Putting In The Fix

Mehlman, Rove and the rest of the boys actively colloborating with Jack Abramhoff? Gee. What a shock. This is how you do business with George's White House. LATimes (10.15.06):

"For five years, Allen Stayman wondered who ordered his removal from a State Department job negotiating agreements with tiny Pacific island nations — even when his own bosses wanted him to stay. Now he knows. Newly disclosed e-mails suggest that the ax fell after intervention by one of the highest officials at the White House: Ken Mehlman, on behalf of one of the most influential lobbyists in town, Jack Abramoff." Displease a Lobbyist, Get Fired

"The e-mails show that Abramoff, whose client list included the Northern Mariana Islands, had long opposed Stayman's work advocating labor changes in that U.S. commonwealth, and considered what his lobbying team called the 'Stayman project' a high priority." "'Mehlman said he would get him fired,' an Abramoff associate wrote after meeting with Mehlman, who was then White House political director." Hey if you think George and the boys weren't up to their necks in all of this, you're a chump:

"For Stayman, learning more about how Abramoff used White House connections helped him understand why, five years ago, he found himself looking at a career change. His job was up for renewal, but his State Department supervisors wanted to keep him on to finish a project that was expected to take more time. 'With only about a year left on my appointment, I didn't think it would trigger any interest from the White House,' Stayman said. "I assumed that Abramoff was behind it, but I didn't know the details, who called whom and how much effort it took." Unbeknownst to Stayman, though, within weeks of Bush taking office, the 'Stayman project' was in full swing. State Department officials resisted the dismissal, and negotiations dragged on for months. In May 2001, one of Mehlman's deputies assured Abramoff's team that, 'Obviously, this guy cannot stay.' That July 9, Ralston e-mailed Abramoff with news of a deal on Stayman: 'He'll be out in four months.' And he was."