Abigail Perlman

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has published released a new memo responding to a recent Post-Dispatch story that discusses, in part, their "Introductions" Ad. "If Roy Blunt wants to play games with the Post-Dispatch article, we look forward to that fight," the memo reads. 

Today’s article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch implies some doubt, where in reality there is none, about Roy Blunt’s time in Washington.  Two facts remain crystal clear:

1)    The woman Roy Blunt was dating, and is now married to, was working as a lead lobbyist at the tobacco company Philip Morris at the time Blunt attempted to insert a special provision into the bill establishing the Department of Homeland Security to help her employer.

2)    Since Roy Blunt went to Washington his wealth has skyrocketed.  The Blunts have owned multiple properties in Washington’s most-exclusive neighborhoods valued at over a million dollars and take pleasure in being regular members of the Washington social scene.

Make no mistake about it, the DSCC is happy to have a discussion about the truth concerning Roy Blunt’s (mis)use of his office and multi-faceted personal connections to the lobbying industry and culture of corruption of Washington.  The facts are clear.

In the Post-Dispatch story, Blunt continues to assert that shortly after he and his wife sold their existing Northwest DC mansion, they purchased a new lot in an even-more-exclusive DC neighborhood, magically obtained a building permit and hired an architect to develop plans for a new mansion, and then decided to put the property on the market (but never manage to sell it, despite obvious demand) in the middle of a U.S. Senate race because he never had any intention whatsoever of building a new house there.  Uh-huh. 

The ad in question:

A new web video from the Missouri Democratic Party focuses on Roy Blunt's efforts to insert a special provision into a Homeland Security bill to benefit Philip Morris, and the reaction from the Missouri press and Missouri Republicans to his unethical actions. 

According to the News-Leader, Roy Blunt's spokesman Rich Chrismer says the DSCC is attempting "to deliberately deceive Missouri voters" with this television commercial.

Ummmm.... how?  It's, like, a fact that Roy Blunt was twice named to CREW's "Most Corrupt" lists. 

• CREW, 2006: "Beyond Delay: The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress"
  Blunt comes in at #1: "Rep. Blunt's ethics issues stem from the misuse of his position to benefit family members, his connections to Jack Abramoff, and a trip paid for by a foreign agent."
• CREW, 2005: "Beyond DeLay: The 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress"
  "Rep. Blunt’s appointment is a case of ‘new boss, same as the old boss.’ While Rep. Blunt may be new to the job, he has long followed Rep. DeLay’s pattern of ignoring campaign finance laws and ethics rules."

By deceptive, does Chrismer mean uncomfortably accurate? 

Just announced by the DSCC: "The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a new television ad in Missouri today, 'Family,' which exposes Roy Blunt as one of the most corrupt members of Congress.  A nonpartisan watchdog organization, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, named Blunt one of the most corrupt members of Congress for “misusing” his position by inserting special favors into bills."

The DSCC's full press release may be found below the break.

In The Beacon's write-up of the Roy Blunt campaign's response to the DSCC's ad highlighting the Blunt's $1.5M+ property in Northwest Washington, we read the following:

Blunt's camp also challenges the DSCC's statement in the letter that building permits already had been obtained for the lot.

I have no idea what they're challenging.  Look at the land use code listed in the assessment record for the property on District of Columbia government website:

It reads "092-Vacant-With Permit."  And what does Code 092, "Vacant With Permit" mean?

Lot for which an unexpired building permit has been issued.

This seems very straightforward to me. An unexpired building permit has been issued.

It is inconceivable that a savvy politician who recently shed a "$1.6M Georgetown mansion" for which he had been collecting illegal tax benefits and associated grief would purchase land in an even more exclusive Northwest Washington neighborhood for $1.5M with his wife, secure a permit (or permits) for building, secure plans for a "custom designed 6 Bedroom" mansion, and then place said land and mansion plans on the market during an election year (but never manage to actually sell the land despite high demand) to deflect criticism about where he truly lives, his membership in "the old-school Georgetown social establishment," and his ability to offer anything other than empty poll-tested rhetoric for the people who are actually struggling to make ends meet.  

Buried at the end of the Post-Dispatch's Sunday story on Roy Blunt's deep financial connections to K Street is this incredible quote:

In 2003, Blunt appeared to some of his GOP colleagues to be dispensing a favor in an episode being recalled in the Senate campaign. Soon after winning his No. 3 leadership slot, Blunt tried to attach a provision benefiting Philip Morris USA, a contributor, to homeland security legislation. The wording, stripped by other GOP leaders when it was discovered, would have benefited Philip Morris by placing limitations on online tobacco sales and marketing of contraband cigarettes.

Later that year, Blunt married Abigail Perlman, a lobbyist for Altria Group, Philip Morris' parent company....

"I never saw anybody get more criticism for something that didn't happen," he said of the tobacco episode.

Didn't happen? Blunt's favor for Philip Morris on their lobbyist "didn't happen" because the manner and situation in which Blunt tried to make it happen was too disgusting even for Tom DeLay and Denny Hastert. It "didn't happen because he got caught.

 
Don't sweat this, because it's just "something that didn't happen."

Duane Graham unearths some powerful columns over on his Erstwhile Conservative blog written a few years ago about Roy Blunt by one Dick Morris.  Morris, as you may know, is the form Clinton staffer who became so "disillusioned" with the Clintons that he became a dishonest shill for Republicans on Fox News. However, he was very critical of Blunt and John Boehner after Blunt's mentor, Tom DeLay, was removed from his position in the Housel leadership. 

The two columns flagged by Graham and excerpted here are not all that different from everything you've read about Blunt's corrupt record in Washington.  However, it's worth noting (1) this is a leading Republican talking about a leading Republican and (2) it further discredits the silly assertion from other GOP flacks that Blunt's legislative favor for Philip Morris and now-wife Abigail Perlman was some sort of above-board good government proposal. 

First, here's an excerpt from Morris' November 2006 column in The Hill, Oust Boehner and Blunt:

By the same token, Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) also stands for principled politics and deserves the support of those who understand what hit them on Nov. 7. Not so of his opponent. Majority Whip Roy Blunt’s (R-Mo.) wife, Abigail Perlman, and his son, Andrew, both lobby for Altria, which is the newly sanitized name for Philip Morris. If Blunt is limited to the standard congressional salary of $165,500, there is no reason why he shouldn’t take care of his family finances by letting lobbying firms that represent this death-dealing industry hire his son.

Blunt and Boehner deserve to be thrown out of leadership.

Harsh, but hard to argue with.  Seven months later, he wrote the following in another column for The Hill, Dems like GOP — like nepotism.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt’s (R-Mo.) wife, Abigail Perlman, is director of federal government affairs for Altria — the former Philip Morris corporation. Their relationship is one that was hatched in lobbying. While Blunt was dating Abigail, he quietly drafted language to benefit Altria/Philip Morris and tried to sneak it in the bill that established the Department of Homeland Security — without alerting the Republican leadership. Blunt’s mission was to minimize the sale of cigarettes on the Internet, a thorn in the side of Altria/Philip Morris. Fortunately, Hastert killed the amendment.

A new "Truthwatch" segment from WDAF evaluating Robin Carnahan's "Mug" ad includes some hilarious spin from GOP consultant Jason Klindt.  Klindt, a longtime staffer for Sam Graves, was asked to respond to the statement in the ad, "Congressman Roy Blunt...got caught trying to insert a secret deal for tobacco giant Philip Morris into a bill just days after company executives gave him over $30,000." According to Klindt, the special language inserted into a Homeland Security bill without debate "wasn't exactly a secret" and "lacks context."

Watch it:

Back here in the Real World, we know that no one else in the GOP leadership knew that Blunt was trying to slip in the favor for Philip Morris.  As reported by the Washington Post on June 11, 2003, six months after Blunt attempted the dirty deed:

GOP WHIP QUIETLY TRIED TO AID BIG DONOR
Provision Was Meant To Help Philip Morris

Only hours after Rep. Roy Blunt was named to the House's third-highest leadership job in November, he surprised his fellow top Republicans by trying to quietly insert a provision benefiting Philip Morris USA into the 475-page bill creating a Department of Homeland Security, according to several people familiar with the effort.

The new majority whip, who has close personal and political ties to the company, instructed congressional aides to add the tobacco provision to the bill -- then within hours of a final House vote -- even though no one else in leadership supported it or knew he was trying to squeeze it in.

Once alerted to the provision, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, quickly had it pulled out, said a senior GOP leader who requested anonymity. Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) also opposed what Blunt (Mo.) was trying to do, the member said, and "worked against it" when he learned of it.

The provision would have made it harder to sell tobacco products over the Internet and would have cracked down on the sale of contraband cigarettes, two practices that cut into Philip Morris's profits. Blunt has received large campaign donations from Philip Morris, his son works for the company in Missouri and the House member has a close personal relationship with a Washington lobbyist for the firm.

It is highly unusual for a House Republican to insert a last-minute contentious provision that has never gone through a committee, never faced a House vote and never been approved by the speaker or majority leader. Blunt's attempt became known only to a small circle of House and White House officials. They kept it quiet, preferring no publicity on a matter involving favors for the nation's biggest tobacco company and possible claims of conflicts of interest.

Several in that circle say they were struck by Blunt's willingness to go out on a limb for a company to which he has ties. What's more, he did it within hours of climbing to the House leadership's third-highest rung, a notable achievement for a man who came to Washington less than six years ago.

A senior Republican lawmaker who requested anonymity said some GOP members worried at the time that it would be "embarrassing" to the party and its new whip if details of the effort were made public. Another Republican said Blunt's effort angered some leaders because there was "so little support for" a pro-tobacco provision likely to generate controversy...

Because Blunt's actions in the Philip Morris matter were kept quiet, there were no apparent repercussions or threats to his leadership ambitions. Meanwhile, there is evidence that the majority whip has continued to work aggressively on behalf of companies to which he has ties.

In April, for instance, Blunt managed to have a provision inserted into a Senate bill, without debate, on behalf of United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. The two companies were seeking to block the expansion of a foreign rival's U.S. operations. Blunt's son Andrew also represents UPS in Missouri, as the Wall Street Journal first reported, and the two companies have contributed a total of $120,000 to Blunt since 2001, according to Federal Election Commission data.

Also this spring, Blunt brokered a deal with Rep. Ernie Fletcher (R-Ky.) to fight for a vote on legislation that could open the door to Food and Drug Administration regulation of tobacco, a top priority for Philip Morris, a senior House GOP leader said. Philip Morris would benefit because it is far ahead of its competitors in designing and selling "safer" cigarettes that could be permitted if the FDA gains regulatory power, lawmakers and industry experts said.

Regarding Klindt's complaint that the headline and statement in the ad lack context, I think he's right.  The public needs to know that Blunt had a "close personal relationship with a Washington lobbyist for the firm" -- Abigail Perlman, now his wife -- and that Andy Blunt, his son and campaign manager, is a paid lobbyist for the company. 

H'ray, Context!

The reaction from the Roy Blunt campaign to fairly tame talk about their candidate's long record of unethical leadership in Washington has been pretty intense.  Andy Blunt and Matt Blunt want people fired (try not to laugh).  Rich Chrismer says that a strong focus on Roy Blunt's glaring ethical problems means the Robin Carnahan campaign has no focus.  Uh-huh. 

Obviously, the strategy here from Team Blunt is to muddy the waters and distract reporters and voters from very real problems in Blunt's record.  It's simply a fact that Blunt has been dogged by questions regarding his leadership in Washington by the press, independent watchdog organizations -- and members of his own party.

For instance, here's a sampling of what's been written by independent watchdog organizations:

• CREW, 2006: "Beyond Delay: The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress"
  Blunt comes in at #1: "Rep. Blunt's ethics issues stem from the misuse of his position to benefit family members, his connections to Jack Abramoff, and a trip paid for by a foreign agent."
• CREW, 2005: "Beyond DeLay: The 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress"
  "Rep. Blunt’s appointment is a case of ‘new boss, same as the old boss.’ While Rep. Blunt may be new to the job, he has long followed Rep. DeLay’s pattern of ignoring campaign finance laws and ethics rules."
• Public Citizen, 1/13/06: "Roy Blunt: Ties to Special Interests Leave Him Unfit to Lead"
  "In this report, Public Citizen compiles a disturbing dossier on Blunt, based on original research and a comprehensive compilation of news accounts of recent months. In the end, what emerges is a portrait of a legislative leader who not only has surrendered his office to the imperative of moneyed interests, but who has also done so with disturbing zeal and efficiency."
• CREW, 1/12/06: "Ethically Challenged Reps. Blunt and Cantor Not Fit for Leadership"
  “If Members of the House were truly committed to cleaning up the cesspool that Congress has become, they would not even consider Reps. Blunt and Cantor to lead the way."

It's worth noting that CREW is more than happy to criticize members of both parties.  As you can see, Democrats outnumber Republicans on the organization's CREWsMostCorrupt.org website.

In 2003, the Washington Post reported that Blunt's relationship with now-wife Abigail Perlman was "raising eyebrows and giving fits to self-appointed ethics cops." Just months earlier, Blunt's attempt to slip in language for benefit Philip Morris into a Homeland Security bill.  By complete coincidence,  Perlman was a lobbyist for Philip Morris, and the two were engaged in a "close personal relationship" at the time.  Blunt's moves to provide the favor for Philip Morris even disgusted Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's chief of staff (!). 

A few years later, Thomas B. Edsall, a journalist who covered Blunt's work as Majority Whip and leadership of the K Street Project as a staff writer for the Washington Post, was so disenchanted and disgusted with Blunt's body of work that he took to the opinion pages of the New York Times to write the following:

SAME OLD PARTY

Last Friday, the Republicans gave the Democrats a gift that will keep on giving: Roy Blunt of Missouri.

After an election repudiating the politics of Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay, Republicans elevated Blunt from the number three spot in the leadership to number two.

Roy Blunt embodies the insidious, half-legal corruption that has permeated the G.O.P. majority since 1995. Blunt’s election as minority whip, by a 137-to-57 margin, was a defiant Republican rejection of calls to clean up their act. Warnings by Blunt’s challenger, John Shadegg of Arizona — “We ceded our reform-minded principles in exchange for a ...tighter grip on power” — went unheeded.

h/t First Read and @DaveCatanese

For those of you keeping track of this sort of thing, Roy Blunt's appearance at "an exclusive VIP gala awash in stiletto heels and Dom Pérignon" on May 5 near his Northwest Washington mansion has been noted by all of the following DC media outlets:

• Washington Post, May 6: "With a VIP gala opening, Georgetown's Social Safeway is back on the market"
• Politico, May 6: "Social Safeway's Bubbly Fete"
• Washington Examiner, May 6: "Red carpet rolled out for 'Social Safeway' opening"
• CarolJoynt.com (columnist for New York Social Diary), May 6: "Georgetown Safeway Opens; Cristal and DP Flow Like Its Club 55"
• Washington Post, May 10: "The A-list has nothing on the Social Safeway grocery list"
• The Georgetown Dish, May 11: "Social Safeway Gala List -- the New A-List"
• Washington Life Magazine, May 12: "Social Shopping at the Safeway Gala"
• AmericaBlog, May 12: "Roy Blunt hearts the Georgetown Social Safeway..."
• Politco Daily Digest, May 26: "OUCH!"
• CQ Politics, May 26: "Oh, Roy, This Is Gonna Hurt"
• The Georgetown Dish, May 26: "Safeway Sighting of Missouri Congressman Goes Viral, With a Vengeance"
• The Washington Examiner, May 26: "Rep. Blunt gets flak for liking Social Safeway"

In today's Politico Playbook, Mike Allen picks up on Roy Blunt's conspicuous attendance at a recent "exclusive VIP gala" to celebrate the re-opening of a Georgetown supermarket.  "We live pretty close to here," you may remember Blunt telling a Politico cameraperson near the Belvedere vodka fountain, Parisian brie station and white-jacketed sommelier. 

Picking up on the obvious political implications, CQ Politics posted the following:

Oh, Roy, This Is Gonna Hurt
By CQ-Roll Call Staff

It probably seemed innocuous at the time. An invitation comes for a black-tie party to launch the remodeled version of the grocery store where the yuppies and the swells get their food in the swanky Georgetown section of Washington, D.C.

But Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) isn't just any Capitol Hill fixture. He's a candidate for the Senate, and partying with the fancy folk -- with cameras rolling -- gives his opponents a chance to show how far removed Blunt's weekday world is from the Food4Less in Joplin, Mo.

Yesterday, I wrote about how Roy Blunt and Abigail Perlman Blunt are fixtures "of the old-school Georgetown social establishment, which keeps them in the pages of Washington’s glossy society magazines." They're consistently listed among the most "notably social individuals" in Washington -- Abigail was even named one of the city's "Top 50 Party Animals" by Politico last year.

Right on cue, the couple appears in the Washington Post as notable guests at "an exclusive VIP gala awash in stiletto heels and Dom Pérignon" to celebrate the opening of a new supermarket near their Northwest DC mansion. 

Washington, meet the Socialtini.

The new signature martini debuted before Georgetown glitterati Wednesday night at an exclusive VIP gala awash in stiletto heels and Dom Pérignon. A Belvedere vodka fountain and brie were flown in from Paris. A white-jacketed sommelier dashed among 10 wine bars pouring Louis Roederer Cristal and Robert Mondavi Reserve to show off the host's 2,500-bottle, climate-controlled cellar...

The Social Safeway is back! After a year of remodeling, during which the city's elite had to buy their artisan breads and imported olives at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Giant and Dean & DeLuca, one of the District's most famous supermarkets is roomier, greener, foodier.

The company saw fit to throw a red-carpet celebration worthy of a state dinner, with a publicity budget that apparently rivals that of "Avatar." Glossy silver tri-fold invitations went out to 2,000 Important People. After all, this is the District's first 24-hour full-service grocery...

Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) was an early arrival with his wife, Abby. "Wow!" the congressman said. "I like the food business. If I travel anywhere in the world, I usually take a walk through the grocery store."

This is from The Washington Post, not The Onion. I promise.

Today's entry: A Politico profile of a "PR maven" Gloria Dittus' 10,000-square foot mansion in Northwest DC.  Roy Blunt is mentioned by name as a guest at a "salon dinner" hosted by Dittus, who has a reputation for throwing some of "swankier" private parties in Washington for "Hill staff and K Street powerbrokers."

The staff at Dittus' "new game-changing public affairs firm" firm, Story Partners, includes Blunt's former spokesman, Amos Snead.

Blunt doesn't seem to miss many of these kinds of events.  He and his wife, Abigail Perlman Blunt, are "part of the old-school Georgetown social establishment, which keeps them in the pages of Washington’s glossy society magazines."

Washington Life magazine named "Representative and Mrs. Roy Blunt (Abigail)" to their 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007 "Social Lists" for being "notably social individuals" inside the Beltway. And not everyone makes said lists, mind you.  "We include only a select few of the more sociable...members of the Congress," the magazine explains.

With a record in Washington as long and troublesome as Roy Blunt's, it's a challenge for anyone to keep track of all the stories and scandals. Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, the K Street Project, special favors for Philip Morris....Blunt and his consultants hope you forget them all.

Remembering that bit of wisdom from George Santayana, we've begun to pull together key reports, articles and columns written about Blunt, Inc. into one place.  Check it out. 

Roy Blunt's recent "Jobs for Missouri's Future" Bus Tour is a bore compared to his far more lavish Washington tours. In the "K Street Jobs Tour," Roy and his lobbying buddies make regular stops at their favorite venues along the Potomac, including top restaurants, spas, sporting events, and resorts.

Intrepid Fired Up! tipsters have obtained exclusive access to the tour itinerary and have concocted a virtual tour for your viewing pleasure disgust. Before you get started on this virtual tour, let's stop for a historic review to enhance your understanding of congressional/corporate homology. Discover how Roy Blunt became a leading K Street acolyte and a star pupil of Tom DeLay's, learning the art of deal-making, back-slapping, and go-along-to-get-along politics that have served him so well for the last 14 years.

View Roy Blunt's "K Street Jobs Tour" in a larger map Read More »

Hey look, kids.  Roy Blunt's wife works for a grocery store just like the people in our town is a Washington lobbyist for Kraft Foods Global, Inc., used to lobby for Altria, and is a fixture of "the old-school Georgetown social establishment."  

Four years ago today, Republicans in the House of Representatives chose a new Majority Leader to replace indicted Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX).  Rep. Roy Blunt, DeLay's hand-picked lieutenant, was expected to fill the slot, and Blunt had publicly predicted an outright win in the three man race. 

Blunt won a plurality of the votes in the first ballot against Reps. John Boehner (R-OH) and John Shadegg (R-AZ) -- but came 6 votes shy of receiving a majority.  Shadegg came in third, and dropped out for the second ballot.  His support swung to Boehner, and Blunt was defeated on the second go-round by a 122-109 vote. 

The rejection of Blunt's bid to be Majority Leader was a clear repudiation of the Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff legacy, to which Blunt was and is inextricably linked. 

Update: The Post-Dispatch has also picked up the story. "White House party crashers partied with the Blunts? Pic says yes."

Roy Blunt's attempts to reinvent himself as a 'man of the people' do not appear to be going as planned this week.  The Politico:

Here's a picture you don't want to see if you're Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).

Blunt, who's running for Senate in Missouri, is seen here with his wife, Abigail, posing with Tareq and Michaele Salahi at the 2008 Ambassadors Ball. This inside-Washington shot surely won't help Blunt with his people back home: The 13-year congressman and former Republican whip has found himself with a primary challenger.

The picture accompanies a new story about the couple in Washington Life magazine.

Blunt's response?  He was most definitely on the guest list for the the ball, because, you know, he goes to all the parties.