DEAL OR NO DEAL? Abramoff's and Rove's ex-aide has "useful information" about Abramoff, White House

[L. Coyote]

While DU has been sinking in a sea of distracting blemmings, someone seemingly wants to rat out
Rove, White House officials, Abramoff, and **** if granted immunity.

Who said, "Presidents impeach themselves by their actions"?

Spinoff from: EXIT RIGHT. Sara Taylor, WH political director, Rove Aide RESIGNS? "subpoenas for her testimony" - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x990202
================
Memo: Rove's ex-aide would talk if given immunity
7:42 a.m. EDT, May 23, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/23/rove.aide/index.html?eref=rss_politics

• Memo: Ex-aide has "useful information" about Abramoff, White House officials
• Client has info on outside White House e-mail accounts, too, attorney says
• Ralston quit after revelations she was conduit between Abramoff, White House
• Attorney says Ralston will be "comfortable going forward" if granted immunity

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Susan Ralston, a former top assistant to President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, is willing to tell Congress what she knows about contacts between White House officials and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- but only if she's granted immunity from prosecution, her lawyer has told congressional investigators.

During a May 10 deposition with Ralston, her attorney, Bradford Berenson, told investigators for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that she "has material, useful information" about contacts between Abramoff and his associates and White House officials, according to a memo sent to committee members Tuesday by the committee's chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California.

Berenson also said Ralston has useful information about the use of outside Republican National Committee e-mail accounts by White House staffers, which is also the subject of a congressional probe, according to the memo.

However, Ralston will only be "comfortable going forward" if she is given a grant of immunity, .........

[woodsprite]

1. Well, I hope it's more "useful" than Goodling's was. n/t

[malaise]

2. Looks like the entire gang wants

immunity. What a shameless bunch of criminals.

[BOSSHOG]

3. I love all these christians who need immunity from CRIMINAL PROSECUTION

before they will SWEAR TO TELL THE TRUTH. Would not it make much more sense to subpoena rove and have him raise his right hand?

[orleans]

46. rove will want immunity! n/t

[L. Coyote]

4. Hopping along the E-Mail Trail: Springsteen, Abramoff, $16.3 million, "massages, hookers, whatever"

Lobbyists: Sports Tickets and Springsteen—The E-Mail Trail
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15081799/site/newsweek/

...new e-mails showing that Rove's office had far more extensive conduct with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff than previously acknowledged. The e-mails, obtained by a House committee, show that Rove's executive assistant, Susan Ralston, may have violated a White House ban on accepting gifts...

........Ralston also discussed future business opportunities with Abramoff, such as her plan to help him capitalize on the "rush to get lucrative government contracts" being awarded by the Department of Homeland Security—another possible breach of ethics rules. .........

.......The e-mails show Rove's then chief political deputy, Ken Mehlman, now chairman of the Republican National Committee, had his own repeated contacts with Abramoff—in stark contrast to previous public statements. According to the new records, Abramoff and his associates turned to Mehlman in their bid to obtain $16.3 million in federal funds from the Justice Department to build a jail .........After Justice later approved funding ....another Abramoff associate e-mailed a colleague: "Those guys should get anything they want for the rest of the time they're in office ... Opening Day tickets, Skins v. Giants, oriental massages, hookers, whatever ... " Mehlman denied any wrongdoing..........

[L. Coyote]

10. Kenneth B. Mehlman, Former WH Director of Political Affairs, Former RNC Chairman

Kenneth B. Mehlman
From SourceWatch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ken_Mehlman

Kenneth B. Mehlman is a lawyer, Republican activist and partner in the law and lobby firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. ...
Mehlman formerly chaired the Republican National Committee, was campaign manager for George Walker Bush's 2004 re-elected bid, and served as Deputy Assistant to President Bush and Director of Political Affairs on Bush's White House Staff, as well as chief of staff to Rep. Kay Granger (R., Tex.).

From 1996-1999, Mr. Mehlman was Rep. Kay Granger's (TX-12) chief of staff and he oversaw the political, legislative, and communications operations. Previously, Ken was Rep. Lamar Smith's (TX-21) legislative director from 1994-1996.

In addition to running Granger's campaign, Mr. Mehlman worked on William Weld's successful 1990 campaign for governor of Massachusetts, Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine's 1994 campaign, and House races in Virginia, Texas, and Georgia. He worked on Sen. Bob Dole's 1996 campaign, the 1996 Republican National Convention and President George Herbert Walker Bush's 1992 re-election campaign.

Mr. Mehlman practiced environmental law for three years in Washington, D.C.

=====================

NOTE: Rep. Lamar Smith, Mehlman previous employer, is the House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member, the oversight committee which investigated Mehlman.

[L. Coyote]

21. Akin, Gump et al 2006 Total Lobbying Income: $25,820,000

I have personally seen how impoverished this reservation is. I taught there. This is just unbelievable, $$millions$$ per year?
=====================
This is so reminiscent of Abramoff!
2003 - Gila River Indian Community $2,040,000
================
2004 = $27,960,000
Gila River Indian Community $2,180,000

2005 = $28,460,000
Gila River Indian Community $1,260,000

http://www.opensecrets.org/lobbyists/firmsum.asp?txtname=Akin%2C+Gump+et+al&year=2005

==============================
McCain swears off tribal money, but accepts contributions from lobbyists
By Susan Crabtree
May 07, 2007
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/mccain-swears-off-tribal-money-but-accepts-contributions-from-lobbyists-2007-05-07.html

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who led the Senate Indian Affairs Committee investigation into the Jack Abramoff scandal, has sworn off taking tribal money in his presidential campaign but continues to accept donations from lobbyists whose firms represent tribal clients.

......... Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, with its affiliate, Ietan Consulting, is another powerful player in the tribal lobbying community. Combined the two firms represent at least 21 tribal clients, and employees of the firm have cut $41,000 in checks to McCain committees in the past three election cycles.

Akin Gump also has a direct link to the Indian Affairs Committee probe. Michael Rossetti, an Akin Gump lobbyist who previously served as counsel to former Interior Secretary Gale Norton, testified before the panel against former Interior
Deputy Secretary J. Stephen Griles.

Griles, who was convicted of obstruction of justice in the Abramoff probe two months ago, was accused of helping two Abramoff clients — the Louisiana Coushatta tribe and the Saginaw Chippewa — fend off casino proposals from rival tribes.
Griles denied the allegations and Rossetti disputed his accounts.

Rossetti is now a registered lobbyist for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, another former Abramoff client, and four other tribes.

[L. Coyote]

22. Monica Goodling's Lawyer at Akin Gump, also Boss of DC Madam Escort?

Law Blog Question of the Day: Who pays Goodling’s legal bills? Akin Gump’s Dowd is one of D.C. top white-collar defense lawyers whose rate, we’d venture to guess, is too rich for young Monica’s blood. Assuming he has some flexibility, does he cut his fees? Does he take the case pro bono for the opportunity to work on a fascinating case with lots of free publicity? Through an Akin Gump spokeswoman, Dowd declined to comment. Beltway lawyers: How does this work?
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/category/dismissed-us-attorneys/

============================
OMG: The Akin Gump Escort Worked For... Monica Goodling's Lawyer!!!
Is this source reliable?
http://www.abovethelaw.com/2007/05/akin_gump_on_the_dc_madams_app.php#more
We have confirmed, with knowledgeable sources, what was previously rumored in reader comments. The Akin Gump Escort worked for John M. Dowd, the high-powered head of the firm's criminal litigation group.

...............We emailed Mr. Dowd to confirm that the (alleged) Akin Gump Assistant Madam worked as his secretary. We didn't receive a response from him. But a few hours later, we were contacted by a firm spokesperson:

Per your query, I write to advise that this is an internal personnel matter, and as such we will not provide comment.

============
Spin-off discussion thread here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1001082

[L. Coyote]

35. Congressional Bribery and a DC Sex Scandal

Fired USA Carol Lam's investigations included Medicare fraud and led to public corruption cases.
Target Rep. Cunningham's "admitted taking $2.4 million in bribes." (1)
White House e-mails infer political involvement in Lam's firing.

========================
Congressional Bribery and a DC Sex Scandal
From SourceWatch - http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Congressional_Bribery_and_a_DC_Sex_Scandal

"The bribery scandal that brought down Republican Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham may be linked to a sex scandal involving an operation that provided prostitutes, limos and hotel suites to Cunningham and other members of Congress," according to Scot J. Paltrow in the April 27, 2006, Wall Street Journal. (1)(2) "Investigators are reportedly interviewing female escorts and others as part of a broad inquiry." (3)

Brian Unger, who "guest hosted" April 28, 2006, on Countdown, "led with the latest allegations in the Randy "Duke" Cunningham scandal" 'The three key ingredients of any D.C. key political scandal are as follows, sex, money, and the Watergate apartment complex. ."

-------------
(1) Prosecutors May Widen Congressional-Bribe Case
Cunningham Is Suspected Of Asking for Prostitutes;
Were Others Involved? By SCOT J. PALTROW
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114610728002837324-nRnF_ahxSnYdWg6foBQ3_mvCwZ4_20070427.html?mod=blogs

... Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have fanned out across Washington, interviewing women from escort services, potential witnesses and others who may have been involved in the arrangement. In an interview, the assistant general manager of the Watergate Hotel confirmed that federal investigators had requested, and been given, records relating to the investigation and rooms in the hotel. But he declined to disclose what the records show. ...

......Wade told investigators that Mr. Cunningham periodically phoned him to request a prostitute, and that Mr. Wade then helped to arrange for one. A limousine driver then picked up the prostitute as well as Mr. Cunningham, and drove them to one of the hotel suites, .......

[L. Coyote]

39. Monica Goodling's Lawyer at Akin Gump, also Boss of Sara Taylor for Bush-Cheney '04

Q Miss Taylor, what knowledge do you have of illegal or discriminatory strategies during the 2004 Presidential election?

========================
Sara Taylor - From SourceWatch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sara_Taylor

Sara Taylor is White House political director for President George W. Bush. (needs an update, re employment status)

Beginning July 2, 2003, Taylor served as Deputy to the Chief Strategist, Matthew Dowd, for the Bush-Cheney '04 Inc. re-election campaign: "Taylor worked for the White House as an associate political director (Midwest) doing political and public affairs outreach. During the 2000 campaign she worked from late April 1999 through Januay 2000 as coalitions director for Bush's Iowa caucus campaign, then did field work in the SC, VA, WA and IL primaries, and finally served as executive director of the Michigan campaign. Previously Taylor worked for two years at the Tarrance Group, the No. Va. polling firm headed by Ed Goeas. In 1995-96 she worked on Sen. Phil Gramm's presidential campaign in Iowa." (1)

========================================
(1) George W. Bush-Campaign Organization
http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/bush/bushorg.html

Bush Cheney '04, Inc.

Marc Racicot = Chairman, June 16, 2003. Prior to taking the position of campaign chairman, Racicot served as chairman of the Republican National Committee; elected January 2002. Governor of Montana, 1993-2001. Attorney General of Montana, 1988-92. .....

Ken Mehlman = Campaign Manager, May 16, 2003. Director of political affairs at the White House Jan. 2001. National field director for Bush/Cheney 2000.

Kelley McCullough = Deputy to the Campaign Manager for Campaign Operations, May 30, 2003. Associate director of political affairs at the White House, Jan. 2001-Jan. 2002. Alabama director for Karl Rove + Company, 1997-2000.

Coddy Johnson = Field Director, July 17, 2003. White House associate director of political affairs since January 2001.

Matthew Dowd = Senior Strategist, May 16, 2003. Senior advisor to the RNC. Director of polling and media planning for the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign. Prior: President and founding partner of Public Strategies Inc., Austin, Texas.

Sara Taylor = Deputy to the Chief Strategist, July 2, 2003. White House associate political director.

[L. Coyote]

49. Taylor's Bush-Cheney 2004 boss, Matthew Dowd, jumped off the Bush ship

I confused John Dowd, attorney, with the Matthew Dowd, campaign strategist:

=======================================================
Ex-Bush Aide Dowd Says He “Misplaced” Faith In Bush....
By Joe Gandelman
http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/11859/ex-bush-aide-dowd-says-he-misplaced-faith-in-bush

You know a Presidency is in trouble with former — and trusted — aides begin to break prominently from their former boss. Particularly if they break with the boss in the New York Times.…and that’s what is being pitchforked into the old media and new media news cycles right now:

In 1999, Matthew Dowd became a symbol of George W. Bush’s early success at positioning himself as a Republican with Democratic appeal.

A top strategist for the Texas Democrats who was disappointed by the Bill Clinton years, Mr. Dowd was impressed by the pledge of Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, to bring a spirit of cooperation to Washington. He switched parties, joined Mr. Bush’s political brain trust and dedicated the next six years to getting him to the Oval Office and keeping him there. In 2004, he was appointed the president’s chief campaign strategist.

Looking back, Mr. Dowd now says his faith in Mr. Bush was misplaced.

In terms of political significance, this is similar to the watershed moment when it became clear that former Secretary of State Colin Powell and a host of other Bush 41 administration bigwigs were not pleased with George Bush 43. And Dowd’s comments become even more damaging — because he articulates what many independent voters have already concluded (look at the polls)

[L. Coyote]

25. Ralston a "go-between" Abramoff to Rove and his then-deputy, Ken Mehlman

White House aide resigns in influence-peddling scandal
By Patrick Martin - 12 October 2006
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/oct2006/rals-o12.shtml


The congressional report found that Ralston had accepted expensive tickets from Abramoff to sports events and concerts on at least nine occasions. In the course of at least 69 documented contacts with Abramoff, she served as a go-between to bring his most urgent requests to the notice of Rove and his then-deputy, Ken Mehlman, now chairman of the Republican National Committee.

The report found that Abramoff and his lobbying associates spent nearly $25,000 on meals and tickets for White House officials, much of this on Ralston. One set of four tickets for a Washington Wizards basketball game cost nearly $1,300.

These sums were expended to gain access. Rove, for example, joined Abramoff in his box at an NCAA college basketball tournament game in 2002, although he reimbursed the lobbyist for the cost of the ticket. Afterwards Abramoff boasted to an associate that Rove “told me anytime we need something just let him know through Susan.”

In October 2001, she relayed a memo to Rove from Abramoff about withholding a Republican political endorsement in the Mariana Islands governor’s race. The following day she e-mailed Abramoff, “You win. KR says no endorsement,” reporting that Rove had agreed.

In another case, Mehlman apparently helped an Abramoff-represented Indian tribe get a $16 million federal grant to build a new jail. Abramoff thanked him with free tickets to a rock concert. .........

[mrdmk]

5. The problem here is will our elected officials know what to do with the information

Monica Goodling handed Congress some real tidbits, like the caging list and influencing testimony among others. That needed to produce instant subpoenas with teeth (the kind of subpoenas, show up or go to jail). Instead we hear, "what's that?" and the classic, "let's keep our powder dry".

[L. Coyote]

6. So Many Targets, So Much Time, Drip, Drip, Drip, like water on stone

More crooks'r'us insight:

....Steve Soto adds this interesting bit on the Abramoff bodies being rapidly buried:

    What is also true is that DOJ has run the Abramoff case not from a regional office 
    under a United States Attorney, but rather from headquarters using a revolving door 
    of prosecutors and section chiefs, allowing one constant person to maintain control 
    of the case through this turnover: Criminal Division head Alice Fisher, who has already 
    been accused by Democrats of being an under experienced partisan hack…. ....

One has to wonder how much more of the presumed "workings" of the DoJ are targetted
by these investigations. There is just so much going on at once. Anyone got some IQ pills?

Pyramids only stand if the base remains intact, and the base is now pleading "IMMUNITY" pleeease.

[Disturbed]

7. One can only surmise that most cases need to be built

from the ground up. Isn't that the way most Criminal Cabal cases are put together? Bring in the minor players in order to build a case against the major Criminals? All of these folks commited crimes and they damn well know that their testimony, if they told the truth, would warrent criminal charges against them, hence pleading for Immuninty.

[mrdmk]

14. Has we have heard before, we want the big fish

This was from Rep. John Conyers, which sounds good. By the time these hearings and what not conclude, the statue of limitations will have ran out.

It also does not help having a corrupt DOJ. The Senate needs to evict Alberto Gonzales at once. None of this vote for, "no confidence" crap.

[L. Coyote]

19. Indeed. Special prosecutor time, at the very least, if not massive special inquiry

This is just so huge, it will require a great deal of effort to clean up after this crowd.

So, anyone know the legal "who was who" of the 2000 post-vote coup in Florida. Apparently Ralston's lawyer, et.al. How many had worked at the Supreme Court beforehand? Funny to see the same people crop up in the USA firings when "voter fraud" and "Florida caging" is involved, or NOT funny!

Another lawyer question. Was former RNC chair Gillespie, Tenet Healthcare lobbyist (prosecuted by Carol Lam) involved in getting Roberts into the Chief Justice spot?

Also, Sara Taylor's predecessor as Political Director moved to RNC chair, right? What's his scoop?

Lots of dots to connect.

[L. Coyote]

8. Former Rove Aide Testifies to Committee but Refuses to Answer Questions

Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Administration Oversight
Former Rove Aide Testifies to Committee but Refuses to Answer Questions Related to Abramoff Contacts with the White House
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1329


At a deposition earlier this month, Susan Ralston, the former executive assistant to Karl Rove, responded to questions in a number of areas but would not answer questions about White House contacts with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and her lawyer said Ms. Ralston would assert her Fifth Amendment privilege if compelled to testify. In a memo, Chairman Waxman explains the Committee will seek testimony from Mr. Abramoff’s former lobbying associates and former and current Administration officials before considering Ms. Ralston’s request for immunity.

Documents and Links

* Chairman Waxman's Memo to Members of the Oversight Committee - http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070522145123.pdf

MEMORANDUM
N.Iay 22,2007
Members of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Chairman
Investigation of Jack Abramoffs Contacts with the White House
This memo provides a status report on the Committee's investigation of the lobbying

RELATED:

Committee Requests Deposition of Former White House Aide Susan Ralston - http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1235

Today the Committee sent a formal request to former White House aide Susan Ralston to appear for a deposition on April 5th. The deposition is part of the Committee’s investigation, begun last spring, into lobbying contacts between lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House.
Documents and Links

* Request for Deposition of Susan Ralston - http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070330114501-89529.pdf

Abramoff Ties to White House More Extensive Than Previously Known - http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1121

Following Mr. Abramoff's guilty plea in January, President Bush and other top White House officials issued repeated statements that Mr. Abramoff was a virtual stranger to the White House. The documents reviewed by the Committee tell a different story. They show that between January 2001 and March 2004, there were 485 lobbying contacts between Mr. Abramoff and his associates and White House officials.

Click here to learn more about the investigation and explore the documents cited in the report. - http://oversight.house.gov/abramoff/index.asp
Documents and Links

* The Abramoff Investigation Website - http://oversight.house.gov/abramoff/index.asp
relationship between former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates and the White House........

[L. Coyote]

53. Waxman denies Ralston immunity, for now. TOPICS: Abramoff and RNC E-mails

Waxman denies Ralston immunity, for now.
May 22, 2007
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/22/waxman-denies-ralston-immunity-for-now/

More details on former Rove aide Susan Ralston. Ralston’s lawyer says that if she is granted immunity from prosecution, “she would testify about Abramoff’s relationships with White House officials and ‘the use by White House officials of political e-mail accounts’ at the Republican National Committee.”

Ralston has “useful information about both of those subjects,” Berenson told the committee, and “she is more than willing to provide it to the committee” under “a grant of immunity,” the memo said.

But Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) is going to deny immunity for now. “‘Providing immunity to a witness is a significant step with legal consequences for potential prosecutions.’ Before deciding on Ralston’s request, he said, the committee ’should seek to obtain information about the relationship between Mr. Abramoff and the White House from other sources.’”

[L. Coyote]

9. A New Specter of Criminality? Jack Abramoff and his associates and White House officials

What Monica Doesn't Know
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, May 23, 2007; 1:04 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/05/23/BL2007052300893_pf.html

.............. A New Specter of Criminality?

Scot J. Paltrow writes in the Wall Street Journal: ... "It is the first indication that Abramoff-related probes, mainly limited until now to his dealings with lawmakers and federal agency officials, may be advancing into the White House. The former Rove aide, Susan Ralston, previously had served as a top aide to Mr. Abramoff."

Waxman's memo is worth a read.... "In September 2006, Chairman Davis and Ranking Member Waxman released a staff report summarizing what the Committee had learned from a review of billing records and e-mails provided to the Committee by Mr. Abramoff's former lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig. According to these billing records and e-mails, Mr. Abramoff and his associates had 485 lobbying contacts with White House officials between January 2001 and March 2004. ......"

..... The e-mails and billing records described some instances in which White House officials took actions sought by Mr. Abramoff ....

The Waxman memo quotes Ralston's attorney, former assistant White House counsel Brad Berenson ... "The subjects this morning that she will be unable to testify to on those grounds are the subjects of the relationship between Jack Abramoff and his associates and White House officials, including Ms. Ralston, and the subject of the use by White House officials of political e-mail accounts at the RNC." ... "She has material, useful information about both of those subjects. She is more than willing to provide it to the committee. However, she will, as we have previously discussed, require a grant of immunity before she is comfortable going forward." ...........

[blogslut]

11. Error: You've already recommended that thread.

:)

[Uncle Joe]

12. Kicked and recommended

Thanks for the thread L.Coyote.

[Kahuna]

13. If this baby doesn't deserve a K&R I don't know what does!!

:wow:



:popcorn:

[L. Coyote]

15. If only we could firmly plant our kicks where they are truly most deserved!

:kick:

[L. Coyote]

16. Susan B. Ralston and Israel Hernandez Testified in C.I.A. Leak Inquiry

2 Aides to Rove Testify in C.I.A. Leak Inquiry... before a federal grand jury investigating whether government officials illegally disclosed the identity of an undercover C.I.A. operative ... Susan B. Ralston and Israel Hernandez, were asked about grand jury testimony given on July 13 by Matthew Cooper, a reporter for Time magazine

Plamegate
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Susan_B._Ralston

Along with former Rove aide Israel Hernandez, Susan B. Ralston testified before a separate federal grand jury "about grand jury testimony given on July 13 by Matthew Cooper, a reporter for Time magazine," David Johnston reported in the August 3, 2005, Washington Post. "Cooper has said that he testified about a July 11, 2003, conversation with Mr. Rove" in which the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame "was discussed."

"The reason Ralston, 37, was asked to testify remains unclear, but it has heightened suspicions that the locus of the investigation still centers on Rove," Johnston wrote, although he did say that "At one point, the aides were asked why Mr. Cooper's call to Mr. Rove was not entered in Mr. Rove's office telephone logs. There was no record of the call, the person who has been briefed said, because Mr. Cooper did not call Mr. Rove directly, but was transferred to his office from a White House switchboard."

Salary

"According to a White House report to Congress, Ralston's salary was $67,600. ....
Alexis Simendinger reported on White House Staff salaries in the July 26, 2005, National Journal. At that time, Ralston was shown as "Ralston Susan B. $92,100. Special Assistant to the President & Assistant to the Senior Advisor." There is no accounting for an approximately 25% annual increase in reported salary. ..............

[L. Coyote]

37. Plame-Gate: Karl Christian Rove's Time in Limbo Near End in CIA Leak Case

Q Miss Ralston, Did Special Advisor to the President, Karl Christian Rove, leak the identity of Valerie Plame, or know about the leak, and when?
Q Miss Ralston, What do you know about Mr. Rove and any others as sources or participants of underhanded stunts to discredit and undermine Bush critics?

=================
Rove's Time in Limbo Near End in CIA Leak Case
By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 8, 2006; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/07/AR2006050700717.html

Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald is wrapping up his investigation into White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove's role in the CIA leak case by weighing this central question:

Did Rove, who was deeply involved in defending President Bush's use of prewar intelligence about Iraq, lie about a key conversation with a reporter that was aimed at rebutting a tough White House critic?

[L. Coyote]

17. Ralston's attorney: Bradford Berenson, associate counsel under Gonzales at White House

What does your attorney say about you?

====================
Bradford A. Berenson is one of the original eight associate counsels during Alberto Gonzales's tenure as White House counsel.

Bradford Berenson Returns to Sidley Austin Brown & Wood After Two Years as Associate Counsel to the President
http://www.sidley.com/news/pub.asp?PubID=17153282003

Represented Executive on Issues from Homeland Security to the USA Patriot Act

.... associate White House counsel under President George W. Bush, ... appointed by the president in January 2001 ... Berenson’s responsibilities included work on judicial selection, executive privilege, and responses to congressional oversight efforts. .... He worked on the USA Patriot Act, the military order authorizing the use of military commissions, detainee policy and anti-terrorism litigation, presidential action against terrorist financing, and the restructuring of the federal government to create a new Department of Homeland Security.

Mr. Berenson ... previously worked on the defense of complex white collar criminal matters... defended criminal cases at every stage of development, from corporate internal investigations and grand jury proceedings through trials, sentencings, and appeals, in areas as diverse as government contracts, environmental crime, health care, and public corruption ...

Berenson ... clerked for... Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court.

[L. Coyote]

18. Bradford A. Berenson, Ralston's USA firings lawyer, defends Bush spying.

Bradford A. Berenson, Ralston's USA firings lawyer, defends Bush spying.
Ralston and Sampson lawyer, former SCOTUS clerk involved in the Florida recount, and Bush deputy counsel, defends NSA spying.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=983282&mesg_id=997683

========================
'78 Law Sought to Close Spy Loophole
By David G. Savage
The Los Angeles Times
Saturday 17 December 2005
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/121705A.shtml

"I wasn't aware of this when I was at the White House, but there was a tremendous sense of urgency to take whatever steps were necessary to detect and disrupt any cells that were out there," said Bradford A. Berenson, a White House lawyer during Bush's first term. "The president was not going to let it be said that he had not used all the powers at his disposal to protect the American people."

This would not be the first time Bush has claimed that his power as commander in chief can override the law. .......

William C. Banks, a widely respected authority on national security law at Syracuse University, said the NSA revelation came as a shock, even given the administration's past assertions of presidential powers. "I was frankly astonished by the story," he said. "My head is spinning."... the president's power as commander in chief "is really limited to situations involving military force - anything needed to repel an attack. I don't think the commander in chief power allows" the warrantless eavesdropping, he said.

Mr. Berenson, the former White House associate counsel, said that in rare cases, the presidents' advisers may decide that an existing law violates the Constitution "by invading the president's executive powers as commander in chief." ........

[Me.]

28. After Reading Your Op

My first thought was isn't her attorney dicey too? And here is the info. Is it to be suspected that he would allow his client to spill the beans, be as much of a covert as he is?

[L. Coyote]

31. You have that 100% on "targets." He is anything except "outside counsel."

What we are seeing is circled wagons, and the whole herd is from the original Bush corral,
including Abramoff, Norquist, et.al. They can't just change or hide their GWB brands now.

The attorneys representing the "cute, young hires" are the White House "good, old boy" lawyers
who worked under Gonzales when Gonzolies was Chief Counsel to the President of the United States.

The Big Picture is really simple, no wonder all the distractions, like "the surge" to distract US.

[Me.]

40. Spelling Errors Didn't Prevent You From Catching My Meaning

If I was a offering Ralston immunity, I'd make damned sure I wasn't being offered a pig in a poke.

[L. Coyote]

43. Leahy, Conyers, and Sanchez know precisely who these attorneys really represent.

And doubtless, they know how difficult it is to throw lying pigs in the pokey!

What we need is one good squeeealer. I grew up on a farm, and I know what makes pigs squeal loudest!!

[Me.]

62. Sorry To Go Off Topic

But what would that be?

edited to add: And can it be adapted?

[L. Coyote]

63. Is there a conflict of interest? This is a first question attorneys and firms must ask

before they can take a case.

What we are seeing in the hearings is an attorney that was counsel to Bush representing someone seeking immunity to discuss the inner workings of the Executive. If the actions of the Executive, and potentially the attorney counseling the President, are in question in the matter, isn't there a potential conflict of interest. Not if the attorney is representing the "gang" instead of the client, I guess. That's the gist of the question/point.

[Me.]

64. No

What makes pigs squeal?

[L. Coyote]

20. Email-Gate FACTS: Felons, georgewbush.com, gwb43.com , et. al.

April Compilation Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x523978

[L. Coyote]

23. Can Justice Be Trusted? How can Gonzales be Trusted when Gonzales is a Target?

Were George W. Bush, Alberto Gonzales, Bradford Berenson, Karl Rove, and/or Susan Ralston involved in quashing investigation of fellow Bush team member, Jack Abramoff?

Published on Saturday, February 4, 2006 by The Nation
Can Justice Be Trusted?
by Ari Berman
http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20060220&s=berman

Now that Jack Abramoff's dealings with members of Congress have drawn criminal indictments, the disgraced lobbyist's ties to the Bush Administration are starting to get attention........... Little notice has been paid, however, to the Justice Department, charged with prosecuting Abramoff. Evidence has emerged that the department played an active role in shutting down an investigation of Abramoff's dubious lobbying activities in Guam in November 2002. The story raises questions about whether Justice can be trusted with this historic investigation--and whether top White House officials actively abetted Abramoff's shady dealings as early as 2001. ....

......At the time Abramoff, a former member of George W. Bush's transition team, was a $750-an-hour lobbyist with access to the highest levels of the Republican Party........"Abramoff claimed he had a top political guy at DOJ he could go to ..." says a source

...strategy was "... to get Republicans to go to DOJ and the White House and say, Why have you not replaced that Democrat who's been acting US Attorney?"

Black contacted the Public Integrity Section, the unit currently heading the department's Abramoff task force,...Justice forwarded the information to the Deputy Attorney General's office and the Office of Legal Policy (OLP)...

Sources close to the probe say the information was likely passed on to then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, who worked closely with Justice on such matters. "Those heads of OLP who are pretty well connected deal directly with the White House counsel," says Lee Casey, a former OLP aide under Reagan and Bush I. (Black declined to comment and Justice spokesman Bryan Sierra refused to provide details about an "ongoing criminal investigation.")

...In an e-mail dated October 1, 2001, Abramoff told ... Ashcroft's chief of staff, David Ayres, whom he hosted at a Washington Redskins Abramoff mentioned an upcoming meeting with Ashcroft and another meeting, at a pickup basketball game, between the Attorney General and an Ashcroft aide who'd become an Abramoff staffer. "We'll hope that higher ups will take some time to squash this on their own," Abramoff wrote. Sure enough, the report never came out and Justice demoted its author, regional security specialist Robert Meissner.....

Black convened a grand jury, which subpoenaed the Abramoff contract ... The next day the Bush Administration announced that Black would be replaced as US Attorney and demoted him to Assistant US Attorney, after twelve years on the job. ... "Fred was removed because he asked to indict Abramoff," says one of Black's colleagues at Justice ...

.....At the time of Black's demotion, former Abramoff aide Susan Ralston was working as a top assistant to Rove ......Black's investigation into Abramoff's activities was forceably halted. Reportedly, the FBI and the DOJ Inspector General have begun looking into Black's demotion. ...

More broadly, how can Justice be trusted to investigate a matter in which it is so deeply implicated? ....Bush nominated ... Public Integrity Section head, Noel Hillman, to a federal judgeship in New Jersey and named a temporary replacement mid-investigation. Justice can prosecute the case without any political pressure "as long as the targets are members of Congress," says former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder. "If, however, you start to develop ties between Congress, Abramoff and people in the White House, it becomes problematic, especially from an appearance perspective. Because of the Deputy Attorney General's and the Attorney General's ties to the President, the need for an outside counsel becomes greater."

Otherwise, how can the public be sure that the President's man, Alberto Gonzales, will conduct an honest, thorough investigation of Abramoff when the targets might include his top deputies, his former White House colleagues, his predecessor, his boss--indeed, himself?

[L. Coyote]

24. A Real Quiver Full of Abramoff Links here: INDIANZ.COM

Abramoff also boasted of ties to John Ashcroft
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/010474.asp

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff boasted of his ties to former U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft, The New York Times reports.

Abramoff's claims are now part of an investigation into the Bush administration's demotion of a federal prosecutor. .........

[donkeyotay]

26. Kicked. Recommended. Bookmarked.

:thumbsup: :applause: :patriot:

[williesgirl]

27. k&r but make her define "useful".

[L. Coyote]

29. Bush 'Team Member' Abramoff & Grover Norquist: 'Field Marshal' of the Bush Plan

Grover Norquist: 'Field Marshal' of the Bush Plan
by Robert Dreyfuss - http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010514/dreyfuss

It's early April, tax time, and Grover Norquist is moving into high gear. The President's $1.6 trillion tax cut package is working its way through Congress, and Norquist--president of Americans for Tax Reform and arguably Washington's leading right-wing strategist--is rushing from meetings on Capitol Hill to strategy sessions with antitax activists. ......

.... while firmly planted on the extreme end of the political spectrum, Norquist has also built a solid working alliance with the Fortune 500 corporate elite and its K Street lobbyists. "What he's managed to do is to chain the ideological conservatives together with the business guys, who have money, and to put that money to work in the service of the conservative movement," says Roger Hickey of the Campaign for America's Future,...

Norquist gained notoriety as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's right hand in the mid-1990s--helping to design the 1994 Contract With America .... in 1986 Norquist was tapped by President Reagan's White House to run an ad hoc group called Americans for Tax Reform .....

Norquist ...( visited) war zones ... Pakistan-Afghanistan... southern Africa. Working alongside Col. Oliver North's freelance support network for the Nicaraguan contras and other Reagan Doctrine-allied insurgencies ...

... big chunk of ATR's funding in 1999 came from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians ($360,000) ....

... at one point he was on a $10,000-a-month retainer for Microsoft ...

Norquist('s).. "K Street Project," aimed at ferreting out Democrats ...replacing them with litmus-test Republicans. "Democrats in Congress retire to universities," he says. "K Street is where Republicans go to retire."

==================
Grover Norquist
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Grover_Norquist

Abramoff ties—money laundering allegations

The Associated Press published a story on June 22, 2006, which described Americans for Tax Reform as being used as an obfuscating conduit to Ralph Reed's receiving over one million dollars from a Jack Abramoff client, The Mississippi Choctaws, to keep other casinos from opening as competitors.

Reed, who founded the Christian Coalition, would not have been able to transparently receive these funds directly from the Choctaw without alineating his religious base. ....

=================
Grover Explains It All
By Paul Kiel - June 26, 2006
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000997.php

Ouch. As we've noted many times here, GOP uber-operative Grover Norquist used his nonprofit Americans for Tax Reform to wash money for Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed. Reed didn't want it known, remember, that he's "kind of like hypocritical." The story is memorably told by Abramoff's emails and various players' testimony to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

But not so fast, says Grover. He can explain why large amounts of casino money flowed into his organization and then flowed out to Christian groups. He was going to work for the casino, but then decided not to.

The Choctaw tribe of Mississippi donated $1.225 million to ATR, which then paid $1.15 million out (there were $75,000 in "management fees"). Why? ATR had just been indecisive.

Norquist said in The Post interview that the Choctaw tribe originally wanted ATR to direct the anti-lottery campaign, but his organization decided that it would be better to assist Christian groups already fighting the lottery.

"When we looked at it, we said they have an actual ongoing effort, we don't need to run it and just contribute there,

[L. Coyote]

30. David H. Safavian, White House Official, Arrested in Abramoff Corruption Probe

Bush Official Arrested in Corruption Probe
By R. Jeffrey Smith and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 20, 2005; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091901859.html


The Bush administration's top federal procurement official resigned Friday and was arrested yesterday, accused of lying and obstructing a criminal investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff ... the first criminal complaint filed against a government official in the ongoing corruption probe related to Abramoff ...

Safavian, 38, a White House procurement official involved until last week in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, made repeated false statements to government officials and investigators about a golf trip with Abramoff to Scotland in 2002.

Until his resignation on the day the criminal complaint against him was signed, Safavian was the top administrator at the federal procurement office in the White House Office of Management and Budget, where he set purchasing policy for the entire government.

Accompanying Safavian and Abramoff on the 2002 trip to Scotland ... Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Administration Committee, lobbyist and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and Neil Volz, a lobbyist with Abramoff at the Washington office of Greenburg Traurig.

Like Abramoff, Safavian is a veteran Washington player. He is a former lobbying partner of anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and previously worked with Abramoff at another firm.

=================================
David Safavian - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Safavian

........a former chief of staff of the United States General Services Administration (GSA) and convicted criminal ......from Detroit, Michigan
.... In Michigan, he served as an aide to Congressmen Robert William Davis (R-MI) and Bill Schuette (R-MI)...

... a longtime friend of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In the mid-1990s, the two worked at the Washington-based lobbying firm of Preston Gates & Ellis. There they brought in millions to the firm while working on the Mississippi Choctaw tribal account. ...

In 1997, Safavian and Grover Norquist founded a lobbying firm, the Merritt Group, which was renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies (and is sometimes referred to as "Janus Merritt" or simply "Janus"). The tenor of the firm was fiercely ideological. .........

On November 4th, 2003, President George W. Bush announced Safavian's nomination to be the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President.<5>, where he set purchasing policy for the entire government.

On June 20, 2006, Safavian was found guilty by a jury in federal court on four of five felony charges.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

32. It's difficult,...trying to get excited about testimony by another,....

,...member of the professional pathological lying club.

BUT, I'll be watching.

[L. Coyote]

34. We need a better background understanding of all the "targets" just to watch

And continuing research into the Big Picture should provide, I hope, new light to rewatch the past hearings, esp. to deconstruct the parse-lies of Gonzales' appearances. Also, fuller understanding of the context will add to insights about the Dem questioners knowledge and the Rs complicity in their ongoing cover-up.

These guys are all playing strip poker in a smoke-filled room, keeping cards close,
and the stakes for us could not be higher, because Lady Liberty is at the table!

[L. Coyote]

33. U.S. Family Network: Hypocritical Corrupt Conduit for Bribes "created to promote ... moral fitness"

The Muckraker's Reference Section
U.S. Family Network
http://tpmmuckraker.com/usfn.php

U.S. Family Network (USFN) served as a conduit for funds from special interests to DeLay projects.

Founded as a non profit in 1996 by Edwin Buckham, the USFN claimed to be a conservative grassroots lobbying organization created to promote "economic growth and prosperity, social improvement, moral fitness, and the general well-being of the United States." But its donor list suggests otherwise. Nearly the entire organization was funded by a few corporate and special interests that had no incentive to promote the USFN's purported goals. Most were also clients of Jack Abramoff. ....

USFN funneled money to DeLay via Alexander Strategy Group (ASG).

USFN was sending hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to ASG. The money was coming from Abramoff clients, allegedly in exchange for help from DeLay in Congress. ASG hired DeLay's wife, Christine, for $3,200/month. ....

USFN received illegal donations from the NRCC.

In April 2004, the FEC found that the NRCC (National Republican Campaign Committee) had illegally transferred $500K to the USFN back in 1999. The money was then transferred to Americans for Economic Growth, which ran a series of ads accusing Democrats of planning to raid the Social Security trust fund. ....

[L. Coyote]

36. Federal investigators have issued a subpoena for "The whole gang!"

Feds Subpoena U.S. Family Network
Nancy Watzman 02/14/2006
http://www.campaignmoney.org/blog/2006/02/14/feds-subpoena-u-s-family-network


U.S. Family Network .... operation run by by Ed Buckham, formally Tom DeLay's chief of staff ...
... federal investigators have issued a subpoena for documents relating to the group ...

... the $15,600 that the group paid to Liberty Consulting in 1999. That firm was run by the wife of Tony Rudy, who was DeLay's deputy chief of staff before he became a lobbyist at Abramoff's firm. Rudy is one of the two former Hill staffers mentioned in Abramoff's plea agreement who offered legislative help after receiving gifts and other favors. ....

The subpoena asks for U.S. Family Network documents relating to Abramoff; Tony and Lisa Rudy; DeLay and his wife, Christine; Buckham and his wife, Wendy; and several dozen other individuals and groups that have been linked to Abramoff by investigators and news reports. Others mentioned in the subpoena include Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist, two of Abramoff's longtime friends ....The whole gang!

... U.S. Family Network is also the same group that received $1 million reported to come from Russian energy executives to influence DeLay's vote ...

======================
LOBBYING & LAW
Investigators Issue New Subpoena In Abramoff Case
By Peter H. Stone, National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Monday, Feb. 13, 2006
http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2006/0213nj1.htm

....The Washington Post reported late last year that most of the network's $2.5 million in funding over a five-year period came from Abramoff clients. For instance, the Mississippi Band of Choctaws and a small group of textile executives from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands together donated a total of $750,000 to the U.S. Family Network in the late 1990s. ...... DeLay signed at least one fundraising letter for the network in 1999 in which he referred to it as "a powerful nationwide organization dedicated to restoring our government to citizen control." .........

[L. Coyote]

38. Hopping along the Money Trail, The DeLay-Abramoff Money Trail

The DeLay-Abramoff Money Trail
Nonprofit Group Linked to Lawmaker Was Funded Mostly by Clients of Lobbyist
By R. Jeffrey Smith - Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 31, 2005; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/30/AR2005123001480.html


The U.S. Family Network, a public advocacy group that operated in the 1990s with close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and claimed to be a nationwide grass-roots organization, was funded almost entirely by corporations linked to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to tax records and former associates of the group.

During its five-year existence, the U.S. Family Network raised $2.5 million but kept its donor list secret. The list, obtained by The Washington Post, shows that $1 million of its revenue came in a single 1998 check from a now-defunct London law firm whose former partners would not identify the money's origins.

.........The former president of the U.S. Family Network said Buckham told him that Russians contributed $1 million to the group in 1998 specifically to influence DeLay's vote on legislation the International Monetary Fund needed to finance a bailout of the collapsing Russian economy. .....

.....half a million dollars was donated to the U.S. Family Network by the owners of textile companies in the Mariana Islands in the Pacific, according to the tax records. The textile owners -- with Abramoff's help -- solicited and received DeLay's public commitment to block legislation that would boost their labor costs, according to Abramoff associates, one of the owners and a DeLay speech in 1997. ......

........Although established as a nonprofit organization, it paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees to Buckham and his lobbying firm, Alexander Strategy Group. ............

.......LONG TRAIL w/ LOTS OF MONEY .........

[L. Coyote]

41. Vote Cager, Tim Griffin, resigns, Bush's interim AR USA appointed using Patriot Act.

One aspect of the White House and USA firings controversy is closing a chapter. Former Rove political aide resigns from AR USA office.

======================
Rove-Protege Tim Griffin Resigns As U.S. Attorney
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/30/griffin-resigns/

The Arkansas Times reports that the controversial U.S. attorney in Arkansas, Tim Griffin, has resigned:

The U.S. Justice Department has notified Arkansas’s congressional delegation that Interim Eastern District U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin is resigning effective Friday, June 1.

Griffin, a former protege of Karl Rove, was formerly research director of the Republican National Committee. In 2004, BBC News published a report showing that Griffin led a “caging” scheme to suppress the votes of African-American servicemembers in Florida.

Griffin became the poster boy for the politicization of the U.S. attorney process. Former Justice official Kyle Sampson noted that getting Griffin into office “was important to Harriet , Karl, et cetera.” The traditional 120-day term for “interim” U.S. attorneys had expired for Griffin on April 20, yet the Justice Department continued to allow him to serve. ............

======================
Arkansas Senator happy to see top Rove aide end term as US Attorney
Michael Roston
Published: Wednesday May 30, 2007
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Arkansas_Senator_happy_to_see_top_0530.html

Reflecting on news that a controversial player in the firing of one US Attorney could soon join the Presidential campaign of Republican Fred Thompson, an Arkansas Senator said he was happy to see the interim US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas depart from his current office.

"His departure from the US Attorney Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas is a positive development and the Senator is looking forward to having credible leadership restored there," said Michael Teague, spokesman for Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR), of reports that interim US Attorney Tim Griffin had been approached to join Thompson's campaign. ..............

Griffin worked as counsel on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during the Clinton administration, as his boss, Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), issued over a thousand subpoenas to Clinton administration officials. Later, he became a top opposition researcher for the Republican National Committee, and worked in the White House for Karl Rove. In a recent congressional hearing, former Justice Department aide Monica Goodling acknowledged there were concerns about his work in the area of 'caging' votes in the 2004 presidential election, which some critics contend is a form of voter suppression.

The ex-Rove aide, who also served as a Judge Advocate General in the US Army in Iraq, replaced previous US Attorney H.E. 'Bud' Cummins after the Justice Department used authority stealthily inserted into the USA PATRIOT Act that allowed the executive branch to indefinitely appoint interim US Attorneys.

[L. Coyote]

42. Monica Goodling, Former Justice official, says Congress was misled about Griffin

Former Justice official says Congress misled about Griffin
Thursday, May 24, 2007
By Aaron Sadler
Stephens Washington Bureau
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2007/05/24/WashingtonDCBureau/342141.html


WASHINGTON - A former Justice Department official testified Wednesday that the No. 2 man at the department misled a Senate panel ....

Monica Goodling told the House Judiciary Committee that Paul McNulty, the former deputy attorney general, was aware of White House involvement to appoint Griffin as interim U.S. attorney in Little Rock. ...

"I believe that the deputy ... failed to disclose that he had some knowledge of the White House's interest in selecting Tim Griffin as the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas," Goodling said.

In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in February, McNulty said he did not know the reason behind Griffin's appointment. Goodling said McNulty had known about the plan for months.

McNulty has denied misleading Congress. .........

Pryor spokesman Michael Teague said the e-mail illustrates why Griffin shouldn't be U.S. attorney.

"Everything's political to him," Teague said. "He e-mails Karl Rove and he's bragging about how he took a swipe at Pryor. This e-mail was sent to the entire White House team right at the time everybody was saying, 'Oooh, Karl Rove's got nothing to do with this.'" ..........

======================
I FIND THIS MOST INTERESTING:

"Goodling is a friend of Griffin. Both were opposition researchers for the Republican National Committee during the 2004 election and Goodling said in an e-mail made public Wednesday that "Tim and I speak daily." "

Griffin's "opposition research" is alleged to include caging voters in Florida, an effort directed at election rigging. How much does Monica Goodling know about this?

[L. Coyote]

44. Sara Taylor, Bush-Cheney 2004 Deputy to the Chief Strategist = Matthew Dowd

The Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign staff was largely on leave from the Bush White House.
As a strategist, Taylor was very much an insider on "campaign strategic operations," such as the the caging lists used to deny Black soldiers in Iraq their civil right to cast a vote. Also, note below the case of Bush's New England campaign chairman James Tobin, convicted of telephone harassment and accused of conspiring to violate voters' rights.

Imagine all the "useful information" the Deputy to the Chief Strategist of Bush-Cheney 2004 must have for the committees!
What do you suppose the odds-makers are offering that this is the sort of info Taylor's attorney, Bradford Berenson (the former Associate Counsel to President Bush under Gonzales at the White House), will have her offer up for immunity? Zippy knows! Like Zip.

=======
George W. Bush-Campaign Organization
http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/bush/bushorg.html

Marc Racicot = Chairman, was chairman of the Republican National Committee
Ken Mehlman = Campaign Manager, was director of political affairs at the White House
Kelley McCullough = Deputy Manager for Campaign Operations, was associate director of political affairs at the White House
Coddy Johnson = Field Director, was associate director of political affairs at the White House

Matthew Dowd = Senior Strategist, was President and founding partner of Public Strategies Inc., Austin, Texas. (NOW Monica Goodling's attorney)
Sara Taylor = Deputy to the Chief Strategist, was White House associate political director.

=======================
James Tobin
From SourceWatch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=James_Tobin

James Tobin, of Bangor, Maine, President George W. Bush's New England campaign chairman, was convicted December 15, 2005, on telephone harassment charges "for his part in a plot to jam the Democrats' phones on Election Day 2002." Tobin was acquitted by the federal jury on "the most serious charge against him, of conspiring to violate voters' rights." <1>

Tobin was sentenced May 17, 2006, "to 10 months in prison (minimum security recommended); 2 years probation, and a $10,000 fine.......

As New England campaign chairman for Bush-Cheney '04 Inc., Tobin stepped down two weeks before the election when state Democrats accused him of involvement in a phone-jamming scheme on Election Day 2002. Tobin was later indicted for conspiracy.

Tobin ... is an employee of the Washington, D.C.-based, DCI Group and also has his own consulting firm, Tobin & Co...

....2004 election cycle (Tobin) was a Bush Ranger, raising at least $200,000 for the Bush 2004 reelection effort. <3>

[L. Coyote]

45. Ralph Reed, Southeast Regional Chairperson (LA, MS, AL, GA, FL)

Q Miss Ralston, Was Ralph Reed involved in Florida voter caging or any other election irregularities?
Q Miss Ralston, Why did your boss Mr. Rove arrange for Enron to pay large sums of money to Mr. Reed?
Q Miss Ralston, Are you aware of any criminal conduct by your former employer Mr. Abramoff involving Mr. Reed?
Q Miss Ralston, Are you aware of any criminal conduct by Mr. Bush or White House personnel involving Mr. Reed?

======================
Executive director of the Christian Coalition, 1989-97, Ralph Reed was Bush-Cheney 2004 Southeast Regional Chairperson (LA, MS, AL, GA, FL)
Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party from 2001-2002, assisted campaign of U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, worked on seven Republican presidential campaigns, consultant and senior advisor to the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign.

Ralph E. Reed, Jr.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ralph_Reed

Reed is Founder and president of Century Strategies. Century Strategies received $250,000 from Capitol Campaign Strategies, one of Michael Scanlon's companies. Another Reed company, Capitol Media, is said to have sent an invoice to Jack Abramoff for $100,000 for "Louisiana Project Mgmt Fee."

In January 2002, it was revealed that "Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, recommended the Republican strategist Ralph Reed to the Enron Corporation for a lucrative consulting contract as Mr. Bush was weighing whether to run for president ..."

Rove associates said "the recommendation, which Enron accepted, was intended to keep Mr. Reed's allegiance to the Bush campaign without putting him on the Bush payroll. Mr. Bush, they say, was then developing his compassionate conservativism message and did not want to be linked too closely to Mr. Reed, who had just stepped down as executive director of the Christian Coalition, an organization of committed religious conservatives."

At the same time, they said, "the contract discouraged Mr. Reed, a prominent operative who was being courted by several other campaigns, from backing anyone other than Mr. Bush."

Reed was paid "$10,000 to $20,000 a month, the amount varying by year and the particular work, people familiar with the arrangement . He was hired in September 1997 and worked intermittently for Enron until the company collapsed." <4>

=================================
Gaming-Related Legislation: eLottery Inc. and the DeLay, Abramoff, Reed Connection
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Gaming-Related_Legislation:_eLottery_Inc._and_the_DeLay%2C_Abramoff%2C_Reed_Connection

The saga of the defeat of gaming-related legislation in 2000 and the connection with eLottery Inc., former House Majority Leader Thomas D. DeLay (R-Texas), lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and Ralph E. Reed, Jr., a Republican candidate for Georgia Lieutenant Governor and founder of the Christian Coalition, was first reported in March 2005 and has re-emerged in October 2005, as a result of on-going investigations and recent indictments of both DeLay and Abramoff. ...........

In August 2004, Reed, then Southeast regional chairman of the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign and former executive director of the Christian Coalition, confirmed "that he accepted more than $1 million in fees" from lobbyist Jack Abramoff and public relations executive Michael Scanlon "whose work on behalf of American Indian casinos prompted a federal investigation."

Meanwhile, Reed was "liaison to the Christian evangelical community, and many of its leaders are adamantly opposed to gambling. Reed has been widely credited with leading the political mobilization of the Christian right since the late 1980s." <6>

"For a sweet fee of $4 million, Mr. Reed concocted 'grass-roots anti-gambling' groups that Mr. Abramoff then deployed to stifle the tribal competitors of his clients." <7>

"For a skillful hypocrite like Mr. Reed, it was simple enough to 'get our pastors riled up' against yet another sinful establishment -- as he boasted in an e-mail to Mr. Abramoff -- because they understood gambling's destructive effects on families. At one point, he even persuaded James Dobson, probably the most powerful evangelical leader in the country, to organize opposition to a proposed casino in Texas. ......

======================
Texans for Public Justice.
http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/ContributorsAndPaybacks/pioneer_profile.cfm?pioneer_ID=13

Reed was an early advisor to Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign, with his firm billing the campaign more than $141,000. His firm issued an apology in early 2000 after the New York Times reported that Microsoft (see John Connors and John Kelly), which was fighting a federal anti-trust lawsuit, quietly hired Century to recruit Bush loyalists to send him letters supporting Microsoft. The Times reported in 2002 that Bush strategist and Enron stockholder Karl Rove recommended Reed’s lobby services to Enron (see Ken Lay) in 1997, when then-Governor Bush was considering a presidential run. Enron paid Reed’s firm $300,000 before it collapsed. The Federal Election Commission later rejected a complaint by the conservative Judicial Watch that alleged that these Enron payments served as a stealth conduit for the Bush campaign to buy Reed’s backing.

[L. Coyote]

47. Ooophs Errata Error: It is JOHN M. DOWD, Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

JOHN M. DOWD, Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Washington, D.C.
Practice Areas: Litigation
White Collar Criminal Defense
Corporate Governance
http://www.akingump.com/attorney.cfm?attorney_id=58

John M. Dowd heads the firm's criminal litigation group. Mr. Dowd has prosecuted and defended significant criminal matters at trial and in parallel proceedings before Congress and regulatory agencies for more than 30 years. His practice focuses on the trial of complex civil and criminal cases.

Mr. Dowd is noted for his representation of a U.S. district judge, a former U.S. attorney and two U.S. senators. In addition, he represented a U.S. governor in a lengthy, high-profile criminal trial involving 23 counts charging false statements, wire fraud and attempted extortion.

Mr. Dowd has represented a U.S. senator before the Department of Justice and the Senate Ethics Committee; a U.S. Army colonel in the Iran Contra Hearings; a U.S. senator before the Senate Ethics Committee; and a U.S. governor in litigation with the Resolution Trust Corporation and in a fact-finding hearing before the House Subcommittee on General Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, which inquired into the failure of the savings and loan industry. .....

[Supersedeas]

57. It is not hard to imagine this, "I don't recall...I can't remember...I can't say with certainty."

[L. Coyote]

60. While the Rs ask canned questions with very practiced answers to smoke screen

a la Monica Goodling. While she did 'pay out' for her immunity calling Gonzolies and McNulty liars, she also was in consort with the R questioners and an air of complicity was obvious. What was most interesting is what direction they wanted us to look in, i.e. to the coyotes instead of to Medicare Fraud. Watch the unseen hand at these magic shows.

[Blackhatjack]

48. If you were putting together a jigsaw puzzle with a picture you had never seen....

You would put together pieces in bunches BEFORE you connect them to show the complete picture. Sometimes a critical piece here and there brings the entire picture into clear focus.

Waxman, Conyers and Leahy have lots of critical pieces to this 'jigsaw puzzle of corruption' indicating that corrupt events are interrelated. However, in many cases the 'bunches of pieces'(evidence) are being secreted and withheld by the Administration and the White House.

That is where Sara Taylor and Monica Goodling come in. What they testify to publicly may be significant, but what they tell the Committee Chairs 'privately' may be more important. THey know what the 'bunches of pieces' are which prove suspected corruption, and they know where they are located. This is critical information for properly issuing a subpoena for documents and individuals to get to the missing information.

Sara Taylor may turn out to be 'a much bigger fish' than Monica Goodling, given her position inside the White House.

Timing is everything in a corruption conspiracy investigation. Expect the Committee to be tight-lipped as to what Taylor and Goodling have told them. It is necessary to be methodical in climbing the corruption tree, building your case against the principals at the top.

I believe Taylor will get the immunity she seeks if her proffer gives the Committee what they expect her to produce. If she tries to short-change the Committee, she will be in a world of hurt.

This will be an interesting individual to follow.

Ralston is ingrained so heavily in Abramoff/Rove wrongdoing, her attorney will have a difficult time extracting her from an active prison sentence in negotiating a plea arrangement for her. Once she accepts the fact that she is going to prison for some period of time, I predict she will cooperate for a more lenient sentence.

IMHO Ralston is the only person who can bring Karl Rove to the bar of justice. And that fact is not lost on Rove's part. If and when it becomes apparent that Ralston is cooperating, Rove will exit the White House and Bush/Cheney/Gonzo will be left operating alone in a hurricane.

I think Ralston will cut a deal but it won't be revealed for some time.

[L. Coyote]

50. What to title this Mother-of-All Jig-Saw Puzzles? The Culture of Corruption!

I'm only beginning to get a focus after a month of rather solid reseach
and news/blog hounding online. And, the puzzle path has been circuitous.

4/21: NIXON had one "GATE" and BUSH has ... Let's count the many GATES today.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x722465

What is the real problem with the Department of Justice? Simple enough.
If George W. Bush had a huge legal problem and expected that problem to
surface, control of the Department of Justice would be very critical.
So, he moves his own lawyer over to DoJ as the new Attorney General.

4/20: NIXON'S (and Bush's?) Presidential Death Knell = "attempting to stop the wheels of justice"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x715123

First, the DoJ issue seemed to have a "voter fraud" spin. Digging deeper
connected several puzzle areas. Carol Lam had zero, zip, nada to do with
voter fraud. In her case, another excuse had been spun out to confuse the
puzzlers, the coyote issue, initially called illegal immigration. Rs in
the Goodling hearing was the first usage of "coyote" I noted. Rep. Issa
was the one who leaked false info on Carol Lam before the Cunningham case
saw the light of public press. This timeline needs more review. But,
the digging deeper led to Medicare fraud when the Missouri firing came out.

5/06: Missouri attorney a focus in USA firings = Bradley Schlozman
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x832164

And there was a ton of spin in the "voter fraud" direction that did not
fit very well. Yes, there was an actual case of four individuals being
charged. It was such a stretch to think that this was going to alter
the result of the Presidential election; compared to the Ohio purges,
long lines, vote-switching, recount fraud, and long list of shenanigans,
the "firing" of the Missouri USA attribution to voter fraud seemed spin-ish.

2/06: Cuyahoga Co. Elections Director Resigns (OH)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2719564

And, there were some really big fish and big $$$$$$$ in the Missouri corruption pond.
In fact, the public corruption fishing hole everywhere seemed to be the biggest pond.

5/05: Eleven Members of Congress Now Under Investigation, PLUS ten former members
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x831278

Governor Matt Blunt tried to prevent the USA's office from investigating his
family's scandals by putting the wife of USA Todd Graves on the Blunt Family payroll
to the tune of a cool half million dollars a year, and he used taxpayer dollars to do it.
It was reported that USA Todd Graves and his family will personally benefit from no-bid
state contracts valued at more than $3.6 million given by Missouri Governor Matt Blunt.

Slowly, the stonewall of deception is crumbling as more e-mails come to light.

3/28: Email-Gate FACTS: Felons, georgewbush.com, gwb43.com , et. al.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x523978

Another connection came to light in Missouri, the investigation of Medicare fraud.
In both Missouri and California, Tenet Healthcare was a target bilking billions.

5/09: US Attorney Firing: Voter Fraud, Medicare Fraud, WHICH IS IT ???
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x853813

Suddenly, instead of "four" activists being indicted just before an election, the number
had jumped "five" to "six" billion dollars in fraud agains hospitals and taxpayers.
Also suddenly, the number of USAs involved in the investigation jumped to "thirty."

5/13: 30 U.S. attorneys investigate BILKING BILLIONS, Medicare, Medicaid, Military’s Healthcare
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x877011

And other big number came into the puzzle and connected surprising pieces. Hundreds of
millions of dollars in lobbying spent by single entities, billions spent by sectors!!
Now we are really talking about some very big fish in the pond.

I'm reminded of fishing the Malquini. Big trout get caught in the canyon when the
river goes under ground for the dry season. The pools are large and deep, and you
can walk the Inca Trail above and see which pool has how many and what size of fish.
You go down and fish, but the big fish do see you, and they can swim to the next pool.

Likewise with this puzzle, because President Bush installed more than 100 top officials
who were once lobbyists, attorneys, or spokespeople for the industries they now oversee.
In the culture of corruption river, the big fish are moving from pool to pool, in and
out of the industries, Congress, K Street lobbying firms, the Executive, even Justice.
Former GOP chair gets $360,000 to lobby for Tenet HC, Carol Lam and other USAs and
prosecutors suing and investigating Tenet get fired, Jeb Bush goes to work at Tenet.

One has to constanly climb back up to the trails to look over the pools of corruption.
Who else is perched watching, yes--puzzlers in the new Democratic majority in Congress.
There's one real big fish in sight, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Bush WH Counsel.
And, as things seem to always go around this fishing hole, there is that matter of truth.

5/15: COHEN: Alberto Throws Paul Under Bus; Ditto James to Alberto
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x890032



There are some real big whoopers of contradiction being pulled from the pools, and that
can both aid and distract from fitting the pieces together. There are big flames on the
fire, fish are about to get cooked, and where there is fire there is smoke, spin and lies.
Just as the former deputy AG is telling Congress the biggest whoppers, umm.. spin and lies,
a major distraction happens, Jerry who could really spin out huge whoppers get slain to rest.

5/16: Yesterday was a GREAT DAY for Falwell TO DIE. Or, the Buffalo Jump to Hell.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x899312

5/17: Gonzolies (verb. nov.) English, May 17, 2007
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x907626

As the heat on the fire rises, the big fish are getting very worried, hoping for smoke,
smoke, and more smoke, to make the tasks more difficult for those still up on the bank.
And the whoopers around the fire are getting ever more difficult to discern from truth.
There are lot of distractions, it's a big puzzle, and discovering the truth isn't easy.

5/19: Campaign 2004: Were Bush / Cheney / NSA illegal wiretaps spying on Dems?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x925247

5/26: "It it Still a Crime to Lie to Congress." Gonzales Delivers Indictment, Charges BUSH with LYING.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x975882

Who are all these people collecting around the fire telling stories? Should we believe
the fish stories? The big one is over in that pool. Or is it. Too much smoke to know.

5/27: Next STOP Iran? More BUSH LIES and Surging Toward War With Iran
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x980363

5/27: DIA SPYING: NGIA collecting data, 133 U.S. cities, ID everyone, nationality, political affiliations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x983282

Hey, the guys on the bank have a strategy. Get someone from in the pools and ask them.
Just one problem. The fish in the pool do not want to be fried on the fire. Immunity!
Well, that did not work so well with the Iran-Contra bunch, some are still in the pool!

3/26: Are the Sandinista terrorists on the Texas border yet? Rhetoric to haunt Freeepers.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x503712#504746

There was disappointment about the testimony of Goodling even as she unraveled whoopers.
Said she was a small fry in the DoJ pool, and pointed to a bigger pool, the White House.

5/28: EXIT RIGHT. Sara Taylor, WH political director, Rove Aide RESIGNS? "subpoenas for her testimony"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x990202

And that brings us to this thread. By the way, did anyone believe my whooper on the day
I like to call, "The Big Whopper Day" for the day Bush told his big WMD lie to Congress.
Perhaps "State of the Union Address" day was not the best day to post the big new story.
Who cares if votes were switched in Ohio? We got plenty of fresh fish to fry! Right??

1/28: OHIO 2004: 6.15% Kerry-Bush vote-switch found in probability study
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x259620

Smoke is clearing from the small fish fry, on the bank they're looking at the pools anew.
It is time to descent to the stream again, to that really big pool with the biggest fish.

[Blackhatjack]

54. This post needs its own thread, I have it bookmarked...

You have obviously distilled swirling interrelated corruption down to its essence, with LINKS!

Good Job L. Coyote!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

51. kick. n/t

[slowry]

52. Stop handing out immunity like punch at a party.

Aren't there ways of investigating these criminals? Why do we have to sit on our duffs waiting for them to come forward and offer testimony, but only if they have immunity? And even then, they refuse to answer certain questions, answer only with "I dunno", or basically lie some more.

How about no immunity for anyone, and someone spends a couple weeks gathering evidence, ffs.

edit: and it's pathetic how the women are the ones "coming forward" and the press and committees just say "awwww poor thing -- she's just a sweet girl who made honest mistakes AWWWwwwwww <33333333333".

[L. Coyote]

55. Balancing prosecution vs. public testimony poses risk

Balancing prosecution vs. public testimony poses risk when US lawmakers grant immunity
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/24/america/NA-GEN-US-Congress-Immunity.php


......... The stakes are high. A congressional immunity deal can scuttle a criminal investigation, as it did for Join Poindexter and Oliver North, who had their convictions reversed in the 1980s Iran-Contra arms and money scandal after courts determined their cases were built too much on testimony they gave under a congressional immunity deal.

But the payoff can be huge.

Former White House Counsel John Dean's immunized testimony helped unravel the Watergate cover-up and force the 1974 resignation of President Richard Nixon.

........ the committee ruled out just about any possibility that Goodling would be prosecuted, as long as she testified truthfully.....

She also disputed testimony by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty about his involvement about the U.S. attorney firings. She also recalled her discomfort during a private meeting with Gonzales in which he tried to review his recollection of events leading up to the firings.

What Goodling didn't provide was any support for Democratic lawmakers' assertions that prosecutors were fired to tamp down corruption investigations or as political retribution.

Susan Ralston, the former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove, is asking for a similar deal from lawmakers before she'll answer questions about White House ties to Abramoff, who has been convicted of bribery. A two-year investigation into his influence peddling has led to the conviction of a congressman, several former House aides and two members of the Bush administration..........

[Ganja Ninja]

56. We don't need more "info".

We already pretty much know what's been going on. We need evidence, E-mails would be nice, some incriminating documents, files, account numbers or other stuff that could be used in a prosecution.

[L. Coyote]

59. Right on. Consider what she knows and the scope of what she wants to talk about

so she can evade going to the pokey.

They pulled the imunity scam with Iran-Contra, and who was an attorney that time??? Nothing like experience in all the RIGHT places.

[L. Coyote]

58. Spinoff: Abramoff - Rove Linked to Prosecution of Siegelman and AL Campaign Finances

Abramoff and Kark Rove Linked to Prosecution of Ex-Alabama Governor and Campaign Finances
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1023111

[L. Coyote]

61. Previous Thread: EXIT RIGHT. Sara Taylor, WH political director, Rove Aide RESIGNS? "subpoenas for h

White House political director and top Karl Rove aide Sara Taylor, “who has been with George W. Bush from the outset of his first presidential campaign, is the latest staff member to leave the president’s employ. .....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=389&topic_id=995236&mesg_id=1023452

[L. Coyote]

65. Jonathan D. Felts is the new deputy to White House political strategist Karl Rove.

N.C. State graduate joins Bush team
Barbara Barrett, Washington Correspondent
http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/588833.html

RALEIGH - A North Carolina native is the new deputy to White House political strategist Karl Rove.

Jonathan D. Felts, 34, rose from a writing and editing major at N.C. State University to his new role as of Friday. He will be coordinating White House relationships with candidates for House, Senate and gubernatorial offices ... Working with Rove, Felts will coordinate relationships with local candidates and incumbents, helping with money for re-elections and getting a sense of the local political landscapes.

"He's one of the political geniuses of our time," Felts said of Rove. "It's neat to see how his mind works." ...

... he was Vice President Dick Cheney's assistant for political affairs. He previously was associate director of the White House Office of Political Affairs.

He also has worked for several other GOP politicians, including former Sen. Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina and former Vice President Dan Quayle. He served as communications director for Rep. Robin Hayes from 2001 to 2004 ... He was executive director of North Carolina Bush-Cheney '04, later served on the inaugural committee and then coordinated political events in a 10-state region

.... U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole is up for re-election in 2008, and the GOP field for governor remains wide open. And, just maybe, the Tar Heel state can expect that little extra something from the White House. ... Felts said, "... I think everyone can forgive me for saying that North Carolina will get a little more attention from the political affairs office."