Today's Washington Post writes up the revelation [1] that the Bush White House was using a "non-partisan" drug policy office to help GOP candidates, including Missouri's Jim Talent, in the run-up to the 2006 election.
In concert with the fact that Bush had enlisted the Department of Justice [2] in the effort to help Republican legislators win re-election, his use of the drug policy office as an arm of the RNC further demonstrates just how far down an improper (and illegal) path the Bushies were willing to go in order to try to hang onto power.White House officials arranged for top officials at the Office of National Drug Control Policy to help as many as 18 vulnerable Republican congressmen by making appearances and sometimes announcing new federal grants in the lawmakers' districts in the months leading up to the November 2006 elections, a Democratic lawmaker said yesterday. ...
But in the three months immediately leading up to the 2006 election, Walters or his deputies held events almost exclusively with GOP officials, many of whom were embroiled in tough reelection campaigns.
Two were held with then- Sen. James M. Talent of Missouri, who was defeated last November. At one of those stops, Walters announced that four Missouri counties had been designated part of a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, which brings $500,000 in federal funding to help local law enforcement efforts, Waxman said. It was one of several grant announcements made while drug policy officials were appearing with GOP candidates.
Talent --notwithstanding the corrupt assistance from Team Bush-Cheney-Gonzales-- was defeated by Democrat Claire McCaskill in his re-election bid.
With Bush freed from any pretense of concern about the appearance of impropriety (ed note: as if...) by virtue of his lame-duck status, there's no telling which government agencies he'll press into service in Missouri to attempt to salvage the ill-fated campaign of Matt Blunt