This diary is edited to correct the record. I was wrong. Democrats received no money at all from Abramoff. Democrats did receive money from tribes but that does not connect the Democrats to Abramoff.
Below the fold, I say why I was wrong.
**Native Americans are trying to get their money back from Abramoff while politicians are rushing to give the money not to its rightful owners--the Native Americans-- but to "charities" of the politicians own choosing.
**Two-time recess appointee Floyd Hall rode the train to Washington to fire David Gunn and yet, there maybe legal problems with the way Bush appointed Hall twice to the Amtrak board, both times while Congress was in recess.
The Washington Post published several graphics and stories suggesting that Abramoff is an equal opportunity scandal. It is not. It is a Republican scandal, pure and simple. I now believe WaPo went beyond the facts to create a false picture by conflating Abramoff Team contributions with contributions from its tribal clients who were his victims, not his co-conspirators.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/02/AR2005060202158.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2005/12/12/GR2005121200286.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/daily/graphics/abramoff_060305.html
In the stories and graphics cited,
1. WP accords the tribes no credit for independently deciding where to spend their money i.e. to give Democrats money. The stories assume that because WP reporters possess a list of directives from Abramoff-- that the tribes were compliant with Abramoff's suggestions on where to spend their money.
2. WP draws no connection in the graphics or printed story of Team Abramoff lobbying Democrats for anything. Therefore, the WP (June) headline, that ran on A1, is misleading: Democrats Also Got Tribal Donations -- Abramoff Issue's Fallout May Extend Beyond the GOP
Rep. Kennedy is a good example of where an independent relationship existed with the tribes but the WP numbers don't show it. (Kennedy is depicted in defensive position in the June story.)
Unless and until a direct link is shown between Abramoff Team members directly lobbying Democrats on behalf of (or to spite) their tribal clients, WP is skipping a beat to conflate both in graphics and news stories. For that reason, the graphics are misleading as is the June story. (The December graphic is listed as top emailed on WP web site today.) I know of no other reporting that tries to factually link Democrats with Abramoff. Most media is parroting these WP stories which appear to be the basis of RNC attempts to make Abramoff seem like an equal opportunity fraud. I was misled by trusting the credits, which included the respected Center for Public Integrity. I contacted the Center; they did not participate in the WP analysis that seems to conflate tribal and Abramoff interests.
In other matters, Amy Goodman over at Democracy Now! discusses how Native American tribes are trying to recover after being defrauded of tens of millions by Abramoff:
http://www.democracynow.org/...
Thomas B. Edsall, at WaPo, offers relevant detail on the recess appointments intended to avert Senate battles
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Matthew Schuerman at The Observer lets us know recess appointee Floyd Hall's role in throwing "David Gunn From The Trains: His Amtrak Sack"
http://www.observer.com/...
On November 13, 2005, New York Times reporter Matthew Wald, who covers the nuclear and transportation beats, questioned the sacking of David Gunn
As quoted by the Train Riders Association of California at http://www.calrailnews.com/... Wald wrote:
"Of the four current board members, only Mr. Laney was confirmed by the Senate for the job. Two of the appointees, Enrique Sosa and Floyd Hall, were recess appointments put in place by President Bush under Article 2 of the Constitution, which allows the president to name people to fill vacancies that occur when Congress is out of session.
Such appointees serve only until the end of the Congressional session, meaning that Mr. Sosa's and Mr. Hall's terms will end when the current session of Congress ends in a few weeks.
A deeper problem may be that Amtrak's enabling legislation specifies that it is not a government agency, and the legality of recess appointments to Amtrak has not been tested in court, legal experts say.
Mr. Hall and Mr. Sosa declined interview requests made through Amtrak. All four board members are Bush loyalists, but they are not popular with Amtrak supporters in Congress. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, said on Wednesday that before Mr. Sosa was appointed to the board, he said he had never ridden an Amtrak train."