Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - A Symptom of Our Divide...That One Faction Sees no Difference: Hsu vs. Abramoff?

host · 10-21-2007, 02:12 AM

I just spotted this tonight...over on the "Where's the old Heated Debate?" thread:

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showpos...&postcount=120

Quote:

Originally Posted by tecoyah
I was thinking (yeah...I know, bad Idea), but for me at least the lack of serious debate comes down to two things:

1) the vast majority of people agree for the most part with my stance, thus making debate pointless.

2) those who do not agree have debated with me on the issues, and are extremely negative for the most part, making debate again...pointless.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Necrosis

Perhaps there is yet another reason.

A search of posts containing the word "Abramoff":
Showing results 1 to 40 of 91

A search of posts by Host containing the word "Abramoff":
Showing results 1 to 40 of 58

In these posts, Host was able to delve out incredibly minute details of public figures he dislikes. Contrast that to a search for posts by Host containing the word "Hsu":
Showing results 1 to 3 of 3
Unfortunately, none of these refer to NORMAN Hsu.

A man who can tell you Abramoff's uncle's shoe size, and who posts at length of real and imagined transgressions by Republican politicians, does not stimulate me to debate if he has not heard of Norman Hsu. For that matter, a large majority of other posters on this forum has no interest in lawbreakers who are not named Abramoff, Cheney, Rove, or Bush.

Why in the world would anyone consider debating people with such closed mindsets? Perhaps one of Host's lengthy posts, this time dishing on Norman Hsu, would stimulate animated debate.

Here are a couple of the reported examples of differences I see between democrats accepting donations from Norman Hsu, and republicans accepting donations from Jack Abramoff:

Quote:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/us...ics/16hsu.html
Fund-Raiser’s Wallet Matched His Need to Please

By DON VAN NATTA Jr. and MIKE McINTIRE
Published: September 16, 2007

.....He gave generously, showering money on a wide array of national, state and local politicians. But he stood out in the symbiotic world of campaign finance because <h3>he appeared to want nothing in return other than a few powerful friends</h3>, according to Democratic fund-raisers in New York and California who knew him.

What those friends did not know, however, was that Mr. Hsu was running from a 15-year-old arrest warrant for a fraud conviction and a hidden past of bankruptcy. And his political donations helped to bolster his image as a man to do business with.

He was a compulsive name-dropper who even took time to befriend campaign workers, pulling strings to get them reservations at tough-table restaurants like Nobu in Manhattan.......

Quote:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...tory?track=rss
By Dan Morain, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 13, 2007

....Before boarding an eastbound train later that day, Hsu apparently typed the one-page note and sent it by FedEx; it was received last Thursday.

Among the recipients was the Innocence Project, the New York-based organization co-founded by attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld that seeks to prove the innocence of people in prison. <h3>Hsu was one of the organization's donors.</h3>

"We did receive a letter from him, the contents of which I don't want to divulge out of respect for his privacy," Eric Ferrero, the organization's communications director, told The Times on Friday.

Ferrero said the Innocence Project forwarded the letter to Hsu's defense attorneys in San Francisco and to the California attorney general's office. Hsu helped sponsor a dinner for the organization in April, Ferrero said, describing him as a "strong and committed supporter."....

Most importantly...no political "quid pro quo" has been demonstrated...related to donations to democrats from Norman Hsu. No democrats have been found to know...or should have known...when accepting donations from Hsu...that he was widely reported to be of deficient character or motive, or that he had a histroy of expecting or promoting a political...or any favor in exchange for a donation....

I find no reporting that any democrat denied knowing or receiving money from Hsu...if they indeed did know him, or accepted money from him.

Less importantly, but still significant....democrats did not control both congress and the executive branch when they associated with and accepted money from Tsu. No Tsu associates were appointed to government positions by democrats.

Contrast all of the above with the Ambramoff situation. Abramoff's lobbying business consisted of charging huge fees to the wealthy garment business owners who controlled the US Territory...the Northern Mariannas pacific islands, for the purpose of drafting and/or preserving federal legislation that permitted the Northern Mariannas to run it's own immigration operation, and to keep hourly wages below US mainland minimums and "guest worker" rregulations worded so as to maximize both the profits of and the dominance of these workers lives...to a maximum advantage of the Islands' factory owners.

Abramoff did this by providing vacation junkets and contributions to influential legislators, and by entertaining key DOJ officials in his corporate professional sports "sky box" seats at metro DC area sports arenas and stadiums.... Abramoff succeeded in convincing the Bush admin. to:

Quote:

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Docume...ween_0112.html
Documents show extent of ties between Abramoff and Bush appointee

John Byrne
Published: January 12, 2006

Print This | Email This

Patrick PizzellaA senior Labor Department official appointed by President Bush in 2001 has more detailed ties to fallen conservative lobbyist Jack Abramoff than previously believed, according to documents reviewed by RAW STORY.

The official, Patrick Pizzella, was an Abramoff lieutenant who lobbied on behalf of at least five clients that are now the subject of investigations: E-Lottery, Naftasib, the Mississippi Band of Choctaws, the Commonwealth of the Marianas Islands and the Saginaw Chippewas. Pizzella paired with Abramoff at Washington lobby shop Preston Gates Ellis and Rouvelas Meeds, working together on more than $21 million in accounts.

Rediscovered records show that Pizzella lobbied on behalf of a Bahamian company the Washington Post revealed to be a front organization for a Russian oil business. They also show that Pizzella arranged numerous trips for conservative activists with Abramoff and another Preston Gates lobbyist, David Safavian, to a U.S. territory in the Pacific, paid for by the territory.

Abramoff and Safavian have since been arrested on charges stemming from a federal investigation into Abramoff’s lobbying practices. Pizzella, who worked on several of the same accounts, remains a Bush Administration official and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Abramoff pleaded guilty to various charges in December.

Pizzella could not be reached for comment.

Pizzella lobbied for Bahama front group

A newly discovered Senate lobbying record filed in 1997 (PDF file) lists Pizzella as "Director of Coalitions" for Chelsea Commercial, a purported Bahamas based organization lobbying for Russian trade liberalization. The Washington Post revealed last April that Chelsea Commercial appeared to have been little more than a front group for a Russian oil and gas company, Naftasib.

Chelsea Commercial, according to the Post, underwrote a trip taken by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and Pizzella colleague Jack Abramoff by funneling money through a Washington nonprofit. The nonprofit paid for a trip taken by DeLay along with Abramoff and former DeLay aide Ed Buckham during which the lobbyists met with DeLay and key Russian officials.

The Post did not say whether other individuals from the lobbying firm –- including Pizzella -- made the trip, though it would seem to have been limited to Abramoff and Buckham.

Pizzella, however, does appear to have played a significant role on the Chelsea account; only Abramoff and one other individual on the account are listed on the 1997 filings as "government affairs counselors," whereas Pizzella is the only individual to carry the title "director." Lobbyists often take on larger titles at lobby shops – with many carrying titles of "director" -- though it appears notable that Abramoff, who obviously had a large role, does not receive a superlative appellation on the filing.

RAW STORY could find no news reports which explain Pizzella’s role on the Chelsea account. Former Abramoff associates who worked at various points with Abramoff said they were not personally familiar with Pizzella’s work.

Document shows Pizzella, Abramoff trips

A second rediscovered document shows that Abramoff and Pizzella had substantial ties while lobbying on behalf of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The same document used to report that two Democratic congressman had taken improper trips to the Northern Marianas Islands lists various trips Pizzella made to Saipan with conservative activists and opinionmakers. Given the billing statement, it is plausible that Pizzella would have known the congressmen's trips were paid for by the Islands, a U.S. territory in the Pacific –- in violation of House ethics rules.

The memo shows that Pizzella spared no expense during his Marianas trips. Airfare for conservative heavyweights flown at the islands' expense often topped $5,000 a head.

A 2001 report by The New Republic also indicates that Pizzella made a whirlwind number of trips with congressmen, saying he extended personal invitations to at least 11 members of Congress. The Wall Street Journal estimated that 100 representatives visited the islands during Pizzella's tenure. It's unknown who paid for these trips, or even who these congressmembers are.

According to the New Republic, Abramoff handpicked Pizzella for his Marianas lobbying team.

Pizzella's work with the Marianas has attracted the most scrutiny, particularly because the islands are notorious sweatshop havens. The Preston Gates lobbying team collected some $6.7 million from the protectorate, some $3.1 million of which was paid without a lawful contract. Preston Gates helped crush attempts to impose minimum wage laws and accrued $2 million in federal aid for the islands.

Pizzella was appointed to be a deputy labor undersecretary just months after departing Abramoff's retinue.

Abramoff cheered the appointment in a letter to the Commonwealth. Notably, Abramoff seemed to reference Pizzella’s new post in a January 2001 letter even though he wasn’t officially appointed until April 2001.

"Our standing with the new administration promises to be solid as several friends of the CNMI (islands) will soon be taking high-ranking positions in the Administration, including within the Interior Department," Abramoff wrote.

The Marianas have since accused Abramoff and his staff of overcharging the islands for some $2.2 million in unsupported expenses. The charges included travel, telephone, photocopy, computer research and outside-professional fees. Pizzella was not named by auditors, though was among the most traveled members of Abramoff’s group.

RAW STORY, along with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, recently filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking any information about contacts between Pizzella and any members of Abramoff's staff after his appointment to the Labor Department.

"Mr. Pizzella has extensive knowledge about the Abramoff operation, considering he was on their team," Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics spokeswoman Naomi Seligman said. "We do not know, but certainly intend to find out, how his current position at the Labor Department helped Mr. Abramoff and clients."

Saipan's regulatory limbo has helped to fortify the bottom lines of popular U.S. clothing brands. Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Calvin Klein and Liz Claiborne are among the labels that have benefited from the island's dearth of labor laws. The islands' minimum wage -- albeit weakly enforced -- was $3.05 an hour in 1998.

Pizzella worked on other accounts now under investigation

Along with about a dozen other lobbyists, Pizzella also advocated for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. During the three years Pizzella worked the Choctaw, they dished out $5.7 million for the work. Investigators of Abramoff's Choctaw work have since accused him of laundering funds.

Pizella and Abramoff also represented eLottery, a company that sought to sell state lottery tickets online. News reports and investigations have since shown that Abramoff arranged for the firm to quietly fund anti-gambling efforts to derail competing plans. A senior DeLay aide also communicated with Abramoff to help quash an effort to ban online gambling.

After Jack Abramoff was indicted on federal charges....President Bush...despite the fact that Abramoff had been a "Bush Pioneer".... a top campaign donor for both Bush/Cheney 2000 and 2004....and despite the fact that Abramoff's former key assistant, Susan Ralston...had for four years, been a special advisor to both the president and to his right hand, Karl Rove, and during that time, she had an office just doors down from the president's oval office, Bush declared:

<center><img src="http://www.citizensforethics.org/filelibrary/JAGWB.jpg"></center>

Quote:

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/02/08/...ramoff-emails/
EXCLUSIVE EMAILS: Jack Abramoff Describes Relationship With President Bush

ThinkProgress has obtained emails written by Jack Abramoff in which the fallen lobbyist personally describes his relationship with President Bush. They depict a relationship far more extensive than has been previously reported.

The emails written by Abramoff was addressed to Kim Eisler, the national editor of Washingtonian magazine. The Washingtonian recently reported on the existence of several photographs showing Abramoff and Bush together. Eisler is also the author of Revenge of the Pequots, a book about tribal politics for which Abramoff was interviewed.

In the emails, Abramoff describes meeting Bush “in almost a dozen settings,” and details how he was personally invited to President Bush’s private ranch in Crawford, Texas, for a gathering of Bush fundraisers in 2003. Abramoff did not attend, citing a religious observance.

Abramoff emailed Eisler about his invitation to Crawford and his decision not to attend:

NO, IT WAS THAT I WOULD HAVE HAD TO TRAVEL ON SATURDAY (SHABBOS). YES, I WAS INVITED, DURING THE 2004 CAMPAIGN. IT WAS SATURDAY AUGUST 9, 2003 AT THE RANCH IN CRAWFORD.

The White House has continually downplayed the relationship between Abramoff and President Bush. At a January 26 press conference, <h2>President Bush said “You know, I, frankly, don’t even remember having my picture taken with the guy. I don’t know him.”</h2>

But according to Eisler, Abramoff told him that the two have met almost a dozen times, shared jokes, and spoke about details of Abramoff’s family:

HE HAS ONE OF THE BEST MEMORIES OF ANY POLITICIAN I HAVE EVER MET. IT WAS ONE IF [sic] HIS TRADEMARKS, THOUGH OF COURSE HE CAN’T RECALL THAT HE HAS A GREAT MEMORY! THE GUY SAW ME IN ALMOST A DOZEN SETTINGS, AND JOKED WITH ME ABOUT A BUNCH OF THINGS, INCLUDING DETAILS OF MY KIDS. PERHAPS HE HAS FORGOTTEN EVERYTHING. WHO KNOWS.

...and from this post: http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showpos...9&postcount=21

Too bad it's "a time of war"....it makes all of it.....the outing of Plame, the hiring and naming of the key assistant to the most corrupt DC lobbyist in history, to be "special assistant to the POTUS", and his political advisor, Karl Rove, and placing her, for more than 5 years, just down the hall from the president's office: (While insisting that you don't even know the admitted felon):

Quote:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11733701
Report: Bush, Abramoff joked together
<b>President still denies knowing ex-lobbyist</b>; Vanity Fair reports otherwise
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:21 p.m. ET March 8, 2006

WASHINGTON - Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff says President Bush knew him well enough to joke with him about weightlifting. “What are you benching, buff guy?” Abramoff said Bush asked him.

The president has said he doesn’t know Abramoff.

Abramoff said he finds it hard to believe Bush doesn’t remember the 10 or so photos he and members of his family had snapped with the president and first lady.

“He (Bush) has one of the best memories of any politician I have ever met,” Abramoff wrote in an e-mail, according to Vanity Fair’s April issue being released this week. “Perhaps he has forgotten everything. Who knows?”

Abramoff pleaded guilty Jan. 4 to charges that he and a former partner, Adam Kidan, concocted a fake wire transfer to make it appear they were putting a sizable stake of their own money into a multimillion-dollar purchase of SunCruz Casinos’ gambling fleet in 2000. Abramoff also has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a probe into his ties with members of Congress and the Bush administration.

“I had my picture taken with him, evidently,” Bush said of Abramoff on Jan. 26. “I’ve had my picture taken with a lot of people.”

“I frankly don’t even remember having my picture taken with the guy,” Bush added. “I don’t know him.”

Abramoff: We met a dozen times
A few days later, Abramoff wrote to Washingtonian magazine that he had met briefly with the president nearly a dozen times and that Bush knew him well enough to make joking references to Abramoff’s family.

Abramoff told Vanity Fair that he once was invited to Bush’s Texas ranch, where he would have joined with other big Bush fund-raisers. Abramoff, an Orthodox Jew, said he didn’t go because the event fell on the Sabbath.

The lobbyist said that when Bush made a speech to fund-raisers in 2003, he sat just a few feet from the president. Abramoff, the only lobbyist on the dais, was seated between Republican Sens. George Allen of Virginia and Orrin Hatch of Utah.

Three former associates of Abramoff have told The Associated Press the lobbyist frequently told them he had strong ties to the White House through its deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove.

Asked about the former Abramoff associates’ accounts, the White House said Rove and Abramoff were leaders of a young Republicans group decades ago.

“Mr. Rove remembers they had met at a political event in the 1990s,” White House spokeswoman Erin Healy has said. “Since then, he would describe him as a casual acquaintance.”

According to Vanity Fair, Rove’s relationship with Abramoff was deeper.

After Bush took office, Susan Ralston, Abramoff’s administrative assistant, assumed the same post with Rove at the White House, where Abramoff met with Rove at least once, the magazine said.

Strong ties to Rove?
Rove dined several times at Abramoff’s former restaurant in Washington, Signatures, and was Abramoff’s guest in a luxury box at a basketball playoff game a few years ago, sitting for much of the game at Abramoff’s side, Vanity Fair reported.

The White House has not released any photos that Bush took with Abramoff, but acknowledged the authenticity of one that has been made public. In the 2001 photo, Bush is seen shaking hands with the leader of an Indian tribe that was an Abramoff client. The lobbyist is in the background.

Abramoff said he thought about, but decided against, selling his photos with the Bushes for money. Publications were making Abramoff offers that rose to the low seven figures, Vanity Fair reports.

He blames the Bush administration for the media attention.

“My so-called relationship with Bush, Rove and everyone else at the White House has only become important because instead of just releasing details about the very few times I was there, they created a feeding frenzy by their deafening silence,” Abramoff told the magazine.

“The Democrats, on the other hand, are going overboard, virtually insisting I was there to plan the invasion of Iraq.”

Quote:

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/22/...unity-for-now/
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the...r_henry_n.html
May 22, 2007
Shorter Henry: Nice Try, Brad Berenson

by emptywheel

There has been a lot of discussion already about the Ralston news from today--that she asked for immunity so she could testify about Abramoff contacts with the White House. What seems to be missing from those stories is the takeaway: Henry Waxman's not giving Ralston immunity anytime soon.

Waxman provides a helpful map of what happened. Ralston gave a deposition on May 10--over a month after Waxman first invited her to visit. While there, she "testified on a number of subjects unrelated to the Abramoff matter." [Note to Novak and Rove--that bit's just there to make you sweat.] But as for the rest, Waxman describes what sounds like an unsuccessful attempt on the part of designated firewall defense lawyer Brad Berenson to convince Waxman to give Ralston immunity for stuff she's still under investigation for with the DOJ probe. Henry helpfully shows us the roadmap Berenson laid out for us:

Susan is here this morning voluntarily. She wants to assist the committee in its investigation to the extent she is able to. She is not under subpoena. We understand that the purpose of this morning’s deposition is really twofold: first, for her to provide the information that she can provide on a couple of subjects where she can testify without precondition … and, secondly, to make a record for the committee of the subjects on which she does not feel she can testify without a grant of immunity based on concerns that the testimony may reasonably form some link in a chain of evidence that someone could regard as inculpatory of her.

The subjects this morning that she will be unable to testify to on those grounds are the subjects of the relationship between Jack Abramoff and his associates and White House officials, including Ms. Ralston, and the subject of the use by White House officials of political e-mail accounts at the RNC.

She has material, useful information about both of those subjects. She is more than willing to provide it to the committee. However, she will, as we have previously discussed, require a grant of immunity before she is comfortable going forward.

And if you can't read that road map, Henry gives you an even more specific one:

She was personal friends with a number of the individuals on Abramoff’s staff, and as the
committee’s own report makes clear, was frequently the recipient of communications from them, even if the substantive matters under discussion related only to activities by other officials in the
White House.

So let me read the road map

for you all: click to show

Quote:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...es&btnG=Search
The Abramoff Investigation :: Committee on Government Reform ...
White House Contacts. 485 lobbying contacts with the White House ... Jack Abramoff and his team had 485 lobbying contacts with White House officials between ...
oversight.house.gov/abramoff/index2.asp

Bush tells us an "enemy wants to attack us"....but no need for his key aids to use secure white house email....is there???

Quote:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/blogs/n...ompts_many.htm

....But just a week after E-mails in the U.S. attorneys case became a main focus of congressional Democrats probing the firings, several aides said that they stopped using the White House system except for purely professional correspondence.

"We just got a bit lazy," said one aide. "We knew E-mails could be subpoenaed. We saw that with the Clintons but I don't think anybody saw that we were doing anything wrong." ....

Quote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...032601979.html
Correction to This Article
A March 27 article incorrectly attributed to Susan Ralston a warning that e-mail messages by lobbyist Jack Abramoff should not be put into the White House e-mail system "because it might actually limit what they can do to help us, especially since there could be lawsuits, etc." The author of the 2003 e-mail citing the warning, Kevin Ring, said yesterday that the warning was issued not by Ralston but by Jennifer Farley, who was a deputy in the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.
GOP Groups Told to Keep Bush Officials' E-Mails
Democrat Cites Investigation of Firings

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 27, 2007; Page A03

<i>A Democratic House committee chairman yesterday told the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign to retain copies of all e-mails sent or received by White House officials using e-mail accounts under their control, raising the political stakes in the congressional inquiry into U.S. attorneys' firings.</i>

......Waxman noted for example that J. Scott Jennings, the White House deputy director of political affairs, used a "gwb43.com" e-mail account last August to discuss the replacement of the U.S. attorney for Arkansas, Bud Cummins, according to e-mails released to Congress by the White House.

Barry Jackson, a deputy to Rove, in 2003 used a "georgewbush.com" e-mail account to consult with Neil G. Volz, then an aide to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, about nominating one of Abramoff's Indian tribe clients for a Medal of Freedom, according to a copy of an e-mail. Abramoff is now serving a prison sentence for bank fraud, and Volz plead guilty to conspiracy charges last year.

Susan B. Ralston, while she was executive assistant to Rove, similarly used "georgewbush.com" and "rnchq.org" e-mail accounts to confer in 2001 and 2003 with Abramoff, her former boss, about matters of interest to Abramoff's clients.

In a related e-mail, an Abramoff aide said Ralston had warned that "it is better to not put this stuff in writing in [the White House] . . . email system because it might actually limit what they can do to help us, especially since there could be lawsuits, etc."

Abramoff's response, according to a copy of his e-mail, was: "Dammit. It was sent to Susan on her rnc pager and was not supposed to go into the WH system."

Waxman said the exchange indicated that in some instances, White House officials were using nongovernmental accounts "specifically to avoid creating a record of communications" that are nonetheless subject to the committee's jurisdiction.

yup...it's "war time".....Bush tells us it's a long, long war....enemy lurking...blah, blah, blah....we have to be "right 100 percent of the time...", yet there is no "email security policy", or preservation policy, and....the president's "special assistant"...sitting just down the hall from his office...is engaging her former boss, the man she followed from one lobbying firm to the next....is continuing her contacts....boasting that they are insecure...with her soon to be convicted felon....former boss....who the president, "doesn't know", even getting a 50 percent raise from the "war president":

Quote:

http://oversight.house.gov/Documents...0758-87640.pdf
HENRY A. WAXMAN, CAUFORNIA,
CHAIRMAN
TOM DAVIS. VIRGINIA.
RANKING MINOBTTY MEMBER

The White House
I 600 Pennsylvania Avenue
V/ashington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. Fielding:
I am writing to request information and a briefing regarding the e-mail policies of the
White House.
On Monday, I wrote to the Republican National Committee and the Bush Cheney'04
campaign directing them to preserve the e-mails of White House officials.r In those letters, I
cited multiple examples of the use of political RNC e-mail accounts by White House officials
conducting official government business. [n one example I cited, an associate of convicted
lobbyist Jack Abramoff was advised by a White House official not to send communications
through the official White House e-mail system because "to put this stuff in writing in their email
system ... might actually limit what they can do to help us."'
Since Monday, I have learned of new examples of the use of RNC and campaign e-mail
accounts by White House officials, including:</b>
o New Abramoff E-Mails. Susan Ralston, who was Karl Rove's executive assistant,
invited two lobbyists working for Jack Abramoff to use her RNC e-mail account to avoid
"security issues" with the White House e-mail system, writing: "I now have an RNC
blackbeny which you can use to e-mail me at any time. No security issues like my WH

Fred Fielding
March 29,2007
Page2

email."3 Ms. Ralston similarly wrote Mr. Abramoff: "I know [sic] have an RNC laptop
at the office for political use. I can access my AOL email when necessary so if you need
to send me something that I need to read, you can send to my AOL email and then call or
page me to check it."4</b>

New Scott Jennings E-Mails. Scott Jennings, the deputy director of political affairs in
the White House, and his assistant used "gwb43.com" e-mail accounts to communicate
with the General Services Administration about a partisan briefing that Mr. Jennings gave
to political appointees at GSA on January 26,2007.' When Mr. Jennings's assistant emailed
the PowerPoint presentation to GSA, she wrote: "It is a close hold and we're not
supposed to be emailing it around."o
o New Job Appointment E-Mails. Mr. Jennings also appears to have used his
"gwb43.com" account to recruit applicants for official government positions through the
"Kentucky Republican Voice," an internet site that describes itself as "the best source for
Kentucky Republican grassroots information." One posting from May 2005 advertised
17 vacancíes on assorted presidential boards and commissions.' A second posting from
May 2006 sought applicants for various boards within the Small Business
Administration.s In each case, these postings encouraged applicants to contact Mr.
Jennings at his "gwb43.com" address.
Moreover, U.S. News & ïlorld Reportreported yesterday thatmy letter on Monday to the
RNC may be driving official White House communications even further underground.
According to this report, at least two White House aides have now "bought their own private E-

Fred Fielding
March 29,2007
Page 3

mail system through a cellular phone or Blackberr)¡ server" to avoid the possibilities of
subpoenas. Another aide told U.S. News that he now communicates through "texting."e
<b>The statements of White House spokesperson Dana Perino at a press briefing this week
only further confused the issue. She said: "Of course, peopl.e^are encouraged, on official White
House business, to use their official White House accounts."'u But she did not cite any specific
policy or guidance issued to White House staff regarding the use of e-mail accounts and the
preservation of presidential records</b>, and she acknowledged that certain officials in the White
House have been given access to political e-mail accounts. When asked if a new directive had
been issued to White House staff reminding them to use their White House e-mails, she stated, "I
don't know of any new directive, but it is what we ask people to do."ll
Ms. Perino was also vague in her answers about whether the White House is ensuring the
security and preservation of offrcial communications that are sent through RNC and campaign email
accounts. She stated:
With respect to presidential records, an email that is sent to or from a White House email
address is automatically archived, even if the other person is not using a White House
email account. I believe well, I know that our White House Counsel's Office is in
communication with the RNC's general counsel to make sure that those archivings have
taken place.l2
To help the Committee understand the White House policies involving the use of
nongovertmental e-mail accounts by White House officials, I ask you to provide the following
information:
All policies, guidance, and other communications provided to White House officials
regarding appropriate use of nongovernmental e-mail accounts, particularly those
hosted by the Republican National Committee and other political organizations;
All policies, guidance, and other communications provided to White House officials
regarding the obligation to preserve e-mail records, including those created while
using nongoverTrmental e-mail accounts'....

Quote:

http://www.philippinenews.com/news/v...194d4960b18353
Top Rove aide ‘critical’ in CIA probe
Rita Gerona Adkins, Nov 08, 2005
<img src="http://www.philippinenews.com/directory/getdata.asp?about_id=4997403295ea354107194d4960b18353-2">
.....But that incident also demonstrated Susan’s strength as an organized and systematic operator. Her message to the veterans was, “don’t make it difficult for us to help you; you don’t make it easy for us by causing us embarrassment.”

At 37, Ralston, a graduate of management, had worked as assistant to Jack Abramoff, a powerfully connected lobbyist, at the Preston Gates and Ellis and later at Greenberg Taurig law and lobbying firms. Story had it that Abramoff, indicted on alleged corruption charges involving, among others, former Republican majority leader Tom DeLay, had offered Ralston to Rove when the latter was looking for an efficient and trusted assistant.

Before working in the nation’s capital, she was an office administrator for a commercial and real estate firm in Chicago, Ill.

Ralston has been promoted to Special Assistant to the President and Assistant to the President Senior Adviser with an annual salary of $92,000. She is married to Troy Ralston, executive director of a graduate school of management.

Karl is an amazing person to work for. I feel very, very fortunate to be in an office where so much is happening,” Ralston told this reporter in a 2003 interview.

<h3>SO my question to Necrosis....and anyone else who lumps Hsu and Abramoff together...for the purpose of melding the two "situations"....can you see the differences? Hsu took advantage of no native Americans or of Pacific island "slave" laborers, or anyone else...apparently.... to obtain the money that he donated to democrats. He made no effort to inflitrate government agencies....indluding the oval office, itself, to extend his political influence or control. No democrat appears to have accepted money from him after one knew or should have known that Hsu's reputation was challenged, and no Democrat appears to have denied knowing/meeting him...least of all the democratic presidential candidates....</h3>

I suspect that many who predictably disagree with my political opinions, will not discern the clear differences in scope, ehtics, legality, and consequences to the fairness of government administration...between the crimes Abramoff committed in direct connection with the way he obtained the money he then donated to politicians, what he expected those politicians to officially do for him in exchange for those donations.....the failure of the politicians involved to react truthfully, timely, or in some cases...at all...to the seriousness of the damage that Abramoff caused to the reputations of the republican controlled congress and white house vs. what has been reported in the Hsu situation...in comparison to the reaction by democrats who accepted money from him.

Those associated with and in receipt of Abramoff money, almost exclusively republicans...seemed incapable, in too many instances.... of discerning right from wrong.....and that lack of discernment hurt the country.....just as it hurts the discourse on this forum..... I'm surprised that it has come to doing a thread topic on comparing Abramoff to Tsu...but I guess that I shouldn't be.....