quo, the new findings make clear that Abramoff got results for his White House lobbying efforts. Perhaps Abramoff's greatest success in lobbying White House officials was to force the dismissal of Alan Stayman, a State Department employee. Stayman was in charge of the federal government's relationship with the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a major Abramoff client. Stayman had taken actions in a previous government job that displeased the CNMI government. The CNMI, and, by extension, Abramoff, wanted him gone. According to the committee’s 2006 report:

more: http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/06/8650_abramoffs_white.html


Along with the sly intrigue of Abramoff, Ms. Monica Kladakis moved up the ladder quickly. Good to know that patronage is well.


How can this kind of stuff go on without somebody doing something. All the White House personnel should be going to jail. The Republican Administration is so corrupt from the top down that I don't understand how they are getting away with it.


Mr. Abramoff's Influence Inside the White House.

The documents show that Mr. Abramoff and his associates influenced some White House actions. In one instance, the Abramoff team persuaded White House officials to intervene to remove from office a State Department official, Alan Stayman, who had advocated reforms in the Northern Mariana Islands that Mr. Abramoff opposed. In one exchange, Mr. Schlapp e-mailed Monica Kladakis, the deputy associate director of presidential personnel, to ask "how do we fix this?" Ms. Kladakis responded: "I think we can do something about it, but I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to go about it. I don't want a firing scandal on our hands." Both Karl Rove, the President's top political advisor, and Stephen Hadley, the deputy National Security Advisor, were informed of Mr. Abramoff's opposition to Mr. Stayman.

[freesqueeze]

1. Fruit?...SWAG more like it.

This guy was buying his way into the white house and congress.

Try that with a nectarine.

[Disturbed]

3. Busholini has selective amnesia.

He said that he couldn't recall meeting with this this Criminal.

[KoKo]

4. Happy to give you Rec #2....and that "kick." n/t

[bullimiami]

2. Uh. WHAT??????

"the White House failed to conduct even the most basic internal investigation of the White House relationship with Mr. Abramoff before making public statements characterizing the connection between Mr. Abramoff and the White House."