Court papers detailed lavish gifts and contributions that it said Abramoff gave an unnamed House member, identified elsewhere as Representative Bob Ney, chairman of the House Administration Committee, in return for Ney’s agreement to use his office to aid Abramoff clients.
As part of the plea deal, Abramoff agreed to pay at least $US25 million in restitution.
I’ve been nonplussed by the reaction from liberal blogs, gleeful because they think it’s only Republicans awash in corrupt money. Not so.
Democrats also got tribal donations
Among the biggest beneficiaries were Capitol Hill’s most powerful Democrats, including Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.) and Harry M. Reid (Nev.), the top two Senate Democrats at the time, Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.), then-leader of the House Democrats.
Sen. Reid recently called the Congress the "most corrupt in history" yet he was he was sucking on the same money tit as the Republicans.
"Don’t lump me in with Jack Abramoff. This is a Republican scandal," Reid told Fox News Sunday, saying he never received any money from Abramoff.
That’s because he received the money from Abramoff clients, not from Abramoff. Quite the weasel-worded profession of innocence, eh? Reid also refuses to give back the money. Hey Democrats, does Reid still appear to be a squeaky-clean Senator to you?
"It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Abramoff controversy impact both parties," said Tony Raymond, co-founder of PoliticalMoneyLine.com, which gathers lobbying and campaign finance information.
Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) (received) $128,000 in the same period. From 1999 to 2001, Kennedy chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which solicited campaign donations for House candidates.
Why does a Kennedy need more money? Just wondering.
Of the 18 largest recipients of tribe contributions directed by Abramoff’s group, six, or one-third, were Democrats. These included Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), who chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2001 to 2002, and Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (N.D.), a leader in Indian affairs legislation.
The problem is not a corrupt party, the problem is a corrupt system, and both parties are in the slime up to their greedy little eyeballs. Unlike Europe and Britain, where people know they live in a class system, the popular myth here in the States is there are no classes. To which I say, look at the multi-millionaires in Congress fattening themselves corruptly at the expense of the rest of us. They, and their friends in the business and financial worlds, are a tiny privileged class exploiting the rest of us.
