Happy Monday! Lee Newspapers reporter Jennifer McKee wrote a story for the Sunday edition about Senator Max Baucus and his staff who are now lobbyists. No surprise there. Baucus’ name has been on several lists for a year or more as one of the senators who have the most former staffers who are now lobbyists. It’s funny it took a reporter this long to find the information. Or maybe reporters did not want to write about it?

McKee wrote that Baucus, “… adamantly rejects the idea that his former staffers have special pull when they lobby him or his committee.”

Maybe McKee will dig a little deeper into the voting record of Baucus to see just how he voted on key issues supported by his former staffers who are now lobbyists. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Most people realize that lobbying goes on between Baucus’ staff and the lobbyists, not just between the lobbyists and the senator. It’s very easy for Baucus to say his former staffers have no pull with him. It would be harder for Baucus to say these former staffers-turned-lobbyists have no pull with his current staff, who advises him.

My opinion is that McKee is right up (or is it down) there with Mary Clare Jalonick when it comes to reporting on politics, which is at the bottom of the proverbial barrel. McKee and Jalonick can’t seem to write about politics without the name of Jack Abramoff appearing in the story. McKee’s story in the Sunday paper did not disappoint.

The Abramoff issue that McKee wrote about in this story seems to run a lot deeper with Baucus, than just getting a few thousand dollars from Abramoff’s clients. Read on:

-In 2005, for example, it was reported that Baucus failed to disclose about $1,900 he raised in Abramoff’s skybox at the MCI Center in Center in downtown Washington, D.C., in March 2001. His spokesman said that Baucus has never met Abramoff and never took any contributions directly from him. So?

-Bloomberg News reported in January 2006, that Baucus was a regular at Abramoff’s restaurant called, Signatures, where it appeared he held 10 fundraisers. It looks like Max was right at the top of the list for the most fundraisers held in Jack Abramoff’s restaurant:

Abramoff offered his Washington restaurant, the now-closed Signatures, as a venue for lawmakers seeking to raise funds. Signatures, which had a back room for meetings, was midway between the White House and the U.S. Capitol on Pennsylvania Avenue. Between 2001 and 2004, at least 55 fundraisers were held there by members of Congress, according to data compiled by Bristow, Virginia-based Dwight L. Morris and Associates.

Ney and House Chief Deputy Majority Whip Eric Cantor, a Virginia Republican, each held events at Signatures eight times. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce of Ohio reported 10 visits, as did Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat.

It is hard to imagine that Abramoff never ever stopped by the table to visit with this “powerful” senator during Max’s 10 visits to his restaurant.

Maybe there’s more to the Abramoff story and Baucus. There’s probably a lot more to the story reported by McKee about the influence his former-staff-turned-lobbyists have. And, there’s definitely a lot more interesting information out there in regards to the people who gave 91% of the money Baucus received from outside of Montana.

It seems that after almost 30 years in Washington, D.C., the people who have “special pull” with Senator Baucus don’t live in Area Code 406.