Posted on 01/04/2006 4:26:29 PM PST by Sub-Driver
Rep. Kennedy Defends Cash Tied to Abramoff
By ANDREW MIGA, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 21 minutes ago
Rep. Patrick Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), citing his support for American Indian causes, says he has no plans to return any of the $42,500 he took from tribes represented by GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
"He's proud to have their support," Kennedy chief of staff Sean Richardson said Wednesday. "He's got direct personal relationships with tribes. ... He looks at it as a human and civil rights issue, the fact that they're still not treated with the dignity and respect they deserve."
Kennedy, D-R.I., was the top congressional Democratic recipient of Abramoff-linked funds, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign watchdog group that analyzed contributions from 1999 to 2005. He was eighth overall among members of Congress.
Abramoff, who has admitted he defrauded some Indian tribes, is at the heart of a burgeoning Capitol Hill corruption scandal.
Kennedy was never lobbied by Abramoff or any of his associates and he did not receive any checks from Abramoff, Richardson said.
While President Bush and other top Republicans scrambled to give away contributions from tribes linked to Abramoff, Kennedy aides said the congressman's family, beginning with his late uncle Robert F. Kennedy in the 1960s, has championed American Indian causes.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Of all the Kennedy trash, Patrick might well be the most loathsome - now that's so accomplishment.
Further proof any brains that family had died with the old man.
Being a Kennedy means never,*ever* having to say you're sorry.
C'mon. If you're a Kennedy and you take money it's for civil and human rights. If you're a Republican and take money it's a bribe. Get with the template.
"jeez and I thought McCain fixed all this nonsense..."
Uh huh, you betcha!
Having a D after your name gives a permit for a free pass.
Accepting their money and championing their causes in return sounds pretty close to bribery to me. Someone ought to check into what favors Kennedy actually did for these "clients."
I believe the Democrats have planned to say that they do not know Abramoff and have no cause to return the money, so that they can continue saying that it is a Republican "culture of corruption" problem. If the Democrats begin returning funds too, that takes away from their strategy of making this a GOP scandal.
I'm wondering if none of the Democrats in the Senate will return funds, or maybe just one as a sacrifice.
-PJ
17 posted on 01/04/2006 6:13:46 PM CST by Political Junkie Too.....
Saw this on the Patty Murray thread where she plans to NOT give the money back or to charity.....I think we have stumbled on a rat plan....
My my how the dems are trying to hid from the light.
So far we know of Reid, Kennedy and Murray...I'm sure there are others we don't know about yet....
The Yahooooo is only about 24 hrs behind.
Well, to hear the enemy tell it (Chris Matthews and Andrea Mitchell), only Republicans took contributions from Abramoff. Liars!
theere was a big thread today listing allthe Dem's who got $$....it was close to all the Dems in the Senate. Reid won the pot.
Must be the DNC line: All the Democrats who took Abramoff's money are as pure as snow. Kennedy joins Senator Patty Murray in declining to give the money back.
There's a post over on the DU claiming that no Democrat ever took any of Abramoff's money. Probably written by a Democrat Congressional staffer.
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