Cantor $31,500; Goode $1,000

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee is currently investigating the far-flung dealings of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. According to the Associated Press, among the 33 members of congress recently implicated in the burgeoning scandal, to do with casinos and who knows what else? are two Virginia congressmen -- Eric Cantor and Virgil Goode.

The two Republican lawmakers are said to have signed letters sent to the Bush administration on behalf of Abramoff’s clients shortly after the beleaguered lobbyist wrote them a check or hosted fundraisers for them. For their parts in this unraveling story Cantor seems to have done a lot better than Goode, bang-for-the-buck-wise. Cantor is reported to have raked in $31,500 from Abramoff, while it seems poor Goode only got $1,000 for whatever he was selling.

To get an idea of who exactly has what sort of clout, here is AP’s entire list of lawmakers recently linked to this investigation, in order of how much dough Sugar Daddy Jack sent their way:

SENATE
Trent Lott (R-Miss.) $92,000
Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) $82,500
Harry Reid (D-Nev.) $67,441
Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) $62,500
Mary Landrieu (D-La.) $32,000
John Breaux (D-La.) $27,500
John Ensign (R-Nev.) $16,293
David Vitter (R-La.) $6,000
(Vitter refunded these donations on 2/18/02)
Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) $2,750

HOUSE
Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) $103,500
John Doolittle (R-Calif.) $64,500
Tom DeLay (R-Texas) $57,000
Chris John (D-La.) $56,625
Jim McCrery (R-La.) $36,250
Eric Cantor (R-Va.) $31,500
Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) $29,000
Pete Sessions (R-Texas) $22,500
Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) $20,100
Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) $6,000
Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)$4,000
Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) $3,000
John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) $2,500
Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) $2,500
Sue Myrick (R-La.) $2,000
Ronnie Shows (R-Miss.) $2,000
Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) $2,000
Melissa Hart (R-Pa.) $2,000
Sam Johnson (R-Texas) $2,000
Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) $1,750
Walter Jones (R-N.C.) $1,000
Virgil Goode (R-Va.) $1,000
Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) $1,000
Jim Ryun (R-Kan.) $500