Late yesterday afternoon, the Secret Service "released to Judicial Watch new logs detailing additional visits of corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff to the White House." It turns out that the corrupt, convicted lobbyist was a more frequent visitor to the Bush White House than had previously been believed. According to Judicial Watch:
The first set of documents released to Judicial Watch on May 10 indicated that Abramoff only made two visits to the White House on March 6, 2001 and January 20, 2004. The new documents show an additional seven data entries concerning Abramoff appointments on the following dates: March 1, 2001; March 6, 2001; April 20, 2001; May 9, 2001; May 17, 2001; December 7, 2001; and December 10,
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that Abramoff met with "Bush's Brain," Karl Rove, and also attended "a gathering of Indian tribal officials and state legislators at which President Bush appeared."
Two questions: 1) Why did Judicial Watch have to file a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request as well as a lawsuit in order to compel the release of the Abramoff White House visit data; and 2) Why was the information released late on a Friday afternoon in the summer doldrums, when the fewest number of people would be paying attention? Why is the White House so concerned about hiding this information?
Speaking of hiding information, let's not forget the connection between "Team Abramoff" and Virginia Republicans like George Felix Allen, Eric Cantor, Tom Davis, and Virgil Goode? Has all this money been returned? And do all these Republicans support strict lobbying reform, so this never happens again? You'd think so, but then again...
Lowell Feld is Netroots Fundraising Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
Ok, so Friends of George Allen received $$ from Abramoff and other K Street lobbyists. What has his performance been like since then? Looks like he follows his marching orders pretty well.