Rove's personal aide resigns over ties to Abramoff

Paul Kiel at the Muckraker tells us that the chickens are coming home to roost for Abramoff's friends. Interesting that the news is released late Friday of a long weekend, isn't it?

Yet another casualty in the Jack Abramoff scandal: Karl Rove's personal aide Susan Ralston has resigned over her ties to Abramoff, the AP reports.

Ralston was Abramoff's personal assistant until she moved over to Rove's office in 2001. Abramoff reportedly bragged to others that Ralston was his "implant" at the White House.

The White House announced an internal ethics investigation of Ralston after a Congressional report released last week showed extensive contacts between Ralston and Abramoff's lobbying team. Among other things, the report showed that Ralston had accepted thousands of dollars in gifts from Abramoff without compensating him. White House ethics rules prevent employees from accepting gifts worth more than $20.

White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino told the AP that Ralston resigned because "she did not want to be a distraction to the White House at such an important time and so we have accepted her resignation."