Ambrohoff + DeLay + US Family Network = Congress real estate deal

[BR_Parkway]

The Culture of Corruption is actually a recipe. Take 1 part Jack, mix in one part DeLay staffer, stir in some very questionable "family advocacy" lobby shop and presto, deals on DC real estate that professional developers and brokers in that market couldn't duplicate. It's a Repug, so it's just using those 'market forces' - had it been a Democrat, it would be called bribery!

{I'm looking for any connection between US Family Networks (or other lobby front groups) and the Congressman's wife - Anne Ryun. In the other scandals, that was always part of the pattern, hire the wife to do some really simple thing and pay her extremely good money - any DU help would be great, you guys can track down anything}

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060330/ap_on_go_co/congressman_home_purchase;_ylt=Ak3JlZS8WlPMWEr666ZSF7uyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

WASHINGTON - Rep. Jim Ryun (news, bio, voting record) on Wednesday denied allegations by Democrats that he received a "sweet real estate deal" when he purchased a town house from a nonprofit group with connections to lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The Kansas Republican bought the historic Capitol Hill town house for $410,000 on Dec. 15, 2000. That was $19,000 less than the U.S. Family Network paid for the home about two years earlier, in January 1999, despite a sharp rise in local real estate values during that time.

He denies receiving any favorable treatment in the purchase. He declined to be interviewed but said in a written statement that he paid "fair market value" for the home.

<snip>

The home is currently assessed at $764,310 for tax year 2007, according to the city's Office of Tax and Revenue.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/30/AR2005123001480.html?sub=AR

The U.S. Family Network, a public advocacy group that operated in the 1990s with close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and claimed to be a nationwide grass-roots organization, was funded almost entirely by corporations linked to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to tax records and former associates of the group.

During its five-year existence, the U.S. Family Network raised $2.5 million but kept its donor list secret. The list, obtained by The Washington Post, shows that $1 million of its revenue came in a single 1998 check from a now-defunct London law firm whose former partners would not identify the money's origins.

http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/422400.html

A top adviser to Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, received nearly a third of the money collected by the U.S. Family Network, a nonprofit organization the adviser created to promote a pro-family political agenda in Congress, according to the group's accounting records.

DeLay's former chief of staff, Edwin Buckham, who helped create the group while in DeLay's employ, and his wife, Wendy, were the principal beneficiaries of the group's $3.23 million in revenue, collecting payments totaling $996,754 during a five-year period ending in 2001, public and private records show.

The group's revenue was mostly drawn from clients of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to its records. An FBI subpoena for the records appears to indicate the bureau is exploring whether there were links between the payments and favorable legislative treatment of Abramoff's clients by DeLay's office.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

1. It looks like a Cunningham type deal to me

I wish they'd kill a few more senatorial snakes.

[BR_Parkway]

2. The statement that it came to light based on FBI subpeonas makes

me hope that it looks like a Cunningham deal to the FBI too.