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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (723913)	2/2/2006 3:31:14 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

buddy, buddy... that is a great boy ...

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (723913)	2/2/2006 4:58:13 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

The lobbyist imbroglio consuming the nation’s capital has ensnared Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, a top Democrat, a Vermont Guardian review of campaign records has found. Two widely circulated lists place Leahy and fellow sen. Jim Jeffords on a list of senators who have received campaign contributions from clients or colleagues associated with super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Guardian has found that much of these donations came from clients or associates who were either not being represented by Abramoff at the time or working with him. However, several donations have been confirmed and implicate both senators, according to a Guardian examination of Federal Elections Commission (FEC) records available online. While such connections between Abramoff and Republicans equal a "culture of corruption," both Leahy and Jeffords' offices hold themselves to different standards and claim they are not connected to Abramoff. In 2002, Leahy received a $1,000 campaign donation from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, according to FEC records. The tribe was one of Abramoff’s more lucrative clients. By contrast, top Democrats and Republicans in the Senate received campaign contributions of $10,000 or more from the tribe in recent years. However, the Guardian has found that Leahy has also received thousands of dollars from attorneys at Preston, Gates, Ellis, Meeds and Rouvelas, and Greenberg Traurig, the two high-powered legal firms where Abramoff hung his hat. The two most distinguished names that appear on these contribution lists are those of Edward “Eddie” Ayoob, a former top aide to current Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, and Michael D. Smith, a high-powered lobbyist. Both Ayoob and Smith have been connected to Abramoff’s allegedly wide-ranging scheme to buy influence for select tribes. Smith, another Democratic fundraiser like Ayoob, along with former Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-ND, have been linked to Abramoff for their work on behalf of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts, who were seeking federal recognition. Ayoob donated $250 to Leahy’s campaign in October 2003, and Smith donated $250 to a joint fundraiser hosted by Leahy and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-WA, in December 2003. Jim Barnett of the Vermont Republican Party does not buy into Leahy's and Jeffords' excuses. “Saying that Indian gaming is a Republican issue is a weak defense … Everyone knows that this is a process called bundling, and that Abramoff would walk into the firm and ask attorneys to donate $1,000, $500, or $250 to a campaign,” said Jim Barnett, executive director of the Vermont Republican Party. “This is Abramoff money and this is just an example of the utter hypocrisy that this issue only affects Republicans; Pat Leahy is an Abramoff Democrat.” Barnett said Leahy and Abramoff may “personally have different political philosophies, but when it comes to the clients he’s paid to work for, the influence peddling has no partisan divide.”http://www.noagenda.org/2006/01/leahy_jeffords_and_abramoff.php

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (723913)	2/2/2006 5:01:04 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

JOHN Kerry campaign insiders are blaming some of the high-profile people surrounding the candidate for helping President Bush win re-election. A prime target of the finger-pointers is Kerry's filmmaker daughter Alexandra, who made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival last spring when she appeared on the red carpet in a see-through dress. She then hired a pricey publicist at powerhouse agency PMK — on her dad's dime, sources say — and went on the campaign trail. But insiders snipe that all she did was rack up major expenses. "She had an entourage of five people with her everywhere she went," one Kerry confidant sniffed to PAGE SIX's Jared Paul Stern. "A hairdresser, makeup artist, publicist and two assistants. It ended up costing something like $8,000 a month. And she didn't exactly do anything." noagenda.org David Wade, Kerry's spokesman, was quoted in the Boston Herald after the election that Alexandra and Vanessa Kerry "poured their heart and soul into their father's campaign, worked long hours ... reaching out to young voters to bring them into this campaign ... they volunteer for duty for this and it was far from glamorous."

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (723913)	2/2/2006 5:03:28 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769670

Harry Reid refuses to hold himself to the same standards he holds for Republicans, or even the standards of his fellow Democrats, who have returned donations they received connected to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff. On "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace last weekend, Reid was unable to admit his hypocrisy for being connected to Abramoff, and once again refused to return the donations he's received: by Matt Margolis :: December 20, 2005 10:44 AM WALLACE: ... One of the biggest scandals in Washington right now involves Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist who's under investigation, and his clients. It turns out that you received $66,000 in campaign contributions from Abramoff and his clients. Some of your colleagues... REID: Chris, Chris... WALLACE: May I ask the question? REID: Don't try to say I received money from Abramoff. REID: I've never met the man, don't know anything... WALLACE: But you've received money from... REID: Make sure that all your viewers understand — not a penny from Abramoff. I've been on the Indian Affairs Committee my whole time in the Senate. WALLACE: But you've received money from his firm. You've received money from some of his clients. The question I'm asking if I may get the question out, Senator. Some of your colleagues, both Republican and Democrats, have given back campaign contributions that had any taint of Abramoff to it. Are you going to do so? REID: Well, first of all, Chris, make sure that — again, I'll repeat, Abramoff gave me no money. His firm gave me no money. He may have worked a firm where people have given me money. But I have — I feel totally at ease that I haven't done anything that is even close to being wrong. And I'm going to continue doing what I've done for my entire tenure in Congress. My record — any money that I've received — it's a federal law. You can look who gave it to me, how much, when they gave it to me, and what their occupations are. So don't lump me in with Jack Abramoff. This is a Republican scandal. Don't try to give any of it to me. However, Byron Dorgan, who makes the same claims as Reid, returned his Abramoff-connected donations, as has Max Baucus... noagenda.org

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (723913)	2/2/2006 5:08:44 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 769670

While the big story right now is about Rep. John Murtha's call for a pullout from Iraq within 6 months, it appears Murtha is going to have some big problems soon... Republican lawmakers say that ties between Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) and his brother’s lobbying firm, KSA Consulting, may warrant investigation by the House ethics committee. The calls come as Murtha, a former Marine and pro-military Democrat, has made headlines this week by coming out in support of a rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. According to a June 13 article in The Los Angeles Times, the fiscal 2005 defense appropriations bill included more than $20 million in funding for at least 10 companies for whom KSA lobbied. Carmen Scialabba, a longtime Murtha aide, works at KSA as well. KSA directly lobbied Murtha’s office on behalf of seven companies, and a Murtha aide told a defense contractor that it should retain KSA to represent it, according to the LA Times. In early 2004, Murtha reportedly leaned on U.S. Navy officials to sign a contract to transfer the Hunters Point Shipyard to the city of San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. A company called Lennar Inc. had right to the land, and Laurence Pelosi, nephew to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was an executive with the firm at that time. Murtha also inserted earmarks in defense bills that steered millions of dollars in federal research funds toward companies owned by children of fellow Pennsylvania Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D). House Republican Joe Wilson of South Carolina said, “If there is a potential pattern where Congressman Murtha has helped other Democrats secure appropriations that also benefited relatives of those Members, I believe this would be something that merits further review by the ethics committee.” Another GOP lawmaker, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Murtha “is playing footsie with his brother’s lobbying firm using taxpayer money.” This Member said Republicans have considered filing an ethics complaint against Murtha, although the preference among GOP insiders is for the ethics committee to look into this issue on its own authority, as it did in the previous Congress in initiating an investigation into former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). Even some Democrats privately acknowledged that a preliminary probe of Murtha by the ethics panel is possible next year, although the chances of a full-blown investigation are still unclear. Of course, a Pelosi aide was quick to blame this whole thing on Republicans. Jennifer Crider, a Pelosi aide, dismissed the allegation that the Minority Leader was involved in anything improper as “absolutely ludicrous, and an attempt to divert from the real issue that Mr. Murtha is attempting to engage in debate on a critically important topic — U.S. policy in Iraq. The real story here is the Republican strategy to try to discredit at Congressman Murtha” while he is pushing for a U.S. pullout from Iraq. Republicans acknowledge that Murtha’s Iraq statement — coming from a Member with strong military credentials — is driving their renewed focus on the ethics questions surrounding the veteran Democratic lawmaker. by Matt Margolis :: November 18, 2005 8:20 PM noagenda.org