By Scott Shepard, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 1, 2005

2 Oct 2005 // Even before taking over for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay last week, Rep. Roy Blunt was under fire by liberal watchdog groups for alleged ethics lapses arising from the lobbying activities of his family.

Now, with Blunt in charge of moving Republican legislation through the House of Representatives, the five-term Missourian is taking even more shots from his critics, some of whom put him at the top of their list of the "13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress."

In a 93-page report released Monday--- two days before an indictment forced DeLay to step down --- the Washington group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington criticized Blunt for what it called repeated "misuse of his position for the benefit of his family," including his wife, Abigail Perlman, and son Andrew, both of whom are lobbyists, and his other son, Matt, the governor of Missouri.

In the days since Blunt, the Republican whip, was elevated to the party's top House leadership post, watchdog groups, liberal bloggers and some of Blunt's Democratic colleagues in Congress have repeatedly cited the CREW report, directing the public to a special Web site the group has set up, www.beyonddelay.org.

Blunt spokeswoman Burson Taylor dismissed such criticism Friday, calling it nothing more than "a coordinated attack on Republicans." She emphasized that Blunt "is not being investigated" by the House ethics committee and has never been publicly sanctioned by the panel. And when asked if Blunt considered any of his actions unethical, she replied, "No."

Blunt himself, in an interview with The New York Times, said the renewed intensity of the criticism aimed his way would ultimately discredit the critics.

"I actually think that may be the greatest favor they could do our party, to show that this is just a pattern, serial efforts to distort facts and make situations look differently than they are and try to attack people individually," Blunt said.

CREW's executive director, Melanie Sloan, maintains that Blunt "has long followed" DeLay's approach to politics, particularly in raising vast amounts of campaign funds through close ties to lobbyists and the business community, leaning on colleagues for votes, and using his leadership position for special favors for supporters, she says.

"With such an ethically challenged record, is Representative Blunt an appropriate choice for House majority leader?" Sloan asked.

Like DeLay, Blunt has close connections to Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the subject of criminal and congressional investigations. Blunt was one of the party leaders who signed a letter in June 2003 that would have blocked gambling competition that threatened one of Abramoff's clients, the Louisiana Coushatta Indian tribe.

Cigarettes in security bill

But the incident most often cited by Blunt's critics is his unpublicized attempt to insert a provision into homeland security legislation that would have blocked the sale of cigarettes over the Internet. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and DeLay pulled the provision from the 475-page bill after it was brought to their attention.

At the time, in 2003, the newly divorced Blunt --- just installed as the House Republican whip --- was dating Abigail Perlman, a lobbyist for the Philip Morris tobacco conglomerate. Later that year he married Perlman, securing permission from the House ethics committee not to report their wedding gifts on the financial disclosure form required of members of Congress.

The same year, Blunt inserted in the $79 billion emergency appropriation bill for the war in Iraq a provision requiring that military cargo be carried only by companies with no more than 25 percent foreign ownership. The provision benefited United Parcel Service and FedEx Corp., both of whom were trying to block the expansion of foreign-owned rivals.

No charges from ethics panel

Blunt's son Andrew is a lobbyist in Jefferson City, Mo., and his clients include UPS and Altria, the new name of the Philip Morris company.

Blunt's daughter Amy, a lawyer with the Kansas City law firm of Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin, registered as a legislative lobbyist in the Missouri capital last spring, representing the energy company Ameren Services and traffic signal manufacturer Intellistrobe Safety Systems.

Blunt's other son, Matt, was elected governor of Missouri in 2004 after receiving donations from some of the same backers as the congressman. Altria, for example, gave $24,000 to Matt Blunt's campaign. And according to the Springfield News-Leader, a series of transactions involving campaign committees controlled by Roy Blunt resulted in a $40,000 deposit in his son's campaign account.

No one has accused Blunt of illegal actions, and no member of Congress has made a formal complaint about him to the ethics committee, the first step required to trigger an investigation. The committee does not take complaints from outside groups.

But Common Cause President Chellie Pingree said the events of last week indicated that "Congress, and the House in particular, should take this as an opportunity to set higher ethical standards for the politicians who are in positions of power and influence."