At his Aug. 28th, 2010 rally Glenn Beck introduced right-wing Rabbi Daniel Lapin -- presumably as part of his effort to "restore honor."
Rabbi Lapin didn't speak. He wasn't wearing a microphone (it was Shabbat). Nonetheless, there are a lot of interesting things about Rabbi Lapin, whose "specialty" -- according to a June 25, 2005 Washington Post profile -- is "finding support in the Torah for what turns out to be the current Republican platform: lower taxes, decreased regulation, pro-traditional family policies."
The Rabbi is nothing if not an expert in corruption and lost honor. Take for example, Rabbi Lapin's dealings with Republican-lobbyist-turned-convicted-felon Jack Abramoff and disgraced Congressman Tom DeLay.
During the Bush administration, Rabbi Lapin moved money from Abramoff clients through a conservative Jewish foundation called Toward Tradition. Rabbi Lapin also hired Lisa Rudy, wife of former DeLay aide Tony Rudy, to organize a Washington, D.C., conference for Toward Tradition. Rabbi Lapin's activities with Abramoff and DeLay may have not earned him jail time, but they were certainly not honorable.
Here's what we know about Rabbi Lapin and the Abramoff corruption case: In the early days of the Bush Administration, Rabbi Lapin helped Jack Abramoff by channeling millions of dollars from Abramoff clients through his charitable foundation, Toward Tradition. Several Abramoff clients "donated" millions of dollars to Rabbi Lapin's charity. Toward Tradition would then make generous "donations" to Christian anti-gambling groups. Why did Jack Abramoff need Rabbi Lapin? What purpose was served when the money passed through Toward Tradition before going to the Christian charitable groups?
Jack Abramoff needed to obscure the real source of his "anti-gambling" funding. It wouldn't have looked right if the money that was being used to defeat state lotteries and casinos could be identified as coming from its actual source - Indian casinos and online gambling sites. Abramoff needed someone to launder the money and Rabbi Lapin provided cover - hiding the real purpose. The money passing through Toward Tradition wasn't really anti-gambling money, in fact the money was flowing from Indian Casinos and online gambling sites. Abramoff's clients were willing to pay millions to eliminate any competition. But Abramoff needed to hide that fact. So, for a generous cut, Rabbi Lapin took money from gambling - and let Jack Abramoff use his tax-exempt group to launder the money.
As this relationship proved very profitable for both men, Lapin and Abramoff grew even closer - as did their connections to corrupt politicans. A 2005 Washington Post profile of Lapin reported, among other things, that Abramoff "credits Lapin with introducing him to" Tom DeLay. While Tom DeLay was the Majority Whip, Rabbi Lapin found a reason to fly east from his home in Mercer Island, Wash. every few weeks to spend a few days in Washington. Usually on these trips Lapin stayed with Jack Abramoff.
Eventually the scheme blew up. In 2006 Jack Abramoff plead guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials in a deal that required him to provide evidence about members of Congress. That helped to bring down Tom DeLay and others. But it didn't result in jail time for Rabbi Lapin, even though, in the report issued by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee pursuant to their Abramoff investigations, Daniel Lapin and his younger brother David made frequent cameos.
After the scandals broke, here is what Daniel Lapin had to say about his Washington pal (even though Abramoff defrauded his Indian casino-owning clients and broke lobbying laws): "Abramoff created an extremely effective ideological machine, and I think that bothered many people on the moderate side. Nobody claims Abramoff did anything different than anyone else. He's a friend of mine and I've seen him do many, many wonderful and decent things. My argument is that a human being is a very complicated amalgam. We've all done things we're not proud of. I think the world of him. He's not a choirboy. But I wouldn't want to have beer with a choirboy."
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