CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) has brought a complaint to the Department of Justice (yes, AG Alberto "AG" "Abu Ghraib" Gonzalez' department) regarding my Congresscritter Pete Sessions' (TX-32) ties to Jack Abramoff. There are three areas of complaint:
1. Indian casino kickback scams ($20,500).
2. A federal DHS-related contractor which contributed $55,000 to Sessions.
3. Trip to Malaysia with indicted corrupt lobbyists.
Now this all went on over a period of time between 2000 and 2003, according to the complaint. Details below...
*UPDATE* Just my personal peeve, but I wrote to the DaMN writer (see below).
1. Indian casino kickback scams Pete Sessions played the "I was for Indian casinos before I was against them" game that Abramoff perfected, then later received $20,500 in contributions from tribes that were Abramoff's clients.
2. Federal DHS contracts A contracting company -- named Promia-- that Pete went to bat for, "coincidentally" contributed a total of $55,000 to Sessions' re-election campaign and his "PETE PAC". Promia received an $800,000 federal DHS-related contract, but Pete had pushed for them to receive $8.0 million, which fell through.
3. Malaysia trip with indicted corrupt lobbyists Pete showed an unusual interest in Malaysia months after 9-11-2001, and took an Abramoff-arranged trip to do some foreign lobbying work there. He helped found the "Malaysia Trade, Security and Economic Cooperation" caucus, ostensibly to strengthen ties with that muslim nation as a strategic ally in the GWOT. The CREW complaint also cites the fact that the Malaysia trip included Greenberg Traurig lobbyists, Michael Scanlon, Tony Rudy and two other Members of Congress, Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and Gregory Meeks (D- N.Y.). Rudy and Scanlon have been indicted, and the others are not above suspicion, shall we say.
This further insidious tentacle (one of many) of the Abramoff lobbying corruption scandal shows how extensive this crap has been, and how long this has been goin' on.
CREW's news release is here:
http://www.citizensforethics.org/...
link to the CREW complaint: http://www.citizensforethics.org/...
and to CREW's exhibits of evidence: (.pdf, 52 pp.)http://www.citizensforethics.org/...
Raw Story has details
http://www.rawstory.com/...
And other media have also picked it up:
DaMN - (note this is not newswire, but their own reporter, Todd Gilman)
http://www.dallasnews.com/...
*UPDATE* My e-mail to Todd Gilman regarding the phrase "disgraced lobbyist":
"Thanks for a great story in today's edition. This has been out there a while, and as a constituent of the 32nd I appreciate your bringing it to readers' attention. We will see what the AG's office does with the CREW complaint. I hope you will have follow-up stories about this as it develops.
May I offer a small but important correction? You refer to Abramoff as a "disgraced lobbyist". Prior to any indictment or plea bargain on his party, that may have been appropriate. May I suggest that, in light of his guilty plea and likely conviction, that something like "confessed corrupt lobbyist" or "confessed felon" may be more accurate? This is not a matter of appearance of possible dealings close to the legal edge: the man has pled a deal, and admits his guilt in these counts. "Disgrace" hints of impropriety, not felonious illegality.
Please continue your great reporting on political and related issues."
Austin American-Statesman - (may have subscr. wall)
http://www.statesman.com/...
Pete Session has a Democratic opponent in the race, Will Pryor. His website: http://www.pryor06.com/...
Will is an attorney, an experienced and successful mediator, just like Barbara Ann Radnofsky, the Dem. US Senate candidate from Texas running against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. He is a moderate, which is simply the fact of what it will take to win in this district. I have been e-mailing him comments and support, and perhaps some of you here could do the same. Will Pryor is on the right side of the immigration issue - - he participated and carried a banner in the march here in Dallas -- 500,000 marchers -- week before last).
We do NOT need to give Pete Sessions another free ride back to DC to continue the kind of shenanigans and corrupt practices he has done in the past. The citizens and residents of the Texas 32nd deserve to be represented in Washington, not have Pete run his own self-aggrandizing deals that do nothing for his constituents.
I would draw your attention to a little-noticed diary on Pete put up by alaprst from a couple of days ago:http://www.dailykos.com/...
and to a general diary by Dengre about Abramoff-GOP connections:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Dengre asked a perhaps prescient question at that time: "Who will be the next GOP thug brought down by their close ties to Jack Abramoff?"
We can hope that it might be Representative Pete Sessions of the Texas 32nd. Others may have been involved in larger amounts of money, but from where I sit in Dallas, there has already been too much of this. The corruption must stop.