Lobbyist had close contact with Bush & Talent's Finance Dir.

[galloglas]

In President Bush's first 10 months, GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the new administration as they pressed for friendly hires at federal agencies and sought to keep the Northern Mariana Islands exempt from the minimum wage and other law! s, records show. Abramoff remains under investigation for some of his lobbying work. The meetings between Abramoff's lobbying team and the administration ranged from Attorney General John Ashcroft to policy advisers in Vice President Dick Cheney's office, according to his lobbying firm billing records.

-snip-

The reception Abramoff's team received from the Bush administration was in stark contrast to the chilly relations of the Clinton years. Abramoff, then at the Preston Gates firm, scored few meetings with Clinton aides and the lobbyist and the islands vehemently opposed White House attempts to extend U.S. labor laws to the territory's clothing factories.

-snip-

"Greenberg Traurig accepted Jack Abramoff's resignation from the firm, effective March 2, 2004, after Mr. Abramoff disclosed to the firm personal transactions and related conduct which are unacceptable to the firm and antithetical to the way we do business," spokeswoman Jill Perry said. (Aren't the 2004 Greenberg Traurig checks in the possession of BlackBoxVoting dated AFTER Abramoff "resigned"?)

-snip-

"We have worked with WH Office of Presidential Personnel to ensure that CNMI-relevant positions at various agencies are not awarded to enemies of CNMI," Abramoff's team wrote the Marianas in an October 2001 report on its work for t! he year.
Abramoff's team didn't neglect party politics either: There were at least two meetings with Republican National Committee officials, including then-finance chief Jack Oliver (Senator Jim Talent's Finance Director), as well as attendance at GOP fundraisers.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-06-abramoff-bush_x.htm

[usregimechange]

1. I would nominate this if I could!

[scratchtasia]

2. Nice catch!

I'd seen that article, but I didn't know Jack Oliver was working for Talent now.