An Extensive Web of Financial Ties

Nonprofit Group Linked to DeLay Was Funded Mostly by Clients of Abramoff

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 31, 2005; Page A01

snip...

During its five-year existence, the U.S. Family Network raised $2.5 million but kept its donor list secret. The list, obtained by The Washington Post, shows that $1 million of its revenue came in a single 1998 check from a now-defunct London law firm whose former partners will not identify the money's origins.

snip...

Two former associates of Edwin A. Buckham, the congressman's former chief of staff and the organizer of the U.S. Family Network, said Buckham told them the funds came from Russian oil and gas executives. Abramoff had been working closely with two such Russian energy executives on their Washington agenda, and the lobbyist and Buckham had helped organize a 1997 Moscow visit by DeLay.

snip..

The former president of the U.S. Family Network said Buckham told him that Russians contributed $1 million to the group in 1998 specifically to influence DeLay's vote on legislation the International Monetary Fund needed to finance a bailout of the collapsing Russian economy.

snip...

Whatever the real motive for the contribution of $1 million -- a sum not prohibited by law but extraordinary for a small, nonprofit group -- the steady stream of corporate payments detailed on the donor list makes it clear that Abramoff's long-standing alliance with DeLay was sealed by a much more extensive web of financial ties than previously known.

snip...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/30/AR2005123001480.html

+++++++

We really don't need to delay the opening of the House in January, do we?

following the money trail.

Russian Oil executives? Illegal gambling interests? The usage of the so-called "U.S. Family Network" for illegal and subversive activities?

All this from a man the President said was "not guilty"? How deep does the rotting of the body politic go?

"There is no evidence DeLay received a direct financial benefit, but Buckham's firm employed DeLay's wife, Christine, and paid her a salary of at least $3,200 each month for three of the years the group existed."

How is that not A DIRECT FINANCIAL BENEFIT? Huh? Hello? Bueller? Anyone?

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

Ha ha ha ha ha ha

"A lawyer for the tribe, Bryant Rogers, said the funds were meant not only to "get the message out" about the adverse tax law proposals but also to finance a campaign by Buckham's group within "the conservative base" against legislation to strip tribes of their control over Indian adoptions. "This was a group connected to the right-wing Christian movement," Rogers said. "This is Ed Buckham's connection." "

Praise Jesus and pass the chips, y'all. They have NO SHAME.

Ed Buckham was involved with the Alexander Strategy Group when he left as DeLay's honcho. This outfit received $750,000 from Enron for consulting.

"Once funded and in operation Alexander Strategy Group put DeLay's wife, Christine on its payroll. She reportedly pocketed a net "salary" of $40,000. Christine DeLay is a retired schoolteacher. What she did for her salary is unclear. According to Alexander Strategy Group, she neither lobbied for the company nor did she show up for work there. Why then were they paying her? The company says Alexander Strategies wrote the checks to Christine DeLay as a "bookkeeping convenience" for ARMPAC."

http://www.alternet.org/story/13104/

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Something is very weird about this.

sunk to.

It boggles the mind to try to see it in its entirety.

Like contemplating the vastness of the universe, or a trillion dollars.

:spank:

911 hijacker, and have an opinion on it?

http://www.madcowprod.com/06202005.html