Abramoff's old eatery stirs the pot

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/12/25/lobbyists_old_eatery_stirs_the_pot/

By Nina J. Easton, Globe Staff | December 25, 2005

In the minds of its owners, Signatures was one of Washington's ''most exciting restaurants," with a renowned Ivory Coast chef serving up goat cheese beignets and spice burnt waluu. But now some leading Republicans fear the allure of Chef Morou Ouattara's award-winning cuisine could be the downfall of some lawmakers.

Signatures was owned by Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now the target of criminal and congressional investigations. Media attention has focused on questions involving his lucrative dealings with Indian tribes and sponsorship of overseas junkets for Congress members such as Texas' Tom Delay.

But those are complex scandals, and there's growing fear over the fallout of a cleaner plot line: Lawmakers routinely violating a congressional rule banning gifts over $50 by accepting free lavish meals and expensive bottles of wine at a lobbyists' restaurant blocks away from Capitol Hill.

''It's going to be this restaurant," predicted one top GOP strategist. ''If it's five people, that's one thing. If it's 35, that's a big deal." The big question in the New Year, this strategist said, is whether Abramoff will turn over lawmakers' names to investigators...

and the football tickets.

(Not that Espy wasn't dirt, anyway)

It's quite elaborate, indeed - quite the downtown place.....contrary to what the article says, nothing on the site indicates that the restaurant's been closed. But, it is - as soon as Abramoff's troubles started, people stayed away in droves.



Ah, I love Washington ....

http://www.signatures-dc.com/

hmmmmm... i wonder why........

They could claim it wasn't really THEM getting all those free meals.

"Forged Signatures"...I like it.

crime by republicans... so much white collar crime, we can hardly keep up with who's been indicted! (Yes, there are some things to be thankful for!)

Ann Coltaire just nominated "Poches d'or" which is Pockets of Gold in French.

Btw... if you click on the "What's New" link, it says that Signatures is closed.

You know--the uninitiated who might've wandered in, thinking it was just a fancy restaurant, never dreaming it was a payoff place for corrupt politicians and little exterminators-turned-politician who liked to feel Big and Important.

Thanks for the link!

I suggested "The Song Bird" seeing as how Jack A. is going to sing to for the prosecutor.

By the way I love the web .... i filled out the suggestion card as Bob Ney ....LOL

If you remember Kenneth Lay and Jeffery Skilling and the gang, you
will remember when they had a multitude of golf outings at one of
their personal golf courses where they named every one of their
specific financial schemes after each specific hole on the Golf course.

This my friend shows a finger print and the true stupidity of these
gangsters. It almost says in an unconscious way "catch me if you can"

Bush SR.? Had the same strategies. Remember the Barbara and the Houston?

A common resteraunt from the Maffia Movies?.....How easy and obvious
can you get?

ever since General Donovan got a bunch of them together in the OSS, it's been a family business.

Frat rats with guns is a scary thought.

Sure a lot of the corruption buy going around. Health Department, where are you?
Probably at the same trough!
:beer: