Campaign Issues: It’s The Corruption, Stupid (Earmarks, Abramoff and more)

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With props to Waiting For Everyman for linking to the WaPo article, discussion found in this LBN thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3483152


Looking for McCain or Palin stories that are attached to issues and have legs?

Earmarks: Palin's Small Alaska Town Secured Big Federal Funds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/01/AR2008090103148.html

As mayor of Wasilla, however, Palin oversaw the hiring of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh, an Anchorage-based law firm with close ties to Alaska's most senior Republicans: Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, who was indicted in July on charges of accepting illegal gifts. The Wasilla account was handled by the former chief of staff to Stevens, Steven W. Silver, who is a partner in the firm.


Palin's Lobbyist Has Abramoff Ties
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/palins_lobbyist_has_abramoff_t.php

The Washington Post reports today that, while Mayor of Wasilla, Palin oversaw the hiring of a lobbyist, Steven Silver -- a former chief of staff to now-indicted GOP senator Ted Stevens -- to help win federal earmarks for the city.

But Silver appears to have additional ties that could further undercut Palin's image as a squeaky-clean reformer. According to Senate lobbying disclosure reports examined by TPMmuckraker, from 2002 to 2004 Silver listed as a client Jack Abramoff's lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig. On Greenberg's behalf, Silver lobbied the federal government on "issues relating to Indian/Native American policy," "exploration for oil and gas" and "legislation relating to gaming issues" -- the very issues that Abramoff headed up for Greenberg at the time. In other words, Silver appears to have been a part of "Team Abramoff."


Now that is juicy.


Abramoff, McCain, Palin, Corruption & the GOP…
http://suzieqq.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/abramoff-mccain-palin-corruption-the-gop/

And leading the efforts to slow down a real investigation has been John McCain. During a November 17, 2004 Hearing on the Abramoff Scandal, John McCain made a promise to the representatives of the Tigua Tribe of Texas:

"I pledge, as a member of the Committee on Indian Affairs, that we will not stop until the complete truth is told."

It was a promise—like all John McCain promises—that McCain quickly broke. Before the same hearing was over, it was clear that McCain had little interests in exposing the truth. Instead, he spun a narrative of gullible Indians, greedy lobbyists and the straight talking Senator who took them on.

The recent Ralph Reed ad from the Obama Campaign pointed out that McCain never called Reed to testify under oath. Another Abramoff co-conspirator given a pass by McCain was Grover Norquist. In fact, the extremely corrupt Grover Norquist is now one of McCain’s advisors on tax policy. And then there was McCain’s promise to NOT INVESTIGATE any elected Republican involved in the Abramoff scandal.

At the heart of McCain’s cover-up are 750,000 plus pages of Abramoff Scandal documents that McCain has sent to the National Archives stamped with a Do not open until 2056 sticker on each box. Less than 5,000 pages of these documents have been released to the public. There are a lot of uninvestigated crimes in those files.

Oh, and McCain’s chief foreign policy advisor, Randy Scheunermann, was hired by Abramoff’s old lobbying firm to “advise” Greenberg Traurig on how to “work” with McCain’s “investigation”. Since then the lobbying firm has given McCain over $160,000.


JUICY! The above article is a long one which also discusses Palin, her 2006 run for Governor against Frank Murkowski, the gas pipeline, and other various examples of the culture of corruption in the Republican party. It's an excellent read.

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1. Hot stuff! K&R

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2. K & R

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3. Kick

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