The
increasing Abramoff stench coming out of the South Pacific and the White House has finally been noticed.
Scotty the Dog, of course, faithfully transmitting the words of the President, poo-poohs the idea that Bush knows swindler Jack Abramoff or has met with him.
Not so fast, Scotty.
Recently we tried to refresh your memory of a
meeting between Abramoff and Bush in 2001 at the WH. And, the
AP has reported on documents obtained under FOIA from the Northern Marianas, which would indicate Bush and Abramoff were cooperating as far back as 1997.
In President Bush's first 10 months, GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the new administration as they pressed for friendly hires at federal agencies and sought to keep the Northern Mariana Islands exempt from the minimum wage and other laws, records show....
That's just ten months, people, and these are only those contacts regarding the N. Marianas.
Below the jump: George writes love note to Jackie in 1997.
The Jack Attack was pretty widespread:
The meetings between Abramoff's lobbying team and the administration ranged from Attorney General John Ashcroft to policy advisers in Vice President Dick Cheney's office, according to his lobbying firm billing records.
And here we learn that Bush and Jack go way Back.
The records... chronicle Abramoff's careful cultivation of relations with Bush's political team as far back as 1997.
In that year, Abramoff charged the Marianas for getting then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush to write a letter expressing support for the Pacific territory's school choice proposal, his billing records show.
"I hope you will keep my office informed on the progress of this initiative," Bush wrote in a July 18, 1997, letter praising the islands' school plan and copying in an Abramoff deputy.
The insertion of two Abramoff aides into the Bush administration is well known. So far,
only 50% have been indicted. Marianas' documents shed some light into this cranny:
At least two people who worked on Abramoff's team at Preston Gates wound up with Bush administration jobs: Patrick Pizzella, named an assistant secretary of labor by Bush; and David Safavian, chosen by Bush to oversee federal procurement policy in the Office of Management and Budget.
"We have worked with WH Office of Presidential Personnel to ensure that CNMI-relevant positions at various agencies are not awarded to enemies of CNMI," Abramoff's team wrote the Marianas in an October 2001 report on its work for the year.
The Tans are certainly among the least admirable
procurers sweatshop owners child labor law violators employers that are allowed to stamp "Made in USA" on their
junk merchandise:
Money also flowed from the Marianas to Bush's re-election campaign: It took in at least $36,000 from island donors, much of it from members of the Tan family, whose clothing factories were a routine stop for lawmakers and their aides visiting the islands on Abramoff-organized trips.
Two Tan family companies gave $25,000 each to the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 2002 elections. Greenberg Traurig, too, was a big GOP giver. Its donations included $20,000 to the Republican National Committee for the 2000 elections and $25,000 each to the GOP's House and Senate fundraising committees in 2000 and again in 2002.
The Marianas' lobbying paid off -- it fended off proposals in 2001 to extend the U.S. minimum wage to island workers and gained at least $2 million more in federal aid from the administration.
Abramoff's team bragged to the cash-strapped Marianas government that the taxpayer money would cover its lobbying bill: "We believe that this additional funding -- along with other funds we expect to secure by the end of the year -- will make clear to even our biggest critics that we pay for ourselves," Abramoff teammate Kevin Ring wrote in October 2001, copying in Abramoff.
The White House staff must be doing some serious scambling to "White" out Abramoff from documents and photos. Anticipate some sort of Steve Martin defense from the Scotty Dog.
And if the subpoenas beat the shredders to Greenberg Traurig, there may be more reeking material to follow.
And by the way, if Scotty has a moment, perhaps he could explain to dengre and the Amurcun peeple how political contributions from the Tans, Chinese nationals, would be legal.