Earlier today, the AP reported that Kevin Koonce, who worked as Commerce Secretary-nominee Judd Gregg’s legislative director from 2002-04, “has been caught up in a long-running investigation into a Capitol Hill lobbying scandal.” Koonce “was cited in a guilty plea last week by Todd Boulanger, a former deputy to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff,” as having taken gifts exceeding $10,000 in exchange for favors in spending legislation.

At the White press briefing today, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded to the story about Koonce:

GIBBS: I don’t know about the vetting. I know that the Secretary-designate is not a target or a subject of any of the investigation about an employee that I think left his office in 2004 and I would direct you to them for additional statements. … This obviously is somebody who left his employment quite some time ago.

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According to Boulanger’s plea documents, Koonce “tried to help insert spending measures and add other amendments to legislation for Boulanger’s clients.” At one point, Boulanger sent an e-mail to Abramoff saying that he was confident Koonce’s boss would help them out:

Later, Boulanger sent an e-mail to Abramoff expressing confidence that the senator for whom the staffer worked would give them a favor. “Easy money,” Boulanger wrote, adding that the aide “practically lives in our various suites. We are shady.”

As Raw Story notes, Gregg’s spokesman Joel Maiola said in 2006 that Gregg had “never had any contact” with Abramoff, despite his acceptance of donations from “two Indian tribes represented by Abramoff’s firm in 2002 and 2004.” Gregg reportedly donated the $12,000 to a New Hampshire-based charity.

McCain often brags that he led the Senate investigation into fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who overbilled his Indian tribal clients millions of dollars. However, the New York Times reports that lobbyists in McCain’s inner circle “played a behind-the-scenes role in bringing Mr. Abramoff’s misdeeds to Mr. McCain’s attention — and then cashed in on the resulting investigation“:

For McCain-connected lobbyists who were rivals of Mr. Abramoff, the scandal presented a chance to crush a competitor. For senior McCain advisers, the inquiry allowed them to collect fees from the very Indians that Mr. Abramoff had ripped off. And the investigation enabled Mr. McCain to confront political enemies who helped defeat him in his 2000 presidential run while polishing his maverick image.

After firing Abramoff, the Coushatta tribe hired lobbyist Hance Scarborough, who had been friends with McCain since the ’80s. Scarborough charged the tribe nearly $1.3 million for 11 months of work, although his firm produced few tangible results. In 2005, Scarborough also put McCain’s then-chief strategist John Weaver on the tribe’s payroll. The Coushattas said it was like the Abramoff scandal “happening all over again.” Currently on the McCain campaign, there are 40 fundraisers and top advisers who have lobbied or worked for gambling interests.

Two former top Justice Department officials, former Solicitor General Paul Clement and former Ashcroft chief-of-staff David Ayres, “emerged Wednesday as figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal,” the AP reports. Both Clement and Ayres were in e-mail correspondence with former Abramoff associate Kevin Ring, who is “facing trial on 10 counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, bribery and fraud.” Though there is “no public indication that either Clement or Ayres is implicated in wrongdoing,” one of the charges against Ring include an episode in which he tried to lobby Justice Department officials.

In “The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff,” journalist Gary S. Chafetz details how Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) pursued his investigation into the fallen lobbyist as “pure political payback,” rather than “the high-minded reform crusade he has made it out to be on the campaign trail.” McCain reportedly remained upset that Abramoff had backed Ralph Reed’s effort to defeat him in the 2000 South Carolina primary:

Chafetz argues that McCain nursed the wounds of that defeat for years, and in 2004 jumped on the chance to investigate Abramoff after the Washington Post published a damning expose of the millions of dollars in lobbying fees Abramoff had collected from his casino-rich Indian tribal clients.

Peppered with new quotes from Abramoff — who met with Chafetz while in federal prison in Cumberland, MD — the book alleges that McCain withheld the vast majority of emails he confiscated during the inquiry, many of which could be exculpatory to the former lobbyist or damaging to McCain allies.

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Today, U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle sentenced disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to four years in prison “on conspiracy and other charges after federal prosecutors recommended leniency due to Abramoff’s cooperation in pursuing corruption cases against lawmakers and former administration officials. He faced a maximum of 11 years under a plea deal reached in 2006.”

The Washington Post reported today that, as mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin hired a lobbyist to secure nearly $27 million in federal funds for the town, and that the lobbyist, Steven Silver, had “close ties” to Rep. Don Young (R-AK) and Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). TMPMuckraker has found that Silver also listed convicted felon Jack Abramoff’s firm, Greenberg Traurig, as a client:

On Greenberg’s behalf, Silver lobbied the federal government on “issues relating to Indian/Native American policy,” “exploration for oil and gas” and “legislation relating to gaming issues” — the very issues that Abramoff headed up for Greenberg at the time. In other words, Silver appears to have been a part of “Team Abramoff.”

E-mails released during the Abramoff investigation showed a scheduled meeting between between Silver and Abramoff in 2001.

Last week, news broke that Ralph Reed, former Christian Coalition director and crony of Jack Abramoff, would be helping to raise money for Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) fundraiser in Atlanta. Reed “touted himself as a member of McCain’s ‘Victory 2008 Team’ in an e-mail that solicited donations on McCain’s behalf,” and public watchdog organizations called on McCain to denounce Reed. The Wall Street Journal now reports that Reed was a no-show at tonight’s Atlanta fundraiser:

On Monday evening, there was no sign of Reed at the Marriott Marquis here and no mention of him by McCain during his remarks. A campaign spokesperson confirmed that Reed would not be in attendance but declined to say whether the campaign had asked him to keep his distance.

The McCain campaign has insisted that Reed “sent the messages on his own and was not coordinating with the campaign,” but Reed told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that “he sent the e-mail at the request of the campaign and was given boilerplate language to use.” As Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has pointed out, when McCain led a Senate investigation into the Abramoff scandal, he failed to call Reed to testify.

On the campaign trail, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) often touts his work fighting corruption, highlighting the Senate Indian Affairs Committee investigation he led into the Jack Abramoff scandal. In May, he bragged:

I led the Abramoff investigation. I saved the American people — excuse me, not only American people, but native Americans, millions — hundreds of millions — millions and millions of dollars.

In particular, the committee put out a 357-page report on its findings. Mentioned on at least 38 pages is former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed, who assisted Abramoff in overbilling Indian tribal clients out of millions of dollars.

Yet on Monday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will be attending a fundraiser in Atlanta, which Reed is helping to organize. Reed “touted himself as a member of McCain’s ‘Victory 2008 Team’ in an e-mail that solicited donations on McCain’s behalf.” McCain has refused calls by ethics watchdog organizations to denounce Reed and cancel the fundraiser.

In a Democratic National Committee conference call today, House Oversight Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) questioned why McCain would want to associate himself with someone who was “tied up in a gambling scandal.” He noted, however, that McCain has never been particularly tough on Reed — he never even called him to testify before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee during its investigation:

I give John McCain credit for having exposed Jack Abramoff, when he held hearings in the Senate Committee on Native Americans. But he never called Ralph Reed. And our committee did a further investigation of the Abramoff contacts with the White House, and we found Ralph Reed an active participant in trying to influence the White House for Abramoff’s clients.

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In reality, McCain’s report on the Abramoff scandal was also far weaker than it should have been; it steered clear of any connections between Abramoff and McCain’s conservative Senate colleagues, even though many of them were complicit in the lobbyist’s schemes. Additionally, during McCain’s investigation, Abramoff’s old firm — Greenberg Traurig — hired McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann “for advice on handling the Senate investigation.” Scheunemann also advised McCain during the 2000 election.

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