Word: hastert
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...Missouri tries to fend off challenges from Arizona Republican John Shadegg and Ohio Representative John Boehner ahead of the Feb. 2 vote, there's been a quiet push, led by California's Dan Lungren, to force an election of all of the GOP leadership jobs-except for Speaker Dennis Hastert, who is popular among members. "We need some new vision at the leadership table," says Anne Northup, a GOP member from Kentucky who has called for elections. In fact, the race itself has quickly become a referendum on whether the House needs dramatic change in leadership, which both Shadegg...
...drape. The shot bears Bush's signature, perhaps made by a machine. Three other photos are of Bush, Abramoff and, in each view, one of the lobbyist's sons (three of his five children are boys). A sixth picture shows several Abramoff children with Bush and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who is now pushing to tighten lobbying laws after declining to do so last year when the scandal was in its early stages...
...McCain of Arizona on proposals to reform lobbying (see box). There is talk of lowering the limit, now $50, on the value of a single gift that a lobbyist can give a lawmaker or aide, provoking jokes about a $49.50 party to cash in before any change takes effect. Hastert is considering supporting a ban on junkets for members and aides that are financed by outside groups and restricting travel to government-paid trips. An aide involved in the negotiations, skeptical that any meaningful change will result, calls the proposals "a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound...
...same time are eager to get out a message that could be summed up as "We don't know Jack." Members are rushing to disavow any connection to Abramoff or stressing to reporters how little they knew him, and donating money he gave them to charity. When Hastert announced his plans for lobbying reform, Boehner initially suggested that no new rules were needed but quickly reversed course as members of Congress emphasized that he would have to support the reforms to get their votes in the leadership race. Both Boehner and Blunt are getting lots of questions from members about...
Just following the money that Abramoff spread across Washington should give them plenty to do. So toxic are any campaign donations tied to him that panicked lawmakers from Hastert ($69,000) to Republican Senator Conrad Burns ($150,000) to Democratic Senator Max Baucus ($18,892) can't give it away to charities fast enough. Even President Bush is giving the American Heart Association the $6,000 that he received from Abramoff, his wife and one of the Indian tribes he represented. (See accompanying story...