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Skriven 2006-01-12 12:12:58 av BOB SAKOWSKI (1:123/140)
Ärende: Scandal
===============
A Bipartisan Scandal

I'm not, frankly, all that familiar with a lot that's going on over at
Capitol Hill, but it seems like to me that [Abramoff] was an equal money
dispenser, that he was giving money to people in both political parties.

    George W. Bush
    Fox News Interview
    December 14, 2005

When you look at this scandal, there's no question both Democrats and
Republicans received money . . . The way I look at it, we shouldn't be
pointing fingers.

    RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman
    CNN Interview
    January 9, 2006

__________________________________


The Washington office of Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, a
Seattle-based law firm, keeps adding Republicans . . . Earlier this year,
Preston Gates hired Jack Abramoff, a high-powered Republican with
impeccable conservative credentials.

    National Journal
    From the K Street Corridor
    April 8, 1995

If a Republican era began in 1994, Jack Abramoff is K Street's future . . .
Abramoff has given himself the tough task of advancing the goals of the
conservative revolution while also making money. ''They agreed that I could
work on things that were important to me,'' Abramoff said.

    National Journal
    Jack Abramoff: A Lobbyist
    With a Line to Capitol Hill
    July 29, 1995

Some insiders have already bet on the Republicans. This summer the
Association of American Railroads hired a Republican, Edward R. Hamberger,
as president; and the new head of AT&T Corp's Washington office, James W.
Cicconi, was a top official in the Bush White House. ''These groups really
drive K Street,'' says Jack Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist with the law
firm of Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds.

    National Journal
    K Street, That GOP Street?
    September 19, 1998

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his book of lucrative clients and GOP connections
are leaving Preston Gates Ellis and Rouvelas Meeds 12/31 to join Greenberg
Traurig. Abramoff, a member of the kitchen cabinet of House Maj. Whip Tom DeLay
(R-TX), plans to bring about 10 lobbyists with him . . . Greenberg Traurig
nat'l gov't chair Fred Baggett: "We're heavy into substance lobbyists. Jack is
heavy into the relationship side."

    Hotline
    Career Track: Abramoff and Running
    December 14, 2000

Now comes word that Jack Abramoff, the firm's star GOP lobbyist, has jumped
ship to Greenberg Traurig and plans to take up to 15 folks with him. "
They're completely Republican-less with a Republican House, Senate and
president," one source crowed about Preston Gates.

    Roll Call
    Heard on the Hill
    December 18, 2000

Abramoff said the Bush team's careful and deliberate approach to leadership
is the exact opposite of the Clinton team. "The feeding frenzy which
started even before Clinton was inaugurated, and continued to the final
pardon, was perhaps best exemplified by the reckless and unprofessional
handling of his responsibility to appoint honorable public servants," he
said.

    The Hill
    Lobbyists approve of Bush's businesslike style
    May 2, 2001

Jack Abramoff has recruited a new Republican lobbyist for his team: Hill
staffer Neil Volz. Volz, 31, works as the chief of staff for Rep. Bob Ney,
R-Ohio . . . Volz says he'll miss the flow of the legislative process, but
now he plans to "enjoy it from a different angle."

    National Journal
    People
    February 9, 2002

It's being dubbed the "battle of the Republican uber-lobbyists," pitting
Haley Barbour, once the face of the GOP, and quiet Jack Abramoff, his
biggest competitor. The jockeying for the top spot kicked into high gear
this month when Abramoff helped open the posh Signatures restaurant, down
the street from Barbour & Co.'s Caucus Room. This place is hot -- and
booked with GOP fundraisers . . . Also, Abramoff's lobbying team just beat
Barbour's over an Indian casino issue in Louisiana. What's more, he's a big
pal of Rep. Tom DeLay, the likely next House majority leader. "He's the
face of the new generation," says an ally.

    U.S. News & World Report
    Washington Whispers
    March 25, 2002

Last summer, in an effort to raise the visibility of his Indian clients,
Abramoff helped arrange a White House get-together on tax issues with President
Bush for top Indian leaders . . . The lobbyist also reportedly invited the
Coushattas and two other tribal clients to a dinner party last fall that
included [Interior Secretary Gale] Norton.

    National Journal
    The K Street Jackpot From Indian Casinos
    April 20, 2002

No tribe spends more--or more effectively--than Mississippi's Choctaw . . .
Most of the money has gone to one of the capital's premier lobbyists, Jack
Abramoff, a top Republican Party fund raiser. It was money well spent. In
the 1997 legislative caper, Thad Cochran, Mississippi's five-term
Republican Senator, slipped into a 40,000-word appropriations bill a
19-word sentence that exempts the tribe from oversight by the National
Indian Gaming Commission.

    Time
    Playing The Political Slots
    December 23, 2002

In a business built on relationships, Abramoff has more than two decades of
involvement in Republican politics to draw on. . . . With the Republicans
now in control of the White House, House and Senate, and his friend Tom
DeLay (R-Texas) controlling the House agenda, Abramoff does not have to look
far to find clients interested in his services.

    The Hill
    Republican power broker
    Jack Abramoff on lobbying in the Bush II era
    March 26, 2003

"I think it's a very different administration ... compared to the Clinton
days. They're going to go out of the way to make sure that they are not
courting special favors to lobbyists and to special interests . . . From a
good government point of view, that's very refreshing. From a lobbying
point of view, it's obviously more of a challenge."

    Jack Abramoff
    Quoted in: “Republican power broker
    Jack Abramoff on lobbying in the Bush II era “
    The Hill
    March 26, 2003

The (Bush) campaign . . . has 18 individuals who qualified as "Rangers" by
helping raise at least $200K and 50 who qualified as "Pioneers" by helping
to raise at least $100K. . . . Pioneers include . . . lobbyist Jack
Abramoff."

    Hotline
    Bush: Take it to the Limit – and Beyond
    July 16, 2003

"Everyone in town is trying to be a Pioneer or Ranger. But the only way to
do it is to have contacts outside of D.C., which fortunately I do. So far
I've raised about $120,000, and I haven't even really started making
calls."

    Jack Abramoff
    Quoted in: “Bush Loyalists Compete
    for Spots on President's A-Team “
    New York Times
    July 21, 2003

At least a dozen Republican influence merchants made the pilgrimage to
Crawford on August 9 to hang out for a few hours at a barbecue with
President Bush and his top campaign advisers . . . Abramoff, who didn't go
to Crawford because he does not travel on the Jewish Sabbath, added that
when he reaches his $200,000 target as a Ranger, he plans "to try to help
some other lobbyists meet their goals" by helping to organize small
strategy meetings.

    National Journal
    All the President's Moneymen
    September 6, 2003

In 2000, Abramoff was one of a half-dozen Washington lobbyists who raised
$100,000 for the Bush campaign. This cycle, at least four partners at
Abramoff's firm hope to raise at least that amount.

    Roll Call
    Insiders Vie to Raise Cash for Bush
    October 15, 2003

“I know Jack Abramoff and I know Wayne Berman. They are Republicans; they
were Republicans before they were lobbyists.ö

    Former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie
    Capital Report
    CNBC
    October 15, 2003

The College Republican group is an integral part of the GOP network . . .
Among those who served as chairman or executive director were Atwater;
Rove; Grover Norquist, an influential conservative activist in Washington;
Jack Abramoff . . . and Ralph Reed, who ran the Christian Coalition at the
height of its prowess and now is a top southern consultant.ö

    Washington Post
    Another Lobbyist Emerges
    From the GOP Trenches
    January 13, 2004

On a warm evening in June 2003, a star-studded crowd of political and
corporate conservative celebrities flocked to the Homer Building on 13th
Street NW to toast the opening of the Washington outpost of [Ralph Reed’s]
public-affairs firm Century Strategies . . . Mingling in the lobby and
enjoying drinks and hors d'oeuvres were the likes of Ken Mehlman, now the
campaign manager for Bush-Cheney '04; former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot,
chairman of the Bush campaign and a former chairman of the Republican
National Committee; Grover Norquist, the conservative anti-tax activist;
Jack Abramoff, then an uber-lobbyist for Indian casinos; and lobbyists from
some of Reed's blue-chip corporate clients.ö

    National Journal
    Go-To Guy
    July 17, 2004

"If you look around Washington, D.C., today, and you look around College
Republicans 20 years ago . . . if you look at who's running the town . . .
they're all from College Republicans."

    Jack Abramoff
    Quoted In: "College Republicans
    raring to go in 2004"
    Gannett News Service
    July 25, 2003

URL: http://billmon.org/archives/002351.html

Bipartisan scandal my ass. Of republicans, by republicans, for republicans,
period.
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