I was happy to find in my inbox this evening tomorrow's NY Times. It contains an article by Anne Kornblut and Glen Justice entitled: Officials Focus on a 2nd Firm Tied to DeLay
The lobbying firm, Alexander Strategy Group, is run by Edwin A. Buckham. Eddie was the former Chief of Staff for none other than...Tom DeLay! Eddie has also provided lots of jobs to former DeLay staffers..such a nice man eh?
Alexander Strategy openly boasted that it had ties to Delay and access to him. Alexander Strategy paid Mr. DeLay's wife $115,000 in consulting fees while conducting business with Mr. Abramoff's firm. Mr. Abramoff also referred clients to Mr. Buckham. They also shared clients between them...one of the clients was..the Choctaw Indian tribe in Mississippi. You know them..they were one of the tribes frauded out of millions by Jackie A.
Another tie is to Randy "Duke" Cunningham..that dirty Cali Repub Representative that has finally pled guilty to taking millions of dollars from Defense contractors, one of which is a client of Alexander Strategy.
An excerpt from the article regarding Alexander Strategy and the infamous "K St. Project: "For years, Alexander Strategy was one of the crown jewels of the so-called K Street project, an effort Republicans began after taking control of Congress in 1994 to dominate the lobbying industry. The hope, exemplified by Mr. Buckham's company, was for Republican lobbyists to harness the power of their corporate clients to help keep the party in power for years to come."
It gets better..Eddie also ran one of Tommy's "grass roots" organizations, the lovely U.S. Family Network. According to an article by the Washington Post's R. Jeffrey Smith, this organization was funded almost exclusively by Abramoffs clients and associates. According to the Post article: "During its five-year existence, the U.S. Family Network raised $2.5 million but kept its donor list secret." The Washington Post article also goes on to say this: "Two former associates of Edwin A. Buckham said Buckham told them the funds($1 million LARGE) came from Russian oil and gas executives. Abramoff had been working closely with two such Russian energy executives on their Washington agenda, and the lobbyist and Buckham had helped organize a 1997 Moscow visit by DeLay (R-Tex.)."
There is a lovely quote in the Times article by Dick Armey, the former House Majority Leader that butted heads frequently with Tommy DeLay: "Tom DeLay sent Buckham downtown to set up shop and start a branch office on K Street," Mr. Armey said. "The whole idea was, 'What's in it for us?' That's what I thought at the time, and I've seen nothing in the way they've conducted themselves since then to dissuade me from that point of view."
I agree with Mr. Armeys assessment of Tommy and Eddie..do you? Check out both articles if its a slow sunday at your house..it is at mine, there are only two football games and I am still under the influence of a nasty-ass cold.
