GOP SCANDAL SCORECARD

Sen. Conrad Burns and his staff met Jack Abramoff's lobbying team on at least eight occasions and collected $12,000 in donations around the time that the lawmaker took legislative action favorable to Abramoff's clients in the Northern Mariana Islands, records show.

The 2001 donations to Burns, a Montana Republican, included money directly from Abramoff and a key garment company executive in the Pacific islands who was part of the coalition paying Abramoff's firm to fend off stronger U.S. regulations on the islands.

N.H. Republican Guilty in Phone Jamming

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 16, 2005
Filed at 8:54 a.m. ET

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- A jury convicted a former national Republican official of two telephone harassment charges for his role in a phone-jamming plot against New Hampshire Democrats on Election Day 2002.

The federal jury Thursday acquitted James Tobin of a third charge, the most serious against him, of conspiring against voters' rights.

Tobin, 45, of Bangor, Maine, was regional political director to the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the 2002 election, the year of a closely watched Senate race between Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican John Sununu. Sununu defeated Shaheen, 51 percent to 46 percent.

Tobin was President Bush's New England campaign chairman last year, but resigned when the allegations became known.

Wisconsin Democrat Sentenced to Prison

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 16, 2005
Filed at 12:31 a.m. ET

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A former Democratic Wisconsin Senate leader was sentenced to nine months in jail Thursday for felony misconduct in office and illegally funneling campaign contributions.

Former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala had reached a plea deal with prosecutors earlier this year, admitting to charges that he directed a state employee to run a political campaign and used an independent expenditure group to funnel campaign contributions to a fellow Democrat.