Oregon Records Show Gordon Smith Approved Trip Paid By GOP lobby

[Robbien]

US Senate records show that Senator Gordon Smith, recently forced to amend his travel disclosure records relating to a 2003 junket to Ireland, approved a trip by his staff that was paid for by the Republican lobbying firm of Balch & Bingham.

. . .

The firm has been described in news accounts as "unabashedly Republican" and lobbies for such heavyweight energy clients as FirstEnergy Corporation, Potomac Electric Power, and Alabama Power Company. Perhaps not surprisingly, US Senate records show the trip was taken to New York and purportedly related to "electricity transmission" issues.

. . .

"Gordon Smith needs to account for why special interest lobbyists are footing the bill for travel in violation of Senate Ethics rules," said Kelly Steele, communications director for the Democratic Party of Oregon. "Revising history to exploit loopholes in the Ethics rules makes a mockery of this process," said Steele. "Contrary to Gordon Smith's claims, the Ireland junket appears not to be an isolated incident," said Steele.

Just last week, Smith and other Republicans on a 2003 trip to Ireland said they had amended their reports to reflect that lobbyist Richard Kessler had only arranged a trip to the lavish Ashford Castle in County Mayo, Ireland, and that the parent company of Kessler's DC lobbying shop had actually paid for the trip

http://www.jacksonvilleoregonnews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=300983&cp=10989

[kaygore]

1. He is such a slimy, lying snake

He needs to be defeated when he runs next time.

Did you hear him on the nuclear option on C-SPAN? What an ass! What a kiss-ass! What an idiot!