$25,000 to Lobby Group Is Tied to Access to Bush

WASHINGTON, March 9 — The chief of an Indian tribe represented by the lobbyist Jack Abramoff was admitted to a meeting with President Bush in 2001 days after the tribe paid a prominent conservative lobbying group $25,000 at Mr. Abramoff's direction, according to documents and interviews.

The payment was made to Americans for Tax Reform, a group run by Grover G. Norquist, one of the Republican Party's most influential policy strategists. Mr. Norquist was a friend and longtime associate of Mr. Abramoff.

The meeting with Mr. Bush took place on May 9, 2001, at a reception organized by Mr. Norquist to marshal support for the president's 2001 tax cuts, which were pending before Congress. About two dozen state legislators attended the session in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House grounds. The meeting was called to thank legislators for support of the tax-cut plan, an issue on which the tribal leader had no direct involvement.

Mr. Norquist attended the meeting, along with Mr. Abramoff and the tribal leader, Raul Garza of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas. It is not clear what role, if any, Mr. Norquist played in getting Chief Garza into the meeting, and there is no suggestion that the White House was aware of the $25,000 payment.

http://nytimes.com/2006/03/10/politics/10abramoff.html?hp&ex=1142053200&en=f75dd1f442001dd7&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Stick a fork in this bunch of crooks

are saying the feces will hit the rotating blades on the lobbying scandals this summer

I realize that timing of the scandals to hook them into the mid-term campaigns is a consideration

but I also wonder if a "SHOCKING NEW DEVELOPMENT" will emerge to really give it a kick.

Rehashing what we know already won't go the distance - might get a few days of headlines, but the legs on it will be stumpy. A "SHOCKING NEW DEVELOPMENT" will certainly cause the legs to grow