http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7975.shtml
Different Republican, same corruption
By Staff and Wire Reports
Jan 11, 2006
The man who wants to replace scandal-scarred Tom DeLay as majority
leader in the House of Representatives shares the same connections to
corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Blunt, R-Mo., wrote at least three letters helpful to Abramoff clients
while collecting money from them.
He swapped donations between his and DeLay's political groups,
ultimately enriching the Missouri political campaign of his son Matt.
And Blunt's wife and another son, Andrew, lobby for many of the same
companies that donate to the lawmaker's political efforts.
With House Republicans worried about a budding corruption scandal tied
to Abramoff's favors to lawmakers, DeLay, R-Texas, announced Saturday
he would not try to regain his majority leader's post in upcoming
party elections.
DeLay was forced to step down last year under party rules, after he
was charged with Texas felonies in a state money laundering
investigation.
Blunt has temporarily filled the position and now is competing to be
DeLay's permanent replacement.
Blunt's own connections to Abramoff or his clients could complicate
GOP plans to distance its leadership from the corruption investigation
before the fall elections for control of Congress.
Abramoff pleaded guilty last week to felony charges and is cooperating
with investigators whose bribery probe is now focusing on several
members of Congress and their aides.
As the Abramoff investigation has developed, many lawmakers have said
they will donate to charity campaign contributions related to the
disgraced lobbyist.
The board of Blunt's Rely On Your Beliefs Fund has voted to contribute
to charity an amount equivalent to Abramoff's personal contributions,
$8,500, according to Blunt spokeswoman Burson Taylor.
Blunt and DeLay and their aides frequently met with Abramoff's
lobbying team and even jointly signed a letter supportive of an Indian
tribe client at the heart of the Abramoff criminal investigation,
according to records published by The Associated Press over the past
year.
Blunt's office says all of his dealings were proper.
"Mr. Blunt has never been accused of engaging in any legislative
activities on Jack Abramoff's behalf," Taylor said.
Blunt's main competitor for the House majority leader's post is Rep.
John Boehner, R-Ohio, chairman of the House committee that oversees
education and labor.
Boehner in 1996 admitted he distributed a tobacco political action
committee's campaign checks on the House floor, but said at the time
he would never do it again.
He served in the House leadership in the 1990s, but lost his post
after the party suffered losses in the 1998 elections.
Thomas Mann, who studies congressional issues for the Brookings
Institution think tank, said Republican leaders' hardball tactics in
getting legislation passed and their alliances with special interests
during a decade of congressional rule are now being scrutinized by
voters.
"It's been smash-mouth politics," Mann said in an interview.
"They've been tough and effective in enacting their polices and
they're paying a price right now for it."
Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist and author,
said Blunt's name doesn't have the same nationwide recognition as
other GOP leaders, and one way he could shed any ethical questions
would be to support lobbying reforms.
Blunt, in a written statement, pledged to do just that.
He said that if elected leader, he would "move swiftly to enact new
lobbying reforms and enhanced penalties for those who break the public
trust."
Texas prosecutors recently subpoenaed records of a series of financial
transactions in 2000 between DeLay and Blunt that were highlighted in
a recent AP story.
DeLay raised more money than he needed to throw parties at the 2000
Republican National Convention and sent some of the excess to Blunt
through a series of donations that benefited the causes of both men.
After transfers between political organizations, some of the money
went to the campaign of Blunt's son, Matt, in his successful 2000
campaign for secretary of state.
Now the Republican governor of Missouri, Matt Blunt eventually
received more than $160,000 in 2000.
Taylor, the Blunt spokeswoman, denied that DeLay raised excess money
for the purpose of transferring it to Blunt.
Rather, she said, the convention fundraising was a joint effort
between DeLay and Blunt all along.
She said Blunt's Rely On Your Beliefs Fund contributes annually to the
Missouri Republican Party, but doesn't specify how the money should be
spent.
"It stands to reason that the party committee would contribute to a
Republican candidate for statewide office, in this case, Matt Blunt,"
Taylor said.
Both DeLay and Blunt forged strong connections with corporate
lobbyists, raising questions of whether the lobbyists influenced
legislation in return for their contributions.
DeLay was admonished in 2004 by the House ethics committee for
creating the appearance of connecting energy industry donations with
legislation.
Blunt's wife, Abigail Perlman, is a lobbyist for Kraft Foods, part of
Altria, the company that also includes Philip Morris.
The parent firm and its companies have contributed nearly $224,000 to
Blunt's political organizations since 2001, according to figures
compiled by a campaign finance tracking firm, Political MoneyLine.
Blunt's supporters also included companies that have been clients of
another of Blunt's sons, Andrew.
He lobbies the Missouri legislature.
"He and Mr. Blunt have no contact on legislative issues," Taylor said
of the father-son relationship.
She added, "Mrs. Blunt does not lobby the House of Representatives,
and Mr. Blunt would recuse himself from voting or working on any issue
that would impact Altria specifically."
Shortly after Blunt became the party whip in 2002, he tried to quietly
insert a provision benefiting Philip Morris USA into the bill creating
the Homeland Security Department.
Taylor said the provision would have cracked down on the illegal sale
of contraband cigarettes, a documented source of funding for terrorist
organizations.
Bipartisan legislation to achieve the same result has passed as part
of the USA Patriot Act, she said.
In his ties to Abramoff, Blunt was among nearly three dozen members of
Congress, including leaders from both parties, who pressed the
government to block a Louisiana Indian tribe from opening a casino.
The lawmakers received donations from rival tribes and their lobbyist,
Abramoff, around the same time.
Blunt received a $1,000 donation from Abramoff and $2,000 from his
lobbying firm around the time of a May 2003 letter he wrote to
Interior Secretary Gale Norton on the casino matter.
A month later he signed another letter on the issue along with DeLay
and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.
Taylor responded that Blunt "has a long history of opposition to
Indian gaming. His district, which includes Branson, Missouri, is
fundamentally opposed to the expansion of gaming, and he reflects that
broad opinion."
She said Blunt signed the letters to Norton at the request of Rep. Jim
McCrery, R-La., not Abramoff.
"It is also very important to note that Mr. Blunt does not accept
campaign contributions from Indian gaming interests, so any 'quid pro
quo' argument is baseless here," Taylor added.
In spring 2000, an Abramoff client accused of running a sweatshop
garment factory in the Northern Mariana Islands donated $3,000 to
Blunt's political organization.
The company, Concorde Garment Manufacturing, paid a $9 million penalty
to the U.S. government in the 1990s for failing to pay workers
overtime.
The company was visited by DeLay.
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They're all alike, eh?
Harry
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