This story from The Hill is just mindboggling.  In December 2003, Jack Abramoff, along with some fellow lobbyists and a handful of members of Congress threw a baby shower for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.

And what did guests contribute?  Cash, to a fund supposedly set up to pay for nanny services.

The lobbyist, who had been friends with Rohrabacher since the early 1980s when the future lawmaker was a White House speechwriter and Abramoff was chairman of the College Republicans, allowed the couple to use his restaurant, Signatures, between lunch and dinner for the shower. Only hors d’oeuvres were served, Rohrabacher disclosed in a Los Angeles Times article two weeks ago.

In the same article, Rohrabacher called Abramoff a close friend of 20 years and a “good person who’s done bad things and has to be punished for doing bad things.”

The article did not mention that guests at the shower contributed to a fund for nanny service provided by After the Stork, a 24-hour child-care service based in the district.

No wonder Rep. Rohrabacher is still defending Abramoff long after every one else  has started trying to distance themselves. 

And here's another nice little aspect of the story:

The $3,000 gift does not appear on Rohrabacher’s annual personal financial disclosure documents because the congressman asked the House ethics committee to waive that disclosure requirement after it had granted him a waiver to accept shower gifts.

The committee, known officially as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, does not make public initial requests for waivers from the gift rule and does not discuss any waivers it grants, according to a panel staffer, so there is no way to tell if Rohrabacher told the committee he was setting up a nanny-service fund in lieu of self-selected shower gifts.

The committee, however, does make public its response to requests to waive the disclosure of gifts received in connection with a shower or gift. Rohrabacher’s office filed the request, and the committee granted it in a letter dated Dec. 3, 2003.

The letters are supposed to be kept on file at the House Legislative Resource Center, where the public can look them up. In this case, the letter is missing, but Rohrabacher’s office provided a copy to The Hill.

Gifts of Legislative Love

One doesn't normally find love in the congressional financial disclosure reports, but perhaps this is what goes for romance these days on the Hill . . .

In the section of his report that is supposed to disclose gifts of more than $285, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) pointed readers to attached correspondence concerning his wedding gifts. Blunt married Abigail Perlman, a lobbyist for Altria Corp., the parent company of Philip Morris, in October.

On Sept. 15, Blunt wrote to Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), chairman of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, and noted his impending marriage. "I anticipate receiving wedding gifts in connection with this event and I would like to request a waiver of the limitations of the gift rule to allow me to accept gifts in connection with my wedding," he wrote.

Hefley, and ranking Democrat Alan B. Mollohan (W.Va.) responded Sept. 24, granting the waiver, but noted "you should exercise caution in accepting any gift that likely would not have been offered but for your status as a Member of the House." Gifts totaling more than $285 from a single source must still be reported, they wrote, although gifts valued at $114 or less do not need to be counted toward the total.

On Oct. 1, Blunt wrote Hefley requesting a reporting waiver "to prevent the paperwork of filing numerous disclosure forms for every gift my wife and I receive."

Oct. 3, Hefley and Mollohan granted his request.

For previous Fired Up! coverage of this topic, click here. 

So you see, for all their talk of reform, it doesn't much matter what rules the GOP passes as long as they stay in control, because they'll just waive the rules anyway.