Ex-Aide to Majority Leader Had Contacts with Abramoff:

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The former chief of staff to John Boehner, Barry Jackson, accepted an invitation to travel to Saipan in the Marianas Islands to visit with clients of Jack Abramoff, but decided not to go. According to the Associated Press, Jackson, now chief deputy to White House aide Karl Rove, was contacted by Abramoff associate David Safavian – who is now indicted for his role in the Abramoff affair – on visiting Saipan to look at the working conditions at garment factories on the Islands. Jackson cannot remember why he did not go to the Islands. On Sunday’s Meet the Press Boehner said that Abramoff may have been in contact with “low-level employees” in his office.