Sounds like the Abramoff connections are starting to come in which is not good news for DeLay, nor for Blunt or Blunt Jr/Gov of Missouri. Who would have guessed that we would be hearing allegations of money laundering and possible Federal Election Commission violations similar to the Texas election charges? And they all seemed like such nice guys who really cared for the people. So how long does Blunt (either one) stick around before joining the Bug Man on the sidelines of power?
When it all ended, DeLay's private charity, along with the consulting firm that employed DeLay's wife and the Missouri campaign of Blunt's son, Matt, who now is the state's governor, all ended up with a piece of the pie, according to campaign documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
Jack Abramoff, the Washington lobbyist recently charged in an ongoing federal corruption and fraud investigation, and Jim Ellis, the DeLay fundraiser indicted with his boss last week in Texas, also appeared in the picture.
"These people clearly like using middlemen for their transactions," said Lawrence Noble. "It seems to be a pattern with DeLay funneling money to different groups, at least to obscure, if not cover, the original source," said Noble...[Ohh, now would that be money laundering?]
Hartley [Blunt's former chief of staff] said he saw no similarity to the Texas case. The fact that DeLay's charity, Christine DeLay's consulting firm and Blunt's son were beneficiaries was a coincidence, Hartley said.
"You see Abramoff involved and see the meetings that were held and one gets the sense Abramoff is helping this along in order to get access and push his clients' interest," he said. "And at the same time, you see Delay and Blunt trying to hide the root of their funding.
