"It looks as if Harry Reid's whealing and dealing will be ignored...what else is new?"
They are ignoring his land deals (I don't know why the Pubbies don't say they want an Ethics Committee hearing on it).
It's also interesting that we haven't heard much about Reid and Abramoff in a while, however, Curt Weldon is *conveniently* being investigated now "2 people familiar with the investigation say"
Tribes gave to Reid after hiring Abramoff
Las Vegas Review-Journal ^ | February 3, 2006 | Tony Batt Stephens
Posted on 02/09/2006 1:50:14 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada began receiving campaign contributions from at least four American Indian tribes only after they hired Jack Abramoff, Republicans charged this week in an effort to tie the Senate Democratic leader to the disgraced lobbyist.
On Thursday, Reid shrugged off questions about money he received from tribal clients of Abramoff, who pleaded guilty last month to three felonies after being accused of exchanging meals, travel and gifts for political favors.
"I've said that I received money from Indians in the past and will continue to do so," Reid said.
Asked what he would say about tribes who did not give him money until after hiring Abramoff, Reid said, "What I've said all along."
The National Republican Senatorial Committee this week revived a charge that Reid received more than $50,000 from four tribes with gaming interests between 2001 and 2004 after they hired Abramoff. The Nevadan had received no money from those tribes before then, Republicans said.
The donations included:
• $19,500 from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians of California.
• $5,000 from the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.
• $7,000 from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
• $19,000 from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan.
"Harry Reid's ties to Jack Abramoff are too substantial for him to dismiss with Washington, D.C., denial and hypocritical accusations," Republican spokesman Tucker Bounds said.
Reid has acknowledged receiving $61,000 from tribal clients and lobbying colleagues of Abramoff. He has said the money was legally raised, that he has done nothing improper and does not plan to refund the donations.
An analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign watchdog group, shows that Indian gaming tribes as a general proposition increased their political donations substantially since the late 1990s, spreading money wider and deeper among members of Congress.
In the 1998 election cycle, tribes donated $1.5 million. In the 2004 cycle donations had increased to $7.2 million, the center found.
Gaming tribes "didn't break $2 million until 2000, and then it started going up," said center spokesman Massie Ritsch. "How much was due to Abramoff's influence, I don't know, He did not represent all the tribes."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1575425/posts
Weldon faces probe on daughter's deals
AP ^ | Oct. 15, 2006 | KIMBERLY HEFLING and LARA JAKES JORDAN
Posted on 10/15/2006 5:21:16 AM PDT by Alissa
The FBI is investigating whether Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., used his influence to secure lobbying and consulting contracts for his daughter, two people familiar with the inquiry said Saturday.
The inquiry focuses on lobbying contracts worth $1 million that Weldon's daughter, Karen Weldon, obtained from foreign clients and whether they were assisted by the congressman, they said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality of the criminal investigation.
Weldon, a 10-term Republican from the Philadelphia suburbs, long has denied any wrongdoing, and his top aide said Saturday no one had notified him of an investigation.
"I think if there was an investigation, somebody would have contacted us," said Russ Caso, Weldon's chief of staff.
Caso said Weldon and his staff were "100 percent caught off guard" when they learned of the investigation, first reported late Friday by McClatchy Newspapers. This account cited two individuals with specific knowledge of the existence of the investigation; they declined to be identified because of the confidentiality of criminal investigations.
Caso, whose boss is in a tight race for re-election on Nov. 7 against Democrat Joe Sestak, tried to cast doubt on reports of the investigation. "Unidentified sources mean nothing," Caso said. "There's no substance in that story. It's a flimsy story."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1719689/posts
How would the dems like to have this compared to the activity of his sons and son-in-law?
The Reid Connections
Flopping Aces ^ | October 12, 2006 | Flopping Aces
Posted on 10/12/2006 7:13:03 PM MDT by bobsunshine
Check out this great .PDF file put together by the LA Times sometime back which showed how knowing Reid, or being related to him will get you places…..and rich:
(snip - following from the LA Times article)
"At least 17 senators and 11 members of the House have children, spouses or other close relatives who lobby or work as consultants, most in Washington
[…]But Harry Reid is in a class by himself. One of his sons and his son-in-law lobby in Washington for companies, trade groups and municipalities seeking Reid’s help in the Senate. A second son has lobbied in Nevada for some of those same interests, and a third has represented a couple of them as a litigator. In the last four years alone, their firms have collected more than $2 million in lobbying fees from special interests that were represented by the kids and helped by the senator in Washington. So pervasive are the ties among Reid, members of his family and Nevada’s leading industries and institutions that it’s difficult to find a significant field in which such a relationship does not exist….
In an internal memo, [Reid chief of staff Susan] McCue said Reid’s family members had lobbied his staff by ‘supplying research, technical support and strategic guidance.’ She described them as ‘effective advocates for their clients.’"
You can view a flowchart here from the LA Times (it's a PDF file, just right click the link and click "Save As...")
Caso said Weldon and his staff were "100 percent caught off guard" when they learned of the investigation, first reported late Friday by McClatchy Newspapers.
^^^^^
It used to be (during the clinton years) that bad news was dropped on Friday afternoons, so as to avoid scrutiny. Now, the cycle is reversed, and hit jobs are introduced on Friday afternoons to build steam in the present-day 24/7 news cycle.
Rep. Weldon has to know he is a target because of his insistence on speaking out about Able Danger.
The date and time and using his daughter to get him might have been a surprise, but not the fact that he is a target.
A minor defense of the pubbies on this. First, most of them are out of town as the Senate isn't in session and it's campaign season, even for the two thirds of Senators not up this time. They'll be out working for colleagues or congressional races in their states. The other thing is that if they have called for hearings I just don't think the DBM will mention it. They're intentionally playing down the Reid thing and will ignore all but the most outlandish things dealing with his land deal, or probably any Dhimmicrat scandal, for the next 3 weeks, at least.
On top of that Dingy Harry is making himself scarce. That didn't help with the Foley case, the DBM and dim hit squads just shifted their sites to their real targets, the Republican leadership, who had done nothing wrong. But the Republican leadership was mostly in town or available where they were. The Dhimicrat leadership isn't being asked question one about Reid yet.
The DBM will continue to ignore all news that might be negative for the Dhimmicrats. Unless we do something about it.