As previously reported by Fired Up! [1] on November 13, over $120,000 in fees has been paid out by the state of Missouri to lobbyists with close ties to indicted GOP super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Yesterday, a key Abramoff ally, Michael Scanlon, plead guilty [2] for his role in a scheme to bribe public officials and bilk Abramoff clients of millions of dollars in fees for work that was never peformed. In fact, Scanlon agreed to repay more than $19 million in fees that were charged but not earned.

Not only has this matter received press coverage because of the guilty plea by Scanlon, but a Senate Committee has been investigating Team Abramoff for months for their practice of charging clients for work that they didn't perform.

Given that knowledge, there is no excuse for Governor Blunt's failure to call for an investigation into the contract between the MODOT and Cassidy and Associates, Abramoff's lobbying firm at the time the contract was entered into.

Even though the Cassidy firm has very close ties to the Governor's father, and even though the Governor has his own history of shady dealings with the Cassidy firm [3], he should still do the right thing and call for a public investigation of this contract to see if any work was actually performed for the $120,000 in taxpayer money that was paid out to Abramoff's firm.

Fired Up! calls on Governor Blunt to initiate such an investigation immediately and to direct members of his staff that have had business or social ties to either Abramoff and/or the Cassidy firm in the past to refrain from discussing this matter with their former associates during the pendency of the investigation.

Let's just hope that the State of Missouri wasn't bilked like Abramoff's other clients were.