Quotes of the Morning: Pulling a Boehner

“A White House aide who was once chief of staff to House Majority Leader John Boehner helped plan a 1996 trip to the Northern Mariana Islands that was organized by fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff, billing records from Abramoff’s firm show.
Barry Jackson, now chief deputy to White House adviser Karl Rove, accepted an invitation to travel to the island of Saipan in April 1996 but later decided not to go, White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said Tuesday.”
-Associated Press, February 8, 2006

“Wow, who’d have thought that the new House Majority Leader’s name would come up somehow tied to the Jack Abramoff scandal? I thought that Boehner was the guy that was going in to get rid of the air of scandal that DeLay had created.”
-Skippy

“When asked about the contacts between his office and Abramoff’s, including a dinner Boehner attended in May 1996, Boehner told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday: ‘Some of his (Abramoff’s) underlings worked with some low-level employees of my office. I’m telling you I never met the man.’
Boehner spokesman Don Seymour said Tuesday that Boehner now does recall meeting Abramoff once, in ‘a brief, incidental conversation at a widely attended event that he estimates was about five years ago.’
In an e-mail to the AP, Seymour also said Boehner did not intentionally downplay Jackson’s role on his staff.
Boehner has declined to give up more than $30,000 he got from Abramoff’s Indian tribe clients, saying his own work on tribal issues justifies the contributions. He did not receive any money from the tribes until Abramoff represented them.”
-Associated Press, February 8, 2006

“I mean, he seems pretty tight with Abramoff in this story. He also seems to have the rare disease ‘Republican Amnesia’ that manifests whenever someone mentions Abramoff, Valerie Plame, the planning of Iraq, the response to Katrina, or Osama bin Ladin. It is fortunately only a temporary condition that only lasts as long as the Press is looking.”
-Skippy

“According to bills from Abramoff’s former lobbying firm to the Marianas government, Abramoff’s staff contacted Boehner’s office about island issues at least 10 times in the first four months of 1996. Copies of the billing records were obtained by The Associated Press through open-records requests to the territorial government.
Typically, the contact was made by David Safavian, who later became the Bush administration’s chief procurement official in the Office of Management and Budget. Safavian recently was indicted on charges of obstructing investigations of his ties to Abramoff. Safavian was the first administration official indicted in the Abramoff scandal.”
-Associated Press, February 8, 2006

“Hey, look! Bush’s name is tied into the story too.. Go figure. You can’t blame Boehner for working for a little extra cash though. If he didn’t hustle he’d have a hard time keeping a roof over his head in Washington.”
-Skippy

“Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, who was elected House majority leader last week, is renting his Capitol Hill apartment from a veteran lobbyist whose clients have direct stakes in legislation Boehner has co-written and that he has overseen as chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee.”
-Washington Post, February 8, 2006

“Ok, so maybe keeping a roof over his head isn’t such a difficult thing for him. This is the guy who was going to clean up the corruption caused by the lobbying scandal DeLay was involved in.. If he doesn’t look out he’s going to get the same harsh treatment that DeLay has received.”
-Skippy

“Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay, forced to step down as the No. 2 Republican in the House, scored a soft landing Wednesday as GOP leaders rewarded him with a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee.
DeLay, R-Texas, also claimed a seat on the subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department, which is currently investigating an influence-peddling scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his dealings with lawmakers. The subcommittee also has responsibility over NASA — a top priority for DeLay, since the Johnson Space Center is located in his Houston-area district.
‘Allowing Tom DeLay to sit on a committee in charge of giving out money is like putting Michael Brown back in charge of FEMA — Republicans in Congress just can't seem to resist standing by their man,’ said Bill Burton, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.”
-Associated Press, February 8, 2006

“What? DeLay is on the subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department, which is currently investigating… him? Oh cruel irony. He’s also overseeing NASA, a group that found itself at the center of a little scandal just the other day.”
-Skippy

“George C. Deutsch, the young presidential appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers to limit reporters' access to a top climate scientist and told a Web designer to add the word ‘theory’ at every mention of the Big Bang, resigned yesterday, agency officials said. Mr. Deutsch's resignation came on the same day that officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that he did not graduate from there, as his résumé on file at the agency asserted.”
-New York Times, February 8, 2006

“Good times, good times. Yep, the 24 year old Presidential appointee (and Bush campaign volunteer) didn’t even have a college degree. They don’t check anyone’s credentials apparently. It’s a good thing that Boehner is there to clean up the scandals.”
-Skippy

“CAFFERTY: These guys are either arrogant or stupid and neither of those is a good thing if you're going to be the House majority leader--am I missing something here? Where's the reform part? I wonder how long this guy is going to last.
WOLF: You did hear Ed Henry say that it is a basement apartment which is not necessarily all that desirable---
CAFFERTY: Yea...and pigs fly upside down and the moon is made of green cheese and there's no quid pro quo from a lobbyist who is also your landlord? Do I look like I just fell out of the back of a vegetable truck to you?”
-CNN, February 8, 2006

“Wow.. and that is all from a single day in the news. February 8. It’s amazing that the news doesn’t make more of this kind of stuff. I’m sure they’ll get to it after they find the next missing white woman.”
-Skippy