Partridge
04-17-2006, 02:16 PM
GOP senator expects seven lawmakers headed to prison after corruption probes
Raw Story (http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/GOP_Senator_says_7_lawmakers_headed_0415.html)
A Republican senator told a town hall meeting on Friday that he expects at least seven lawmakers will go to jail in the wake of investigations related to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others, according to an Oklahoma newspaper, RAW STORY has found.
Speaking in Wagoner, Oklahoma, Senator Tom Coburn (OK-R) said that "if you've been keeping up with things, you've got a pretty good idea" who the unnamed lawmakers might be.
Tulsa World reports that Coburn indicated that six congressman and a senator would end up being convicted on corruption charges and that "members of both parties have been involved in questionable dealings."
Last month, Senator Coburn voted against the lobbying reform bill after an amendment was rejected "that would have given Senators greater power to block egregious earmarks."
"Earmark abuse was at the center of the Jack Abramoff and Duke Cunningham scandals yet the Senate failed to clamp down on what Abramoff described as the 'earmark favor factory' in Congress," Coburn explained afterward in a press release. "This bill will not change how members of Congress and lobbyists interact."
"In the wake of the Abramoff and Cunningham scandals Congress could have crafted serious reform legislation," Coburn continued. "Unfortunately, the Senate put public relations ahead of real reform and chose to wash the outside of the cup while leaving the inside filthy."
Raw Story (http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/GOP_Senator_says_7_lawmakers_headed_0415.html)
A Republican senator told a town hall meeting on Friday that he expects at least seven lawmakers will go to jail in the wake of investigations related to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others, according to an Oklahoma newspaper, RAW STORY has found.
Speaking in Wagoner, Oklahoma, Senator Tom Coburn (OK-R) said that "if you've been keeping up with things, you've got a pretty good idea" who the unnamed lawmakers might be.
Tulsa World reports that Coburn indicated that six congressman and a senator would end up being convicted on corruption charges and that "members of both parties have been involved in questionable dealings."
Last month, Senator Coburn voted against the lobbying reform bill after an amendment was rejected "that would have given Senators greater power to block egregious earmarks."
"Earmark abuse was at the center of the Jack Abramoff and Duke Cunningham scandals yet the Senate failed to clamp down on what Abramoff described as the 'earmark favor factory' in Congress," Coburn explained afterward in a press release. "This bill will not change how members of Congress and lobbyists interact."
"In the wake of the Abramoff and Cunningham scandals Congress could have crafted serious reform legislation," Coburn continued. "Unfortunately, the Senate put public relations ahead of real reform and chose to wash the outside of the cup while leaving the inside filthy."