Lobbyist helped draft Harkin letters to Interior...

[Peter Frank]

Saturday, December 3, 2005

By SHARON THEIMER
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) — As Sen. Tom Harkin drafted letters to the Bush administration on behalf of an Iowa tribe, he had no shortage of ideas for wording: A tribal lobbyist who donated to the Democrat's campaign suggested language for him to use.

Harkin wrote at least three letters in 2003 pressing the government to release federal money to help the Sac & Fox tribe in his state cope with the temporary closing of its casino due to a tribal dispute, according to Interior Department documents obtained by The Associated Press and records provided by Harkin's office.

In doing so, Harkin accepted input from Sac & Fox lobbyist Michael D. Smith, a member of Jack Abramoff's tribal lobbying team at the Greenberg Traurig law firm. Smith met with the senator and also offered suggestions for the letters, Harkin spokeswoman Allison Dobson said.

"Absolutely, he did contribute to those letters," Dobson said, adding that she wasn't sure what Smith's suggestions were. Harkin also met with lobbyists on the other side of the dispute, she said.

Harkin is among dozens of members of Congress who wrote letters that benefited tribal clients of Abramoff's lobbying team while collecting political contributions from Abramoff, his clients or his lobbying associates.

The Justice Department is examining the proximity of donations to congressional action as part of its investigation of Abramoff's activities.<snip>

http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051203/NEWS0102/112030009/-1/CITIZEN

[xchrom]

1. i like harkin -- but if he commited wrongdoing

then them's the brakes.
let the chips fall where they may.

[joeybee12]

2. This rally shows how prevasive the problem is in Washington...

...I'm willing to bet Harkin didn't commit any crimes, but the idea that this type of behavior is acceptable is a real problem. Harkin and the others probably thought nothing of it.

[1932]

7. What's more important is what the letters said.

Say I donated to Harkin and I had an argument I wanted Harkin to make to Interior, and that point had to do with social justic, and I wrote it out in a letter, and Harkin passed the argument on, verbatim, to the Interior Department, how would that be wrong?

It would be wrong if I were using my money to force my Senator to make a weak, unjust argument to the government that served the interests of the powerful rather than the powerless, and it expressed values Harkin and I shared.

It would be OK if it were a good argument meant to help the powerless against the powerful and Harkin was being a hypocrite by making it to the interior department.

So which was it in this case?

[Toots]

9. Maybe not as the law is written but ethically???????

Everyone knows that if you accept a persons money to do their bidding it is a bribe..Lawmakers have found many ingenious ways around the bribery laws but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck the odds are it's a duck...This is why the Democrats are not doing any better in the polls than Republicans are. there is a "Culture of Corruption" in Washington and everyone is involved. If I had my way I would throw em all out and start completely fresh except that would leave life long staffers in control...

[Judi Lynn]

3. It would be very surprising if it is learned Harkin is a crook. Very.

The only way Republicans can hold their heads up about this is if they can find some Democrat they can claim, no matter how briefly, did the same thing.

If Senator Harkin had criminal instincts, HE WOULD BE A REPUBLICAN. Yay, woohoo! :woohoo:

ALSO, in the posted article:

Harkin is among dozens of members of Congress who wrote letters that benefited tribal clients of Abramoff's lobbying team while collecting political contributions from Abramoff, his clients or his lobbying associates.

The Justice Department is examining the proximity of donations to congressional action as part of its investigation of Abramoff's activities. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee, while investigating allegations that Abramoff cheated the tribes out of tens of millions of dollars, has steered clear of examining specific members of Congress.
(snip)

"The basic gist is Senator Harkin wrote these letters and worked on this issue because over 1,300 Meskwaki people and Iowans were out of work," Dobson said. "This was a very dire situation for the community."
(snip)

[IowaGuy]

4. don't recall the details of this dust-up in the tribe....

but as I recall, it was essentially a conflict over control of the gambling revenues...one group was in the pocket of the shady types (Abramoff, etc..) and the other group was trying to wrest control of it from them...I would hate to lose Harkin over this, but if he's on the wrong side of this - that's life. Just need to pick up and move on without him. I'm kind of wondering what Grassley's connections may have been to Abramoff and the other assorted merry band of gangsters,,,,

[Peter Frank]

5. Here you go -- Sen. Grassley Wrapped Up in Abramoff Pay-To-Play Scandal...

To: State Desk, Political Reporter

Contact: Amaya Smith of the DNC, 202-863-8148

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Associated Press reported yesterday on the startling number of Republicans in Congress, including Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who are embroiled in one of the worst pay-to-play scandals to ever rock the nation's capital. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee investigating the dealings of scandal-plagued Republican super lobbyist Jack Abramoff has learned that Sen. Grassley is among the more than 30 Congressional Republicans who signed letters on behalf of Abramoff clients just days after Abramoff gave them money or hosted fundraisers for them.<snip>

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=56996

[IowaGuy]

6. thanks for the info....

appreciate it, been kind of busy workin' lately and haven't had the time to stay up on sll this corruption stuff (there's so much)...
thought I saw where Grassley is supposedly having some commtittee he chairs investigate Abramohoff....seemed odd, would he be stupid enough to actually cover up here or is it some mis-direction play???

Hmmm......

[NVMojo]

8. this is called "people in glass houses ..."