DeLay, Northern Mariana Islands, 1997:

When one of my closest and dearest friends, Jack Abramoff, your most able representative in Washington, D.C., invited me to the islands, I wanted to see firsthand the free-market success and the progress and reform you have made.

DeLay, in a letter to his constituents, 2/6/06:

The reality is, Jack Abramoff and I were not close personal friends. I met with him only occasionally…

CNN, on DeLay’s reaction to the new Vanity Fair article, 3/9/06:

REPORTER: There is one powerful Washingtonian who is not disputing Abramoff’s accounts in the Vanity Fair article. Republican Congressman Tom Delay’s spokesman tells CNN he has no quarrel with anything in the piece which stated that the two were friends who would talk about philosophy, politics, and golf.

Now that DeLay is back to acknowleding the “close personal” nature of his relationship with Abramoff, will he also start talking more about what they did together?

Santorum, 1/17/06:

QUESTION: Senator Santorum, you have been the Senate’s liaison for the so-called K Street projects. It’s been reported you hosted monthly meetings with lobbyists, the top lobbyists in town. What makes you the correct person to lead this charge to reform?

SANTORUM: Well, I don’t know what you mean by Senate liaison to the, quote, “K Street Project.” I’m not aware of any Senate liaison job that I do for the K Street Project.

Today:

After saying in January that he would end his regular meetings with lobbyists, Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), the third-ranking GOP leader in the Senate, has continued to meet with many of the same lobbyists at the same time and on the same day of the week.

Santorum to K Street Project: I wish I knew how to quit you. “After saying in January that he would end his regular meetings with lobbyists, Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.)…has continued to meet with many of the same lobbyists at the same time and on the same day of the week.”

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) “has traveled on more exclusive golf outings, lobbyist-funded vacations and fundraising excursions to luxurious destinations than he has on return trips back to his Ohio district to visit constituents” over the last six years, a new report shows.

“I’ll be eating with my wife, and so will a lot more senators after we pass this one.” Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) comments on the possible consequences of a measure passed yesterday banning lawmakers from accepting meals from lobbyists.

Contrary to recent administration claims, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities found the Bush “tax cuts have not paid for themselves, recent economic growth and revenue growth have not been particularly strong, and revenues remain lower than had been predicted before the tax cuts were enacted.”

Even as crews work to contain “what is now the sixth largest oil spill ever on Alaska’s North Slope” (see photos), Senate conservatives yesterday released a budget that “tries to resurrect a plan to drill for oil and gas in the Alaskan wildlife refuge.” Read more