Roll Call has details of yet another Abramoff quid pro quo, this one involving Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska).

In September 2002, two House members, Young and Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio), wrote letters to Stephen Perry, head of the General Services Administration, about the GSA's development of the Old Post Office. The letters asked him to grant a contracting preference on the project that would have given Abramoff's tribal clients a competitive advantage in a bid to lease and develop the building, the second tallest in Washington - a potentially very lucrative deal.

Why did Abramoff want the Old Post Office site so bad? It appears that he might have had some tribe-funded real estate development in mind:

"A former Abramoff associate said Abramoff wanted to build a hotel on the Old Post Office site, although it is unclear if it would have been entirely paid for by tribal funds. The project, however, never got beyond the planning stage."

At the time of the letters, David Safavian was the GSA Chief of Staff - and Abramoff was in frequent contact with him on how to win the bid for the Old Post Office site. Safavian was indicted for lying to investigators about a golf trip to Scotland he took with Abramoff, Ney, Neil Volz (Ney's former Chief of Staff and then Abramoff associate), and others in August, 2002. He denied that he had business with Abramoff at the time of the trip, which was right before the letters were written.

For LaTourette's part, it seems that he wrote the letter because Neil Volz, "an old friend" of his, approached him - just a little bit of cronyism. No money changed hands: "LaTourette, a former member of the House ethics committee, received no campaign contributions from Abramoff or his clients during the 2001-02 cycle, and neither the lawmaker nor his staff ever took any trips paid for by an organization tied to Abramoff."

Young's case is not so innocuous:

"[Young's] leadership political action committee, the Midnight Sun PAC, received $7,000 from two of Abramoff's tribal clients, the Aqua Caliente of California and Mississippi Choctaws, on Oct. 17, 2002, just five weeks after he wrote to Perry.

All together, the Midnight Sun PAC received $12,000 from Abramoff's tribal clients during the 2001-02 election cycle.

In addition, one of the Alaska Republican's former aides, Duane Gibson, went to work for Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig several months before Young intervened with the GSA on the Old Post Office site."

Roll Call also points out that Young (who called the timing of the letters and contributions a "coincidence") has a history of going to bat for Abramoff clients, especially the Northern Mariana Islands.

Stay tuned.

Burns Bamboozlement Attempt

For weeks now, we've watched Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mon.) try to dismiss questions about his relationship with Abramoff. After the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post named him as a subject of interest for Justice Department prosecutors, Burns subsequently blamed Democrats for the affront to his reputation and then claimed that anonymously sourced news reports are "just journalistic speculation."

The Montana Democratic Party produced two ads on Burns' ethics problem, and he's been slipping in the polls against his Dem challengers. So now he's produced his own ad to respond to them. Staring directly into the camera, puffing up, and trying to portray himself as a kind of genial tough guy, he says:

"I'm not going to stand here and let the Democratic Party of Montana play politics with my reputation....I've worked in and around stockyards all my life, those attack ads, they're just a big bunch of you know what."

And here it gets much better, as Burns takes a GOP talking point and spins it into a complete absurdity:

"Plus they're paid for by the same Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff's clients."

Those Democrats and their Abramoff money! The attack ads he's refuting were paid for by Montana Democratic Party. The Party received one $5K contribution from the Agua Caliente tribe, an Abramoff client. Burns took $5K from Abramoff and his wife and $5K from Abramoff's gambling boat company SunCruz, as part of the nearly $150K that he received from Abramoff  and his tribal clients. I don't think it's in Burns' interest to get into a back and forth on who took Abramoff's money.

Burns continues:

"[Abramoff's] the guy that ripped off his Indian clients for millions and lied to anybody and everybody. I don't know who Abramoff influenced but he never influenced me."

Unmentioned in the ad were two of Burns' staff, Will Brooke and Shawn Vasell, who went to work for that slimy guy Abramoff.

A rather desperate piece of bamboozlement, if you ask me.

Ronnie Earle Heads West

DA Ronnie Earle continued to investigate the DeLay/Cunningham link yesterday, issuing subpoenas to a company called PerfectWave Technologies - a company controlled by Brent Wilkes, Duke Cunningham's sugar daddy. Wilkes flew DeLay around on his plane a number of times, but this subpoena had to do with contributions from Wilkes' company to TRMPAC ($15K), DeLay's state political action committee whose spending is at issue in his criminal case. Also subpoenaed was a $25K payment made to "Tribute to Heroes," Cunningham's annual black-tie charity gala in San Diego. Wilkes made quite a tribute to his legislative hero:

"Wilkes' charitable foundation spent nearly $36,000 hosting "Tribute to Heroes" in 2002. Cunningham, a former Vietnam war fighter ace, was feted with a trophy at the event, according to the event's Web site and tax filings."

You gotta love a guy who gives himself a trophy at his own event.

Jack and George

Monday night, Michael Isikoff said on Hardball that Jack Abramoff is the one shopping around the photos of him and Bush.

The Washington Post has an editorial today on the administration's stonewalling:

It's undisputed that Mr. Abramoff tried to use his influence, and his restaurant and his skyboxes and his chartered jets, to sway lawmakers and their staffs. Information uncovered by Mr. Bush's own Justice Department shows that Mr. Abramoff tried to do the same inside the executive branch.

Under these circumstances, asking about Mr. Abramoff's White House meetings is no mere exercise in reportorial curiosity but a legitimate inquiry about what an admitted felon might have been seeking at the highest levels of government. Whatever White House officials did or didn't do, there is every reason to believe that Mr. Abramoff was up to no good and therefore every reason the public ought to know with whom he was meeting.

House Ethics - The Hibernation Continues



The Hill reports on the dormant House ethics committee:

As Republicans have hinted they may file formal ethics complaints, Democrats are content to sit on the sidelines for now.

"The Justice Department is moving, and there's no reason to interfere and give the Republicans a tool to say the investigation is being politicized," the Democratic lawmaker said. "That's not in their rhetoric, and right now they have to answer the Justice Department's charges. Once it looks like it's political, they don't have to answer that."

Democrats also said that they would not move forward because the panel remains shuttered after a months-long partisan disagreement over how to staff the committee and that the committee would not pursue an investigation in tandem with the Justice Department.

Reform - Hearings

Stop the presses! More congressional soul searching on ethics! Hotline reports that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) are teaming up to introduce legislation that would create "a bipartisan ethics panel charged with recommending wholesale changes to the relationship between members of Congress and lobbyists." It's modeled after the 9-11 commission.

And one more: Roll Call reports that "Senate Democratic Policy Committee Chairman Byron Dorgan (N.D.) will launch a new oversight and investigative panel today," the Oversight and Accountability Unit of the DPC:

"The project, which is expected to be formally announced later this week by DPC Chairman Byron Dorgan (N.D.) and Reid, is expected to involve holding as many as 14 hearings this year on contracting abuses in Iraq, energy independence, national security, post-Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery, trade, corporate pensions and other economic issues."

Lobbywatch

The Hill also reports on the "K Street Counteroffensive," a coordination effort under way among several of the biggest business lobbying groups that will try to stall the momentum of the reform proposals.

And according to Roll Call:

National Restaurant Association chief lobbyist John Gay said his group was "making our views known on the Hill" that the "focus should be on enforcing the rules and looking at disclosure regulations, not on throwing the baby out with the bathwater."

"I think it could have a very serious impact on those whose clientele is a high percentage of lobbyists with these sorts of meals," Gay added.

In Other Muck

The Hill explains earmarks.

The Times reports that the two House Republicans behind the push to unseat DeLay following his indictment have endorsed Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) for Majority Leader. Shadegg, running as the real real reformer, is still way behind Rep. Blunt (R-Mo.) and Boehner (R-Ohio) in votes.

The Hill reports that Abramoff helped throw his old friend Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Cal.) a baby shower in December 2003 at his restaurant, Signatures. The 25 guests (including one other lobbyist) contributed $3000 to a fund to pay for the Rohrabacher's nanny - needed for his new triplets. Abramoff's gift was not disclosed, but really, it's hard getting outraged when there are baby triplets involved.