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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Lobbyist Pleads Guilty to Giving Congressional Aides a Free Trip |
| 2008-12-14 |
| A former lobbyist said in federal court yesterday that he helped provide an "all-expenses paid" trip to the 2003 World Series for two congressional aides to help a construction-equipment rental company. Among the goodies the staffers received: free airfare, a hotel stay, a chauffeured sport-utility vehicle and "entertainment, drinks, and T-shirts at a strip club," federal prosecutors said. James F. Hirni, 36, of Northeast, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud taxpayers of the aides' honest services in connection with the baseball trip. No sentencing date was set by U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts. Hirni was fired last month from his job as a top lobbyist for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Prosecutors said Hirni was a lobbyist for the unnamed equipment rental company in 2003 when he helped arrange the baseball trip for two congressional staffers -- Trevor L. Blackann, a former legislative assistant to Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.), and an unidentified aide on the House Transportation Committee. Blackann pleaded guilty last month to filing a false tax return for not reporting more than $4,100 in gifts he received from lobbyists. Hirni, another lobbyist and the equipment company provided the trip to the opening game of the World Series in New York as part of an effort to woo the staffers into helping the equipment firm with legislation, prosecutors said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Just another |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-12-14 10:37 |