Senate Committee Report Says Religious Group Was One That Aided Abramoff

The Senate Finance Committee yesterday released a 600-page report charging that five non-profit groups may have jeopardized their tax-exempt status by taking money from clients of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff in exchange for assisting Abramoff's lobbying efforts. (Washington Post). Today's Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that one of the groups implicated is Toward Tradition, a group based in Washington state that was once chaired by Abramoff. Toward Tradition describes itself as "a national coalition of Jews and Christians devoted to fighting the secular institutions that foster anti-religious bigotry, harm families, and jeopardize the future of America." The Senate committee report, written by the Democratic staff of the Finance Committee, says that Toward Tradition took money in exchange for help in generating news articles for Abramoff and his clients. Republicans on the committee agreed to release of the report. (See prior related posting.)