According to this
AP report Harry Reid "wrote at least four letters helpful to Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff, and the senator's staff regularly had contact with the disgraced lobbyist's team about legislation affecting other clients."
The article goes on to say that
Reid has recieved nearly $68,000 in donations from Abramoff's firm, lobbying partners and clients.
..
Reid's office acknowledged Thursday having "routine contacts" with Abramoff's lobbying partners and intervening on some government matters -- such as blocking some tribal casinos -- in ways Abramoff's clients might have deemed helpful.
more below
Now, everytime I see one of these "Dems took money from abromoff too" stories, it's usually debunked within a couple of hours, but this looks bad. Especially the part about
"Reid also intervened on government matters at least five times in ways helpful to Abramoff's tribal clients, once opposing legislation on the Senate floor and four times sending letters pressing the Bush administration on tribal issues. Reid collected donations around the time of each action.
and this...
Abramoff's firm also hired one of Reid's top legislative aides as a lobbyist. The aide later helped throw a fundraiser for Reid at Abramoff's firm that raised donations from several of his lobbying partners.
and if you really want to torpedoe abromoff as a campaign issue for your party, you can let this happen:
And Reid's longtime chief of staff accepted a free trip to Malaysia arranged by a consulting firm connected to Abramoff that recently has gained attention in the influence-peddling investigation that has gripped the Capitol.
So, can we debunk this one? It seems like the minority leader is in deep with Jack A. at least deep enough to hurt any attempts of appearing as the reform party. Of course, the populace being the fickle mushheads that they are, they'll probably forget about it the next time Britney Spears shows her face in public, but still...