Grover Norquist, one of the leaders of the right-wing here in DC, is getting some intense scrutiny because of his very close relationship with notorious lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The NY Times has the story:
In Republican Washington, Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist worked all the angles.Grover explains it all:"McCain hates me." Sure, Grover, that's probably what it is.
One was a $750-an-hour lobbyist, the other an antitax activist, and they helped drive the Republican takeover of the capital and cement the party's power. Both had a close ally in the House majority leader, Tom DeLay. And they shared a conservative ideology and a friendship going back to their days in college.
Now, with widening Congressional and criminal inquiries in the capital into Mr. Abramoff's dealings, they are sharing trouble, too.
While Mr. Abramoff has been under scrutiny for more than a year, Mr. Norquist has attracted unwelcome attention in recent weeks. A Congressional committee investigating whether Mr. Abramoff defrauded Indian tribes has subpoenaed records from Mr. Norquist's group, Americans for Tax Reform, after he refused for six months to turn them over voluntarily.
The Justice Department is reviewing records of an advocacy group Mr. Norquist started with Gale A. Norton, now secretary of the interior, after reports that Mr. Abramoff instructed Indian tribes to give it $250,000. And Mr. Norquist's name appears over and over in newly disclosed documents outlining Mr. Abramoff's work in the Northern Marianas Islands, an American protectorate in the Pacific, which Democrats are agitating to investigate.
It is going to be fun to watch Grover squirm.
