So yesterday we asked readers to come up with examples which belie Tom DeLay’s claim — printed unrebutted yesterday in the Washington Post — that he washed his hands of Jack Abramoff after a confrontation in his office in February 2001.
So far we’ve only heard from readers who were online and willing to do a bit of research late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. But we’ve already got some pretty good material, a few examples of which we’ll list here in reverse chronological order …
TPM Reader JJ points us to a February 11th, 2004 piece in Roll Call that reported a power conclave at Abramoff’s Signatures restaurant in which DeLay and his crew of staffers-turned-lobbyists discussed a possible crackdown on trade organizations hiring Democrats …
At a dinner hosted by GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff a few blocks from the Capitol at Signatures – a Republican hot spot that features a drink called “The Lobbyist” – DeLay chewed over the topic with a group of lobbyists that included his own former chief of staff, a one-time top aide to Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and a trusted adviser to Hastert.
…
Those who attended the dinner included Susan Hirschmann of Williams & Jensen, Gregg Hartley of Cassidy & Associates, Dan Mattoon of Podesta Mattoon, and Abramoff, a lobbyist with Greenberg Traurig LLC. Paxon, now a lobbyist with Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP, was invited but did not attend the session.
Another reader pointed us to a June 12th 2002 piece in Roll Call about DeLay’s daughter baby shower at which Abramoff and then-associate Tony Rudy were guests.
And of course there’s Abramoff’s continuing maxed-out donations to DeLay and his PACs after that date.
Keep sending us in examples.
