GOP AbraMafia

Barbara Bonfiglio is treasurer to the GOP stars,  or at least she was.

TPM Muckraker reports that she is leaving lobbying powerhouse Williams & Jensen.   That's also the firm where DeLay's former Chief of Staff Susan Hirschmann hangs her hat.

TPM mentions that Bonfiglio was treasurer for Tom DeLay, Rick Santorum's charity, Richard Pombo and Duke Cunningham.

A casual review of FEC records indicates that Bonfiglio is, or was until very recently, also treasurer, deputy treasurer, or custodian of records for many other GOP luminaries.

Here's an advance copy of the Vanity Fair interview with Jack Abramoff.

It has been previewed by TPM Muckraker, Hotline Blog and ThinkProgress. 

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.

Former Rep. Duke Cunningham was sentenced to 100 months in prison for taking bribes from defense contractors.

Former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham was taken into custody Friday after being sentenced to eight years and four months in federal prison and ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution for accepting bribes from defense contractors.

Prosecutors had sought a 10-year sentence for Cunningham, the maximum available under his plea agreement. His lawyers asked for six years.

Rep. John Doolittle has been inducted into Public Citizen's Ethics Hall of Shame.  Here are the highlights of his record:

• Is under investigation by the Justice Department for his ties to Jack Abramoff. 
• Steered defense appropriations for technology the military did not request to a major campaign contributor. 
• Took action supporting Jack Abramoff tribal clients that contradicted his “anti-gaming position,” while taking tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Abramoff and his clients.
• Took action supported by two lobbying firms that employed his wife.
• Short-circuited an FDIC investigation into the primary owner of a failed S&L that cost taxpayers billions. 

Today is Public Citizen's "National Call Out Corruption Day."  To get more information on how to take part, click here.

Mitchell Wade, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Rep. Duke Cunningham bribery scandal, will become an "indicted co-conspirator" later today.

According to the AP, Wade will plead guilty to unspecified charges in Washington.

This is extremely bad news for the GOP, as this will give the feds yet another cooperating witness in their ongoing corruption probe of DeLay and others.

Wade, and fellow defense contractor Brent Wilkes, showered GOP House members with campaign contributions, and in at least one case, bribes, in return for earmarked defense contracts.  Check out this San Diego Union Tribune story for a sense of the potential scope of this matter.

The story in today's Boston Globe about the latest subpoenas in the Abramoff investigation are very bad news for DeLay.

Clearly the feds have zeroed in on the activities of the U.S. Family Network and the money that Russian energy execs steered there for as yet unknown political favors in return. 

DeLay, and his henchman, Ed Buckham, are neck deep in the U.S. Family Network.  If DeLay knows anything incriminating about the Speaker, or the President, now may be the time for him to start organizing his thoughts, because it won't be too long before he is trying to make a deal with the feds. 

The new report by the Rep. Louise Slaughter of the House Rules Committee is now available online.

You can find the full report here. 

And here's a link to Rep. Slaughter's post on Kos about her report:

Our Report from the House - America for Sale: The Cost of Republican Corruption

According to Rep. Slaughter, here are some of the key findings of the report:

For the first time, this report tries to quantify the damage the Republican Congress and Bush White House have inflicted on our country.  Here are a few numbers to consider:

Senator Conrad Burns filed for re-election yesterday and gave this explanation for why he should be re-elected:

Burns, who sits on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, said he is responsible for bringing more than $2 billion in federal money to Montana during his career. He intends to run on his record of delivering for Montana and won't shy away from mentioning it.

He was also quite good at delivering for Jack Abramoff, but somehow, I doubt we'll be hearing quite as much about that from the Senator.

From her vantage point atop the the House Rules Committee, Rep. Louise Slaughter has had a birds-eye-view of how the Republicans have done business in Washington over the last several years, and the costs those actions have had for the average American.

In a 118 page report to be released later today, Ms. Slaughter lays out in painstaking detail exactly how the Republicans have conducted themselves over the last several years, and the myriad ways that has cost the American people.