Rekordsumme für US-Lobbyisten

--- Dass im Geschäft der "Politikberater" viel Kohle drin ist, war schon lange kein Geheimnis mehr. Nun hat ein Washingtoner Lobbyist aber eine doch etwas zu hohe Summe erhalten: Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff received $10 million in previously undisclosed payments from a public relations executive whom he recommended for work with wealthy Indian tribes that operate casinos, congressional investigators have determined. Abramoff, one of Washington's best-connected Republican lobbyists, this month was forced out of his firm, Greenberg Traurig, after revelations that he and the executive -- Michael S. Scanlon, a former spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) -- had persuaded four newly wealthy tribes to pay them fees of more than $45 million over the past three years. That amount rivals spending on public policy by some of the nation's biggest corporate interests.

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