Reply #12: Susan Ralston, White House aide resigns in scandal = "go-between" Abramoff to Rove

[L. Coyote]

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

Take note of the timeline. Oct. 12, 2006 was amidst the cover-up by McCain,
et.al., in the election run-up. To what extent was this a "fall-gal" operation,
and to what extent must we now follow the trail deeper into the White House
to the true puppet masters in the crimes?

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

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. .........

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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..........


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FROM: DEAL OR NO DEAL? Abramoff's and Rove's ex-aide has "useful information" about Abramoff, White House
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x995236