ABC News investigative correspondent, Brian Ross, reports that FBI investigators are taking a close look at House Speaker Dennis Hastert's letters to the Department of Interior on behalf of casino interests represented by crooked lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Ross reports that . . .
"Part of the investigation involves a letter Hastert wrote three years ago, urging the Secretary of the Interior to block a casino on an Indian reservation that would have competed with other tribes."
If I'm not mistaken, this is one of the three letters signed by the 7th District's very own moral icon, Congressman Roy Blunt. Back in January, we posted a timeline of fundraisers and letters to Interior Secretary Gale Norton that clearly linked Blunt and Hastert to Abramoff's casino interests in Louisiana. Here's a clipping:
June 1999 - Abramoff donates $5,000 to ROYB fund.
February 2000 - Abramoff donates an additional $1,500 to ROYB Fund.
March 2000 - Abramoff donates maximum amount to Matt Blunt's campaign for Missouri Secretary of State.
April 2000 - Abramoff's Mariannas Island client donates $3,000 to ROYB fund.
April 2000 - Abramoff client, Juan Franco (Puerto Rico), contributes $3,000 to ROYB fund.
August 2000 - Blunt and DeLay host Republican National Committee events sponsored in part by Abramoff client, the Mississippi Band of Choctaws.
September 2000 - Blunt requests GAO study on tribal recognition issues and simultaneously seeks a six month moratorium on further tribal recognition - protecting existing casinos from further competition.
February 2002 - GAO report on tribal recognition issued.
March 2002 - Blunt writes letter to Department of Interior citing the GAO report and expressed specific concerns about the Jenna Band of Choctaws and their status in Louisiana. The Jenna Band would have been competition for Abramoff's client with tribal recognition approval.
March 2003 - Abramoff contributes to ROYB fund.
May 2003 - Blunt sends another letter to Department of Interior Secretary Gale Norton regarding his concerns about Indian gaming and specifically the Jenna Band in Louisiana.
June 2003 - Blunt joins DeLay, House Speaker Hastert and House Majority Whip Cantor in penning yet another letter to DOI Secretary Norton regarding the opposed Jenna Band casino.
Of course, Blunt will still be re-elected in a landslide this November for a variety of reasons. One, he has more money in his ROYB PAC than the last fifty 7th District candidates combined (Gee, I wonder where it all came from?). Two, he's a Republican incumbent in Southwest Missouri. Three, he has virtually no visible opposition. It is a crying shame that the Democrats couldn't at least have put somebody out there (Hosmer, Harpool, Kreider) to at least raise some of these issues publicly for the good folks here in God's country. Four, the local news media don't possess the balls to report that our golden boy Congressman has sold out to crooked lobbyists and huge corporate interests to become Missouri's poster boy for political corruption.
If Blunt is ever held accountable for selling out his constituents here in SW Missouri, you're more likely to read about it first here in Ozarks Angel than in the News-Leader. That a sad commentary, isn't it?
Here's more on the subject of our asleep-at-the-wheel print media from The Turner Report - and still more on our man Roy from Granny.
4 comments:
I think Harpool has a shot at beating Aunt Norma. She would be foolish to debate him, but she may not be smart enough to know that.
Speaking of the Marianas Islands/Abramoff/DeLay/Blunt -- I wonder how many people know that the legislation was to exempt them from US labor laws, while still allowing them to attach a "Made in USA" tag?
I also wonder how many know that many of the women in the Marianas are in essence forced labor from China (mostly) who pay headhunters to "come to the US" and then are put in what ammounts to slavery by the garment industry. They are forced to have abortions if they become pregnant, and the working conditions are better in bum-suck East India than there.
Fine example of morality our congressman is...
Blunt does favors for Abramoff, and money flows into ROYB. Republicans in the House knew Roy might be damaged goods - but not here. And we can always rely on the Gnews-Leader to play along. Is Sara Overstreet their investigative reporter now?
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