More Clippings for the Club Abramoff Scrapbook

In DC these days, the hot trend for all the inner-circle cool kids is to work for someone under indictment or under investigation, or actually to go yourself before federal investigators to testify.

How do we know that Republican Hill office criminalia has become the "new black"? Because it's been all the rage lately among the close knit community of Hill staffers and happy GOP power couples that constitute the exclusive "Club Abramoff".

And it seems the guilty plea and resignation of bribe-prone antique rug collector Duke Cunningham has spurred some new reporting on this phenomenon by the NY Times that sheds more light on the family circle of Jack Abramoff, Roy Blunt, Tom DeLay and their long list of shared staff and proteges. In particular, a piece published in the gray lady today on day-late-dollar-short renunciations of Cunningham by GOP lawmakers points out some previously unexplored branches on the Club Abramoff family tree. In particular, a series of grafs about halfway through the story provide a deeper look into the Abramoff geneology:

In addition, three of Mr. Cunningham's Republican colleagues in
California have drawn scrutiny for possible violations of House ethics
rules.

One of them, Representative John T. Doolittle, has acknowledged
that his wife, Julie, who runs a marketing firm in Washington, has been
subpoenaed in the federal investigation of the former lobbyist Jack
Abramoff. Mr. Doolittle's former chief of staff, Kevin A. Ring, briefly
worked for Mr. Abramoff after leaving Mr. Doolittle's Congressional
office.

Mr. Doolittle's press secretary, Laura Blackann, said that Mr.
Doolittle had not been contacted by the Justice Department in
connection with the Abramoff investigation and that any dealings
between the two men were proper and legal.

Looks as though John Doolittle will bear the honor of being the next elected official in the pinch as a result of Abramoff related malfeasance, in no small part due to the use of his wife to conceal kickbacks and payoffs (Sound familiar?). And so long as he's dragging wives into this, be sure to notice just whose wife it is that's flacking for Congressman Doolittle in this media maelstrom. Doolittle's spokeswoman Laura Blackann (formerly Laura Brookshire) has appeared in these pages before. Blackann, a former staffer to reputed mafia capo indicted GOP leader Tom DeLay, is the same Laura Blackann married to former Roy Blunt staffer Trevor Blackann.

Mr. Blackann, you may remember, was lobbied by Team Abramoff on behalf of the Marianas Islands while a member of Roy Blunt's Capitol Hill staff as early as late 2000. He is also a sailing buddy of longtime Abramoff lieutenant Todd Boulanger --husband of Blunt press secretary Jessica Incitto. And Ms. Blackann, by virtue of her work for Doolittle, is connected with former Doolittle Chief of Staff and central player in the Abramoff drama Kevin Ring (Ring recently testified on Team Abramoff's Tribal ripoffs before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and continues to lobby for the Mississippi Choctaw).

The aformentioned ties put another connecting branch between Roy Blunt and other Members and lobbyists with demonstrable histories of graft and corruption. And frankly, they have begun to pile up.

These connection are all to be explained away --if Roy has his way-- as a series of unfortunate coincidences. Of course, that is the same explanation that Doolittle is attempting to make to the media as we speak. It does not seem to be working. As more and more layers of the rotten Abramoff outer layers are peeled away, as more Congressional complicity is uncovered, and as more stories like today's NYTimes piece are written, the usually endless credulilty of the media and benefit-of-the-doubt public will begin to strain.

Once that happens, for everyone who was touched by Abramoff's extensive reach is going to find that manning the barricades for the indicted or investigated is not nearly so cool anymore.