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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CYBERKEN who wrote (14030)	10/31/2006 9:39:54 AM
From: Mr. Palau	Respond to of 71588

looks like laura better get back to montana for some more campaigning, lol "Abramoff friend describes Burns staff's ties to lobbyist By JENNIFER McKEE Gazette State Bureau HELENA - A Republican media consultant and friend of indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff recently wrote a letter to a Montana newspaper saying Burns' staff ate so many free meals at Abramoff's restaurant, people joked they would have "starved to death" without the lobbyist. "Frankly, it was widely viewed in D.C. that Mr. Abramoff effectively exerted implicit control over Mr. Burns whenever he and his team needed to get something accomplished," reads the letter, which was sent to the Whitefish Pilot last week. The letter is expected to run in the Pilot's Thursday edition. The author, Monty Warner, a GOP media consultant, told the Gazette State Bureau last week that he came across an article in the Pilot recently in which Burns is quoted as saying he only got $5,000 from Abramoff. That, combined with Burns' other statements in which he says he hardly knew Abramoff and, at one point, he wished Abramoff had never been born, compelled him to write the letter, Warner said. Abramoff, a former Republican lobbyist, pleaded guilty in January to charges relating to fraud, public corruption and conspiring to bribe public officials. He is at the center of a U.S. Justice Department investigation involving lobbying and its abuses, a scandal that has already claimed an Ohio congressman. "The Abramoff staff had certain targets and certain people that they worked with and Burns' staff was one that was readily available," Warner said. "I understand (Burns) is in a campaign and I am a Republican, but the nastiness and the manner in which he's gone about trashing my friend is repugnant. I could care less if (Burns) gets elected or not." Erik Iverson, a Burns spokesman, questioned why Montanans should believe the word of "some East Coast Jack Abramoff apologist." "I've got five letters to the editor on my desk written by (Democratic challenger) Jon Tester's neighbors in Big Sandy, people who know Jon Tester, who live near Jon Tester and who are supporting Conrad Burns," Iverson said. In his letter, Warner said Abramoff "went out of his way to be accommodating and supportive of Mr. Burns. "Mr. Burns gladly and readily welcomed Mr. Abramoff's support in this regard and it was clear he often encouraged it," Warner's letter reads. Burns has consistently maintained there is nothing to insinuations that the senator is part of the Justice investigation into Abramoff and his lobbying abuses. He has said he didn't know Abramoff well. Several national papers have reported that Burns is part of the investigation, citing anonymous sources. Burns has hired a criminal defense attorney and has paid him $90,000 since April, the political journal Roll Call reported last week. Burns received $150,000 from Abramoff, his tribal clients and associates - more than any other lawmaker, records show. Burns gave away the money after the Abramoff scandal broke. Warner said he is a friend of Abramoff's, but said the former lobbyist did do wrong. He said he is disturbed by Burns' consistent portrayal that Abramoff and his staff were far removed from Burns and his Senate employees. "To sit there and rewrite the entire context of what occurred," Warren said. "How is it that you received the money you received and the favors you received? He's just not being honest." Warner's letter said he wasn't personally close to Burns' staff. "I just know who they were and that they were constantly in his restaurant," he said. Warner's letter isn't the first time the man has written on Abramoff's behalf. Warner was one of the 260 people who wrote letters to a federal judge this spring on Abramoff's behalf urging the judge to be lenient in his punishment for Abramoff. Iverson said he thought most Montanans would discount Warner's letter. "When it comes to character references, most Montanans are going to take the word of folks from (Tester's hometown) Big Sandy," he said, referring to the letters written on behalf of Burns from Big Sandy residents. Matt McKenna, a Tester spokesman, countered that "the people who know Jack Abramoff best know that Senator Burns was a wholly owned subsidiary of Abramoff's lobbying firm."