Records Suggest Abramoff-Pombo Lobbying Contacts
Tuesday 10 October 2006
California Rep. Richard Pombo has insisted he was never lobbied by Jack Abramoff. Records show the disgraced lobbyist billed a client for at least two contacts with Pombo a decade ago.
The lobbying records released by the Northern Mariana Islands show that Abramoff billed once for calls to Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, and a second time for a discussion with him, while lobbying in 1996.
On more than two dozen other occasions from 1996 through 2001, Abramoff associates called or met with members of Pombo's staff, including his chief of staff, the records indicate. As the contacts picked up, Pombo voted Abramoff's way on a bill important to Abramoff's clients.
Pombo spokesman Brian Kennedy disputed the reported contacts, saying direct lobbying by Abramoff "never happened" and the staff-level contacts were "greatly inflated." Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in a congressional corruption investigation, is "an admitted felon" who can't be trusted, Kennedy said.
Still, the records put in question Pombo's campaign-trail assertions that he barely knew Abramoff and was never lobbied by him. Pombo is running against Democrat Jerry McNerney and is favored to win an eighth term representing California's Central Valley.
The Mercury News, one of the largest newspapers in California and read by thousands of voters throughout the 11th Congressional District, did not mince words, calling Richard Pombo "a national disgrace to the Republican Party."
A Washington watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, put Pombo on its list of the 13 most corrupt Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
9/11 Bill of Rights supports Jerry McNerney for US Congress!
