WP: Corruption Scandals Cast Shadow on GOP Leadership Race

[sabra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/29/AR2006012900779_pf.html

Corruption Scandals Cast Shadow on GOP Leadership Race

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 30, 2006; A01



In eight concise paragraphs, two moderate and two conservative House Republicans put into writing last week what they say many of their colleagues quietly fear: the GOP's plunging poll numbers, rising public support for a Congress controlled by Democrats and the increasing belief among voters that the Republican Party is corrupt.

House Republicans will gather Thursday to elect a successor to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) as majority leader, and the perceptions of corruption, though "neither fair nor accurate . . . are reality," Reps. Jim Kolbe (Ariz.), Charles Bass (N.H.), Paul Ryan (Wis.) and Tom Feeney (Fla.) wrote in a letter to their colleagues, imploring them to vote for change. "We must realize that the Majority we have all worked so hard for is in jeopardy."

It is not clear how widespread such fear is on Capitol Hill, with Congress in recess, but it has shaped the campaigns of Reps. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) as they try to derail the front-runner -- Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the majority whip and acting majority leader -- in a race that has taken on enormous significance.

Blunt aides insist that their boss, running as the candidate of continuity and proven leadership, already has the race wrapped up, with more than enough committed supporters to hand him a swift victory on the first ballot. Blunt's chief deputy whip, Eric I. Cantor (R-Va.), has said he also has the votes to move up to the whip's job, if Blunt vacates the post to become majority leader.

[seafan]

1. Eric I. Cantor (R-Va.) says he has the votes to be the new whip....

ABRAMOFF, JACK
WASHINGTON,DC 20006
GREENBERG TAURIG LLP/GOVT. RELATION
3/19/2003
$2,000
Recipient: Cantor, Eric



ABRAMOFF, JACK
WASHINGTON,DC 20006
GREENBERG TAURIG LLP/GOVT. RELATION
3/19/2003
$2,000
Recipient: Cantor, Eric



ABRAMOFF, PAMELA
N/A/HOMEMAKER
WASHINGTON,DC 20006
2/18/2003
$2,000
Recipient: Cantor, Eric




ABRAMOFF, JACK
WASHINGTON,DC 20006
GREENBERG TAURIG LLP/GOVT. RELATION
7/29/2002
$1,000
Recipient: Cantor, Eric



ABRAMOFF, PAMELA
WASHINGTON,DC 20006
N/A/HOMEMAKER
7/29/2002
$1,000
Recipient: Cantor, Eric



ABRAMOFF, JACK
WASHINGTON,DC 20006
GREENBERG TAURIG LLP/GOVT. RELATION
5/8/2001
$1,000
Recipient: Cantor, Eric




http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.asp?NumOfThou=0&txtName=abramoff&txtState=%28all+states%29&txtZip=&txtEmploy=&txtCand=&txt2006=Y&txt2004=Y&txt2002=Y&Order=N

[pfitz59]

2. Keep the fire burning!

They are all over-ripe and rotten!

[gratuitous]

3. Scandals? What scandals?

I thought all this corruption was bipartisan! Both parties are dirty, aren't they? Why would any of the Republicans have any particular scandal problems?

[Straight Shooter]

4. Perceptions of corruption neither fair nor accurate?

Hello there, party of Swiftboater legacy, purple bandaids, whispering campaigns, outing of a CIA agent, lobbyist a**-kissing, wiretapping, 9/11 coverup, invasion of Iraq based on lies.

Good gawd. They never look in the mirror, do they.

[ninkasi]

5. Yeah, that caught my eye, too

Not fair or accurate? How delusional on their part, to believe that because Abramoff didn't donate to Democrats, it's somehow unfair if this is pointed out. Or that the truth is inaccurate. They live in a world of their own, don't they?

Oh, of course, smearing McCain before the 2000 election, smearing Kerry, and Murtha, and Max Cleland, those weren't smears, or whispering campaigns? Absolutely the most hypocritical, corrupt, arrogant bunch of crooks ever assembled in politics at one time.