NY Politicians in Abramoff's Web

With fallen DC lobbyist Jack Abramoff's plea deal freaking out the Beltway, people would expect him to turn over Republican congressmen Tom DeLay and Bob Ney. But Gothamist wondered if any of our area politicians were involved. And, naturally, some were, which isn't surprising given money Abramoff had at his disposal (through Abramoff's organization, about $915,000 went to Republicans in Congress, while $770,000 or so went to Democrats; however, Abramoff's personal contributions seem to be limited to Republicans themselves - about $127,000 worth). Newsday reports that Representative Charles Rangel was the top New York receipient of Abramoff's largesse, getting $36,000; he was followed by "Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-Rochester) at $7,000 and Rep. Nita Lowey (D-Westchester) at $2,000":

Rangel, who has not been implicated in any wrongdoing, said he is unfairly in the spotlight because of Abramoff's actions. "Don't know him, never met him, never took a dime from him," said the senior member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

Rangel said he has received political and financial support from Native American tribes since his arrival in Congress in the early 1970s because of his activism on Indian sovereignty issues, not gaming. He said, "What he has done is contaminate all the Native American tribes and they all got screwed by him."

In other words, "I never took a golf trip to St. Andrews." The best part of the punditry on Abramoff was when Chris Matthews spewed on and on and finally settled on saying, "He's Satan." Well, the footage of Abramoff in his black trench and fedora certainly made him look evil. And Gothamist cannot wait for the midterms.

UPDATE: Clearly, there are money angles about Abramoff's money - his personal money and money filtered through him from clients for legitimate lobbying causes. Time will tell - and thanks for your input in the comments.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on January 4, 2006 8:38 AM

Comments [rss]

Dan

Anyone else notice that the mouseover for the Jack Abramoff link in the NYTimes article says "More articles about Hillary Rodham Clinton"?

Thought that was odd, and something they'd check when putting articles up. Links for Rove, DeLay, and Hastert all have the appropriate mouseover.

Max

Right on Steve, the folks at Fox et al (unfortunately that now includes the NYTimes), want this to look like a bi-partisan issue. It is not. It is a GOP corruption issue. With Ney, DeLay, Duke Cunningham, and many more. Goes all the way up.

This is bigger than Abscam, which is the biggest reason it will be pushed under the rug ASAP. Ambramoff was the bag man for the GOP slush fund that has taken over K Street and stocked our admin and its bureaucracy with hacks.

Did some Dems get money from some organization funded by Ambramoff? Sure, they get some check from the Capitol Athletic Union or somesuch- they are probably going to cash it. But that is not the same thing as going to Signatures, the MCI center, rewriting laws, etc.

All GOP.

vince_foster

Hillary's name will surface here too!

don't_kid_yourself

If you think there's a clean politician, regardless of party, then you're as naive as the ny transplant that you are. Just wait and you'll see plenty of Democratic heads on that same platter - he's a fucking lobbyist (=whore).

jonah

Can you clarify this because Bloomberg.com gives quite a different story; "Abramoff gave more than $127,000 to Republican candidates and committees and nothing to Democrats, federal records show"

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=arVHles5cKJc&refer=us#

plemeljr

There is a difference between personally giving money, and groups connected to Abramoff giving money. Abramoff gave exactly nothing to Democrats. The main issue isn't that some above-the-board lobbyists gave money to Democrats, the issue is that Abramoff operated what amounted to a slush fund. That is what's the big deal.