The Billings Gazette has a blockbuster story today on Senator Conrad Burns and his ties to lobbyist Leo Giacometto.

From 1995 to 1998, former Alzada rancher Leo Giacometto worked as Sen. Conrad Burns' chief of staff in Washington, D.C. Six years later, after Giacometto had quit to work as a lobbyist, Burns called on him again.

In a move that Burns' office describes as innocuous and at least one observer described as ethically problematic, Burns proposed forming a nonprofit group with Giacometto in 2003. The group, started with $100 from Giacometto's personal bank account and run out of his D.C. lobbying firm, is called the U.S.-Asia Network and Burns, its chairman, has described the outfit as one of his top priorities.

Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, said Burns' involvement with the group is unusual.

"It presents some problems because Burns is aligning himself with what is essentially a trade association run by lobbyists," he said.

Neither of the other members of Montana's congressional delegation has ever started a nonprofit group with lobbyists, according to representatives of Democrat Sen. Max Baucus and Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg.

The group was formed to promote international trade with an emphasis on high tech and telecommunications, according to a Burns newsletter. Giacometto's lobbying clients include communications companies such as Nextel and AT&T. Burns sits on the Commerce Committee and through 2004 chaired its Communications Subcommittee, with jurisdiction over telecommunications law.

I am sure we will be learning more about this over time and this could very well end up being the last straw for Burns.

Giacometto also has some other interesting ties. In 2003, he was part of a questionable lobbying team for Guam that netted $375,000 for a few weeks worth of "work."