Jewish Group Denies Wrongdoing In Ties To Abramoff

The Seattle Weekly has published the full text of a long e-mail message that has been widely circulated and posted online by Rabbi Daniel Lapin, responding to charges that he was connected to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Lapin, the head of a conservative Jewish group, Toward Tradition, talks about the role of Abramoff on his organization's board of directors, and about his personal friendship with Abramoff. Lapin says that Toward Tradition conducted itself with integrity and propriety.

Jack Abramoff's Plea Agreement included an Attachment setting out the factual basis for the plea. It included the following paragraph:

...Abramoff and others sought Staffer A's agreement to perform a series of official acts , including assisting in stopping legislation regarding internet gambling and opposing postal rate increases. With the intent to influence those official acts, Abramoff provided ... ten equal monthly payments totaling $50,000 through a non-profit entity to the wife of Staffer A.

Lapin says that the non-profit referred to was Toward Tradition. However, he says, the payments were for work actually done for the group in organizing conferences; and the amounts were typical of fees charged for this kind of work. Lapin said that it is not uncommon for donors to make specific gifts for specific purposes, so they thought that this was a completely legitimate arrangement.