Feingold and Abramoff

With the state-wide witch hunt now underway for Wisconsin Republicans who have ties to Jack Abramoff, this would seem a wise moment to point out that this scandal may not fall so easily down party lines.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has a feature up on its website highlighting the illicit receipts of various Democrats, and Russ Feingold, with over $1000 in worrisome donations, is on the list.

How bogus is the NRSC's allegation? Apparently it's not quite the work of quiet desperation state Democrats would have you believe because Mr. Feingold has already given back the cash under pressure. In a statement, his office said:

We have decided to return four donations that we have received from a Political Action Committee and two individuals associated with the law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP -- the firm where lobbyist Jack Abramoff worked until 2004. These donations happened between 2002 and 2004 and totaled $1,600. We are not aware that any donation to our campaign committee is tied to Mr. Abramoff, but because he worked at the law firm during the time we received contributions from others at Greenberg Traurig, we have decided to return those contributions.

This of course begs the question: if the money was clean, why return it? I know the old cliché about the appearance of impropriety, but please keep in mind it derives from the reality that the appearance of such normally is a fair barometer – where there's smoke, there's fire, keeping with clichés.

But perhaps the best cliché of all is the one the NRSC used to headline its feature, “People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.”