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April was not a good month for Republicans. This is long and sometimes a bit involved but stay with me it’s worth the read.
Randall Tobias, the head of the Agency for International Development, and Bush’s number one spokesman for abstinence resigned after it was revealed that he was a customer of Pamela Martin & Associates. Pamela Martin is an escort service run by Deborah Jeanne Palfrey, also known as the DC Madam, who is being prosecuted for running a prostitution business in DC. Tobias admitted that he had indeed made avail of Ms Palfrey’s business, but only got “massages” for $300 an hour. Ms Palfry kept no records of transactions but has all the telephone numbers and client’s names, a list reportedly 10,000 items long. She has turned the list over to ABC news, so things will get interesting for both sides of the aisle shortly.
Then there’s Jack Abramoff. An FBI investigator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "He's talking so much he doesn't have time to eat . . .” and, "Anybody who even knows Jack Abramoff should be nervous . . .” That’s a lot of people, all Republicans.
Mark Zachares, an aide to the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee pleaded guilty to mis-reporting the cost of a golf outing and a four year conspiracy to influence congress. An email from Jack Abramoff’s office turned up that instructed the aide to report the cost of the trip as $5,000 each instead of the $20,000 and to assign the cost to a conservative think tank instead of his office. How did Mark get his job? Abramoff got it for him. The other guy on that Scotland trip was Tom Feeney (R FL). Tom says he doesn’t know Jack. Initially everyone thought he meant Jack Abramoff, but now it looks he just doesn’t know jack. Things aren’t looking good for Tom who just may be joining Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney in Federal Prison. Zachares, like Abramoff, has agreed to assist in the ongoing corruption investigation spawned by Abramoff’s conviction.
Zachares’ pleadings also link him to Rep. Don Young (R AK) through failed legislation to improve the working conditions in the Mariana Islands. Abramoff represented the Mariana Islands and at the time Zachares was a Mariana government official. Abramoff got Zachares a position as aide to Young as his first US government job. The island economy was booming with garment factories relocated from Asia and run by “guest workers” from Bangladesh, China and other countries. Clothing produced there is exempt from duties and is allowed to be labeled “Made in U.S.A.” but the exemptions from U.S. immigration and labor laws led to widespread abusive practices including slavery and forced prostitution. Sen. Frank Murkowski,(R AK) introduced legislation to impose US immigration laws on the Marianas. It passed the Senate unanimously but Young killed it in the house, it never even had a debate. Abramoff, with the help of Tom Delay (R TX) and Zachares, intervened with Young to kill the Murkowski bill. Young had access to Abramoff’s Skybox at the MCI Center and used it for several political fundraisers but like Feeney he doesn’t know jack. Young’s office will not comment on the Zachares situation but on March 12 hired Akin Gump to represent him regarding campaign finance questions involving another Abramoff client.
John Doolittle (R CA) is being investigated for inserting $37 million into various defense spending bills while he was on the House Appropriations Committee. The money went to a firm associated with Brent Wilkes, a Pentagon contractor who is accused of providing cash, perks, and incentives to Duke Cunningham. Wilkes was a client of Abramoff. In addition to the Wilkes involvement Abramoff paid Doolittle’s wife, who runs a political consulting company out of their house, $60,000 directly and another $90,000 “commission” on funds raised for her husband during an affair featuring President Bush.
Last month the FBI raided the Real Estate firm in which Rick Renzi (R AZ) was once part owner. The FBI is looking into a land deal in which he received $200,000 from his former partner. He failed to report the $200k in violation of House Ethics rules. Why, you might ask, would he fail to report a routine real estate commission? Well, it seems that in 2003 James Sandlin, then Renzi’s partner, bought this piece of land for $1 million. In 2005 in exchange for a federal land swap approved by Congress Renzi asked Resolution Copper Company to buy land from Sandlin. Resolution Copper refused the deal. Then another company, Petrified Forest Group, offered $4 million for the land, so Renzi killed the land swap deal. The US Attorney’s office began looking into the deal just before the November 2006 elections. US Attorney Paul K. Charlton was contacted by Renzi’s chief of staff who asked about the probe. Charlton considered this improper, and contacted the Justice Department. Charlton was among the eight federal prosecutors fired six weeks later.
If all that wasn’t enough there was Alberto Gonzales and George Tenant’s book, At the Center Of The Storm.
Oh what a month it’s been!
Can we impeach now? Please?
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