(Hear this information discussed by the editors of The Raw Story on BlogCall, played on Radio Left today at
Abramoff hosted fundraisers for two congressmen who aided tribal clients
By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor
Jack Abramoff, a former top Republican lobbyist and fundraiser who is now under federal investigation for dubious dealings with his Native American clients, hosted fundraisers with two Republican congressmen during the same period the legislators pushed for action benefiting Abramoff’s client, RAW STORY has learned.
Then-Rep. David Vitter (R-LA) attended a $1,000-a-plate dinner hosted by Abramoff for the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee while he was meeting with Abramoff’s attorneys in an eleventh hour maneuver to insert a provision worth tens of millions of dollars to Abramoff’s Native American client.
Attending the same
The dinner was the only Republican Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser Abramoff hosted that year. According to the Washington Post, Abramoff regularly entertained politicians at his pricey Pennsylvania Avenue restaurant Signatures, and billed his tribal clients for hundreds of thousands of dollars in meals.
In a statement to RAW STORY late Monday, Vitter, who is now a
Abramoff “was not at the event you’ve asked about–or any other fundraiser of mine to my knowledge,” Vitter said. “I never met with Jack Abramoff on any Indian gambling issue. Never. Furthermore, to my knowledge, I have only met him once briefly in passing, and to this day I couldn’t pick him out of a crowd.”
The listing for the event, however, was “Join Congressman Vitter (LA-01) for a Cocktail Reception and Dinner Hosted by Jack Abramoff with Special Guest Chief Deputy Majority Whip Eric Cantor.”
Phil Singer, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said Vitter’s attendance raised questions of a quid pro quo, literally “this for that.”
“It is vital that no quid pro quo ever take place,” Singer said, “but as we’ve seen in the various things that have gone on with Tom DeLay in recent weeks and now this latest issue, unfortunately it looks like that’s exactly what’s going on here.”…
