WASHINGTON – The head of the Republican Party said Sunday he did not have a former State Department official fired at disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s request, despite e-mails that reportedly suggest otherwise.
Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, denied playing a role in the firing of Allen Stayman from his job as a special negotiator while Mehlman was the White House political director.
Among Abramoff’s clients were the Northern Mariana Islands, which opposed Stayman’s labor reforms for the U.S. commonwealth.
Before he joined the State Department, Stayman had headed the Interior Department’s Office of Insular Affairs, which helps manage the islands and other U.S. territories.
“It is not true,” Mehlman said, when asked about the Sunday Los Angeles Times report on CNN’s “Late Edition.” “I did not have the authority, as the political director, to fire anybody. It wasn’t my decision.”
Mehlman described Abramoff as one of many people who came to see him about political issues. Abramoff bilked Indian tribes out of millions of dollars and pleaded guilty in January to federal charges in a bribery probe still unfolding on Capitol Hill.
The Times reported that e-mails released by the House Government Reform Committee show Abramoff scheming to manipulate top-ranking officials including Mehlman. The committee’s report disclosed more than 400 lobbying contacts between Abramoff’s team and the White House.
“Mehlman said he would get him fired,” an Abramoff associate wrote after meeting with Mehlman, who was then White House political director.
The exchange illustrates how, more than two years after the corruption scandal surrounding the now-disgraced Abramoff first came to light, people are still learning the extent of the lobbyist’s ability to pull the levers of power in Washington, D.C.
While the State Department resisted dismissing Stayman, in July 2001 Abramoff received an e-mail from Susan Ralston, who had worked for him before taking a job as aide to White House strategist Karl Rove. Ralston resigned this month because of her extensive dealings between the White House and Abramoff.
Ralston promised Abramoff that Stayman would be “out in four months” – and the promise was fulfilled, the Times said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
