Say Anything Blog

WASHINGTON - The top Senate Democrat investigating Jack Abramoff's Indian lobbying met several times with the lobbyist's team and clients, held a fundraiser in Abramoff's arena skybox and arranged congressional help for one of the tribes, records show.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio, voting record), D-N.D., acknowledges he got Congress in fall 2003 to press government regulators to decide, after decades of delay, whether the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts deserved federal recognition.

Dorgan met with the tribe's representatives and collected at least $11,500 in political donations from Abramoff partner Michael D. Smith, who was representing the Mashpee, around the time he helped craft the legislation, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The senator didn't reimburse the Mississippi Choctaw for the use of Abramoff's skybox in 2001, when the tribe threw him a fundraiser there, instead treating it as a tribal contribution. He only recently reimbursed the tribe for the box, four years later, after determining it was connected to Abramoff.

Dorgan says he sees no reason to step down from the Abramoff investigation, which he and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are leading. He said he had no idea at the time that any of the transactions were connected to Abramoff or the alleged fleecing of tribes.

"I never met Jack Abramoff but I am appalled by what we have learned about his actions," Dorgan said Thursday. "So I have never felt there was any conflict in my helping to lead that investigation. I think Sen. McCain would agree our investigation has been relentless and that neither of us will be diverted."

Dorgan's contacts, donations and fundraisers involving Abramoff tribal clients and lobbying associates, as well as those of other lawmakers, have not been examined during the Senate hearings into the lobbyist's roughly $80 million in charges to the tribes.

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.

Frankly, given the connections with Abramoff and Dorgan's failure to be forthright about them, I think the only correct thing the Senator can do at this point is step down from the investigation and allow it to review his dealings with Abramoff along with everybody else's. I expect that Dorgan will likely be cleared of any wrong doing, but as long as he is involved with the investigation in an official capacity there won't be any way to truly bring closure to the doubts surrounding him.

Here's why:

Dorgan's contacts, donations and fundraisers involving Abramoff tribal clients and lobbying associates, as well as those of other lawmakers, have not been examined during the Senate hearings into the lobbyist's roughly $80 million in charges to the tribes.

Any conclusions about these dealings will be tainted as long as Sen. Dorgan is involved with the investigation.

Step down, Senator Dorgan, and let the investigation run its course.