Democrats Call on Steele to Give Back Funny Money
 

FORMER DELAY AIDE, ABRAMOFF LOBBYIST

NAMED IN PLEA DEAL

 

Maryland Democrats are calling on Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Steele to return a $500 campaign contribution he took from Tony Rudy, a former top aide to embattled Republican Tom DeLay who is at the center of the Jack Abramoff scandal.

 

“Michael Steele should immediately unload Tony Rudy’s dirty money,” said Maryland Democratic Party chair Terry Lierman.  “The Jack Abramoff/Tom DeLay scandals are already engulfing Washington and Annapolis.” 

 

The plea agreement reached this week between lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Justice Department officials refers to Rudy, DeLay’s former deputy chief of staff and an Abramoff lobbyist, as “Staffer A.”  Rudy solicited supposedly charitable contributions that Abramoff then used to take Rep. Bob Ney and others on a controversial trip to Scotland.

 

Before being officially hired as an Abramoff lobbyist, Rudy played a key role in helping Abramoff get access to a senior cabinet official and even served as a reference for a fraudulent Abramoff financial deal.

 

“Michael Steele’s campaign is raising millions of dollars in national, right-wing money from the Republican special interest machine,” said Lierman.  “He shouldn’t miss Rudy’s tainted contribution.”

 

The Steele campaign is no stranger to fundraising controversy.  In September, he refused to cancel a fundraiser with Karl Rove just as the CIA leak inquiry was heating up and news reports revealed that Rove played a larger role than he had previously acknowledged. 

 

Steele also received widespread criticism for bringing President George W. Bush to Baltimore for a lunch fundraiser while Bush was pushing a Republican budget deal through Congress that cut many critical services to the city. 

 

Yesterday, Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich announced that he is returning $16,000 in direct contributions he has received from Jack Abramoff and his wife, Pamela.  Ehrlich has not returned the $8,000 he received from Jack Abramoff’s parents immediately after he was elected in 2002.

 

“Here we go again,” said Lierman.  “Another day, another uncomfortable Abramoff connection for the Ehrlich/Steele administration.”