PUTNAM, BROWN-WAITE WILL NOT RETURN TAINTED CONTRIBUTIONS

Republican congressional representatives Adam Putnam (R - Bartow, a/k/a the "Red-Headed Nimrod") and Ginny Brown-Waite (R - Brooksville) have told the Lakeland Ledger that they would not return contributions to past campaigns from the political action committees run or heavily influenced by embattled politicos.

Putnam said he received a $10,000 contribution from the PAC of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R - TX) when he first ran for Congress in 2000, and another $5,000 two years later for his re-election. Brown-Waite was the reciepent of a $5,000 contribution for her initial House campaign in 2002.

Both representatives (a contridiction in terms?) also received $500 for their 2002 re-election efforts from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, a lobbying client of Jack Abramoff.

Abramoff pleaded guilty Tuesday to three felony charges (fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to bribe public officials) as part of a deal with federal prosecutors in which he will be required to provide information about members of Congress. DeLay was indicted in Texas last year on a money laundering charge related to campaign financing.

Putnam and Brown-Waite, who spoke at a Polk County GOP club gathering this week in Lakeland, both said the contributions were routine and did not amount of a conflict of interest. Putnam tried to twist the conversation, noting that his 2000 opponent, auto dealer Mike Stedem, also received donations from Democratic leaders in Congress...a point Stedem clarified.

When interviewed by the Ledger, Stedem said "What I got was money from people who were in safe, safe (Democratic) districts...I had to ask for it, and I did not get money from (Democratic) leadership funds. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did spend $30,000 in a get-out-the vote drive in the district."

In this case, doing the right thing means returning the tainted money. If not, Putnam and Brown-Waite will be forever linked to two corrupt politicos, a contridiction to their public remarks about Congress cleaning up it's act.