October 20, 2008 06:24 PM UTC

Musgrave's Ties To Rove Campaign Scandal Deepen

• 11 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

A gun may have been brought to this knife fight after all, as the Denver Post reported yesterday:

Taxpayers footed the bill for Bush administration officials to make four election-season stops in 2006 to bolster the then-flagging political fortunes of Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, a new report from an oversight committee shows.

Musgrave was one of 99 Republicans involved in close races who benefited from a total of 303 trips arranged by the White House Office of Political Affairs, according to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The pre-election visits by agency leaders flouted laws against executive branch employees using taxpayer dollars to support candidates, said the committee, which consists of 23 Democrats and 18 Republicans. [Pols emphasis]

On her congressional Web page and in recent debates, Musgrave openly touts the visits as a sign of her clout for the 4th Congressional District, where she is running for re-election against Democrat businesswoman Betsy Markey…

In response, the verbatim denial issued the day before to the Fort Collins Coloradoan. That’s not a good sign.

Saturday, a commenter identified a key component to this scandal as it relates to Musgrave: far from being the passive recipient of benefits from Rove’s plan to dispatch high-ranking Bush administration officials to the districts of embattled congressional candidates illegally at taxpayer expense, Musgrave actually requested many more campaign visits by officials than she received:

White House Memorandum document shows at least four additional events requested by Musgrave just before 2006 election that were cancelled:

– Energy Secretary Bodman requested to visit in October 2006

– Labor Secretary Chao requested in 2006 visit

– Commerce Secretary Gutierrez political event for November 1st, cancelled

– Interior Secretary Kempthorne requested to visit October 12th 2006

October of 2006? The idea that any such request would not be political is absurd on its face. Makes sense that the White House would “cancel” those–was Musgrave being checked for going overboard?

And it gets better: the Post continues, explaining how interest in “helping” Musgrave illicitly may go back to her very first run for federal office:

Documents obtained by the oversight committee suggest Musgrave and other Republicans may have received visits as early as 2002, though records for that cycle and the 2004 election were unavailable.

A political-affairs official wrote in a 2002 e-mail to a staffer of then Department of Interior Secretary Gale Norton, “Just an FYI . . . Marilyn Musgrave (a race I know the Secretary is following) has expanded her lead and is now above 50 percent. Looking very good there (thanks in part to the Secretary’s help!)” [Pols emphasis]

Markey spokesman Ben Marter noted a disconnect between Musgrave’s outspokenness and her actions in 2006.

“When it’s politically convenient in an election year she turns around and is the beneficiary of taxpayer-funded visits,” Marter said

Liberal activist group Progress Now sent a release Saturday highlighting a specific instance of Musgrave boasting of having “requested” one of the visits identified by investigators as legally questionable. Their release follows, with a poll–is Musgrave’s goose cooked at long last?

Call for Musgrave to Reimburse Taxpayers for Campaign Visits:

Musgrave requested trip, not simply White House

For Immediate Release

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Contact:  Michael Huttner

(303) 931-4547 cell

Denver — ProgressNowAction called on Rep. Marilyn Musgrave to immediately reimburse taxpayers for the unethical and possibly illegal visits by Bush political aides to support her 2006 re-election bid.  The group pointed out that Musgrave still has on her website evidence that she requested the visits, working deliberately with the Bush Administration.

“We call on Musgrave to immediately reimburse taxpayers for her unethical and possibly illegal visits by Bush political aides on the taxpayers’ dime,” stated Michael Huttner, Executive Director of ProgressNowAction, Colorado’s largest online progressive advocacy organization.

A report released by the House Committee on Government and Oversight Reform shows that Rep. Marilyn Musgrave directly benefited from the improper and unethical use of taxpayer money to support her 2006 re-election bid.

“Musgrave’s website still shows how she brought a Bush official to help her, under the guise of a public forum,” stated Huttner.  “Instead of pointing fingers, Musgrave should take responsibility for her unethical and possibly illegal actions.”

Musgrave, on her own official house website, still shows her May 19, 2006 release entitled: “Veteran’s Secretary Addresses Colo Vets At the Request of Rep. Musgrave”. Her release describes how she “requested”, “brought” and “hosted” a forum during her 2006 re-election campaign.  Click to see this release:

http://musgrave.house.gov/News…

The House report shows that Rep. Musgrave abused taxpayers help for her 2006 campaign on four separate occasions:

To see the full House report click:

http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2222

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