Remember Jack Abramoff, the jailed Republican lobbyist busted a couple of
years ago for fraud, corruption, and shady dealings with Tom DeLay?
Colorado Republican Bob Schaffer hopes you don't. Because it's going to be
awfully hard for him to win his Senate election once the voters know that
Schaffer is just another Republican tainted by scandal.
An Abramoff front group paid $13,000 to send Schaffer to the Northern
Marianas Islands. Ostensibly, the purpose of the trip was for Schaffer to
investigate well-documented human rights abuses by Abramoff clients.
What surprised us is the floating, mid-air garment factory - accessible only
by parasail - now operating in the Northern Marinas.
After all, that's the only possible explanation for the newly surfaced
photograph of Schaffer parasailing on Abramoff's dime, right? It couldn't
possibly mean that a crooked lobbyist was showering this congressman with
all the extras at a lavish 5-star tropical resort, right?
Nah...couldn't be...
Needless to say, Schaffer claimed he didn't find any indications of abuse,
despite a mountain of evidence. And after he returned to Washington,
Schaffer became one of Abramoff's leading attack dogs against anyone trying
to bring reform to the Northern Marinas.
