Abramoff Got State Department Official Fired
More evidence of Jack Abramoff's lever-pulling in yesterday's Los Angeles Times. Newly released e-mails show that Abramoff convinced former White House political director Ken Mehlman to help get State Department official Allen Stayman removed from his job. Prior to working at State, Stayman headed the Office of Insular Affairs at the Interior Department, where he pushed for labor changes in the Marianas Islands. Abramoff's firm represented the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, which strongly opposed those efforts.