Vanity: Where can I get a breakdown/summary of Abramoff's $$$

1/21/2006 | Mr. Buzzcut

[Mr. Buzzcut]

I'd like to do a mathematical analysis ...

[coconutt2000]

Prediction:

Abramoff was an equal opportunity donor.

[Rocko]

I know it's the Washington Post, but here's a start: Click here.

[blackdiamondracer]

Is there a serchable directory of everyone who is a registered lobbiest at the federal level?

[Paraclete]

http://www.opensecrets.org/

[ThreePuttinDude]

This could be a start.

[wildbill]

The problem you will have is separating legal donations from illegal bribes/donations.

The Constitution protects lobbying "right to petition" and therefore lobbyists and their sponsors have a legal right to ask Congresscritters to support legislation. And they can support those Congresscritters with campaign donations as long as they are legal--and are not specifically tied to a quid pro quo.

Sorting all this out will be difficult and one of the reasons only a couple of Congressmen have been identified or indicated in the probe.

[Perdogg]

Tammy Bruce's website.

[WatchingInAmazement]

Start here. It's a good investigation, complete with charts, etc.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801588.html?sub=new

The Fast Rise and Steep Fall of Jack Abramoff
How a Well-Connected Lobbyist Became the Center of a Far-Reaching Corruption Scandal

By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 29, 2005; Page A01

A quarter of a century ago, Abramoff and anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist were fellow Young Turks of the Reagan revolution. They organized Massachusetts college campuses in the 1980 election -- Abramoff while he was an undergraduate at Brandeis and Norquist at Harvard Business School -- to help Ronald Reagan pull an upset in the state.

They moved to Washington, maneuvered to take over the College Republicans -- at the time a sleepy establishment organization -- and transformed it into a right-wing activist group. They were joined by Ralph Reed, an ambitious Georgian whose later Christian conversion would fuel his rise to national political prominence.

Soon they made headlines with such tactics as demolishing a mock Berlin Wall in Lafayette Park, where they also burned a Soviet leader in effigy. "We want to shock them," Abramoff told The Post at the time.[snip]

[msnimje]

The Republican response to the Democrats attacks that the Rs got more money should be to ask what amount is okay? Is it $5,000, $50,000, or $500,000?

[Mount Athos]

Probably given to the parties in the same ratio they exist in congress.

[airedale]

Besides OpenSecrets go to http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/ which is another source of FEC info. The two tough parts of this is identifying all the groups that Abramoff channeled funds through. I doubt that all of them are currently known. Second and tougher part would be finding out if the donations had an effect. For example did Senator Harry Reid write a letter or take action in return for a donation, trip, etc or a promised one. I think the Washington Post identified one case where Reid wrote a letter supporting a tribe and then got a $5,000 donation. Because he wrote the letter isn't proof that he did it for the donation. Proving the quid pro quo is almost impossible. The most that can be done is pointing out a pattern of behavior.

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Thanks to all my fellow Freepers ...!