Say Anything Blog

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[...] Looks like Dorgan has been a little misleading about his personal relationship with Jack Abramoff. [...]

[...] Looks like Dorgan has been a little misleading about his personal relationship with Jack Abramoff. [...]

[...] Right. So the fact that Faircloth supports Republicans and the AP reported his name wrong clearly exonerates Dorgan from all wrong-doing. It totally refutes the fact that Dorgan a) took money from Abramoff clients b) took political action agreeable to those clients and c) has been less than forthcoming about his relationship to Abramoff. [...]

[...] Here’s the thing: Dorgan may or may not have known about the connections between these lobbyists and Abramoff when he took the donations from them, but he certainly knows about it now and he didn’t disclose these connections until it came up during the course of the investigation. That’s pretty shady. Even Dorgan’s official statement issued earlier this week failed to be entirely forthcoming about his borrowing of Abramoff’s suite at the MCI center four years ago. These are things the Senator needs to be up-front about, especially if he wants to remain part of the investigation. [...]

[...] As I’ve said again and again, Dorgan has no place in this investigation. I’m still not convinced that he was involved in any legal or ethical wrong-doing, but when you have money connections to the people who are subject to an investigation you are leading the proper thing to do is to step down. This is just common sense and happens routinely in the judicial community. That doing so would be politically inconvenient for Dorgan is irrelevant. When he joined the investigation he knew who it would be focusing on and he was aware of his conections to these people. Had Dorgan been upfront with his connections to Abramoff and Abramoff’s clients before this investigation started there wouldn’t be much room to criticize him. [...]

[...] Just like we’re supposed to believe that Dorgan didn’t know Abramoff owned that suite at the MCI Center? [...]

[...] Anyone willing to take a politician, be they Republican or Democrat, at their word when asked about corruption is a fool. Further, Dorgan would be a whole lot believable were his words on this subject not so carefully…nuanced. He tells us that he’s never knowingly supported the causes of Abramoff’s clients as a direct result of their contributions to him. He tells us that he’s never met Abramoff, yet he used Abramoff’s suite at the MCI Center. He tells us that he’s never taken donations from Abramoff, yet he has admitted in his own words that he has accepted donations from employees of Abramoff’s firm. [...]

[...] What is especially sad is that one receipient of Abramoff money, my own Senator Byron Dorgan mentioned above, actually has the gall to remain on the comittee investigating these apparently illegal and unethical shenanigans even after receiving $67,000 in Abramoff money (some directly from Abramoff employees) and using Abramoff’s suite at the MCI Center. [...]

[...] Dorgan took $67,000 in campaign contributions from various Abramoff clients (some of it directly from Abramoff employees) and used Abramoff’s suite at the MCI Center for a fundraiser. His defense for his behavior is summed up by these two points: [...]

[...] Dorgan doesn’t want anyone to think that he was involved with anything Abramoff ever did, yet he has admitted to accepting donations from Abramoff employees and used Abarmoff’s suite at the MCI center for a fundraiser. He took $67,000 from those employees and from Abramoff clients and his “defense” for taking this money is that he has been accepting money from these Indian interests (and voting their way in Congress) long before Abramoff came along. [...]

[...] Rob at Say Anything looks at his own Senator, Byron Dorgan, the North Dakota Dem: Dorgan took $67,000 in campaign contributions from various Abramoff clients (some of it directly from Abramoff employees) and used Abramoff’s suite at the MCI Center for a fundraiser. [...]