Several members of Congress have been linked to Abramoff through a tool lawmakers routinely use: They signed a letter asking a federal agency to take action on an issue -- after they had received campaign donations from Abramoff clients. The issue, however, was remote from their constituents' concerns but important to Abramoff clients.
In 2002, a letter signed by 33 members of Congress urged the Bush administration to block a proposal of an Indian tribe to build a casino in Louisiana -- a tribe that would have competed with some of Abramoff's gaming tribes.
One of these congressmen was Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.), who said he signed the letter at the behest of a colleague, then-Rep. David Vitter (R-La.), not because of the $1,000 he received from Abramoff, but in keeping with his long-standing opposition to gambling.
Another signatory was Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Roseville), who also had multiple links to Abramoff. He frequently used Abramoff's skybox at a local sports arena for fundraising. The lobbyist hired Doolittle's former chief of staff, Kevin Ring, and paid Doolittle's wife, Julia Doolittle, to organize a fundraising event for the Capital Athletic Foundation, an Abramoff charity. She was on retainer with Abramoff's firm to provide bookkeeping and other services.
Doolittle's chief of staff, Richard Robinson, denied suggestions that Julia Doolittle's business existed only because Abramoff gave her business. Robinson said she had other clients and ran her business before and after she worked with Abramoff.
Doolittle's office said he signed the letter solely because, like Istook, he had always been opposed to the expansion of gambling. To suggest it was to pay back Abramoff is "both ludicrous and insulting," said spokeswoman Laura Blackann.
Another lawmaker who got involved in the effort to block the new Louisiana casino was House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who urged rejection of the casino bid.
A week earlier, he had held a fundraiser at Abramoff's posh Washington restaurant, Signatures, where he collected at least $21,500 for his political action committee from Abramoff's firm and tribal clients. Ron Bonjean, spokesman for the speaker, said there was no connection between the two events.
Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy) also went to bat for Abramoff clients far from home.
