Kevin Ring is beginning to cause some, um, concern over at the Rep John Doolittle (R-CA) office, he quit his lobbying job last month on the same day the FBI raided Doolittle's wife Julie's office in their home. So? Well Ring is also a former Doolittle aide and later an employee of ... Jack Abramoff. Doolittle took campaign money from Jack and used his sports box. Oddly, Jack Abramoff had a job for wife Julie, and there is some question whether she did anything for the $5K/month. It might be worrisome that Ring is connected to Abramoff who is serving time, Rep Ney who is serving time, and 11 convicted aides and is apparently is under some pressure.
At Preston Gates Ring lobbied Doolittle on water and labor issues. Labor included Doolittle working to help the Mariannes Islands. You might remember that outfit - low paid workers in locked compounds, forced into prostitution and abortions, and denied the ability to return home - essentially slave labor camps, who put on a nice show for GOPs, made their stay very nice and handed around lots of money, even Tom DeLay had fun. Somebody was doing petty well in the Mariannes, and they didn't work very darn hard. Doolittle wrote a letter about how much labor conditions had improved for his GOP colleagues.
You can form your own opinions, but I cannot believe the GOP's emphasis on wealth and power at any cost is blameless in this mess. Some politicians need to pay, not just for blatant corruption, but for the mindset that allowed and encouraged this. Don't expect the GOP to fix it, the Abramoff shot across their bow was last year...
1 comment:
Abramoff doesn't so much worry me as much as who is the up-and-coming new Abramoffs? We usually find this stuff out way late in the game. We really need more watchdogs in this battle of power and corruption. The newspapers gave this up long ago.
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