The latest on Vitter's role in DeLay scandal

[AnnInLa]

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=176


3/15/2005
Scandal surrounding lobbyist linked to DeLay ensnares two more Republican congressmen
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— site admin @ 8:58 am

Abramoff hosted fundraisers for two congressmen who aided tribal clients

By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor

Jack Abramoff, a former top Republican lobbyist and fundraiser who is now under federal investigation for dubious dealings with his Native American clients, hosted fundraisers with two Republican congressmen during the same period the legislators pushed for action benefiting Abramoff’s client, RAW STORY has learned.

Then-Rep. David Vitter (R-LA) attended a $1,000-a-plate dinner hosted by Abramoff for the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee while he was meeting with Abramoff’s attorneys in an eleventh hour maneuver to insert a provision worth tens of millions of dollars to Abramoff’s Native American client.

Attending the same Sept. 9, 2003 function at Abramoff’s restaurant, Signatures, was Deputy Majority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), the highest ranking appointed congressman in the House. Three months earlier, Cantor signed a letter along with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) urging the Department of the Interior to back a move favoring Abramoff’s client, the Louisiana Coushatta tribe.

The dinner was the only Republican Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser Abramoff hosted that year. According to the Washington Post, Abramoff regularly entertained politicians at his pricey Pennsylvania Avenue restaurant Signatures, and billed his tribal clients for hundreds of thousands of dollars in meals.

In a statement to RAW STORY late Monday, Vitter, who is now a Louisiana senator, said Abramoff didn’t attend the dinner. Sen. Vitter maintains that he met Abramoff only once and that he didn’t know Abramoff was behind the drive to aid the Louisiana Coushatta tribe.

Abramoff “was not at the event you’ve asked about–or any other fundraiser of mine to my knowledge,” Vitter said. “I never met with Jack Abramoff on any Indian gambling issue. Never. Furthermore, to my knowledge, I have only met him once briefly in passing, and to this day I couldn’t pick him out of a crowd.”

The listing for the event, however, was “Join Congressman Vitter (LA-01) for a Cocktail Reception and Dinner Hosted by Jack Abramoff with Special Guest Chief Deputy Majority Whip Eric Cantor.”

snip

Sen. Vitter told the Post Sunday that his staff drafted language with the help of Abramoff’s legal team urging the Interior Department to prevent a rival tribe from building a casino outside their historic lands. The language was intended for an Appropriations conference report.


much more at link above

[Swamp Rat]

1. I'd like to see Vitter go to Angola

:kick:

[AnnInLa]

2. I'd pay to see that myself