Details of Abramoff golf trip spill into public record
WASHINGTON — Scotland travel records for Rep. Bob Ney and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed spilled onto the public record in a federal criminal trial today, underscoring potential peril for politicians in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal…. The records show that the private jet chartered by Abramoff cost $92,000, while the golfing party enjoyed accommodations at luxury hotels in Scotland and London that cost thousands of dollars for each participant…. The travel records about Ney, Reed and the others surfaced in the trial of long-time Abramoff friend David Safavian, the former top procurement official in the Bush administration.
Like you thought that l’affaire Abramoff couldn’t POSSIBLY get to be any slimier or more unseemly, eh? Boy, aren’t you naive…
What makes the newest revelations significant is that they involve Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH), who is running for re-election, and Ralph Reed (yes, THAT Ralph Reed, of Christian Coalition fame), who just happens to be running for Lieutenant Governor in Georgia.
As if Ney needed any more light shed on his dirty little secrets, it now appears that he may be even more crooked and corrupt than anyone had previously suspected. Hard to imagine, I know, but it might just be true. As for Reed, well, what he did may not necessarily be illegal, but it certainly is unseemly at the very least, and unethcial at worst…not something anyone running for elected office is going to want to have to defend. Especially a Republican who over the years has emphasized his Christian beliefs.
Abramoff paid Reed’s businesses to mobilize Christian voters against casinos that would compete with Abramoff’s Indian tribe clients. Reed has said repeatedly that he regrets his work with Abramoff.
Gee, you think Reed could have suffered his pangs of conscience BEFORE he took the money from Abramoff. Contrition is all well and good, I suppose, but it really means little, if anything, if the money is still in your bank account. Damn, I really regret what I did, but I’m sure as Hell gonna enjoy spending that money. Yes, I am….
I realize the corruption respects no ideology, but it certainly seems as if Republicans are having one hell of a time living up to their collective self-portrayal as ethical, upright, and cognizant of their responsibilities as representatives of the Sheeple.
Of course, being a Republican means never having to…ahh, why beat a dead horse??
