Reid Shrugs Off Abramoff Connections
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid took money from Indian tribes connected to Jack Abramoff, according to a story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
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.
This strikes me as a case of guilt by association. It is not particularly surprising that a Nevada senator would be on the receiving end of donations from gambling interests. That the donations increased after Abramoff came aboard is not particularly damning, either, given that Indian donations, period, increased then.
Story via email release from the RNC.
This is cause for a “Complete Congressional Investigation”
The Democrats are as dirty as any Republican in this “Pay for Play” money scheme.
Oops! I forgot, the dems are clean as the driven snow. Yeahhhhhh
Guilt by association? Please, lets run this through the Liberal Speak Translator. “Guilty as Charged!”
The GOP (and its supporters — this site excluded) have been desperately trying to make Abramoff a bi-partisan scandal. The facts don’t support it, but that hasn’t stop efforts like this one.
The GOP (and its supporters—this site excluded) have been desperately trying to make Abramoff a bi-partisan scandal.The facts donÂ’t support it…
Keep telling yourself that.
Where are the facts? That Democrats kept getting money from sources that had previously been given them money before Abramoff came into the picture?
Show me the facts McGhee . . . not just your wishes.
‘Abramoff’ is in the news strictly because of his surname. There is an oracle bead chronicle be-neath a limestone monument in McKean County, Pennsylvania, and also near an Abrams family home in Custer City, PA. The tiny artifact should have been investigated and removed from its placement decades ago, and contained in a jar or bowl having internal moisture-control dam — to do that, the best way to remove the mucousal bead must be established. Raise the limestone monument OFF the bead, or remove it from the side with some kind of instrument?
Harry Reid seems to be confused over which country he’s working for. Click my link for more information.
Harry Reid’s actions in this matter will resonate quite a bit more deeply with most Americans that any Abramoff connection.