Eric Cantor Sandwich — Hold the Ethics

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) is currently the front-runner in the race for House Majority Whip. Yesterday, Hotline wrote that “[m]ore than any other Republican lawmaker,” Cantor has “a personal reason to oppose Jack Abramoff and everything he represents.”

Abramoff secretly helped Cantor’s primary opponent in 2000.

Now Cantor’s campaign is trumpeting this line, calling him “the only candidate for leadership that Jack Abramoff and his gaming clients spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to beat.”

That’s the spin. Here are the facts: From 2000-2004, Cantor happily accepted $13,000 directly from Abramoff — no small sum. In 2003, the Virginia congressman developed a sudden interest in Louisiana gambling, and signed a letter aimed at helping one of Abramoff’s tribal clients.

Abramoff even hosted a $500-a-plate “sandwich-naming” fund-raising party for Cantor at the kosher deli Abramoff owned (the “Eric Cantor” was a roast beef on challah). The Forward sets the stage:

At the party, Abramoff built up Cantor, telling the Forward that the Virginia lawmaker would become “the party’s most visible liaison to Jewish groups and in my view will be an important liaison to conservatives and religious Christians.” …

In June 2003, the Forward disclosed that Cantor had neither paid for nor listed as a debt in his campaign finance filings the cost of the catering at the Stacks fund-raiser. Experts said that the failure to report the debt likely violated campaign finance laws. After the Forward reported the lapse, Cantor’s campaign obtained an invoice and quickly paid $1,732 for the event.

Does Cantor personally like Jack Abramoff? Probably not. Does he oppose “everything” Abramoff “represents”? Laughable.