Jack Abramoff: The A-Bomb Drops On Washington by Bill Press
January 5, 2006
http://billpress.com/columns.htmlThe Abramoff scandal is not just a big deal. It could end up being the biggest and most widespread case of corruption to hit the nation’s capitol ever. Bigger than Teapot Dome, Abscam or even Watergate. Because this one adds up to more money, hits more people, and may very well send more politicians to jail. Some 210 members of Congress received campaign contributions from Abramoff. Between 12 and 20 of them are under investigation by the Justice Department for possible bribes.
And make no mistake about it. This is a Republican scandal, from top to bottom. Sure, there are a few Democrats on Abramoff’s list. Every lobbyist, after all, is forced to sprinkle a little money, once in a while, to the opposition. (No Democrat is yet accused of exchanging cash for official acts.) But Abramoff called himself a “Republican” lobbyist. He filled his own staff with former aides of Republican members of Congress. He worked closely with uber-Republican lobbyists Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, and Ralph Reed, former director of the Christian Coalition. He gave most of his money to Republicans. And his closest ties were to Republican leaders in the House, Senate and White House.
Even before Abramoff’s guilty plea, President Bush pretended he’d never heard of him. In classic Bushspeak: “I’m umm-ahhh, you know the, the Ambramamoff — I’m frankly, I’m not all that familiar what’s going on up there in Capitol Hill,” he told Fox News. This was just as honest as Bush’s telling reporters, four years ago, he couldn’t remember meeting Enron chairman Ken Lay — a close family friend and financial supporter, whom Bush had actually nicknamed “Kenny Boy.”
As first reported on the blog Daily Kos, Bush’s ties to the A-Bomb go way back to when he was governor of Texas, writing letters in support of the North Marianas Island, Abramoff’s client. As president, he met with Marianas Gov. Juan Babauta. Abramoff’s office records clock over 200 meetings with administration officials, including former Attorney General John Ashcroft and top aides to Vice President Dick Cheney. And Bush appointee David Safavian, head of procurement for the White House, has already been arrested and charged with lying to investigators about his dealings with Abramoff.