The Abramoff Affair Is A REPUBLICAN Scandal

Despite GOP efforts to argue that the Abramoff scandal is bipartisan, the facts show that this is a Republican scandal. Every person who has been indicted or pled guilty is a Republican and every published report that lists potential indictees in the DOJ probe is a Republican – Not one of the published reports listing potential targets of the DOJ probe includes Democratic Members of Congress or staffers.

DOJ IS LOOKING AT REPUBLICANS: According to published reports, the only Members of Congress that the Justice Department has been looking at are Republicans, including Montana Sen. Conrad Burns, Reps. Bob Ney, and John Doolittle. [Washington Post, 11/26/05; Wall Street Journal, 11/25/05]

ABRAMOFF DONATED TO GOP BUT GAVE NOTHING TO DEMS: Despite Bush’s assertion that Abramoff was an equal money dispenser to both parties, the facts show that Republican lobbyist Abramoff didn’t give one cent to Democrats. Abramoff has, however, contributed more than $200,000 to Republican members of Congress over the last decade. [Bloomberg News, 12/21/05; Hotline’s On Call, 1/4/06; www.opensecrets.org]

ABRAMOFF WORKED TO STEER DONATIONS TO THE GOP. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Abramoff tries hard to persuade his fellow Washington lobbyists to give more generously to the Republican Party, its candidates and conservative organizations. He expects to raise as much as $5 million this year, he said, and plans to donate as much as $250,000 personally.” [New York Times, 4/3/02]

LESSON OF 1994: Despite pundits asserting that the Abramoff plea could cause problems for both Republicans and Democrats at the polls in 2006, history shows that the majority party is the one that suffers from these kinds of scandals. In 1994, the House banking scandal that rocked Washington resulted in a wave of Democratic incumbents losing their seats while only one GOP incumbent was defeated. [Washington Times, McCaslin Column, 11/10/94]

CONRAD BURNS STEERED $3 MILLION TO ABRAMOFF CLIENT: Burns – a 2006 candidate and the poster boy for the Abramoff scandal in the Senate – admitted that he included a $3 million school appropriation for the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe in the FY04 Interior Appropriations bill that had previously been rejected by the U.S. Department of Interior for not meeting requirements for federal funding. Burns, who recently reversed himself and said he would return $150,000 in campaign contributions from Abramoff, his associates and clients, had accepted more Abramoff-related money than any other member of Congress. [Washington Post, 3/1/05; Roll Call, 4/11/05; Billings Gazette, 4/17/05; Great Falls Tribune, 11/26/05; Center for Responsive Politics; Washington Post, 12/16/05]

RICK SANTORUM RUNS GOP “K” STREET PROJECT: Santorum - another 2006 Senate candidate, runs the K Street project where he “vets the hiring decisions of major lobbyists.” The K Street project, created by conservative movement leader Grover Norquist and indicted Rep. Tom DeLay, seeks to place Republicans in high-level corporate and lobbyist positions. As of June 2003, Santorum had successfully placed “33 of 36 top-level Washington positions he [was] monitoring.” All positions went to Republicans. As the Washington Post reported, Santorum’s colleagues resorted to “intimidation and private threats” to bully lobbyists who try to maintain good relations with both parties. [New York Times, 6/27/03; Washington Post, 6/26/03; US News & World Report, 10/17/05]