Just Another Day...
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid writes a letter (Steve Sebelius, Las Vegas CityLife, via Brothers Judd)
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid writes a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, urging her to reject an Indian tribe's application to open a tribal casino.
One day later, a rival tribe opposing the casino request sends Reid's PAC $5,000, while a second rival tribe ponies up another $5,000.
Coincidence? Or the kind of quid pro quo of which federal indictments are generally made?
The question has been repeatedly asked in the past month, after the Associated Press revealed a massive letter-writing campaign from both Republicans and Democrats on behalf of Indian tribes represented by controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Reid's March 5, 2002 letter (also signed by U.S. Sen. John Ensign) was part of that campaign. Reid has collected a total of $67,400 from Abramoff-connected clients between 2001 to 2004. Ensign took in $16,293, although he has reportedly given that money to the Nevada Patriot Fund, a group that takes care of service members killed in the Iraq occupation.
Was Reid wrong? Did he perform an official favor for Abramoff, who was frantically seeking congressional support to bar the Jena tribe of Choctaw Indians from opening a casino in Louisiana that was opposed by the Louisiana Coushattas and the Mississippi Choctaw tribes, both of which operate casinos that would have competed with the Jena operation? (In all, 33 lawmakers -- including U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. -- wrote letters to Norton opposing the Jena plan, and shared in an estimated $830,000 awarded by clients of Abramoff.)
Just another day in the wake of a "Republican" scandal, eh? :)
The entire story is an interesting read, actually. It would be an informative (but time-consuming) exercise simply to track the purely local coverage of all pols affected by this scandal, and to try to figure out which local news outfits get into the details heavily, and which local outlets take the lazy route and talk about "links" without much substantiation. Stories of national interest with local angles give local news organizations a real chance to shine, but they don't always take the opportunity (remember the Chronicle -- but not the Houston Business Journal -- getting scooped on Enron by national newspapers?)
Of course, for executive editors who like shiny things, sometimes it's more exciting to hire a new cartoonist than to cover the local/state beat fanatically.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/06/06 10:13 | Media Matters | Technorati
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Comments
Read David Brooks column about the Abramoff scandal...it is pretty good. People have to remember that Reid represents NEVADA!!! Hence, he is (and should be) involved in gambling related legislation of all types, as it directly affects his constituents. Abramoff was a smart man and gave money to everyone he could influence (including Democrats), but he was first and foremost a Republican lobbyist. There is just no getting away from that.
Posted by el_longhorn @ 15:06 on 01/06/06
Oh, Cohen shot an 86 just three days ago. Very impressive!
Posted by anne @ 21:27 on 01/06/06
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