ch: Conservative ‘Values’

Conrad Burns is Easy

In an upcoming issue of Vanity Fair, GOP superlobbyist Jack Abramoff spills the beans on several of his top Republican allies. In the interview, the indicted lobbyist says of Montana Senator Conrad Burns:

“Every appropriation we wanted [from Burns’ committee] we got. Our staffs were as close as they could be. They practically used Signatures as their cafeteria. I mean, it’s a little difficult for him to run from that record.”

Don’t let Conrad’s cute hat fool you—his history of corruption is real. Let’s do a countdown:

1) CREW: Sen. Burns received more money from Mr. Abramoff than did any other Member of Congress.

2) CREW: Last year, Sen. Burns applied pressure to the Interior Department to direct a $3 million federal grant intended for poor tribal schools to the Saginaw Chippewa tribe of Michigan (not Montana!), one of the wealthiest tribes in the country (each member of the tribe receives $70,000 annually) and a client of Mr. Abramoff’s.

3) Missoulian: U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., changed his stance on a 2001 bill after receiving a $5,000 donation from a lobbyist’s client who opposed the legislation, records show. The client hired Jack Abramoff as a lobbyist to defeat the kind of bill Burns voted against. Prior to receiving the payment, Burns did not oppose an identical bill that unanimously passed the Senate in 2000, Senate documents show.

4) LA Times: [Burns] has had a harder time brushing off connections between some of his aides and Abramoff. In 2001, two of them went to the Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., on a private jet financed by an Abramoff company, a violation of Senate rules limiting gifts from lobbyists.