The Daily Background

Bob Ney Update
Yesterday, I blogged about Senator Bob Ney, and speculation that he was going to be indicted soon in connection with the Abramoff Scandal. Today, investigative blogger Brad Friedman has an in depth article concerning Ney, entitled “The Soon-to-be-Indicted Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio’s Connection To Electoral Fraud,” Here’s the first three paragraphs as a teaser:

There’s been a great deal of speculation over the last several days, particularly in the light of Jack Abramoff’s recent guilty pleas, concerning the connection of Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH) to Election Fraud in Ohio, and indeed, vis a vis his stewardship and authoring of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) back in 2001 and 2002. The heavy-handed tactics he has taken since then in order to keep the flawed act from being changed in any way over the years, along with the great lengths he’s gone to in order to keep the nation’s eyes off of massive electile dysfunction in Ohio and elsewhere since 2004 may finally soon get the attention it all properly deserves.

Both Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon have directly informed prosecutors of Ney’s alleged wrong doing in regard to money and gifts given to Ney in apparent exchange for support on various legislation and even personal business deals. Ney, who chairs the important U.S. House Administration Committee, has been fingered, and now subpoenaed, in regard to accepting illegal trips, gratuities and other apparent quid pro quo deals with Abramoff’s former firms, partners, friends and groups who had paid both him and Scanlon as lobbyists.

His direct connection to the HAVA Election Reform bill passed in the wake of the 2000 Florida Election Debacle and his various extraordinary efforts to specifically block amendments to the bill and to smokescreen attempted investigations into his home state’s conduct during the 2004 Election Debacle, has been less widely reported. Until now…

You can read Brad’s full entry here.

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You can also catch our ongoing coverage of the Abramoff Scandal, and all of continuing fallout here.

Filed under: Bob Ney, Abramoff Scandal, Z-TDB Blog