As colleagues in both political parties scrambled Wednesday to purge their campaign bankrolls of donations linked to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., chose a different course.Through a spokesman, the potential 2008 Republican presidential hopeful said he will neither refund nor donate to charity a $1,000 gift received from Abramoff during Allen?s 2000 Senate campaign.
The money was spent long ago and the campaign account closed, said David Snepp, Allen?s press secretary, so ?the money does not exist to give it back.?
First of all, the "money does not exist" argument is laughable. Sen. Allen's campaign coffers certainly has $1000 in it - money isn't an antique vase or a parcel of land. Money is fungible, and he still can "give it back." That argument didn't work for Sen. Conrad Burns, and it's not doing Allen any favors in the smarts department.
Now, to the more important issue: Sen. Allen got money directly from Abramoff - not Jack's clients or his money laundering entities - from Abramoff himself. This man just pled guilty to numerous counts and admitted to trading money for favors with politicians. As the article points out, other Virginia GOP bigwigs like Sen. John Warner and Reps. Tom Davis, Randy Forbes, and Eric "Corruption on Rye" Cantor have already sent their Abramoff donations to the "moral laundromat". So, does Allen really think he'll get a free pass on this tainted money? Does he think that the cloud surrounding his party doesn't effect him - despite this direct link and questions about his role in Abramoff's machine?
I guess time will tell. And here's hoping that the Virginia media does a better job than letting silly excuses like "he doesn't have the money" slide by anymore.