Sen. Dorgan Returns Tribes' Donations

WASHINGTON (AP) - The top Democrat on the Senate committee investigating Jack Abramoff's Indian lobbying is returning $67,000 in donations in response to Associated Press reports that he collected tribal money around the time he took actions favorable to those Abramoff clients.

While Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., never met Abramoff and didn't take any actions at the lobbyist's behest, he nonetheless wants to return the money to avoid any appearances that tribal money was directed to him by the controversial lobbyist, his office said Tuesday.

Dorgan is the senior Democrat on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that has spent more than a year investigating alleged fraud in Abramoff's representation of Indian tribes, which were charged tens of millions of dollars in lobbying fees between 2001 and 2004.

more: http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5779726.html

peace.

We could use a few more like him.

I was worried about Senator Dorgan. I like him. He's really done a great job trying to shine a light on those horrible Halliburton contractors.

I read somewhere where Senator Dorgan worked on the issue of schools for the Indian tribes -- not casinos.

.....Lawmakers said their letters had nothing to do with Abramoff and instead were prompted by their desire to keep the government’s Indian school building program alive so tribes in their own states might one day benefit. The timing of donations, they said, were a coincidence.

“It really had nothing to do with Jack Abramoff. Senator Dorgan had a personal interest in the program and how it benefits tribes at large and the Three Affiliated Tribes in his state,” Dorgan chief of staff Bernie Toon said, echoing comments from many lawmakers.
(snip/...)

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051125/NEWS01/51124002/1009

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He's their own Senator. He has a personal interest. He continues to investigate Abramoff. Right-wingers will continue to try to deflect attention away from their monster Abramoff and his ties to Delay, and the real filth of the Republican Party.

the Democrats with the "they do it, too" defense. But I hope the American Public realizes that the real issue isn't corrupt Congresspeople - we've always had that. What the fundemental issue here is the morphying of the Republican Party into the Republican Syndicate. They have institutionalized corruption at the core of their political existence.

Dorgan is a great Senator and probably why they are trying to smear him. He really is one of the smartest guys in there and I personally
would like to see him run for Pres.

they've been treated for 500 years.

It's undoubtedly one of _Bush's deepest wishes to get rid of him any way possible. Dorgan has been undaunted, and he has served his state and the country wildly well.

Hope they don't Wellstone him if they can't smear him enough to suit them.

AP omitted Dorgan's response to alleged Abramoff link
A November 29 Associated Press article by John Solomon and Sharon Theimer omitted a key claim by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) that could undermine allegations that he received a political contribution arranged by lobbyist Jack Abramoff "shortly after" writing a letter in support of a tribal school program that would benefit the American Indian tribes that Abramoff represented. On November 28, Dorgan released a written statement in response to these allegations, in which he cited "written evidence" demonstrating that he had supported the program in August 2001, seven months before he received a $5,000 contribution to his political group, the Great Plains Leadership Fund, in March 2002.

Additionally, as the weblog Daily Kos noted November 29, AP's report that the contribution to Dorgan was "arranged" by Abramoff relied not on evidence arising from the Senate or Justice Department investigations into Abramoff but, rather, on the word of a lawyer for the Louisiana Coushatta Indians who has significant Republican ties the AP article did not mention.

The article noted that Dorgan received a $5,000 check from the Louisiana Coushatta Indians "just three weeks" after he wrote a February 2002 letter "urging the Senate Appropriations Committee to fund the tribal school building program" desired by the Coushatta and other tribal Abramoff clients. Although the Coushatta Indians are in Louisiana -- not Dorgan's home state of North Dakota -- the proposed program, as a federally funded appropriation, would likely benefit American Indian tribes across the country. The AP noted that Dorgan said he supported the program because he "believed tribes in his state might benefit" from it and that, in Dorgan's words, it "saves the federal government money and gets results."
(snip/...)

http://mediamatters.org/items/200511300016

Abramof was the one to give him the money so is Abramof getting it back? If it is the Indian Tribe that is getting the money how does he know that is where the money originated? Glad he is trying to wipe his hands clean but am curious how he is doing it.

as well as 11 others or so.

Dorgan has worked with Native American organizations for years, being one of their Senators in North Dakota.

Conrad Burns, R-Mont., another lawmaker named in the AP stories, said Tuesday he has no plans to return the $150,000 he got from Abramoff sources because he already has spent the money.

I think avoiding any appearance that the money may have been tainted by Abramoff needs to be dealt with.

Sonia