Andrew Hurst, a Democratic candidate for US Congress from the 11th District has an interesting press release on our "moderate" Republican friend, Tom Davis, and Davis' friend, Republican lobbyist/slimeball Jack Abramoff. Here are some excerpts (bolding added for emphasis):
Democrat Andrew Hurst, candidate for the 11th congressional district of Virginia, criticized Congressman Tom Davis (R-11) for accepting a $500 contribution from embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff and waiting five years to return the money. Hurst also demanded to know why Davis' campaign failed to disclose Abramoff's occupation to the Federal Election Commission, as required by federal law."The people of the 11th district deserve to know the truth about the relationship between Representative Davis and Jack Abramoff," said Hurst. "The damage has been done here. Votes and legislative action by the Republican majority were influenced by all of the funds paid or solicited by Jack Abramoff, and the money was spent to elect people to office. Giving contributions to charity years after the fact is insufficient to alleviate the Republican culture of corruption. After more than a decade in Washington, Tom Davis is an integral part of that culture."
[...]
In a quarterly report dated April 15, 2000 Davis claimed to have made "Best efforts" to determine Mr. Abramoff's employer and occupation( http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?20035472449 ). However, Abramoff was a well-known lobbyist by that time with strong ties to the Bush Administration and to Republicans in Congress.
"It's very difficult to believe that Congressman Davis did not know or could not determine Abramoff's occupation. He was a lobbyist and influence peddler with deep ties to the Republican establishment. It appears that Davis has skirted campaign finance law and misled his constituents. He should come clean about his relationship with Jack Abramoff," said James Walkinshaw, Andrew Hurst's campaign manager.
Yes, please come clean Mr. Davis. And while you're at it, why don't you come clean with your constituents about your 14% Progressive rating, just barely less conservative than George Allen. Oh, and how about coming clean on why you threatened to withhold federal transit funding over the MetroWest deal? Finally, how about coming clean on why you chose to grandstand on Terri Schiavo, having your Committee on Government Reform "initiat[ing] an inquiry into the long-term care of incapacitated adults" - instead of reforming, oh, lobbying rules or something like that? Hmmmm....