Boss of nonprofit that paid for DeLay trips smeared rival of Malaysian PM

[kpete]

Boss of nonprofit that paid for DeLay trips helped smear rival of
Malaysian PM, Abramoff's client

President of Abramoff linked nonprofit wrote editorial smearing rival of Abramoff client
RAW STORY
Published: February 21, 2006


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Group's president attacked political rival of Prime Minister who paid $1.2m for Bush visit; Denies being paid for editorial

The President of the conservative Washington nonprofit where fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff served as a director penned an editorial that smeared a political opponent of the Malaysian Prime Minister – an Abramoff client – helping the Prime Minister in a campaign to paint a political rival as an Islamic radical, RAW STORY has found.

Amy Ridenour, the president of the nonprofit National Center for Public Policy Research, denies taking money from Abramoff or Malaysia to write the article. But the recent admission by Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad that a $1.2m payment was made to Abramoff to arrange a meeting with President Bush may suggest that the Center has deeper ties.


Ridenour founded the National Center in 1982. The group was founded to support Reagan’s policies overseas. But what appeared an effort to engage in public policy debate devolved after revelations that Abramoff had funneled money through the group to pay for expensive jaunts taken by DeLay.

In 2001, Ridenour penned an editorial titled "The U.S. Must Tread Carefully to Avoid Creating More Fundamentalist Islamic Governments" in which she touted Malaysia as a "prosperous, stable and democratic state" and smeared Mahathir opponent Anwar Ibrahim as an Islamic radical.

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