Posted on 12/09/2005 3:15:23 AM PST by BigSkyFreeper
HELENA - Under scrutiny for his dealings with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., lashed out this week at Abramoff and suggestions that the senator did favors for Abramoff clients.
Burns, 70, who is up for re-election in 2006, told a Kalispell television station Wednesday that he wished Abramoff had never been born.
"This Abramoff guy is a bad guy," Burns told KAJ television in Kalispell. "And he's indicted, and I hope he goes to jail and we never see him again. I wish he'd never been born to be right honest with you. Because he's done a terrible, terrible thing to our Native American community."
Burns' office also released a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales dated Nov. 28, after The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post reported that the senator was one of four lawmakers caught up in a Justice Department investigation into Abramoff. The newspapers cited anonymous sources.
And the Montana Republican Party released a "personal message from Conrad" on its Web site, linking to the Gonzales letter. The message criticizes Democrats for associating Burns with Abramoff.
"We have media planned for after the first of the year and continue to believe its best not to get muddled up in this before the holidays," the message reads.
The Montana Democratic Party already has aired two statewide television spots criticizing Burns for his ties to Abramoff.
"We have nothing to hide," said James Pendleton, Burns' spokesman. "It's an open book."
Asked about Burns' statement Wednesday that he wished the lobbyist had never been born, Pendleton said Burns is very upset.
"You have somebody like this guy (Abramoff) who, through greed and ego, does nothing but hurt people," Pendleton said.
Burns has been linked to Abramoff on several matters. In 2003, he helped one of Abramoff's clients, the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe in Michigan, get a $3 million grant to build a school. Because of its gambling, the tribe is one of the richest in the United States, paying each tribal member $70,000 a year.
The Department of Interior initially decided the tribe was ineligible for the money.
Burns received $136,500, more than any other lawmaker, from Abramoff's tribal clients between 2001 and 2004, a Bloomberg News database showed.
That same year, Burns changed his stance on a bill that would have broadened federal immigration and labor law oversight in the Northern Marianas Islands, a U.S. territory. Burns' vote against the bill came a little over a month after he received a $5,000 donation from a Marianas man who works for a major garment manufacturer on the islands. The firm, Tan Holdings, was part of a conglomerate that paid Abramoff $460,000 that year to defeat the bill.
Burns earlier had not opposed an identical bill that passed the U.S. Senate by unanimous consent.
Will Brooke, Burns' former chief of staff, went to the 2001 Super Bowl at Abramoff's invitation. Abramoff's tribal clients, not the lobbyist, paid for the trip.
Burns' letter to Gonzales dealt with the Saginaw Chippewa and the Super Bowl trip, among other things. In a packet of information released along with the letter, Burns included documents showing that the $3 million request for the tribal school came from Michigan's two senators, both Democrats.
The packet also included information showing it is not a violation of Senate ethics rules for Senate staffers such as Brooke to take trips paid for by American Indian tribes.
Pendleton said Burns never asked the Justice Department if the senator is indeed a target of its investigation. However, the senator has not been contacted by the Justice Department or the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs committee, which is conducting its own investigation into Abramoff, he said. Nor has he been contacted by the Senate Ethics Committee, which received a complaint last spring from the Montana Democratic Party.
Abramoff was indicted in Florida in August on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy relating to his purchase of a fleet of gambling boats. He has not been charged for any of his lobbying activities, although his partner, Michael Scanlon, recently pleaded guilty to bribery charges in the matter and is cooperating with the Justice Department in its investigation.
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee is investigating whether the pair bilked Indian tribes out of millions of dollars, funneling the money into their own bank accounts.
Looks like Burns is toast. How many other politicians are going down with this guy and how many of them are Republicans?
for later
Thanks for the link. I've seen references to Abramof frequently here but didn't know the background. Even though this article doesn't discuss the part of the scandal that Washington is focusing on it's clear Abramof is going to take a lot of politicians down with him. It might also explain the eagerness of House Republicans to replace DeLay. It looks like this indictment in Texas is peanuts compared to what's coming down the pike.
He took the guy's money and now the guy is a crook.
He did not say that he , if he thought the guy was a crook, should have taken his money.
I read this article about 2 weeks ago...printed it out(long article) and couldn't put it down!
Thanks for hotlinking it here so others may read it too.
Ya think?! This has been one awful year for us.
Of course we have only just begun to realise what all Abramoff has been up to, and how our 'stupid party' congress critters have gone nuts with greed and power...
When I saw what Dana had been doing, it really hurt. I always thought he was a good guy. and Bob Ney...
You have a very Merry Christmas too!
These guys got nothing on Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin. Indian Casino Money came in floods just before his election. He makes all these Senators and Congressman look like Pikers.
I just noticed your tag line. That's very well said.
This is why mine puts Republican 3rd in line.
I'm ashamed to admit that I don't know Gov. Doyle, and I live in Illinois. Since Tommy Thompson left the gubnrshp, I haven't paid much attention. Other than I knew the Gov. there was heavy into "gaming" and assumed that meant Indians and casinos.
(I'm afraid to ask...is he a republican, too?)
This gambling stuff is really serious, doing a lot of harm to the politics of this nation.
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