http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/11/abramoff_report_1.html -- Abramoff Reports to Prison; Officials Focus on Reid, Others November 15, 2006 1:23 PM Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz Report: Reid_nr As convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff reported to federal prison today, a source close to the investigation surrounding his activities told ABC News that Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was one of the members of Congress Abramoff had allegedly implicated in his cooperation with federal prosecutors. A spokesperson for Reid, elected yesterday as the Senate Majority Leader, said the senator had done nothing illegal or unethical. "We have no idea what Abramoff is telling prosecutors to save his skin, but I do know that these kind of old allegations are completely ridiculous and untrue," Sen. Reid's spokesman Jim Manley told ABC News. A source close to the investigation says Abramoff told prosecutors that more than $30,000 in campaign contributions to Reid from Abramoff's clients "were no accident and were in fact requested by Reid." Abramoff has reportedly claimed the Nevada senator agreed to help him on matters related to Indian gambling. The Associated Press reported earlier this year that Reid wrote at least four letters helpful to the tribes that had contributed money to his campaign. Reid has denied there was any connection between the letters and the contributions and has said he is a longtime opponent of certain kinds of Indian reservation gambling. The AP reported that Reid acknowledged "routine contacts" with Abramoff's lobbying partners and intervening to block rival tribal casinos. The AP also reported that Abramoff's billing records showed extensive contact with Reid's office over a three-year period in which Reid collected more than $68,000 from Abramoff's firm, partners and clients. Prosecutors have said that Abramoff's cooperation is essential to the corruption investigation, but, so far, they have brought only one prosecution against a member of Congress connected to Abramoff, Republican Bob Ney of Ohio, who resigned. The source said prosecutors do not intend to rely solely on Abramoff's account of events, and his allegations against Reid and others will not necessarily result in criminal charges. Sources close to the federal investigation say Abramoff has offered testimony about his contacts with "six to eight seriously corrupt Democratic senators" and an ever larger number of Republican members of Congress. In addition to Reid, the sources say Abramoff has been most closely questioned about his contacts with Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), who was defeated in last week's election. "Being defeated may have been one of the best things that ever happened to Burns," said a source close to the investigation. "There is much more interest in members of Congress who are still in office," the source said. Burns, who received more than $150,000 in Abramoff-connected campaign contributions, has strongly denied any wrongdoing and returned the money. Sen. Reid has been an outspoken critic of the connections between Abramoff and Republican legislators. In a speech earlier this year, Sen. Reid described it as "a program where the lobbyists paid and the Republican members of Congress played." The Justice Department said it would have no comment on the ongoing Abramoff investigation.
If Reid's guilty, he'll go down with good riddance. Still, this is nothing new and has been floating around ever since the Abramoff story broke. On another front, it sounds like Reid may have earmarked money for a bridge across the Colorado River from Laughlin, NV to close to where he owns a big chunk of land in AZ. Time will tell whether these are incidents of Republican like malfeasance or merely Whitewater like smears.
If any public servant is proven to be corrupt, they should be thrown out, regardless of party or ideology.
I predicted it, but wow, that was quick! Conservative Democrats are going to fall right and left. http://bbs.clutchfans.com/showpost.php?p=2575574&postcount=9
You know I can respect either side of the philisophical debates in this country but our government has fallen into self-serving, unethical hands, people who skirt just by the definition of criminals. If you choose to serve the public trust, then serve the public trust. If you want make money then go into private business you greedy bastards. It's hard enough to keep you from raping the planet when you play within the rules.
For what it's worth, I'm not sure how well publicized Abramoff's link to the murder of a South Florida casino cruise's owner is known to the national public. His dealings in taking over the cruise have been publicized, but the media doesn't mention that the owner was killed a few months after it was bought by Abramoff and his associates. It's been publicized locally and the local news magazines make connections so clear I'm surprised nothing has been done about it. And I don't want anyone to think this murder case is motviated to further bring down the politicians he was linked to. The connection to the murder, and the event itself, took place years ago before anyone was aware of Abramoff's connection to such high profile politicians.
Abramoff in with Dems? Former Colleagues Say No By Paul Kiel - November 16, 2006, 2:32 PM "Abramoff Reports to Prison; Officials Focus on Reid, Others," was the headline of an ABC story yesterday reporting that Jack Abramoff, the convicted lobbyist, was dishing dirt on a handful of Democratic senators, Harry Reid (D-NV) in particular. "Abramoff has offered testimony [to investigators] about his contacts with 'six to eight seriously corrupt Democratic senators,'" ABC News reported, citing "sources close to the federal investigation." One "source close to the investigation" told ABC that $30,000 in contributions to Reid from Abramoff's tribal clients "were no accident and were in fact requested by Reid." The report was surprising, particularly given that in the thousands of pages of Abramoff's emails, billing records and other documents released over the past two years, there's little evidence that the Republican lobbyist or his team worked very hard to persuade Democratic lawmakers to support their clients, legally or illegally. Curious to learn more, we called a number of Abramoff's former colleagues from his heyday at the Greenberg Traurig lobby firm to see how the story struck them. "Jack has not met eight Democrats in Washington," one lobbyist told us. He and others spoke on the condition of anonymity, because they did not want further publicity connecting them to Abramoff. Also, it should be noted that the lobbyists we spoke with continue to rely on access to lawmakers like Reid. Ron Platt, a Democratic lobbyist who worked for a time with Abramoff on behalf of several clients and managed relations (such as they were) with Reid and other Democrats, said, "It's beyond my belief that he would have trusted a Democratic senator or house member." "Jack Abramoff would never let any Democratic lobbyist, even on his team, manage one of his client matters," said Platt. Several expressed disbelief that Abramoff had the goods on Reid, as the ABC post suggested. "As far as I know, I can say that there is not a shred of truth to any allegation that anything Reid did that may have benefited a Greenberg client was done for anything of value given to Sen. Reid by Jack Abramoff or anyone else at Greenberg," one former associate said, noting that the few actions Reid took which benefited Abramoff's clients were consistent with positions the Nevada senator had long espoused. The ABC story is of course not the first one to purport to show Abramoff's access to Reid. The Associated Press ran what we found to be a deeply flawed story earlier this year detailing contacts with Reid's staff by lobbyists at Greenberg Traurig -- a story that ABC relied on for evidence of Abramoff's access to Reid in their recent story. http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001997.php
LOL, this angle has been pushed for months - despite the fact that the purpose of Abramoff and the K-Street project with respect to this was to freeze out the democrats from the money train. That was the purpose. Sure - Reid and democrats are "connected" because they're members of Congress, but to call Abramoff and his dealings bipartisan is wishful thinking at best. But that doesn't stop the disinformation campaign train I guess.
