Why is Grover Norquist roaming this earth with a get out of jail free card?

The K Street Project was the legislation-for-money peddling scheme that helped bring down former Majority Leader Tom DeLay and exposed the corrupt culture in which Jack Abramoff’s criminal activity was encouraged and rewarded. DeLay once explained the partisan nature of the Project as “punishing your enemies and rewarding your friends.”

When Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) came into power, he pledged to eliminate the K Street project. Conservatives claimed the pay-to-play process had been “consigned to the dustbin of history.” But in fact, the K Street Project continues to thrive.

Roll Call recently reported that “Anti-tax activist Grover Norquist has tapped Sarah Smith, a former College Republican team leader and field representative for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, to be the first manager of the [K Street] project, which is run out of the office of Norquist’s Washington-based group, Americans for Tax Reform.” A blurb in the The Star Democrat — a small Maryland paper — reveals just how aggressively and covertly Norquist and company continue to push the K Street Project.

Tonight, Norquist’s ally Sarah Smith will be attending a gathering of the Chesapeake Republican Women to solicit their support for the Project.

Let's recap about Norquist:

Abramoff ties—money laundering allegations

The Associated Press published a story on June 22, 2006, which described Americans for Tax Reform as being used as an obfuscating conduit to Ralph Reed's receiving over one million dollars from a Jack Abramoff client, The Mississippi Choctaws, to keep other casinos from opening as competitors.

Reed, who founded the Christian Coalition, would not have been able to transparently receive these funds directly from the Choctaw without alineating his religious base.

"In Jack Abramoff's world, prominent Washington tax-cut advocate Grover Norquist was a godsend.

"Moving money from a casino-operating Indian tribe to Ralph Reed, the Christian Coalition founder and professed gambling opponent, was a problem. Lobbyist Abramoff turned to his longtime friend Norquist, apparently to provide a buffer for Reed.

"The result, according to evidence gathered by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, was that Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform became a conduit for more than a million dollars from the Mississippi Choctaw to Reed's operation, while Norquist, a close White House ally, took a cut.

"Without citing any specific group, the Senate panel found numerous instances of nonprofit organizations that appeared to be involved in activities unrelated to their mission as described to the Internal Revenue Service."

However, no charges have been brought against Norquist or his Americans for Tax Reform.