Well,
breaking for Deborah Howell:
"The tribes that want this (not just ours) are the only guys who take care of the Rs," Abramoff deputy Todd Boulanger wrote in a June 19, 2002, e-mail to Abramoff and his lobbying team, using "Rs" as shorthand for Republicans.
. . . A staffer for the National Republican Congressional Committee, Jonathan Poe, suggested Abramoff's team compile a list of tribal donations, comparing Republicans with Democrats, to help make the case for lawmakers to overrule Kaplan, the e-mails state.
Poe's "suggestion for me was to have a list of money contributed by tribes broken down r to d so that I can make the cleanest argument that we are about to let the Senate Democrats take credit for the biggest ask of the year by the most Republican-leaning tribes," Abramoff lobbying associate Neil Volz wrote.
Abramoff's team obliged, creating a tally that showed his tribal clients overwhelmingly donated to Republicans -- $225,000 compared with $79,000 for Democrats.
Got that Debbie? Abramoff's clients overwhelmingly donated to Republicans. Abramoff devised this scheme, in part, in order to continue to steer donations to Republicans.
The entire WaPo editorial board is going to be a little uncomfortable about this revelation:
Abramoff's team persisted, calling the White House intergovernmental affairs office that often deals with Congress.
"Just talked to White House intergovernmental. I'm pretty sure they will weigh in. Just trying to figure out if they should call Joel or some other player in this drama," Abramoff associate Kevin Ring wrote.
White House intervention became unnecessary when Abramoff's team hit the jackpot with Conrad Burns in the Senate and Charles Taylor in the House. But obviously the Abramoff team was confident that they had the White House on their side. Hmmmm. . . . I wonder why?
H/T to
dengre.