The Daily Background

Bob Ney, now disgraced former Republican Congressman, gave almost a half million dollars to his party’s candidates and affiliated organizations. Democrats are now calling for Republicans to return or donate to charity the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of “tainted” donations, some of which may have come from disgraced Republican mega-lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s clients. ABC’s Blotter reports:

n the wake of Rep. Bob Ney’s (R-OH) guilty plea, Democrats are bringing back the “culture of corruption” charge and challenging House Republicans to give back the more than $472,000 in campaign contributions Ney has made to them.

[…]
“We knew this day was coming and now that Ney has decided to trade the back room for the courtroom, will Ney’s Republican beneficiaries do the right thing and return his tainted money?” asked Bill Burton, communications director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Ney has sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to his Republican friends, and his case shows how widespread the corruption is in Washington. It’s time for new leadership and a new direction in Washington because American families deserve honest leadership and an end to the story of corruption in power.”

You can get the full list of almost 70 organizations and individual Republican candidates Ney spread cash to here, along with more details on Democrats’ call for return the money.

Most of the people on the list are House candidates, notably among them are Tom Tancredo (a racist Republican who opposes immigration of any sort and thinks that “America is full”), John Doolittle (who may have Abramoff-related troubles of his own), and Katherine Harris (do I even need to say anything here?). My Republican House Representative Charlie Bass (NH-02) also saw a 1,000 dollar donation from the now disgraced Ney.

The Republican National Committee got the largest sum of money from the former Congressman who has recently admitted to being an alcoholic- well over seventy thousand dollars, followed by the National Republican Congressional Committee at $47,000. The Ohio GOP also received forty-five grand.

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