Mark Green's Campaign Manager's Memory Problems:

Great line from the MJS:

Interviewed Monday, Graul was asked about the game and informed by a reporter of the skybox rule. He responded: "The impression I had was the seat was less than $50 (and) the face value of the ticket put us in compliance with the gift rule."

By Tuesday, he said he was no longer sure he went to the
game.

That pretty much sums it up - here is info on the game he attended:

Graul said last week that he probably attended a Feb. 22, 2000, Milwaukee Bucks-Washington Wizards game with Jennifer Calvert, then a co-worker of Jack Abramoff, who this month pleaded guilty to felony counts in a widening probe into public corruption that has spurred calls for reform.

This from the campaign manager of Mark Green - the man who said he spent the $30,000 DeLay money and therefore could not return it. Then followed that up with an excuse that it is illeagle for him to give it back. A little while later he said he would give it back, yet it is still in his account - he just says that he won't spend it.

What a joke.

More on what may or may not have happened:

Green acknowledged this month that Graul attended one basketball game with Calvert "nearly six years ago." He spoke at a Madison news conference on Jan. 11, saying that while Calvert had worked in the same firm as Abramoff, the media should not paint people "with the brush of corruption because of some 'six degrees of separation' connection."

Another former aide to the Green Bay congressman, Heather Weininger, said that she and Graul sat in a skybox at a Wizards game at the invitation of a lobbyist, although she said she could not remember when it was - or who was the host. She worked on Green's Washington staff from 1999 to 2003.

More details emerge in a series of e-mails - which Graul once dismissed as a "hoax" but now concedes are "legitimate" - involving Calvert, Abramoff and his former assistant. The e-mails detail Calvert arranging with these colleagues to get tickets for Graul to five events in 2000 at the MCI Center: two Wizards games, two pro wrestling events and a concert.

In one e-mail, she states that Graul asked her for seats to the 50th annual NBA All-Star game in 2001 and the slam-dunk contest held the day before the game. Under civil laws, federal employees may not solicit anything of value from people doing business with their employer. Graul denies ever asking and says he was in Wisconsin for all but one event mentioned in the e-mails: the Bucks-Wizard game.

Here's a good one:

When failing to come up with specific details, Graul gave various reasons for his memory lapses. He said he's "never kept much of a schedule" except for a "big desk calendar" and he'd long ago thrown out the 2000 version. He also said he regularly attended Bucks games in Milwaukee over 10 years, "further impairing my ability to remember specifics of one game."

Just tell the truth Marks Green and Graul - is it that difficult?