Talent 's Finance Chair Has Strong Ties To Abramoff

At first, I was a little surprised to see how strongly Senator Talent worked to defend his ties to lobbyist Jack Oliver and Oliver's role as finance chairman for Talent's campaign. See Deirdre Shesgreen's Post-Dispatch story.

Oliver is a registered lobbyist who does business for a wide variety of clients that seek favors from Talent.

But the more troubling part, is that Talent has made no effort to distance himself from Oliver and his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Prior to his career on K Street, Oliver worked as a fundraiser for President Bush and at the RNC. In both places, Oliver had close ties to Abramoff.

During the 2004, as Bush's finance director, Oliver would have worked closely with Abramoff as he raised more than $100,000 for the Bush re-election effort.

In addition, records released by the AP indicate that one of Abramoff's clients made a payment of $10,000 to Oliver personally, during the time he was serving as Deputy Chairman of the RNC (see top of page 2). This is despite the fact that Oliver's bio shows nothing about his having private clients during his tenure with the RNC, and he certainly never registered to lobby for the Coushatta.

According to a May 29, 2003 Associated Press story, that payment to Oliver, assuming that it was only a single payment from Abramoff that he accepted, came about one year after Oliver accepted a $100,000 contribution to the RNC from an Abramoff client, and then facilitated a meeting for Abramoff with the Department of Interior.

A recent AP story, indicates that Abramoff billed clients for at least one other meeting with Oliver.

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, as well as attendance at GOP fundraisers.

Prior to his work for Bush and the RNC, Jack worked for Ashcroft's Spirit of America PAC. He worked with Garrett Lott, who serves as Treasurer of Senator Jim Talent's campaign, and Secretary of Missourians For Matt Blunt, Inc.

The FEC levied a major fine against Garrett Lott and Spirit of America for their handling of financial transactions during Oliver's tenure there.

Garrett Lott was also treasurer of another obscure political committee called the Missouri Millenium Fund (MMF). That fund accepted thousands of dollars in contributions from Abramoff clients and then funneled the money to the party and various other entities to benefit Governor Blunt and Senator Talent's campaigns. Both the tribe from whom Oliver accepted the $100,000 on behalf of the RNC, and the tribe that reportedly paid $10,000 to Oliver personally, gave to the MMF.

Oliver had a relationship with both Lott, and with the tribes who gave to this Missouri committee. At the time, in his position at the RNC, he was interested in the Missouri races, and in a position to help steer donations from national sources like Abramoff.

Sadly, the Missouri press corps has been too lazy to bother asking anyone about these matters, letting people like Kit Bond say inane things like, "I'm not sure how we got that money."

I said I was surprised that Talent defending Oliver so strongly, but then again, given all that Jack knows, Talent probably doesn't want him angry and talking to the press.

Still, Talent should to do the right thing and ask Oliver to step aside as his finance chairman.

Note: I have known Jack for a long time. I have nothing personally against him. I certainly hope he has done nothing wrong, but the facts are what they are.