Today, the Campaign for a Cleaner Congress issued a press release calling for Bush to identify the sources of the money Abramoff raised into the Bush Campaign.
The Bush campaign can easily track this money as they had a sophisticated system which included assigning a tracking number to Rangers and Pioneers.
Here's an excerpt from a Washington Post [1] story that explains the system:
The form asked donors to give a target date for completing the goal. A corner of the form included a four-digit number that the campaign used to track the contributions on spreadsheets. "Remember, your Solicitor Tracking Number is your personal tracking number for money that you raise," the form said. "Please place this number on any check that you solicit."
The campaign also tracked contributions by industry, and Democrats have asserted that the system was set up to expedite reward and punishment. Jack Oliver, the campaign's national finance director, said in a deposition during the campaign-finance litigation that the number was used to prevent disputes over who had raised what.
"The Pioneer system itself, the tracking method was effective because people didn't fight over things like they usually did," said Oliver, now the deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Here's the press release:
Abramoff Raised for Bush Many Times the Money the Indicted Lobbyist Donated
Campaign for a Cleaner Congress Calls on Bush to Name Sources of Abramoff-Bundled Donations, Return Money
WASHINGTON – In the wake of President George Bush’s decision to return direct contributions from indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the Campaign for a Cleaner Congress (CCC), a congressional reform group, today called on Bush to name the sources of the money Abramoff raised and collected for Bush.
Abramoff is at the heart of a criminal bribery investigation that could ensnare as many as 60 members of Congress, and he raised over $100,000 for Bush in each of his two presidential campaigns. This sum was presumably worth far more to Bush and his campaigns than the much lower sum of $6,000 given by Abramoff, his wife and his tribal clients that Bush returned.
Numerous press accounts have described the Bush campaigns’ donor records as painstakingly detailed. They presumably contain the list of funds collected by Abramoff and the identities of those from whom Abramoff collected the money so he could “bundle” the contributions and claim the title of a Bush-Cheney campaign “Pioneer,” given to those who raised over $100,000 for Bush’s campaign.
It is unclear whether some of the donations came from the same Indian tribal clients Abramoff defrauded, or if he promised favors in soliciting the donations. Abramoff once promised the head of an African nation a meeting with Bush in exchange for $9 million. The meeting that took place, though Abramoff’s role, if any, in scheduling it is unknown.
Campaign for a Cleaner Congress Chairman Mike Lux called on Bush to name the sources of Abramoff’s bundled money and to return the money or donate it to charity.
“If George Bush thinks he had to give away the $6,000, why not get rid of the more than $200,000 Jack Abramoff has raised, bundled and given him? And, just as importantly, shouldn’t he tell the public who the sources of the Abramoff-bundled money were?” asked Lux. “The bundled money gave Abramoff much more sway with this Administration than the sum he gave the Bush campaign directly.”
The Campaign for a Cleaner Congress is a project of American Family Voices. The group advanced a five-point plan to end legislative corruption that can be seen here: <http://www.cleanercongress.org/>.