Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Republican Culture of Corruption - Ohio

The water that Rep. Robert Ney (R-Oh) is stewing is may be getting hotter. His ties to Abramoff are being pushed into the public light, and they are quite disgusting.

Rep. Robert W. Ney, R-Ohio, placed comments in the Congressional Record favorable to Abramoff's 2000 purchase of the casino boat company, SunCruz Casinos. Two years later, Ney sponsored legislation to reopen a casino for a Texas Indian tribe that Abramoff represented.

Ney approved a 2002 license for an Israeli telecommunications company to install antennas for the House. The company later paid Abramoff $280,000 for lobbying. It also donated $50,000 to a charity that Abramoff sometimes used to secretly pay for some of his lobbying activities.

Meanwhile, Ney accepted many favors from Abramoff, among them campaign contributions, dinners at the lobbyist's downtown restaurant, skybox fundraisers, including one at his MCI Center box in Washington, and a golf trip to Scotland in August 2002.


When the Abramoff ties are fully exposed, and the channels of his money flow are completely understood, it will present a fascinating lession in overwhelming and highly effective corruption.

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