The Abramoff scandal

and the ties to top politicians has yet to come to a head. The media, as I've covered here, and here, had been focusing almost exclusively on the Republicans involved. The Democratic Party has gleefully joined in the fray, with press releases and speeches decrying the "Culture of Corruption" on the right while ignoring their own members', most notably Harry Reid's, involvement.

This was a mistake for the Democrats, and I've said so previously:

Will the DNC still be able to maintain their own effrontery, brashly shouting "Culture of Corruption" at conservatives while ignoring the involvement of their own?

Seems to me that this isn't a scandal the Democrats would want to wecome so openly.

The media, I'm pleased to say, is actually starting to mention the Dems in it's coverage. And the DNC's brashness from last week has been replaced by deafening silence as everyone waits for the other shoe to drop.

Here's today's sample of the renewed interest in reporting over at AP (emphasis added):

The lawmakers hailed from both parties, including House Appropriations subcommittee Chairman Charles Taylor, R-N.C., and Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio, voting record) of North Dakota, the top Democrat on the Senate committee currently investigating Abramoff.

Seems to me someone needs to recuse himself. The casinos weren't the only lobbying drive by Abramoff. The above example concerns possible quid pro quo for supporting a native American school program:

Most wrote letters that pressed a reluctant Bush administration to renew a program that provided tribes federal money for building schools. Others worked the congressional budget process to ensure it happened, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

And most received donations, ranging from $1,000 to more than $74,000, in the weeks just before or after their intervention. One used Abramoff's restaurant for a fund-raiser a month after a letter.

As a group, they collected more than $440,000 from Abramoff, his firm or his tribal clients between 2001 and 2004, when Abramoff represented the tribes.

Everyone involved has said the donations were just a coincidence:

Lawmakers said their letters had nothing to do with Abramoff and instead were prompted by their desire to keep the government's Indian school building program alive so tribes in their own states might one day benefit. The timing of donations, they said, were a coincidence.

"It really had nothing to do with Jack Abramoff. Senator Dorgan had a personal interest in the program and how it benefits tribes at large and the three affiliated tribes in his state," Dorgan chief of staff Bernie Toon said, echoing comments from many lawmakers.

Now, I'm not feeling disposed to either insularism or guilelessness about this. This kind of thing has been happening since the first politician. And I have zero confidence that it will ever be stopped. There will always be innovators using the loopholes and abiguities of the system in new ways. But insofar as there lurks even the slightest appearance of out and out bribery, this needs to be fully investigated and the appropriate sanctions/prosecutions should be applied.

This is going to continue to pose a pretty problem for the Democrats. Wanting to position themselves as the party of renewed ethics (snicker) prior to mid-term elections, they're going to have a very difficult time distinguishing themselves from the GOP while this current scandal plays out. And if they defend the actions of Reid, Dorgan, and the others, by default they'll be defending the GOP as well.

Strange, though, how the left is suddenly silent about this...