Cincinnati Enquirer - Abramoff's dad furious at Clooney jab

By Erica Solvig
The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. - The father of controversial Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff is responding to actor George Clooney for what he's describing as a "glib and ridiculous attack" on his son.

Frank Abramoff of Rancho Mirage, Calif., in a letter addressed to Clooney and sent Thursday to the Desert Sun newspaper of Palm Springs, said he was watching the Golden Globes on Monday night when Clooney, during his acceptance speech for best supporting actor, thanked Jack Abramoff "just because" and made a comment about the lobbyist's name.

"Who would name their kid Jack with the last words 'off' at the end of your last name? No wonder that guy is screwed up," said Clooney, a Kentucky native, during the internationally televised awards show.

In the letter, Frank Abramoff furiously defends the name, saying his son is named after Frank's father. In the two-page letter, he calls Clooney's act a "lapse in lucidity" and an "obscene query."

He also wrote: "One wonders how your father would respond, were the roles reversed." Clooney's father, Nick, is a veteran Cincinnati journalist.

Former GOP lobbyist Abramoff admitted bribing public officials and defrauding his American Indian clients of millions of dollars.

In a telephone interview with the Desert Sun on Thursday, Frank Abramoff said Clooney was "an idiot" and described the actions as "pure, unadulterated stupidity."

"You want to make fun. You can do that, but you don't make fun of someone else's hardships and misery," the 78-year-old Abramoff said. "We've gone through quite a bit, our family. But the political end of it and the media end of it and all the other areas are one thing. When you see something like that on a show for 500 million people, it was not only a slap in my son's face but in my father's."