Former DeLay aide paid thinktank to advance lobbying efforts

[rawstory]

By John Byrne with Ron Brynaert and Muriel Kane

The former deputy chief of staff to onetime House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) advised the manufacturer of Stoli Vodka to make a $20,000 contribution to the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative thinktank, which wrote an editorial supporting Stoli shortly thereafter, RAW STORY has found.

Former DeLay deputy Tony Rudy got an $8,000 kickback on the deal, according to his plea agreement. In apparent exchange for the tax-deductible donation, the nonprofit's president wrote an article aiding the company's lobbying effort.

The article, written by NCPPR director Amy Ridenour, argued that Russia “undermined Democratic capitalism” by voiding SPI Spirit’s trademark on Stoli Vodka. At the time, according to Abramoff and Rudy’s lobbying filings, SPI Spirits was lobbying Congress on “trade with Russia and intellectual property rights.”

To this day, the article written by the National Center's president Amy Ridenour is featured on the Stoli website.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Former_DeLay_aide_paid_thinktank_that_0412.html

[myrna minx]

1. Is there anything these guys did that wasn't sleazy?

:grr: *Anything*?

[happydreams]

2. It's obvious that the political victories of these dirtballs

would be null and void if there was an ounce of accountability.