The Chicago Tribune says Abramoff's guilty plea will likely cause increased scrutiny to a letter signed by the entire GOP leadership in the spring of 2003 that  benefitted an Abramoff client:

The guilty plea by lobbyist Jack Abramoff could bring renewed scrutiny of a letter sent by House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois to Interior Secretary Gale Norton urging her to block an Indian casino opposed by rival tribes represented by Abramoff just one week after the lobbyist hosted a fundraiser for Hastert's political action committee.

Whatever attention this gets from the media should center on money from the Mississippi Band of Choctaws.

According to last week's WaPo story on the U.S. Family Network, a slush fund controlled by Tom DeLay with close ties to Roy Blunt was the recipient of nearly a quarter of a million dollars over a two year period.

A quarter of a million dollars was donated over two years by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Abramoff's largest lobbying client, which counted DeLay as an ally in fighting legislation allowing the taxation of its gambling revenue.

Then, during the 2000 Republican Convention, numerous press acounts report that Rep. Tom DeLay and Rep. Roy Blunt jointly sponsored a lavish series of events for their Republican colleagues.  USA Today reported at the time that the Mississippi Band of Choctaws was a major funder of the events.

The exact amount of their contribution remains unknown as DeLay never reported any of the contributions or expenditures for his 2000 convention activities.  We do DeLay passed at least $150,000 of the money he raised for convention activities on to the leadership PAC of Rep. Roy Blunt.

Shortly after the 2000 Republican Convention, Rep. Roy Blunt, along with Rep. Frank Wolf, and a few other GOP members, wrote a joint letter seeking a GAO study of the Bureau of Indian Affairs tribal recognition process.  In addition, they sought a six month moratorium on any further tribal recogntion.  This moratorium would have benefitted those tribes with existing casinos, as it would have prevented any further competition. 

The GAO study was completed on Februrary 7, 2002.  The study spoke in general terms about the tribal recognition process. 

Using the very general GAO study as the basis for his letter, on March 5, 2002, Rep. Blunt then wrote a letter to Department of Interior Secretary Gale Norton very specifically expressing his opposition to a gaming compact for the Jena Band.  This letter directly benefitted Abramoff's client, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw.

Here's how the entry from the DOI Correspondence Log characterizes Blunt's letter:

In March of 2003, Abramoff made contributions to Blunt and Cantor, and held a fundraiser for Speaker Hastert. 

On May 21, 2003, Blunt again wrote Norton.  And again, Blunt specifically cited his opposition to the Jena Band's activities.

On June 10, 2003, Hastert, DeLay, Blunt and Cantor all signed a letter to Norton, once again specifically objecting to the effort by the Jena Band to enter the gaming business.

Here's a handy timeline to help track Rep. Roy Blunt's efforts on behalf of Abramoff and his clients. 

This whole series of events certainly should get more attention, and when it does, there are going to be some people in deep trouble.