Republicans, Murder and the Mob

An unbelievable article in -- of all places -- this week's Weekly Standard.

It describes how Abramoff & his associates were connected to the 2001 murder of Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, their associate at SunCruz lines. Abramoff & Kidan have not been charged with murder, only with wire fraud and conspiracy, for the sleazy & illegal way that they purchased SunCruz from Boulis in 2000.

One really striking aspect of the story is how Bob Ney was the servant of Scanlon. He repeated verbatim into the Congressional record whatever Scanlon told him to say, even when it was just a settling of scores with this business partner.

We've heard more about the Abramoff scandal and the Indian tribes, all juicy stuff. But I think this Florida case has been less discussed in the media and it's shocking stuff.

The essential story is that Boulis had developed SunCruz Lines (which were gambling boats) into a very lucrative business. Abramoff decided to buy them, and along with some other criminal activity (for which he is now charged), he used his political influence to pressure Boulis to make a good deal.

Ney got up on the floor of Congress and gave a speech (written by Scanlon) attacking Gus Boulis.  Later, after Abramoff and his sleazy associate Kidan took over, Ney went back to the floor and read another statement praising Kidan and the new management of SunCruz lines.

All of this might be standard practice for our representatives, but it's still pretty shocking. The fact that Boulis was murdered by the Mob a few months later, and it seems likely that Kidan and perhaps Abramoff were involved, is just the icing on the cake.

The author of this interesting piece, Matthew Continetti, ends the piece with a suggestion that the right is beginning to disassociate itself from Delay's Congressional Follies:

"A decade ago Republicans stormed Washington with plans to establish a "new order," shrink government, and drain the swamp of public malfeasance. Today Republicans look warily over the horizon, and nervously await a midterm election in which voters will be asked to evaluate whether the party has lived up to its ideals."