Advice to Graul: 'Fess up and shut upabout free tickets from Abramoff

Josh Marshall, the person who first posted the e-mails linking Mark Graul to freebies from lobbyist Jack Abramoff, does not take kindly to Graul's latest defense -- that the e-mails are phony. Marshall, in a post today:

Non-denial denial ain't just a river in Egypt!

... If you're interested in delving into the minutiae of this, note that Graul is changing his story about the hoops game with Calvert from what he said last year. Also, this talk about whether he showed for this game or that is just more bamboozlement. As we said last October "do we have proof that Graul showed up at the skybox that night? No. What we have are Team Abramoff emails saying he was one of the lucky Hill staffers who they gave tickets to. I'll let you draw your own conclusions."

Now, Graul's new angle seems to be that he hasn't seen the letters, isn't sure they're real, doesn't this, that and the other.

Mark, a bit of free advice courtesy of TPM: just admit you got some freebie tickets and move on. These emails were produced by the relevant parties pursuant to a lawful subpoena. They are most definitely authentic.

Graul knows they're real. And that's why he's been ducking my phone calls about them for three months.

If Graul doesn't have anything to hide here, why won't he take my call?

Graul is far from the only congressional staffer to snag a few skybox tickets from the Abramoff gravy train. He's just doing more than any of the others to cover it up.

-- Josh Marshall