New House GOP leader's lobbyist ties scrutinized

WASHINGTON – Rep. John Boehner, picked by House Republicans to lead them out of the biggest lobbying scandal in decades, is finding his own ties to lobbyists scrutinized.

The Washington Post reported today that Boehner is renting his Capitol Hill apartment from a veteran lobbyist "whose clients have direct stakes in legislation Boehner has co-written and that he has overseen as chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee."

Separately, the Associated Press reported that Barry Jackson, now an aide to White House advisor Karl Rove, helped plan a trip to the Northern Mariana Islands that was organized by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. At the time, Jackson was Boehner's chief of staff and Abramoff was working for the Seattle firm Preston Gates & Ellis.

Boehner was picked by the House GOP to replace Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, who was tainted by his ties to Abramoff.

The Post said the $1,600 a month Boehner is paying lobbyist John Milne for a two-bedroom basement apartment near House office buildings on Capitol Hill appears to be about par for such rentals. But the paper said the relationship between the two "underscores how intertwined senior lawmakers have become with the lobbyists paid to influence legislation."

In Boehner's case, that includes the 2002 Economic Security and Worker Assistance Act and the Small Business Tax Fairness Act—both pushed by clients of Milne.

Boehner spokesman Don Seymour told the Post that, "John Milne does not lobby John Boehner on any issue and has not lobbied him on any issue during the time period in which John has been renting the property."

Regarding the Marianas Islands visit, AP said the government of the islands, a U.S. commonwealth, extended the invitations to Jackson and other high-level GOP House leadership while Congress was considering legislation to control immigration and labor practices in the territory.

Boehner aide Jackson ultimately decided not to make the trip, for reasons he said he can't now recall.

Abramoff, the central figure in a wide-ranging Justice Department investigation of influence peddling in Congress, lobbied for the Marianas in Washington while employed by the Seattle firm Preston Gates & Ellis. The commonwealth's government was accused of permitting egregiously low wages and poor conditions for immigrants working in sweatshops.

According to bills from Abramoff's former lobbying firm to the Marianas government, Abramoff's staff contacted Boehner's office about island issues at least 10 times in the first four months of 1996. Copies of the billing records were obtained by The Associated Press through open-records requests to the territorial government.

Typically, the contact was made by David Safavian, who later became the Bush administration's chief procurement official in the Office of Management and Budget. Safavian recently was indicted on charges of obstructing investigations of his ties to Abramoff. Safavian was the first administration official indicted in the Abramoff scandal.

On March 15, 1996, two weeks before the Saipan trip, Abramoff's lobbying records show Safavian went over trip plans with Jackson and Mimi Simoneaux, then spokeswoman for Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas. On April 1, the day the congressional aides flew to the Marianas, Safavian called Boehner's office "to ascertain the location of B. Jackson." Abramoff's employee called about Jackson again the following day.

Jackson does not recall why he decided not to make the trip, given that it occurred 10 years ago, Healy said.

Since Boehner started campaigning early this year to replace DeLay as the No. 2-ranked House leader, he has denied having any relationship with Abramoff. Boehner has promised reforms to shake the GOP's Abramoff-related troubles.

When asked about the contacts between his office and Abramoff's, including a dinner Boehner attended in May 1996, Boehner told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday: "Some of his (Abramoff's) underlings worked with some low-level employees of my office. I'm telling you I never met the man."

Boehner spokesman Don Seymour said Tuesday that Boehner now does recall meeting Abramoff once, in "a brief, incidental conversation at a widely attended event that he estimates was about five years ago."

In an e-mail to the AP, Seymour also said Boehner did not intentionally downplay Jackson's role on his staff.

Boehner has declined to give up more than $30,000 he got from Abramoff's Indian tribe clients, saying his own work on tribal issues justifies the contributions. He did not receive any money from the tribes until Abramoff represented them.