Norm Coleman And Jack Abramoff

Even though Jack Abramoff is sitting in jail, he still keeps on touching people. Today, he touched a whole bunch of people in the Bush misAdministration, as evidenced by the House Oversight report issued today. What needs to be pointed out, frequently and loudly, is that oversight and investigations concerning Jack Abramoff is something Norm Coleman simply wouldn’t and didn’t do. Just as Jack Abramoff had influence into the Bush misAdministration, the Bush misAdministration has plenty of influence over Norm “Smokescreen” Coleman, R=Lapdog.

And Smokescreen continues to rely on Bush for support; less than a year ago, Bush campaigned for Coleman at the Eden Prairie home of William and Tani Austin for an estimated million dollar payday. So, how did Coleman reciprocate for all the misAdministration largesse? By ignoring any and all investigations into anything that might possibly embarrass his benefactors – including Jack Abramoff.

Jack Abramoff was heavily involved in a place where the American Flag flies, the Northern Marianas Islands. Since the American Flag flew there, clothing made in factories there could have the “Made In America” tag sewn in. And from a marketing point of view, this is important; so important the factory owners paid a lobbyist by the name of Jack Abramoff a ton of dough to keep the Feds away. Abramoff, in turn, spent lavishly on the likes of Tom DeLay, and Tom DeLay made sure the Feds did stay away. So not only did abhorrent working conditions thrive, but so did forced prostitution and forced abortions.

The Abramoff Scandal put Congressman Bob Ney into Club Fed, where he’s not alone. Over a dozen “guilty” pleas are the result of The Abramoff Scandal, with the latest just last week - the former Chief of Staff to former Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Oklahoma. The Abramoff Scandal also resulted in the trial and conviction of former Bush Administration official David Safavian.

Republican Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell chaired the Indian Affairs Committee, and that committee took a look at Abramoff ripping of Indian Tribes. With all the other controversies involving Abramoff, why didn’t Coleman’s Investigations subcommittee ever investigate Abramoff? Weren’t the allegations of forced prostitution and forced abortions enough?

Apparently not. Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued it’s report on it’s investigation into Abramoff’s ties to the Bush White House – and it’s not pretty, for those that value good government. On the other hand, it’s not unexpected, for those that understand GOP now stands for GreedOverPriniciples.

From The Raw Story:

Committee report finds Abramoff influenced White House
Nick Juliano
Published: Monday June 9, 2008

Contrary to the White House's claims, corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff had access to the highest reaches of the Bush administration and influenced numerous decisions within the executive branch, a draft report from the House Oversight Committee has concluded.

"The testimony and documents obtained by the Committee ... confirm that Mr. Abramoff had access to the White House," reads the report, which was released Monday. "Further, the record before the Committee contradicts White House claims that with respect to his White House contacts, Mr. Abramoff got 'nothing out of it.' Not only did Mr. Abramoff achieve some positive results from his White House lobbying, but White House officials sought out the views of Mr. Abramoff and his colleagues on matters of official business."

The rest of this story is here at The Raw Story; a .pdf copy of the Oversight Committee’s report is here.

Now, ol’ Smokescreen never took a trip, but he did take money, and he did do something much more important: he looked the other way. Norm Coleman is counting no one will look at him; no one will ask him why he never investigated Abramoff’s ties to The White House, Abramoff’s ties to Scooter Libby and Karl Rove and The Plame Game, or the women that were forced into prostitution in the Northern Marianas Islands. Norm Coleman is counting on no one remembering the things he didn’t investigate. I’m thinking Norm “Smokescreen” Coleman, R=Lapdog, is wrong.