According to Raw Story, former DeLay aide and official member of the "pled guilty" caucus Tony Rudy directed his client Stoli Vodka to donate $20,000 to the Abramoff controlled National Center for Public Policy Research. Rudy took an $8,000 cut while the head of NCPPR Amy Ridenour wrote a favorable op-ed for Stoli that is still displayed on their website. Ridenour and the NCPPR have become notorious for writing favorable pieces about Abramoff clients after those clients gave the nonprofit hefty contributions.

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The National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, was used as a conduit for money that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff stole from his clients. The president of NCPPR Amy Ridenour was called before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee to testify about the money that was funneled through her organization and the infamous congressional golfing junket to Scotland that bore her think tank’s name. According to Slate, “not all the money Abramoff directed from his clients to NCPPR—which ran to the millions—was transferred to third parties. Some of it remained at NCPPR. We don’t know how much, but apparently it was enough to make Abramoff address Ridenour less like a grantee and more like an employee.” As the e-mails show, Ridenour was happy to write letters to the editor, press releases, and even op-eds in support of Abramoff’s clients Pitney-Bowes and the government of the Northern Marianas Islands.

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