$50,000 buys coffee with Bush

[Klast Brell]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050608/ap_ ... l[quote]An arrangement involving two Indian tribes, the head of an anti-tax organization and a lobbyist now under criminal investigation — plus $50,000 — secured Indian leaders a private audience with President Bush[/quote]
Donors sleeping in the Lincoln bedroom? Check.
Paying for private meetings? Check.
Stained dress? Probably soon.

[Arathena]

Probably not illegal on Bush's part... But that's not really an excuse if he was esentially taking money for access to him.

Now, what that article isn't making sufficiently clear to me is this: Where, exactly, did that 50 grand go, and how much input did Bush have into that decision? This is, unfortunately, a fair bit murkier than the Clinton cases.

[Relbeek Einre]

Abrahamoff's corruption goes straight to the top? Gasp.

I'll be interested to see how this pans out.

[Beestyall]

Stained dress? Probably soon.

Only if you count booze stains or coke dust.

He sleeps too much to really get good dress stains.

Also do you really want Condi in a position to recieve stains?? /shiver It'd be like having an Auschwitz pinup calendar.

[Kulaf]

The White House has no record of the Coushattas or Abramoff at the May 9, 2001, meeting, spokeswoman Erin Healy said. Records show representatives from the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas and the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana met with Bush, along with 21 state legislators, Healy said.

Bryant Rogers, an attorney for the Choctaws, said e-mails initially sent to the Choctaw tribe did not mention a White House meeting. Instead, Abramoff solicited the contribution as support for the ongoing anti-tax efforts of Americans for Tax Reform.

"The Choctaws contributed $25,000, viewing this as support for a general series of anti-tax meetings that (Americans for Tax Reform) had routinely sponsored. However, neither Chief Martin nor any other tribal representative was present at any of these meetings on May 9, and in particular didn't go to the White House meeting," Rogers said.

[Kulaf]

Helps when you......ya know.......read the entire article.

[Relbeek Einre]

The explanation was silly, Kulaf, and a very standard way of glossing over a quid pro quo.

[Kulaf]

So you are saying they did in fact have coffee with the President even though their own lawyer says they weren't there?

[Relbeek Einre]

I wouldn't be surprised, actually.

[Kulaf]

Mostly just another case of reading what you want to hear into an article.

[Ddrak]

Abramoff enlisted the tribes as sponsors through e-mails from Norquist and forwarded by Abramoff, attorneys for the tribes said. Copies of e-mails sent to the Coushatta tribe were published in the Texas Observer, a political news magazine, and the tribes' attorneys confirmed the information.

Helps when you......ya know.......read the entire article.

;)

Dd

[Relbeek Einre]

Heh heh heh!

[Kulaf]

Abramoff enlisted the tribes as sponsors through e-mails from Norquist and forwarded by Abramoff, attorneys for the tribes said. Copies of e-mails sent to the Coushatta tribe were published in the Texas Observer, a political news magazine, and the tribes' attorneys confirmed the information.

Helps when you......ya know.......read the entire article.



Dd

And? The sent money but did not attend the function. What is your point?

[Kulaf]

Here is the article from the Texas Observer:

http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticl ... ticleID=13

From my reading the money in question in this thread was not donated to the Bush campaign. It looks as though it was collected by the ATR......suposedly contrary to their stated policy of not collecting funds from people it invites.

But I am open to listen to other interpretations.

[Relbeek Einre]

If it went to Grover Norquist, it went to help Bush.

[Kulaf]

So basically what you are advocating is no one who contributes in any way to any political concern can speak with the President?

I'm sorry I thought this was a thread comparing the actions of the Bush administration to the Clinton administration.

My bad.

[Ddrak]

And? The sent money but did not attend the function. What is your point?

Where did you get that from?

The WH said they "have no record" of the meeting, not that the meeting never took place. The attorney for that tribe has a printed itinerary and people that claim to have met with Bush personally.

Sounds like the meeting did, in fact, take place just went unrecorded. There's nothing specifically underhanded about that, nor is there a causal link between the donation and the alleged meeting - it's just political payback for the GOP bitching about Clinton.

Dd

[Relbeek Einre]

Norquist is like the right hand of Bush to Karl Rove's left.

Only the most loyal Bush defenders here would deny this was overt influence peddling, or at the very least access peddling. Bush may have put it through another layer of middleman, but it's still walking talking and quacking like a duck.

[Kulaf]

Gee I dunno Dd......read what I cited. Specifically where the lawyer for the tribe states that they didn't attend.

[Relbeek Einre]

So, Kulaf, your position is that a lobbyist who was highly paid to influence Congress oin behalf of a couple Indian tribes, who'd lavished Congresscritters with enough gifts that he's under criminal investigation, persuaded his clients to cough up $50,000 to one of President Bush's closest political allies, and that was all completely innocent?