Saturday, August 05, 2006

Doolittle, Hayworth and Burns, oh my!

In part two of our look at "where are Jack Abramoff's buddies now" we bring you Republican representatives Doolittle from California, J.D. Hayworth of Arizona, and Republican Senator Conrad Burns of Montana.

Last Tuesday, one of Fox Cable News' "fair and balanced" talking heads stepped up to speak at a fundraiser for Hayworth. Sean Hannity showed his support for Hayworth, who is pushing his toss 'em all out approach to illegal immigration. No word on whether or not JD's good buddy Abramoff and his $69,620 donations were acknowledged. While Hayworth and Hannity are apparently joined at the hip (not that there's anything wrong with that), JD has asked that Bush and his 31% approval rating not show up in Arizona to help out. JD's not all bad. Sure he took Abramoff money and gallantly offered to give back about $2,000 when pressed and pressed and pressed. But the rest of the money? Not to worry, he shared much of it with the downtrodden. If by downtrodden you mean Mrs. JD Hayworth.

And what of Senator Conrad Burns of Montana and his $55,590 from Abramoff & associates? Well he managed to step from the frying pan into the fire when he dissed some Virginia firefighters who had been helping out their Montana counterparts. Among other non-Virginia state emergencies the "Augusta Hot Shots" have helped out with were 9/11 operations in NYC. So how did Burns thank these folks who flew all the way out to Montana to help fight that state's fires for their $6-$8/hour pay? According to one of the Virginian crew, Burns said, "See that guy over there? He hasn't done a [expletive deleted] thing. They sit around. I saw it up on the Wedge fire and in northwestern Montana some years ago. It's wasteful. You probably paid that guy $10,000 to sit around. It's gotta change." After Montana's firefighters and a few thousand other folks pointed out that he was being a moron, Burns issued an apology. In a 7/25 poll, Burns' disapproval rating was at 57% in Montana, and his challenger is holding onto a 50-43% lead.

And last, but definately not least, is Republican representative John Doolittle of California, whose Abramoff winnings hit $45,000. In return for his financial help, what did Abramoff win from Doolittle? Just a fat lobbying contract with the Commonwealth of the Northern Marina Islands in 1999. And Mrs. Doolittle? Well her firm was hired by Abramoff to do ... well probably something worthwhile. Doolittle's fundraising skills are still strong. He's raised over $1.2 million for his campaign against retired Air Force helicopter pilot Charles Brown. And Mrs. Doolittle? Not to worry, her husband's taking good financial care of her, sending about $7,000 her way in fundraising commissions. At the moment, Doolittle is dodging Brown's invitations for a series of debates. Unfortunately, the race isn't yet shapping up to be the dump the crook race it could be. Stay tuned.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What's the pattern of these guys. They funnel funds to their wives through dummy companies and PACs. Aren't these the same guys who think women should be barefoot & pregnant? What are those wives doing working outside the home? Nah, fooled us. They're not working at all. It's ok, because they're just funneling bribe money for their husbands. Like a good wife should.

9:49 PM  

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