(R-Mont) Burns aide who took Abramoff trip is resigning

[UpInArms]

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006602090308

WASHINGTON — An aide to Sen. Conrad Burns who took a controversial trip sponsored by admitted felon and lobbyist Jack Abramoff plans to leave his job with the Montana Republican.

Ryan Thomas, who worked for Burns on the Appropriations subcommittee on the Interior, did not respond to requests for an interview Wednesday.

Thomas was among a group of congressional staffers who traveled to Tampa, Fla., for the 2001 Super Bowl on an Abramoff company-leased jet. Thomas told a Montana newspaper in December he was told that the trip was financed by an Indian tribe, which would be permissible under Senate rules.

He said that he had not been contacted by the Justice Department probing Abramoff's lobbying activities.

<snip>

Another Burns staffer at the time — former chief of staff Will Brooke — was also on the trip. Brooke, who briefly worked for Abramoff after leaving Burns' office, has told reporters he thought the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indian tribe paid for the trip.

...more...

[sabra]

1. lots of people resigning these days...hmmm

[acmavm]

2. But not the right ones. n/t

[pinto]

3. What a coincidence..... Appropriations Subcommittee, Interior.....

:eyes:

[Deep13]

4. This leaves the total box score for those implicated as:

DEMOCRATS: none

REPUBLICANS: all