Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Bug Chaser And Friends

Turn on the lights and watch the roaches and vermin scurry:

A Senate committee investigating millions of dollars in fees paid to powerful Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and public relations executive Michael Scanlon also plans to examine $500,000 in contributions from Scanlon's firm to the Republican Governors Association.

The money was paid by Scanlon's firm, Capitol Campaign Strategies, to the RGA in the closing months of the 2002 election. But it was not disclosed until the association filed "amended" financial reports on April 27 of this year.

RGA officials said the failure to report the donation and thousands of dollars of other contributions was an accounting error. The two contributions to Capitol Campaign Strategies, which totaled $500,000, were the single largest contributions that went unreported.

...

Scanlon, a former aide to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), and Abramoff, a top Republican lobbyist and adviser to DeLay, are both under investigation by the Senate Commerce Committee. The panel, under the direction of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), is seeking to determine the legality of $45 million paid by Indian tribes to the pair for lobbying and public affairs work.

The FBI is also conducting a public corruption investigation of Scanlon's and Abramoff's work for the tribes to determine whether tribal leaders or staff members were provided inducements in return for signing lobbying and public relations contracts, according to government and tribal sources.

Accounting error? Well, then. Get that accountant under oath.

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