Air Abramoff Treats DeLay and Dems

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's office says a U.S. territorial government was supposed to pay for travel by two of his staff aides to the Pacific island. Two Democratic congressmen filed disclosure forms saying a nonprofit group paid their expenses to the same place.
They all were at least partially wrong, according to lobbying firm records obtained by The Associated Press. The expenses were paid initially by lobbyist Jack Abramoff or his former firm, despite House rules prohibiting lobbyists from paying for the travel of lawmakers or their aides.
It's not clear to this day whether the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands partially or fully reimbursed Abramoff or the Preston Gates law and lobbying firm that hired him. The nonprofit group says it never paid a dime.
DeLay's aides traveled to the islands in December 1996. Democratic Reps. James Clyburn of South Carolina and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi went there in January 1997.