I just read this.  If this, on top of everything else, doesn't lead to the indictment of this slime, then the GOP can get away with anything. I prefer to envision him jail.

just heard on Ed Shultz......is this house of cards gonna fold?

thnx Momma

I hope this casino money case also nails Ralph Reed.Seeing Reed and Delay sharing a jail cell, would cure my post election depression for a week or so. :D

Since Delay's answer why he was a draft dodger in Viet Nam was because all those minorities were serving, I want Delay to serve in a prison at least 80 % minority population, with some HUGE steroid driven inmates that press 400lbs, making Tommie squeal like a pig!

no wonder Bush has a worried look on his face - all these scandals tsk tsk

he certainly looks stressed out in Europe.  Wonder why!  The guy needs a lap dance!

too much of those 'stiletto boots'

The current issue of Esquire magazine has a story about Ronnie Earle the prosecutor known for his tough stands and his fight against corruption in Texas, by definition that pits him against Tom Delay.

The story give both hope and fear.  Hope that there is someone out there willing to rein in Tom Delay and his corrupt band of friends.

Fear that if he fails or gives up Tom Delay can not be stopped while living and the legacy he's creating may live long after he's dead.

There's no link becasue it's not on line.  Go buy the magazine it was well worth the read.

This break could be the straw Ronnie Earle needs to close in on Delay.

"Republicans won't bring up ethics charges against Delay. Delay fired the previous republican ethics committee chairman and installed someone who is more loyal..."

Interesting! Thanks.
Speaking of Bush looking stressed: why is Allawi fighting so hard to unseat the elected party's choice for PM, while Bush is claiming he's pleased with the results of the election?

Perhaps DeLay and Gannon would have more fun together in the same cell. Who would get the top bunk? I wonder.

Yeah,what's WITH THAT???

Where's that PROTOCOL handler when they're needed....and I understand derBush managed to BREAK NORMAL EUROPEAN PROTOCOL by shaking with da "glove" on rather than the polite removing of the soggy piece o' leather and giving your compatriot a nice, warm hand to shake.

Yeah...we's really good at this "European" stuff, eh Condi? Did she get to "tickle" any ivories for the "guests"?

DELAY
More Than The Usual Ethics Headache?

    National Journal's Stone reports, "A prominent business lobbyist" recalled a golf game with then-Maj. Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX), when DeLay "dropped the name of another lobbyist who he thought might be a helpful ally. Hire Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist recalls DeLay" saying. The lobbyist was "taken aback by DeLay's bold pitch." The lobbyist said: "The reason I was so shocked was because at the time, I'd never heard of Abramoff."
    Since then, especially in the "past year," Abramoff's "name has been mentioned often" in DC. A Fed. grand jury and the Sen. Indian Affairs Cmte "are probing allegations of misconduct by Abramoff" and his associate/ex-DeLay aide Michael Scanlon, "involving some" $66M that Indian tribes with casinos "paid the two men for representing the tribes." DeLay, this year has tried "to distance himself from Abramoff," who often used "DeLay's name to try to drum up business and to round up political donations." When National Journal asked DeLay's "office to comment on the story on the golf outing," a spokesperson said: "It sounds like a hypothetical golf game that never took place, so it would be hard for me to respond."
    But "the ties between" DeLay and Abramoff "stretch back a decade." From '97 to '04, the Abramoffs "personally contributed" $40K to DeLay and PAC, ARMPAC. And, "at least two of Abramoff's American Indian tribe clients," the LA Coushattas and the Saginaw Chippewas, gave $38K to ARMPAC.
    Abramoff clients "and at least one conservative ally helped underwrite" trips for DeLay and some "key staffers," who later, "in three cases worked with Abramoff." One GOP ex-aide: "To the casual observer, it was a pretty simple deal. Jack raised money for the pet projects of DeLay and took care of his top staff. In turn, they granted him tremendous access and allowed him to freely trade on DeLay's name."
    House travel records and sources "suggest that Abramoff curried favor with DeLay and tried to boost his clients' causes through trips." On a '00 trip to England and Scotland "congressional gift rules may have been violated." Abramoff "apparently filed a report with his law firm showing he picked up some of DeLay's expenses." The trip sponsor was the Nat'l Center for Public Policy Research, "a little-known conservative think tank on whose board Abramoff served until several months ago." The record show the Center "picked up roughly" $28K for DeLay and his wife, $28K for DeLay then-CoS Susan Hirschmann and her husband, and $14K for "DeLay aide Tony Rudy, who, some two years later, joined Abramoff as a lobbying partner at the firm Greenberg Traurig." The trip totaled close to $70K.
    National Journal separately "obtained a copy of an expense voucher for the same trip that Abramoff filed with Preston Gates & Ellis," the firm "where he was then a leading lobbyist." Abramoff's "voucher lists" the trip purpose as "client relations" and names "MS Choctaw" as the "client account to which the expenses were allocated." Abramoff was then representing the MS Choctaws. The voucher shows "Abramoff was accompanied by DeLay and wife; Hirschmann and husband; and ex-DeLay CoS/now-lobbyist Ed Buckham. Abramoff "listed for reimbursement" a bill for the DeLays at the London Four Seasons Hotel for $4,285.35. The total reimbursement for expenses was $13,318.50. "For some reason, it shows that both Abramoff and Buckham were owed that amount."
    Under House rules, "a member, officer, or employee may not accept travel expenses from a registered lobbyist, agent of a foreign principal, or a lobbying firm." The rule says this applies even when the lobbyist "is later reimbursed for those expenses by a non-lobbyist client." Ex-House counsel/Brand & Frulla Stan Brand: "It's clear from House rules that while a member may accept reimbursement for travel from certain sources, they may not receive travel expenses from a registered lobbyist, agent of a foreign principal, or a lobbying firm."
    Democracy 21 pres Fred Wertheimer: "It certainly appears from Abramoff's expense voucher that House ethics rules were violated by a lobbyist having paid for lodging expenses of Representative DeLay and his chief of staff." On the England trip, DeLay spokesperson Dan Allen "said he couldn't confirm Abramoff's presence." Allen: "We did everything we were supposed to do and disclosed the expenses that the national center provided us. We have no control over what somebody may have done beyond that. This is the first time we are hearing of this expense report." Abramoff's atty spokesperson Abbe Lowell "issued a broad statement saying that the ongoing" Sen. and DoJ "investigations make it impossible for Abramoff to defend his work 'in the public arena.'" Preston Gates wouldn't "comment for this story."
    According to the Center's IRS 990 disclosure forms from '00 to '03, "Abramoff seems to have had clout" with the group. At that time, "one of the center's largest payments to an individual or group was a 'consulting' fee" of $1.28M in '03 paid to Kaygold, a private company that Abramoff apparently controlled." The Center "declined comment on that payment." The Washington Post reported that the Center received a $1.07M donation from the MS Choctaws.
    Abramoff "had long successfully lobbied DeLay and his staff on Choctaw matters." In '95, "he worked with DeLay" and others "to kill a proposed tax on Indian gambling, an issue that was a top priority to the Choctaws." And, DeLay and a few key staffers "had also enjoyed the tribe's resort facilities."
    In '97, the Center also "sponsored a trip to Russia for DeLay" and several of his staffers. The trip "was described" on DeLay's disclosure forms "as a fact-finding mission." Abramoff, "there for at least part" of the trip, was registered "to lobby for a Bahama-based company called Chelsea Commercial Enterprises, whose principals lived in Moscow." According to the company's registration, Chelsea wanted to "generate support" for Russian gov't policies in "bilateral trade and 'progressive market reforms.'"
    Other trips "also seemed to help Abramoff ingratiate himself with DeLay" and his staff. Once, "Abramoff and DeLay famously spent time together in the Northern Marianas on trips that combined business with golf and other entertainment." DeLay "was Abramoff's leading ally in a successful effort in Congress to let" the Northern Marianas "keep a cherished exemption from U.S. labor and immigration law." The "exemption allowed garment makers there to pay imported laborers $2 an hour" under the minimum wage in the U.S. On one '98 trip to the Marianas, DeLay, "according to media reports, called Abramoff 'one of my closest and dearest friends.'"
    GOPers say that the travel "with DeLay helped to boost Abramoff's stature with his clients and, ultimately, his bottom line." One operative said, "Jack's business model was growing clients rather than getting new ones. DeLay was instrumental, in Jack's mind. If the clients equate Jack with DeLay, then obviously Jack's in a strong position to increase his retainer. Foreign trips were part of the work-hard, play-hard DeLay philosophy. To that end, Jack Abramoff was director of travel for DeLay Inc" (2/26).

National Journal
02-26-2005
Lobbying & Law - Abramoff's and DeLay's Foreign Adventures

Peter H. Stone


A few years ago, a prominent business lobbyist recalls, he was playing golf with Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, when the then-House majority whip dropped the name of another lobbyist who he thought might be a helpful ally. Hire Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist recalls DeLay advising him.

The lobbyist, who asked not to be identified, was taken aback by DeLay's bold pitch. "The reason I was so shocked was because at the time, I'd never heard of Abramoff," the lobbyist said in an interview.

Since the time of that golf outing -- and especially within the past year -- Abramoff's name has been mentioned often in Washington. A federal grand jury and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee are probing allegations of misconduct by Abramoff and his associate Michael Scanlon, a public-relations man and a former DeLay aide, involving some $66 million that six Indian tribes with casino operations paid the two men for representing the tribes both inside and outside the Beltway.

In his public statements over the past year, DeLay has sought to distance himself from Abramoff, who during his glory days on K Street often used DeLay's name to try to drum up business and to round up political donations.

Asked by reporters about Abramoff not long after the first stories on the scandal broke last year, DeLay said it would be wrong if "anybody is trading on my name to get clients or make money." And when National Journal recently asked DeLay's office to comment on the story on the golf outing, a spokesman for the now-House majority leader said, "It sounds like a hypothetical golf game that never took place, so it would be hard for me to respond."

Nonetheless, the ties between the powerful Texan and the former superlobbyist stretch back a decade and were forged and sustained by Abramoff's fundraising prowess and other lobbying stratagems. From 1997 through early 2004, Abramoff and his wife personally contributed $40,000 to DeLay's campaigns and his political action committee, ARMPAC, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Further, at least two of Abramoff's American Indian tribe clients, the Louisiana Coushattas and the Saginaw Chippewas, donated $38,000 to ARMPAC.

Some of Abramoff's clients and at least one conservative ally also helped underwrite trips taken by DeLay, as well as by some key staffers who later became lobbyists and in three cases worked with Abramoff.

"To the casual observer, it was a pretty simple deal," recalls one former GOP House leadership aide. "Jack raised money for the pet projects of DeLay and took care of his top staff. In turn, they granted him tremendous access and allowed him to freely trade on DeLay's name."

House travel records and interviews with GOP lobbyists suggest that Abramoff curried favor with DeLay and tried to boost his clients' causes through trips. As far back as 1997, Abramoff accompanied DeLay on foreign excursions to such places as London, Moscow, and the Northern Mariana Islands. In at least one instance, on a trip to England and Scotland in mid-2000, congressional gift rules may have been violated; Abramoff apparently filed a report with his law firm showing he picked up some of DeLay's expenses.

The trip's sponsor was the National Center for Public Policy Research, a little-known conservative think tank on whose board Abramoff served until several months ago. The 2000 trip, from May 25 to June 3, mixed business with pleasure. DeLay had a meeting with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and conservative leaders in Scotland, and played golf at Scotland's storied St. Andrews.

According to the House travel records filed by DeLay's office -- and verified separately by the center -- the center picked up roughly $28,000 in expenses for DeLay and his wife, Christine, as well as $28,000 for DeLay's then-Chief of Staff Susan Hirschmann and her husband, and $14,000 for DeLay aide Tony Rudy, who, some two years later, joined Abramoff as a lobbying partner at the firm Greenberg Traurig. Total expenses for the trip were close to $70,000.

Separately, National Journal has obtained a copy of an expense voucher for the same trip that Abramoff filed with Preston Gates & Ellis, the law firm where he was then a leading lobbyist and rainmaker. Abramoff's voucher lists the purpose of the trip as "client relations" and names "MS Choctaw" as the client account to which the expenses were allocated. At the time, Abramoff and Preston Gates were representing the Mississippi Choctaws, a tribe that runs casinos.

The voucher shows that Abramoff was accompanied by DeLay and his wife; Hirschmann and her husband; and Ed Buckham, DeLay's former chief of staff who had also become a lobbyist. Among the big-ticket expenses that Abramoff listed for reimbursement was a bill for the DeLays at the Four Seasons Hotel in London in the amount of $4,285.35. The voucher shows that the total reimbursement for expenses was $13,318.50. For some reason, it shows that both Abramoff and Buckham were owed that amount.

Under House gift rules, a member, officer, or employee may not accept travel expenses from a registered lobbyist, agent of a foreign principal, or a lobbying firm. The rule stipulates that the prohibition applies even when the lobbyist, agent, or firm is later reimbursed for those expenses by a non-lobbyist client.

"It's clear from House rules that while a member may accept reimbursement for travel from certain sources, they may not receive travel expenses from a registered lobbyist, agent of a foreign principal, or a lobbying firm," said Stan Brand, a former House counsel and a partner at the law firm Brand & Frulla.

"It certainly appears from Abramoff's expense voucher that House ethics rules were violated by a lobbyist having paid for lodging expenses of Representative DeLay and his chief of staff," said Fred Wertheimer, the president of Democracy 21, who added that the apparent violation was another reason for the House Standards of Official Conduct (Ethics) Committee to investigate whether Abramoff did financial favors for members and staffers.

Responding to questions about Abramoff being on the trip and the billing for some DeLay expenses, a DeLay spokesman said he couldn't confirm Abramoff's presence. "We did everything we were supposed to do and disclosed the expenses that the national center provided us," said DeLay aide Dan Allen. "We have no control over what somebody may have done beyond that. This is the first time we are hearing of this expense report."

A spokesman for Abramoff's attorney, Abbe Lowell, issued a broad statement saying that the ongoing Senate and Justice Department investigations make it impossible for Abramoff to defend his work "in the public arena."

A spokesman for Preston Gates said that the firm would not comment for this story.

The Senate committee that is investigating Abramoff has raised the issue of foreign travel in another context. At a hearing last year, testimony revealed that in 2002, Abramoff solicited $100,000 from two Indian tribes to help pay for a golfing junket to Scotland in August of that year that included House Administration Committee Chairman Bob Ney, R-Ohio, Abramoff, and other lobbyists. The nonprofit Capital Athletic Foundation, which was run by Abramoff and to which the Choctaws and the Coushattas each donated $1 million, sponsored the trip.

The Senate and Justice Department probes are also looking into allegations related to the work that Abramoff and Scanlon did for their Indian tribe clients between 2001 and early 2004, including charges that the duo secretly split at least $42 million in fees that were paid to companies run by Scanlon. Investigators are also probing some of the millions of dollars in contributions that the tribes made, at Abramoff's suggestion, to a few nonprofit groups and reportedly some political campaigns.

Regarding the 2000 trip to England and Scotland, the National Center for Public Policy Research declined through an attorney to comment on whether Abramoff had helped to arrange financing for the trip, or whether he had done fundraising while he was a board member of the center.

According to the center's 990 disclosure forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service from 2000 to 2003, Abramoff seems to have had clout in the group: During this period, one of the center's largest payments to an individual or group was a "consulting" fee of $1.28 million in 2003 paid to Kaygold, a private company that Abramoff apparently controlled.

The national center also declined comment on that payment. The Washington Post has reported that the center received a $1.07 million donation from the Mississippi Choctaws.

Abramoff had long successfully lobbied DeLay and his staff on Choctaw matters. In 1995, for instance, he worked with DeLay and other House conservatives to kill a proposed tax on Indian gambling, an issue that was a top priority to the Choctaws. Moreover, DeLay and a few of his key staffers had also enjoyed the tribe's resort facilities; according to House travel records in the summer of 1998, DeLay, his wife, and Susan Hirschmann spent a couple of days at the Choctaws' resort, which included a casino, golf course, and spa, in Mississippi.

And the 2000 trip to the British Isles wasn't the only foreign excursion involving DeLay and Abramoff that the center sponsored. In August 1997, the center sponsored a trip to Russia for DeLay and several of his top staffers. The one-week trip was described on DeLay's travel disclosure forms as a fact-finding mission. It involved meetings with Russian officials, including then-Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin, and religious leaders concerned about religious freedom. The bill for DeLay and his entourage, including Hirschmann and Buckham, totaled about $60,000.

Abramoff, who was there for at least part of the Russia trip, was registered at the time to lobby for a Bahama-based company called Chelsea Commercial Enterprises, whose principals lived in Moscow. According to the Bahama company's lobbying registration, Chelsea was trying to "generate support" for the Russian government's policies in the areas of bilateral trade and "progressive market reforms."

Other trips over the years also seemed to help Abramoff ingratiate himself with DeLay and his top staffers. For instance, Abramoff and DeLay famously spent time together in the Northern Marianas on trips that combined business with golf and other entertainment. For the Northern Marianas, DeLay was Abramoff's leading ally in a successful effort in Congress to let the islands keep a cherished exemption from U.S. labor and immigration law. This exemption allowed garment makers there to pay imported laborers $2 an hour less than the minimum wage in the United States. On a New Year's trip to the Marianas to ring in 1998, DeLay, according to media reports, called Abramoff "one of my closest and dearest friends."

GOP operatives say that all the travel with DeLay helped to boost Abramoff's stature with his clients and, ultimately, his bottom line. "Jack's business model was growing clients rather than getting new ones," one GOP operative recalls. "DeLay was instrumental, in Jack's mind. If the clients equate Jack with DeLay, then obviously Jack's in a strong position to increase his retainer. Foreign trips were part of the work-hard, play-hard DeLay philosophy. To that end, Jack Abramoff was director of travel for DeLay Inc."

It's Saturday mid afternoon WHERE is the scoop on Delay?
I want that slug sweating under his dyed lacquered hair-don't.

So that's the news?
Not playing on any channels or news web-sites yet...too into the BTK killer.

So that's the news?
Not playing on any channels or news web-sites yet...too into the BTK killer.

I emailed the Rawstory article on Delay to CNN Headline News,MSNBC,ABC and CBS News.

To Keith?

KOlbermann@MSNBC.com

I emailed him earlier -
someone else do it to - okay?
That way, maybe he'll cover

Social Security “fright mail” targeting seniors helped fund GOP leader’s trips to UK, Asia
2/28/2005 @ 11:37 am EST

Social Security scams helped fly House GOP leader on London, Moscow junkets

RAW STORY EXCLUSIVE

By John Byrne and Larisa Alexandrovna | RAW STORY Staff

A think tank which raised money by targeting elderly Americans with Social Security scare letters paid for more than $130,000 in travel expenses for the House Republican leader, his wife and his staff, RAW STORY has learned.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, a highly controversial and little-known conservative think tank which has been sending Social Security “fright mail� for years, paid for two posh trips for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) in 1996 and 2000, each at the cost of at least $64,000.

NCPPR also gave $1,000 to DeLay’s legal defense fund in 2004.

While another conservative group stole the limelight for an ad linking the AARP to gay marriage, NCPPR has operated below the radar on controversial issues since its founding in the early 1980s.

The group’s letters target seniors of both parties, aiming to convince them their Social Security benefits are in jeopardy and thereby induce them to donate money. The mailings also encourage seniors to keep the mailing secret from others, perhaps even from family members.

“Inside your sealed envelope is information regarding the potential collapse of the Social Security system – and how it can endanger you and the entire United States senior citizen population,” NCPPR president Amy Ridenour writes in one such letter obtained by RAW STORY (Read the letter here). “It is also critical that you share this pertinent information ONLY [sic] with other trustworthy individuals.”

“Should we put most of our time and effort into fighting to prevent liberal big-spenders from draining an estimated $100 billion from the trust fund?” Ridenour asks. “Or should I go head to head against the left-wing’s reckless use of $70 billion tax surplus when they promised to put our Social Security first?”

“The liberal monster is primed to rip your Social Security to shreds,â€� reads another hyperbolic letter reported on by the San Francisco Examiner in 1998.

The group uses at least four different letterheads to solicit money; all of the money is funneled into the same organization.

In January, RAW STORY asked NCPPR Executive Director David Almasi why there was only one reference to one of the letterhead “task forces” on the NCPPR website, nor any description of how money is spent.

“We [don’t] currently have Internet access at our office,” Almasi said.

Almasi couldn’t say how much the mailings had collected or how many individuals had donated. Ridenour didn’t return calls seeking comment.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay enjoyed the generosity of the group at least twice. The group paid for a $64,064 trip for himself and his staff to Moscow and St. Petersburg when he was Majority Whip in the summer of 1997.

NCPPR also picked up a hefty $70,000 tab for trip for DeLay and his aides made in mid-2000 to Europe. DeLay and his staff took a junket where he met with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and took a round of golf with conservative leaders in Scotland.

The ten-day “educational” trip was no small affair–NCPPR paid $28,106 for DeLay and his wife alone, splurging on transportation ($20,266.00), cushy lodging ($3,840.00) and meals ($4,000.00).

DeLay’s office did not return RAW STORY calls seeking comment today.

On Saturday, the National Journal reported that DeLay may have violated House ethics rules when a top lobbyist shelled out an additional $13,000 for DeLay’s stay at the London Four Seasons hotel during that same trip. House rules stipulate that members or members’ employees cannot accept payment from a registered lobbyist to cover travel costs.

The lobbyist in question? Jack Abramoff, an NCPPR director. Abramoff is also on the board of USA Next—a pro-privatization Social Security group that formed as an offshoot of the Swift Boat Vets and recently ran an ad claiming AARP supported gay marriage.

Since then, Abramoff’s fortunes have soured. Abramoff is under investigation for several lobbying scandals and is involved in ongoing litigation with federal authorities over casino deals. He has since resigned his post at NCPPR.

Abramoff and DeLay have a long relationship on Capitol Hill. DeLay’s former press secretary Michael Scalon joined Abramoff’s firm six years ago and allegedly traded on DeLay’s name to rake in $45 million between them from four American Indian tribes—in a year when General Motors spent just $30 million.

“To the casual observer, it was a pretty simple deal,” one former GOP House leadership aide told the National Journal Saturday. “Jack raised money for the pet projects of DeLay and took care of his top staff. In turn, they granted him tremendous access and allowed him to freely trade on DeLay’s name.”

The ex-NCPPR director is a major conservative donor: in the 2004 election cycle, Abramoff and his wife contributed $83,000 to Republicans. The power couple ranked as the 93rd largest donor to either party that year.

Abramoff was also a Bush “Pioneer;” he raised more than $100,000 for Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign.

More salient, perhaps, are Abramoff’s contributions to DeLay. In the last eight years Abramoff and his wife have personally donated $40,000 to DeLay’s campaigns and political action committee. At least two of Abramoff’s American Indian tribe clients also donated $38,000 to DeLay’s PAC.

In 2000, Abramoff “dryly” told conservative columnist Don Feder, “Money available from government is blood in the water for sharks.”

DeLay has no formal role in the group, though he has showered it with praises. NCPPR’s “About Usâ€� page bears a quote from DeLay at the top left of the page, “The National Center is THE CENTER [sic] for conservative communications.”

NCCPR is unapologetic about its mailings.

“We assume most people are capable of taking care of themselves, and if there is something they have a desire about, they will let us know,” NCPPR president Ridenour told the San Francisco Examiner.

In 1998, The Examiner profiled an 86-year-old Oakland resident Faye Shelby who had been deluged by direct mail scams seeking money on issues including Social Security. The letters so distressed the nursing home resident that she lay awake at night worrying about what crisis most deserved her help.

“I didn’t know that I could just turn them down,” Shelby told the Examiner. “I was thinking it was something I had to do. . . . I thought if I didn’t correspond about Social Security, I wouldn’t get my checks.”

NCPPR has also been hit for other questionable practices.

In the 1990s, the group began to focus on denying climate change after they began received tens of thousands of dollars from ExxonMobil. They also launched a crusade on behalf of tobacco interests after taking money from Phillip Morris.

NCPPR also saw an awkward moment last year when one of the members 

of the group’s conservative African American branch Project 21 failed to show up for a C-SPAN interview. Executive Director David Almasi, who is the only paid staff member for Project 21 and is white, filled in. From there, one editor went on to expose the group as a whole, finding that not a single director or board member of the group was black.

RAW STORY is looking for other Social Security and “fright mail” letters sent out by NCPPR. If you have received a copy of a letter, or have any other information regarding another letter, please email tips@rawstory.com

MORE: Independent researchers in the progressive forum Democratic Underground discovered the following letter sent by the conservative thinktank National Center for Public Policy, RAW STORY has found.

The letter, soliciting money to "save" Medicare, employs another tactic often used the by the Center, which alleges that the nonprofit is in dire financial need—so dire that they cannot even pay for postage.

"I am enclosing a pre-addressed reply envelope for you to use in contacting me -- despite our budget restrictions," NCPPR president Amy Ridenour writes.

In 2003, the latest year for which figures are available, the group raised $6.5 million.