Jack Abramoff pleads !!

Fuckallyall · Jan 3, 2006

From the NY Times

January 3, 2006
G.O.P. Lobbyist to Plead Guilty in Deal With Prosecutors
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - Jack Abramoff will plead guilty to three felony counts in Washington today as part of a settlement with federal prosecutors, ending an intense, months-long negotiation over whether the Republican lobbyist would testify against his former colleagues, people involved with the case said.

Mr. Abramoff, 46, is pleading guilty to fraud, public corruption and tax evasion, setting the stage for prosecutors to begin using him as a cooperating witness against his former business and political colleagues. In exchange, Mr. Abramoff faces a maximum of about 10 years in prison in the Washington case.

After entering his guilty plea in United States District Court in Washington, Mr. Abramoff will also announce a plea agreement in a related Florida case, in which he was indicted last year. In that case, he is pleading guilty to fraud and conspiracy in connection with his purchase of the SunCruz casino boat line, and will face a maximum of about seven years' prison time.

Mr. Abramoff has been talking to investigators in the corruption case for many months, said participants in the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation. They said he had provided a full picture of what evidence he could offer against other suspects.

His participation in Washington has taken place mostly below the radar, as prosecutors made the Miami case the focus of their public work and as Mr. Abramoff and his associates claimed they were preparing to stand trial, facing up to as many as 30 years in prison.

Mr. Abramoff will enter separate pleas in each location. But the deal reached with the Justice Department is all-encompassing, reducing the severe penalties Mr. Abramoff could have faced in either investigation, in exchange for his inside knowledge of certain lobbying work and legislative actions. One element of the deal is that he can serve prison time in the two cases concurrently, although the sentencing will not take place until much further along in the investigation.

Details of the long-sought plea agreement were not made final until after 9 p.m. on Monday night, following weeks of around-the-clock communications between numerous prosecutors in several Justice Department offices and lawyers for Mr. Abramoff. The deal, a so-called "global" arrangement because it encompasses separate prosecutions in Florida and Washington, comes less than a week before Mr. Abramoff was scheduled to stand trial in the Miami case.

Official Washington has been on edge for months awaiting word of Mr. Abramoff's legal future. Once a masterful Republican lobbyist with close ties to the former House majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay, he earned tens of millions of dollars representing Indian casino interests and farflung entities like the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. Through a complicated web of financial arrangements, he helped funnel donations to his lawmaker friends' and their campaigns, and took members of Congress, mainly the Republicans in power, on lavish trips.

Now, after more than two years of investigations, prosecutors have developed a list of at least a dozen lawmakers, congressional aides and lobbyists whose work appears suspect and who are now at the core of the case. With Mr. Abramoff's cooperation, the Justice Department will have a potentially critical witness to alleged patterns of corruption or bribery within the Republican leadership ranks, which in some cases they believe also took the form of campaign donations and free meals at Mr. Abramoff's downtown restaurant, Signatures.

Already, prosecutors have a key witness in Michael Scanlon, once press secretary to Mr. DeLay. Mr. Scanlon reached a plea agreement last year, putting pressure on Mr. Abramoff to reach his own deal. Now that Mr. Abramoff has done the same, one person involved in the case said: "When some people hear about this, they will clamor to cut a deal of their own."

QueEx · Jan 3, 2006

Related thread:

Tom Delay on the Take
http://64.255.174.200/board/showthread.php?t=17932&highlight=delay

.

Fuckallyall · Jan 3, 2006

Come to think of it, can you delete this post and post the articvle in the "delay on the take" thread ?

Greed · Jan 3, 2006

i dont think you should move it, because this will move beyond delay.

this will be a good thread to keep track of the smaller fish.

QueEx · Jan 3, 2006

Greed said:
i dont think you should move it, because this will move beyond delay.

this will be a good thread to keep track of the smaller fish.

... translated: Democrats ... lol

QueEx

Greed · Jan 3, 2006

of course not them.

one thing i learned from bgol is a politician being paid with a 3 day golf trip to mara lago is being framed if its a democrat.

QueEx · Jan 3, 2006

Whether one side calls it "Framed" or the other side simply denies that it happened at all or contends that it was all legal if it did happen, its still corruption and we know all too well that we're talking about powerful people -- as that axiom goes -- power corrupts and absolute power corrupts, absolutely.

QueEx

QueEx · Jan 4, 2006

Bush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff

[frame]http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1469684[/frame]

[hide]Bush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff

Bush Campaign Will Give Away $6,000 in Donations Linked to Lobbyist Jack Abramoff

By PETE YOST Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON Jan 4, 2006 — President Bush's re-election campaign is giving up $6,000 in campaign contributions connected to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who faced more guilty pleas as part of a broad-ranging political corruption investigation.

The once-powerful lobbyist was due in federal court in Miami later Wednesday to plead guilty to fraud charges stemming from his purchases of a Florida gambling boat fleet called SunCruz. The plea is part of an agreement with prosecutors requiring him to cooperate in a broad corruption investigation into members of Congress.

In a plea agreement with government prosecutors Tuesday, Abramoff agreed to tell the FBI about alleged bribes to lawmakers and their aides on issues ranging from Internet gambling to wireless phone service in the House.

The full extent of the investigation is not yet known, but Justice Department officials said they intended to make use of the trove of e-mails and other material in Abramoff's possession as part of a probe that is believed to be focusing on as many as 20 members of Congress and aides.

"The corruption scheme with Mr. Abramoff is very extensive and we will continue to follow it wherever it leads," said Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher, head of the Justice Department's criminal division.

Bush joined several lawmakers, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who have announced plans to donate Abramoff's campaign contributions to charity.

Abramoff raised at least $100,000 for the Bush-Cheney '04 re-election campaign, earning the honorary title "pioneer" from the campaign. But the campaign is giving up only $6,000 directly from Abramoff, his wife and one of the Indian tribes that he worked to win influence for in Washington.

Abramoff, his wife and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan each donated $2,000 to the Bush campaign, said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt. The rest of the money that Abramoff brought in was from other individuals whom he encouraged to donate to Bush.

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QueEx · Jan 4, 2006

Re: Bush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff

Analysis l

<center>Case Bringing New Scrutiny To a System
and a Profession</center>

Washington Post
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 4, 2006; Page A01

The biggest corruption scandal to infect Congress in a generation took down one of the best-connected lobbyists in Washington yesterday. The questions echoing around the capital were what other careers -- and what other familiar ways of doing business -- are endangered.

Jack Abramoff represented the most flamboyant and extreme example of a brand of influence trading that flourished after the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives 11 years ago. Now, some GOP strategists fear that the fallout from his case could affect the party's efforts to keep control in the November midterm elections.

Abramoff was among the lobbyists most closely associated with the K Street Project, which was initiated by his friend Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), now the former House majority leader, once the GOP vaulted to power. It was an aggressive program designed to force corporations and trade associations to hire more GOP-connected lobbyists in what at times became an almost seamless relationship between Capitol Hill lawmakers and some firms that sought to influence them.

Now Abramoff has become a symbol of a system out of control. His agreement to plead guilty to three criminal counts and cooperate with prosecutors threatens to ensnare other lawmakers or their aides -- Republicans and possibly some Democrats. At a minimum, yesterday's developments put both sides of the lawmaker-lobbyist relationship on notice that some of the wilder customs of recent years -- lubricated with money, entertainment and access -- carry higher risks. In the post-Abramoff era, what once was accepted as business as usual may be seen as questionable or worse.

"In the short run, members of Congress will get allergic to lobbyists," said former representative Vin Weber (R-Minn.), now a lobbyist for Clark & Weinstock. "They'll be nervous about taking calls and holding meetings, to say nothing of lavish trips to Scotland. Those will be out. For a period of time now, members of Congress will be concerned about even legitimate contact with the lobbying world."

The initial impact of a scandal that earlier produced a guilty plea from Abramoff associate Michael Scanlon could be changes in the way lawmakers and lobbyists interact. In the longer term, said many lobbyists and others, Congress will be pressured to revisit and toughen rules on gifts and travel that lawmakers and members of their staffs may accept. Some former lawmakers said even bigger changes may be needed to restore public confidence in how Washington works.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who with Weber's help effectively used issues of corruption to wrest control of the House from the Democrats in 1994, said the Abramoff scandal should trigger a broader review in Congress of the way politicians finance campaigns and deal with lobbyists.

"I'm going to talk at length about the need for us to rethink not just lobbying but the whole process of elections, incumbency protection and the way in which the system has evolved," he said. "Which is very different from the way the American system is supposed to be like. I think Abramoff is just part of a large pattern that has got to be rethought."

Emotions ran high on K Street yesterday when news of Abramoff's plea deal began to break. "The Abramoff scandal is causing a reexamination of what lobbyists do in town," said R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "I wouldn't be surprised to see lawmakers become cautious in meetings with lobbyists."

With an eye on November's elections, Republicans have sought to limit the damage to themselves by portraying the scandal as bipartisan, describing Abramoff as an equal-opportunity dispenser of campaign cash and largess.

So far, the public has not identified corruption as solely a Republican problem. A Washington Post-ABC News poll in November asked Americans whether they thought Democrats or Republicans were better on ethical matters; 16 percent said Democrats, 12 percent said Republicans, and 71 percent said there was not much difference between the parties.

But Republicans worry about two possibilities. The first is that Abramoff, known for his close ties to DeLay, mostly implicates Republicans as a result of his plea agreement. That could shift public attitudes sharply against the GOP. "People are uneasy about what else is out there," said one GOP strategist who requested anonymity to speak more candidly about the possible political fallout.

Beyond that is a fear that the scandal and attention it could draw in the months before the election might further sour the public on Washington and Congress. As the party in power, Republicans know they stand to lose more if voters take retribution in November.

Regardless of the electoral implications, the Abramoff scandal may force changes on Capitol Hill in the form of tough new lobbying disclosure laws that even some lobbying advocates say it is time to consider. "There will be a push for increased oversight and disclosure of lobbying," said Douglas G. Pinkham, president of the Public Affairs Council, a lobbyist education group. "There needs to be greater transparency and better enforcement."

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who co-wrote campaign finance changes a few years ago, have introduced separate proposals that would crack down hard on lobbying as now practiced. Their ideas will serve as the starting point for what is expected to be a vigorous debate.

Some lobbyists reacted defensively yesterday, at pains to say that Abramoff was an exception to the way they do business. "The Abramoff style is so far afield from the normal course of business as to be irrelevant to me and probably most people in my line of work," said Joel Johnson, a Clinton White House official and now a lobbyist for the Glover Park Group.

"The whole Abramoff matter is atypical," agreed Ed Rogers of Barbour Griffith & Rogers. "It is not a lesson of how business is done in Washington."

John Jonas, a lobbyist at Patton Boggs, said he expects "less partying, less gifting, more awareness about compliance" with rules that have been "observed in the breach."

As for the perception of lobbying as a profession, "it's confirmed everybody's worst fears about lobbyists -- that they double-deal, that they're not aboveboard," Jonas said. "That hurts the legitimate practice of the profession."

Gingrich said Republican leaders in Congress should take the initiative to reform lobbying and campaign finance, rather than hoping to slip quietly past the current scandal. "Things have to be done to really rethink where the center of the political process is," he said. "Right now, the center is a lobbying and PAC [political action committee] system center, which is not healthy."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/03/AR2006010301536.html

Greed · Jan 4, 2006

Re: Bush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff

So far, the public has not identified corruption as solely a Republican problem. A Washington Post-ABC News poll in November asked Americans whether they thought Democrats or Republicans were better on ethical matters; 16 percent said Democrats, 12 percent said Republicans, and 71 percent said there was not much difference between the parties.

am i the only one that feels sorry for the democrats?

they spent the last 4 years promoting bush lied, came up with that catching "culture of corruption" slogan, and was even blessed by an indictment of the house majority leader for godsake.

yet all they could manage from a washington post-abc poll is a 4 percentage point advantage over republican about who the public see as better on ethical matters? and even then its still in the mid-teens.

i might be going out on a limb here, but it seems like the democrats are a little worst at this politicians thing than the repubs.

GhostofMarcus · Jan 4, 2006

Re: Bush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff

oh you feel sorry for democrats since they can't do any better then 4 percentage points. How about you should feel sorry for both since they both are not worth a dam and crooks. 95% of both but you just keep riding your wave with the repubs.

Greed said:
am i the only one that feels sorry for the democrats?

they spent the last 4 years promoting bush lied, came up with that catching "culture of corruption" slogan, and was even blessed by an indictment of the house majority leader for godsake.

yet all they could manage from a washington post-abc poll is a 4 percentage point advantage over republican about who the public see as better on ethical matters? and even then its still in the mid-teens.

i might be going out on a limb here, but it seems like the democrats are a little worst at this politicians thing than the repubs.

Greed · Jan 4, 2006

Re: Bush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff

you sound angry.

GhostofMarcus · Jan 5, 2006

Re: Bush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff

Greed said:
you sound angry.

maybe I am :devil:

QueEx · Jan 5, 2006

Re: Bush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff

[frame]http://poll.gallup.com/content/?ci=20731[/frame]

VegasGuy · Jan 5, 2006

Re: Bush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff

Interesting poll. Now that both parties stand to be publically kicked in the ass, all of a sudden a poll involving both being corrupt is on the scene. This can only mean one thing, both parties got some splainin to do. But fuck it, nobody is going to jail for this bullshit campaign money shit. Nobody ever does and if they do, the president will pardon his boys and if a democrat gets in next, their boys will get the pardon. The fix is already in. Records cleaned like it never happened and they are off shaking down the corporate dollars for the next campaign. They know it, I know it and these damn newspapers know it. Writing this shit is just keeping their jobs, nothing more.

On another note, look at this cool ass hat on Secret Agent Abramoff!! some photoshop and that's a cool ass sig.

-VG

QueEx · Jan 8, 2006

Re: Bush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff

<center>Poll: Public Uneasy With GOP Leadership</center>

By WILL LESTER
Associated Press Writer
Jan 7, 8:07 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dissatisfied with the nation's direction, Americans are leaning toward wanting a change in which political party leads Congress - preferring that Democrats take control, an AP-Ipsos poll found. Democrats are favored over Republicans 49 percent to 36 percent.

The polling came as disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to tax evasion, fraud and corruption charges and agreed to aid a federal investigation of members of Congress and other government officials.

President Bush's job approval remains low - 40 percent in the AP-Ipsos poll, with only one-third saying the country is headed in the right direction. Bush also remains low on his handling of Iraq, where violence against Iraqis and U.S. troops has been surging.

"I just don't like the direction our country is going in," said Steve Brown, a political independent from Olympia, Wash. "I think a balance of power would be beneficial right now."

Republicans are watching the situation unfold with some nervousness.

"I don't think anyone is hitting the panic button," said Rich Bond, a former Republican National Committee chairman. "But there is an acute recognition of the grim environment that both parties are operating in."

"If the Democrats had any leadership or any message, they could be poised for a good year," Bond said. "But in the absence of that, they have not been able to capitalize on Republican woes. Because of the size of the GOP majority, Democrats have to run the board, and I don't see that happening."

The public's unease with Republican leadership in the White House and Congress creates a favorable environment for Democrats, said Democratic consultant Dane Strother.

"The problem is you don't vote for a party," Strother said. "You're voting for a member of Congress. And we're a year away" from the midterm elections.

About a third of the public, 34 percent, approves of the job Congress is doing, and nearly twice as many - 63 percent - disapprove, according to the poll of 1,001 adults taken Jan. 3-5. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. Public opinion of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress has been mixed, recent polling found.

"Neither one of the parties has done a very good job so far," said Cristal Mills, a political independent from Los Angeles. "They get away with murder, they get paid to pass certain things. It's the good ol' boy syndrome."

In the Senate, 33 seats will be on the ballot in November, 17 of them currently in Democratic hands, 15 controlled by Republicans, and one held by Sen. James Jeffords, a Vermont independent. Democrats now have 44 Senate seats, and need to pick up seven to gain a majority, six if Vermont independent Bernie Sanders replaces Jeffords.

All 435 House seats are on the ballot this fall, and Democrats need to gain at least 15 to become the majority party and take control of the House.

While many House races are noncompetitive, Republican strategists fear that fallout from the Abramoff scandal will give Democrats fresh opportunity for gains. But they dismiss suggestions that Democrats could take control of the House.

Republicans became the dominant party in the House in 1994, when the GOP picked up more than 50 seats held by Democrats. In that midterm election, Democrats won four open seats that previously were held by the GOP.

Carl Forti, a spokesman for the GOP's congressional campaign committee, said about 30 House seats are competitive this year, compared with more than 100 a dozen years ago. Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who heads the Democrats' campaign efforts, put the competitive number in 2006 at 42, and he suggested ongoing scandals improve Democratic recruitment of candidates by "making the environment more conducive. It helps move them along in the process."

Some say they want new leadership in Congress because of strong dissatisfaction with current policies.

"I get the strange feeling that we're being sold down the river," said Paul Oulton, an independent from San Ramon, Calif. "We may be in line for some very severe financial problems.

"Give me somebody conservative with common sense. There's too much left and too much right. Give me somebody in the middle of the road."

---

Associated Press Special Correspondent David Espo contributed to this story

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/st...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-01-07-05-40-16

muckraker10021 · Jan 10, 2006

The level of this scandal has obviously eluded most of you peeps.
This is the biggest Washington criminal machination since Teapot Dome.
More importantly, this Abramoff illegal conspiracy, is a
REPUBLIKLAN CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE.

There are NO DEMOCRATS involved.

The Republiklan “talking points” that they email & fax to the corporate media daily deliberately LIE about Abramoff being “An Equal Money Dispenser”

Even baby bush used this lying talking point when he was asked about the Abramoff scandal recently. But as the Wall Street Journal and others have pointed out.
Abramoff WAS NOT “An Equal Money Dispenser”.

There is ZERO level of reciprocity between Democrats & Republicans in this scandal.

Have Democratic politicians ever engaged in illegalities?
Of course! – But
They are not involved in this REPUBLIKLAN CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE.

Abramoff and Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed would never directly, out of their own pocket, ever give money to a Democrat.

Did Abramoff as a paid advisor, suggest to some Indian Tribes that he had already ripped off for more than $70 million dollars to independently contribute some money to Democrats?
Yes, and it appears that some Tribes took his paid for advice.
That’s the only way Democrats are peripherally involved in this
REPUBLIKLAN CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE.

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INCOMING

By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Thursday 05 January 2006


<img src="http://www.brooklynconservativeparty.com/NewFiles/grover.jpg" align="left" width="150" height="179">
"Bipartisanship is another name for date rape. We don't believe in it. We are trying to change the tone in Washington and turn them toward bitter nastiness and partisanship."

-- Grover Norquist
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.mediatransparency.org/personprofile.php?personID=52">
Grover Norquist Profile</a>

<img src="http://www.bradblog.com/archives/Jack-Abramoff.jpg" align="left">

     "It is not our job to seek peaceful coexistence with the Left. Our job is to remove them from power permanently."

    --Jack A. Abramoff

All of official Washington is at this moment waiting with bated breath for the avalanche. Jack Abramoff, the disgraced super-lobbyist, has made a plea agreement in the massive prosecution against him and his cronies. Every talking head who has spoken on the subject has stated bluntly that the fallout from this plea deal will almost certainly result in the largest scandal to hit the capital in decades.

The questions, of course, are straightforward: Who is involved? Who took money from this guy? Who is on his pad? Most significantly, who did Abramoff name when he decided to sing to the prosecutors?

Republicans, nervous about the bad noise to come, have attempted to paint this as an equal-opportunity crime. To wit, the Democrats are into Abramoff as deeply as the GOP. The facts, however, do not bear this out. According to campaign donation information gathered by the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, the following officeholders and candidates have received political donations from Abramoff since 2000:

Tom DeLay (R-Texas). John Ashcroft (R-Mo.). Frank A. LoBiondo (R-NJ). Eric Cantor (R-Va.). Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). John Ensign (R-Nev.). Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.). Charles H. Taylor (R-NC). Chris Cannon (R-Utah). Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Mark Foley (R-Fla.). Richard Pombo (R-Calif.). Christopher S. "Kit" Bond (R-Mo.). Curt Weldon (R-Pa.). Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). Doug Ose (R-Calif.). Ernest J. Istook (R-Okla.). George R. Nethercutt Jr. (R-Wash.). Jim Bunning (R-Ky.). Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.). Tom Feeney (R-Fla.). Dan Burton (R-Ind.). Eric Cantor (R-Va.). Suzanne Terrell (R-La.). Rob Simmons (R-Conn.). Charles W. "Chip" Pickering Jr. (R-Miss.). Connie Morella (R-Md.). Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.). James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.). James M. Talent (R-Mo.). John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.). John Thune (R-SD). Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.). Bob Smith (R-Fla.). Bob Ney (R-Ohio). CL. "Butch" Otter (R-Idaho). Carolyn W. Grant (R-NC). Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.). Elizabeth Dole (R-NC). Heather Wilson (R-NM). J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.). Jack Kingston (R-Ga.). James V. Hansen (R-Utah). John Cornyn (R-Texas). Kimo Kaloi (R-Hawaii). Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.). Mike Ferguson (R-NJ). Mike Simpson (R-Idaho). Ralph Regula (R-Ohio). Ric Keller (R-Fla.). Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). Dave Camp (R-Mich.). Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.). Tom Young (R-Ala.). Bill Janklow (R-SD). Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.). Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.). William L. Gormley (R-NJ). Bill McCollum (R-Fla.). Bill Redmond (R-NM). Bob Riley (R-Ala.). Claude B. Hutchison Jr. (R-Calif.). Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.). Francis E. Flotron (R-Mo.). George Allen (R-Va.). Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-NC). Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Bob Smith (R-Fla.). Joe Pitts (R-PA). Charles H. Taylor (R-NC). Bob Ehrlich (R-Md.). Charles R. Gerow (R-Pa.). Ed Royce (R-Calif.). Elia Vincent Pirozzi (R-Calif.). Jerry Weller (R-Ill.). Mark Emerson (R-Utah). Tom Davis (R-Va.). Van Hilleary (R-Tenn.).

Also:

Americans for a Republican Majority, Leadership PAC of Tom DeLay (R-Texas). Republican Majority Fund, Leadership PAC of Don Nickles (R-Okla.). Keep Our Majority PAC, Leadership PAC of Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Leadership PAC, Leadership PAC of Michael G. Oxley (R-Ohio). Rely on Your Beliefs, Leadership PAC of Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). Friends of the Big Sky, Leadership PAC of Conrad Burns (R-Mont.). Senate Victory Fund, Leadership PAC of Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). American Liberty PAC, Leadership PAC of Bob Ney (R-Ohio). Battle Born PAC, Leadership PAC of John Ensign (R-Nev.). Fund for a Free Market America, Leadership PAC of Phil Crane (R-Ill.). Team PAC, Leadership PAC of J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.). The Republican Party of New Jersey.

Also:

George W. Bush (R).

Notice anything similar? Each and every name listed, each and every PAC, has an (R) after it. The Center for Responsive Politics does not have one Democrat - not one - listed as having received a donation from Jack Abramoff. The amounts given to the Republicans listed above amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In extremis, Republicans have taken to bandying about the name of Byron Dorgan, Democratic Senator from North Dakota, as evidence that this Abramoff thing is a two-party scandal. Dorgan received $67,000 from Native American tribes represented by Abramoff - not from Abramoff himself - and has since returned the money. Furthermore, he got the money before the tribes had any dealings with Abramoff. In short, Dorgan's so-called involvement in the matter is a red herring.

As for Mr. Bush, he has given the Abramoff money he received to charity, according to the White House. DNC Chairman Howard Dean pegged the total amount Bush received from Abramoff at $100,000. Abramoff attended three Hannukah receptions at the Bush White House - Hannukah? What happened to fighting the War on Christmas? - but Bush denies knowing him. "The president does not know him and does not recall meeting him," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "It is possible that he could have met him at a holiday reception or some other widely attended event."

Heh. Sounds like what we heard from Bush about Kenny "Boy" Lay (Enron).

It is going to be an interesting year.


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A Scoff For Abramoff

Published on Thursday, January 5 2006
by the Brattleboro Reformer (Vermont)
Editorial

The Republicans who swept into Congress after the 1994 elections promised to restore morality and integrity to government after decades of corruption by the Democrats that had ruled that institution for 60 years.

But the Republican Party that gave us Crédit Moblier under Ulysses S. Grant, Teapot Dome under Warren Harding and Watergate under Richard Nixon -- three of the biggest corruption scandals of the past 125 years -- could not be expected to behave differently once it got to power. It managed to do in a decade what it took Democrats 50 years to accomplish.

Top Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff is about to bring the whole Republican Party crashing down. He accepted a plea bargain on Tuesday, pleading guilty to felony counts of mail fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy in exchange for detailing to the Justice Department the intricate and massive web of corruption and influence peddling in Washington that he has been at the center of.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that as many as 60 lawmakers, almost all of them Republicans, may be implicated in what could become the biggest government scandal in decades. Some have called this case, "the Enron of lobbying." That would not be an exaggeration.

Abramoff has had close ties with the Republican Party ever since his days as national chairman of the College Republicans in the early 1980s, when his closest friends were Ralph Reed, who later became the leader of the Christian Coalition, and Grover Norquist, who now runs Americans for Tax Reform and is the top political strategist in the conservative movement.

This troika of young conservative guns came to Washington in the 1980s and became kingmakers when Newt Gingrich's Republican revolution took control of Congress in 1994.

While Reed and Norquist focused on political strategy, Abramoff went into lobbying and bankrolling the conservative movement. Abramoff literally had his fingers in just about every pie in Washington. He doled out trips and gifts and contributions to special interest groups linked to lawmakers and offered jobs and other favors to congressional staffers.

Abramoff commanded huge fees for his work because of his connections with the Republican leadership in the House. Speaker Dennis Hastert and former Majority Leader Tom DeLay were among his closest friends. And for his clients, Abramoff got results.

Abramoff helped keep the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth seized from Japan during World War II, free from U.S. labor regulations. He recruited Republican lawmakers, took them on junkets and got legislation that effectively allowed Chinese manufacturers to set up sweatshops and labor camps on the island to make "Made in the USA" labeled clothing for companies like The Gap, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Together with his business partner Michael Scanlon (also under indictment), Abramoff is accused of charging more than $82 million for lobbying services from American Indian tribes, and pocketing roughly $20 million. Scanlon and Abramoff played one tribe off another in the legal machinations over casino rights.

These two cases just skim the surface of the cesspool of corruption Abramoff is part of. From taking money from Russian energy moguls to get favorable treatment from the International Monetary Fund, to doing business with underworld leaders to buy casinos in Florida, to taking the money he made off the Indians to fund a sniper school for Israelis in the West Bank, Abramoff was brazen in the way he used money and power to influence government in a way that dwarfs the standard sleaze that permeates Washington politics.

Many people in Washington, all the way up to the White House, have associations with Abramoff. And despite the spin we've been hearing, virtually all of the money has gone to Republicans and conservative causes.

As more of the details come out about Abramoff and his dealings, we think that Americans of all political stripes will be shocked and disgusted by what they hear. Quite simply, it's our government being sold to the highest bidder. And since they are the party in charge in Washington, the Republicans will likely pay a heavy price for being associated with a man like Abramoff.



<img src="http://mywebpage.netscape.com/camarilla10024/RepubliKlan_Party_Leadership.jpg"> House & Senate RepubliKlans <img src="http://www.quibbles-n-bits.com/archives/bomber/kkk.gif" border="0" height="49" width="50"> with baby bush at the White House for tax cut bill signing

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<h1>MORE</h1>
huffingtonpost.com

CONGRESSIONAL CORRUPTION - REPUBLICANS The New York Times reports that prosecutors in the Abramoff scandal are focusing on a lobbying firm - Alexander Strategy Group - with ties to various top Republicans, including Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), and the men trying to fill his position as Majority Leader - Reps. John Boehner (R-OH) and Roy Blunt (R-MO). Bloomberg News notes that both potential successors "share a broad network of lobbyist ties with DeLay." Blunt has a long history of using his office to reward those close to him, including his tobacco lobbyist wife and his tobacco lobbyist son. And he has brought K Street right into the center of Republican policymaking. As just one example, the Washington Post reported in May of 2005 that during the push for a round of massive new corporate tax cuts, "the task of rounding up the votes was delegated by Blunt's whip operation to a coalition of lobbyists, all of whom had clients with huge stakes in the outcome." Same thing with Boehner - his behavior makes him look like a corporate lobbyist dressed up in congressman's clothing. He is claiming he is a "reformer" but it was Boehner who got nailed for doling out checks from lobbyists on the floor of the House in 1996. Meanwhile, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) is claiming he has a lock on the House Majority Whip slot - even though he is knee deep in the Abramoff scandal himself. Not only has he pocketed huge campaign contributions from Abramoff, but Cantor has held events at Abramoff's restaurants and signed letters on behalf of Abramoff clients...Over in the Senate, Montana Sen. Conrad Burns (R) has resorted to conspiracy theories. Instead of acknowledging that he switched his votes and positions after pocketing huge wads of cash from Abramoff and Abramoff's clients, he told Montana papers Monday that "his political enemies are behind newspaper reports linking him to confessed felon and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff."...The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) "is asking the U.S. attorney general to open a corruption investigation of House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis because of the congressman's ties to a lobbyist who has legally donated thousands of dollars to Lewis' causes." The move follows a blockbuster story in the San Diego Union Tribune about how Lewis has used his slot on the House Appropriations Committee to direct millions in taxpayer contracts to his good friend and lobbyist Bill Lowery - all in exchange for campaign contributions...Time Magazine recently reported that Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), who plead guilty to bribery, wore a wire to catch other lawmakers. But that story is now being denied by Cunningham's lawyers.



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muckraker10021 · Jan 11, 2006

The ultra-conservative Republican 'National Review' magazine understands that this Abramoff scandal is all about RepubliKlans

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<img src="http://www.nationalreview.com/images/logo_3.gif">

<img src="http://www.nationalreview.com/images/page_2002_lowry.gif" align="left">


The Abramoff Scandal (R., Beltway)
It’s the Republicans, stupid. 


by Rich Lowry

January 10, 2006
www.nationalreview.com

Republicans are looking for "their" John McCain. The popular Arizona maverick is already a Republican, of course. But the GOP needs a McCain in the "Keating Five" sense. Back in 1990, Senate Democrats roped McCain into the scandal over savings and loan kingpin Charles Keating on tenuous grounds, just so not all the senators involved would be Democrats.

The GOP now craves such bipartisan cover in the Jack Abramoff scandal. Republicans trumpet every Democratic connection to Abramoff in the hope that something resonates. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), took more than $60,000 from Abramoff clients! North Dakota Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan used Abramoff's skybox! It is true that any Washington influence peddler is going to spread cash and favors as widely as possible, and 210 members of Congress have received Abramoff-connected dollars. But this is, in its essence, a Republican scandal, and any attempt to portray it otherwise is a misdirection.

Abramoff is a Republican who worked closely with two of the country's most prominent conservative activists, Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed. Top aides to the most important Republican in Congress, Tom DeLay (R., Tex.) were party to his sleazy schemes. The only people referred to directly in Abramoff's recent plea agreement are a Republican congressmen and two former Republican congressional aides. The GOP members can make a case that the scandal reflects more the way Washington works than the unique perfidy of their party, but even this is self-defeating, since Republicans run Washington.

Republicans must take the scandal seriously and work to clean up in its wake. The first step was the permanent ouster of Tom DeLay as House Republican majority leader, a recognition that he is unfit to lead as long as he is underneath the Abramoff cloud. The behavior of the right in this matter contrasts sharply with the left's lickspittle loyalty to Bill Clinton, whose maintenance in power many liberals put above any of their principles. Next, Republicans will have to show they can again embrace the spirit of reform that swept them to power in 1994.

To this end, GOP lawmakers are rushing to introduce lobbying reform. Anything that increases transparency is welcome. But lobbying reform's animating pretense is that lawmakers are all upstanding — until they come under the corruptive spell of lobbyists. In every transaction, however, there has to be a willing buyer and seller.

There are two deeply rooted sources of corruption in Washington. One is that many members of Congress believe that they would be making much more than their $160,000-a-year salaries if they were in some other line of work. This sense is compounded when they watch their former 30-year-old aides go to work on K Street for $300,000 a year. This is how someone like Tom DeLay — otherwise a conviction politician — justifies playing the best golf courses in the world on someone else's dime and getting special interests to funnel easy money to his wife.

It will be a sign that Congress has learned something if it bans all privately funded travel. If a trip is truly educational and necessary, the public should fund it; if, on the other hand, a member of Congress wants to enjoy fine resorts, he should quit, practice law (or whatever), and earn the income to support his desired lifestyle.

The other problem is that Washington makes obscure decisions that enrich small groups of people. Most everyone in Washington supports making these decisions because it increases his or her power. But if Congress really wants to lessen the malign influence of lobbyists, it should reform the inherently corruptible process whereby the Interior Department recognizes new Native American tribes so they can mint money by opening casinos, and end the practice of "earmarking" federal dollars for local and special-interest projects. It's no accident that Abramoff saw the business potential in both of these processes.

Of course, making these sort of changes would be painful. That's why it is tempting for Republicans to look for a John McCain instead.

QueEx · Jan 14, 2006

<center>Speaker Pressures Rep. Ney to Resign His Chairmanship</center>

Washington Post
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 14, 2006; Page A02

Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) is pressuring Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) to relinquish the chairmanship of the House Administration Committee in the wake of a guilty plea from lobbyist Jack Abramoff that tied Ney to a far-reaching conspiracy to bribe public officials, leadership aides said.

"The Ney situation has changed after the plea agreement," said a House Republican insider close to the talks. "There are people that have pled guilty who have conspired to bribe him. It does not mean he is guilty. However, given this information and the fact that part of our reform agenda will come before his committee, it's a big problem in him leading it."

Ney was not named in Abramoff's plea agreement, but his staff has said he is the lawmaker identified in the court documents as "Representative #1." Abramoff acknowledged that he and former partner Michael Scanlon gave the lawmaker gifts including expense-paid trips to the Super Bowl, golf outings in Scotland, concerts and campaign contributions.

Ney allegedly advanced the prospects of a number of Abramoff's clients. Ney has denied any wrongdoing.

"Ney is confident that he has done nothing wrong and that his name will be cleared," said his spokesman, Brian J. Walsh. "He also recognizes, though, that these misleading allegations about him might be a distraction, and he wants to do what is right for the [GOP] conference. He is taking the weekend to evaluate things and will make a decision next week."

Hastert does not have the power to remove Ney, aides said, but can urge the House Republican Conference to act.

Hastert spokesman Ronald D. Bonjean Jr. said discussions between Hastert and Ney "have been ongoing."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...6011301443.html?referrer=email&referrer=email

muckraker10021 · Jan 15, 2006

<img src="http://proquest.umi.com/i/pub/7818.gif">

Is Abramoff the New Monica?

 by Frank Rich

January 15, 2006

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/opinion/15rich.html?hp=&pagewant... 

THERE’S nothing this White House loves more than pictures that tell a story - a fictional story. And so another mission was accomplished when President Bush posed with the 13 past secretaries of state and defense he hustled into the Oval Office 10 days ago: he could pretend to consult on Iraq with sages of all political stripes - Madeleine Albright, yet - even if the actual give-and-take, all 5 to 10 minutes of it, was as substantive as the scripted “Ask the President” town hall meetings of the 2004 campaign.

But this White House, cunning as it is, can’t control all the pictures all the time. That photo op was quickly followed by Time’s Jack Abramoff cover and its specter of other images more inopportune than op. Mr. Bush’s aides, the magazine reported, were busy “trying to identify all the photos that may exist of the two men together.” Translation: Could a Bush-Abramoff money shot as iconic as Monica on the rope line be lurking somewhere for a Time cover still to come?

This much is certain: 1) The Abramoff scandal, so far anyway, boasts plenty of cigars but no sex. 2) It has almost everything else, including the “Miami Vice”-style rub-out of a Florida casino-cruise-ship mogul who’d had contentious business dealings with Mr. Abramoff. Not without reason is the White House on a frantic search-and-destroy mission to root out any potential embarrassments. Mr. Bush’s expert stage managers are smart enough to know that this scandal may metastasize from a cancer on Congress to a cancer on the Republican Party in general and this presidency in particular.

Washington’s jaded conventional wisdom will tell you otherwise. It says that Mr. Abramoff’s bribing of congressmen to do his clients’ bidding is the same old generic Capitol Hill scandal dating to Grant and Harding, differing only in the sheer scale of the numbers (of politicians implicated, of moolah changing hands). The many conservative pundits now deploring Tom DeLay take a similarly reductive line. “Washington power can corrupt absolutely,” explained the Wall Street Journal editorial page while bemoaning that “people like Mr. Abramoff” came “to Washington to clean up Washington” and then were corrupted by the capital’s evil ways. The DeLay Republicans, you see, are merely repeating the history of the decadent, power-fattened Democrats who preceded them, most especially Jim Wright, the speaker of the House who resigned in 1989.

If it’s all Washington’s fault, of course, it’s not the G.O.P.’s fault; the scandal can be quarantined to a few (or a dozen) bad apples who were seduced by a lobbyist’s skyboxes and not-so-petty Indian casino cash. But that theory of the case conveniently denies the quarter-century-old provenance of Mr. Abramoff. This scandal’s particular greedy, power-crazed ethos wasn’t created by Washington - it was imported to Washington by him and two pals destined to rise to the top of the G.O.P. establishment, Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist. These ruthless three musketeers first converged in the College Republicans hierarchy in the early 1980’s, long before they obtained the Washington power that could corrupt them (and years before the Wright scandal).

They preached a take-no-prisoners strategy and a specific ideology - do away with taxes, privatize government, free business from any regulation - that changed Washington far more than Washington changed them. Their triumph can be found everywhere today, from Halliburton’s no-bid contracts in Iraq to the K Street project, a Norquist-championed and DeLay-sanctioned operation to intimidate corporations with business before Congress into hiring exclusively Republican lobbyists like Mr. Abramoff.

But it’s not only the genealogy of the Abramoff scandal that separates it from its predecessors. So does the distinctive odor of its possible criminality. In its financial shenanigans and some of its personnel, the Abramoff affair doesn’t so much echo Teapot Dome as the business scandal that engulfed Mr. Bush’s former No. 1 corporate patron, Enron, in our new century. The Abramoff scandal’s pious trappings are sui generis as well. They adhere to the Karl Rove playbook that wraps every hardball White House tactic in godliness and exploits “faith based” organizations as political machines to deliver the G.O.P.’s religious right base.

To see these similarities and synergies you don’t need to know the difference between the Choctaws and the Marianas. Look instead at the Alexander Strategy Group, the lobbying outfit that is ground zero for the scandal (and that went kaput last week). Founded by Mr. DeLay’s former chief of staff and personal pastor, an evangelical minister named Edwin Buckham, its early big client was Enron. And like Enron, which laundered money through sham financial entities with “Star Wars” names like Chewco and JEDI, it benefited from a shell organization with a fanciful, albeit faith-based, name: the U.S. Family Network.

The U.S. Family Network was formed by Mr. Buckham on the side, ostensibly as a grass-roots advocacy organization to promote, among other virtues, “moral fitness.” As The Washington Post discovered last month, its financial backers were amoral, favor-seeking Abramoff associates, from casino operators to Russian oil businessmen. The U.S. Family Network’s contribution to moral fitness and U.S. families, meanwhile, was close to nil - except for the DeLay family. The Post reported that hundreds of thousands of the network’s dollars were siphoned into Mr. Buckham’s lobbying shop, which in turn put Mr. DeLay’s wife on salary.

U.S. Family money also purchased a Washington town house used by Mr. DeLay for fund-raising. Enron’s Andrew Fastow couldn’t have drawn up a more imaginative flow chart for distributing dubious gains to a favored few on the q.t.

The U.S. Family Network was only one of several phantom Enron-style shams spawned or fronted by Mr. DeLay, Mr. Abramoff or their sometimes clerical cronies, from Celebrations for Children (a “charity” whose good works remain a mystery) to the American International Center (a “think tank” manned by a lifeguard in Rehoboth Beach, Del.).

The Capital Athletic Foundation, supposedly set up to provide sports programs for needy urban kids, underwrote a 2002 golf outing to Scotland for Mr. Abramoff, Congressman Bob Ney of Ohio, Ralph Reed (an Enron consultant in his post-Christian Coalition days) and David Safavian, the Bush administration’s top procurement official, who resigned in September just before being indicted on charges of lying and obstruction of justice in the Abramoff investigation.

Abramoff & Company pursued a “careful cultivation of relations with Bush’s political team as far back as 1997,” according to The Associated Press. One contact was J. Steven Griles, a mining industry lobbyist who, topically enough, tried to weaken mine regulation during his government tenure as No. 2 in Mr. Bush’s Interior Department. The department also handles Indian affairs, but Mr. Griles has said he does not “recall intervening on behalf of Mr. Abramoff’s clients ever” when in government.

Mr. Abramoff himself served on the Interior Department’s transition team after the 2000 election. Perhaps it’s this steady drip of revelations, including those about his White House access as a “Pioneer” delivering at least $100,000 to the Bush campaign, that has frightened the administration into suddenly speaking out about the scandal. Scott McClellan is now also using that helpful verb recall - as in the president does not “recall” ever meeting Mr. Abramoff (an artful dodge if photos surface). Mr. Bush has disingenuously explained that the lobbyist had been an “equal money dispenser” to those “in both political parties.” (To both, yes, but never equally.)

If this all sounds a little familiar, that’s because it replays the White House game plan after the Enron meltdown. Mr. Bush then suggested that he had inherited his relationship with Ken Lay from Ann Richards, his Democratic predecessor as Texas governor, and suddenly took to referring to the backer he had once nicknamed Kenny Boy as Mr. Lay. You’d never guess that Enron brass had helped pay Mr. Bush’s campaign expenses for the Florida recount, contributed $300,000 to the inaugural gala and attended four meetings of Dick Cheney’s secret energy task force.

As fate would have it, the court appearances of Mr. Lay, Mr. DeLay, Jeff Skilling, Mr. Safavian and Mr. Abramoff could all overlap on 24/7 cable in the months ahead. There will surely be much talk of God along the way. Mr. DeLay’s pastor, Mr. Buckham, and Mr. Reed were not the only prayerful players in the Abramoff casino. So were the Rev. “Lucky Louie” Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition and the right-wing Rabbi Daniel Lapin, whose Toward Tradition organization received a $25,000 check (in all innocence, we’re told) from the Abramoff client eLottery. In 2002, the good rabbi welcomed the lobbyist onto the board of his American Alliance of Jews and Christians, along with Jerry Falwell and the man who loves Israel literally to death, Pat Robertson.

In between Mr. Abramoff’s guilty pleas in Washington and Florida, he let it be known that he was busy writing Torah commentary. What is the inspiration for all this religiosity? Though raised by an unobservant family, Mr. Abramoff has said that he resolved to become an Orthodox Jew at the age of 12 after seeing “Fiddler on the Roof.” Now that he’s ratting on all his cronies to reduce his own sentence, they, too, will learn what it means to journey from the vainglorious fantasies of “If I Were a Rich Man” to the hard time of “Sunrise, Sunset.”

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QueEx · Apr 1, 2006

Fuckallyall said:
Come to think of it, can you delete this post and post the articvle in the "delay on the take" thread ?

Wish I had moved it now. We lost the Delay On the Take thread.

QueEx

QueEx · Apr 1, 2006

<center>
Former DeLay aide pleads guilty to conspiracy charge</center>
<center>Admission illustrates how Abramoff became deeply
invested in congressional staffers</center>

Tony Rudy, a former deputy chief of staff to Rep. Tom Delay, leaves
federal court in Washington Friday after pleading guilty to conspiracy.
He promised to cooperate with the government's investigation of lobby fraud

Richard B. Schmitt / Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- A second former top aide to Texas Republican Rep. Tom DeLay pleaded guilty Friday in the widening influence-peddling scandal surrounding fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- one more sign that prosecutors are continuing to build a case that could ensnare one or more members of Congress, including the former House majority leader himself.

Tony Rudy, DeLay's onetime deputy chief of staff, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to a single charge of conspiracy in connection with the scandal, admitting that he trafficked in cash, gifts and other favors both while working in the leadership office and after leaving government to lobby his old acquaintances for Abramoff and his clients.

The agreement by Rudy, 39, to cooperate with prosecutors follows a similar deal struck in November with DeLay's former press secretary. It indicates that the Justice Department's effort to tunnel deeper into the congressional bribery scandal that Abramoff ignited is making headway.

In particular, the Rudy plea signals further trouble for Ohio Republican Robert Ney, who was previously identified as being a recipient of Abramoff largesse and who is mentioned anew -- albeit anonymously -- in Rudy's agreement with prosecutors.

A lawyer for DeLay said Friday that he had supplied investigators looking into the scandal with more than 100 e-mails from DeLay's congressional office as well as other information. But the lawyer continued to assert that his client was innocent, and said that he had been told several months ago that DeLay was not a target of the investigation. Some of the information he supplied might have been used by prosecutors to force the former aides to the plea bargaining table.

"Tom DeLay has said for several months now that he has never taken an official position, never cast a vote, based on anything other than his strong, principled beliefs in Republican philosophy and conservative government," said his lawyer, Richard Cullen. "A clear reading of the legal documents today indicates that there's nothing in there that is inconsistent with that."

The Rudy plea agreement offers another window into how Abramoff became deeply invested in congressional staffers, although it largely repeats the pattern of questionable dealings that surfaced earlier, including documents laying out Abramoff's own agreement to plead guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges last January. In effect, Rudy admitted to being on the payroll of Abramoff even before he left government to work for the lobbyist at his once high-flying practice at the Washington, D.C., law and lobbying firm of Greenberg Traurig.

Much of the money was funneled through a consulting company that he set up for his wife to provide consulting services. As part of the deal her husband struck with prosecutors, the government agreed not to prosecute Lisa Rudy in exchange for her cooperation in the continuing probe.

Rudy admitted to receiving a bounty of perks from Abramoff, including $86,000 in cash, tickets to sporting events and golf trips. In return, Rudy acknowledged, he helped secure legislative relief for Abramoff clients, ranging from stalling Internet gambling legislation to helping tie up a postal rate increase. The illegal conspiracy continued after he left his job on Capitol Hill in December 2000 to join forces with Abramoff, where he lavished gifts and trips on a member of Congress described in his plea agreement as "Representative 1." The activities and official acts match those of Ney.

The former staffer now faces as many as five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but his sentence probably will be reduced because of an agreement he has made to cooperate with the Justice Department in the on-going investigation. He entered his plea at a hearing Friday before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle.

Abramoff, who was sentenced to 70 months in prison by a federal judge in Miami on Wednesday in connection with a separate fraud scheme, also has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges in connection with his lobbying work in Washington but has yet to be sentenced on those charges.

Former DeLay press aide Michael Scanlon pleaded guilty in November in connection with the scandal and has also not been sentenced.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060401/POLITICS/604010408/1022

QueEx · Apr 4, 2006

Tom Delay Resigns

<center>DeLay to Announce Resignation From House
Former House Leader Tom Delay to Announce His
Resignation From Congress, GOP Officials Say</center>

ABC News
By DAVID ESPO AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON Apr 4, 2006 (AP)— Succumbing to scandal, former Majority Leader Tom Delay intends to resign from Congress within weeks, closing out a career that blended unflinching conservatism with a bare-knuckled political style.

DeLay is scheduled to appear on Fox News Channel Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. ET.

Republican officials said Monday night they expect the Texan to quit his seat later this spring. He was first elected in 1984, and conceded he faced a difficult race for re-election.

"He has served our nation with integrity and honor," said Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who succeeded DeLay in his leadership post earlier this year.

But Democrats said the developments marked more than the end to one man's career in Congress.

"Tom DeLay's decision to leave Congress is just the latest piece of evidence that the Republican Party is a party in disarray, a party out of ideas and out of energy," said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

A formal announcement of DeLay's plans was expected Tuesday at a news conference in Houston. In a video statement made available to television news networks late Monday, DeLay blamed "liberal Democrats" for making his re-election campaign largely a negative one.

"I refuse to allow liberal Democrats an opportunity to steal this seat with a negative personal campaign," DeLay said. "The voters of the 22nd district of Texas deserve a campaign about the vital national issues that they care most about and that affect their lives every day and not a campaign focused solely as a referendum on me."

DeLay is under indictment in Texas as part of an investigation into the allegedly illegal use of funds for state legislative races.

Separately, the Texan's ties with lobbyist Jack Abramoff caused him to formally surrender his post as majority leader in January, within days after the lobbyist entered into a plea bargain as part of a federal congressional corruption probe.

More recently, former DeLay aide Tony Rudy said he had conspired with Abramoff and others to corrupt public officials, and he promised to help the broad federal investigation of bribery and lobbying fraud that already has resulted in three convictions.

Neither Rudy, Abramoff nor anyone else connected with the investigation has publicly accused DeLay of breaking the law, but Rudy confessed that he had taken actions while working in the majority leader's office that were illegal.

DeLay has consistently denied all wrongdoing, and he capped a triumph in a contested GOP primary earlier this year with a vow to win re-election.

In an interview Monday with The Galveston County Daily News in Texas, DeLay said his change of mind was based partly on a poll taken after the March Republican primary that showed him only narrowly ahead of Democrat Nick Lampson. "Even though I thought I could win, it was a little too risky," the paper quoted him as saying.

In a separate interview with Time Magazine, DeLay says he plans to make his Virginia condominium his primary residence, a step that will disqualify him from the ballot in Texas and permit GOP officials there to field a replacement candidate.

It was not clear Monday night whether Texas Gov. Rick Perry would call a special election to fill out the unexpired portion of DeLay's term, or whether the seat would remain vacant until it is filled in November.

Either way, DeLay's concern about the potential loss of a Houston-area seat long in Republican hands reflected a deeper worry among GOP strategists. After a dozen years in the majority, they face a strong challenge from Democrats this fall, at a time when President Bush's public support is sagging, and when the Abramoff scandal has helped send congressional approval ratings tumbling.

Until scandal sent him to the sidelines, DeLay had held leadership posts since the Republicans won control of the House in a 1994 landslide. At first, he had to muscle his way to the table, defeating then-Speaker Newt Gingrich's handpicked candidate to become whip.

But DeLay quickly established himself as a forceful presence earning a nickname as "The Hammer" and he easily became majority leader when the spot opened up.

He sat at the nexus of legislation, lobbying, political campaigns and money.

And while he was a conservative, he raised millions of dollars for the campaigns of fellow House Republicans regardless of their ideology, earning their gratitude in the process.

He supported tax cuts, limits on abortions, looser government regulation of business and other items on the conservative agenda, and he rarely backed down.

DeLay was the driving force behind President Clinton's impeachment in 1999, weeks after Republicans lost seats at the polls in a campaign in which they tried to make an issue of Clinton's personal behavior.

His trademark aggressiveness helped trigger his downfall, when he led a drive to redraw Texas' congressional district boundaries to increase the number of seats in GOP hands.

The gambit succeeded, but DeLay was soon caught up in an investigation involving the use of corporate funds in the campaigns of legislators who had participated in the redistricting.

He attacked prosecutor Ronnie Earle as an "unabashed partisan zealot," and said numerous times he hoped to clear himself of the charges quickly and renew his claim to the majority leader's office.

The trial has yet to begin.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1803255&page=1

QueEx · May 2, 2006

Re: Tom Delay Resigns

<center>Secret Service to Release Logs on Abramoff Visits
White House visitor logs that will show how often Jack Abramoff, the
convicted former lobbyist, met with Bush administration</center>

Associated Press
Tuesday, May 2, 2006; Page A02

The Secret Service has agreed to turn over White House visitor logs that will show how often Jack Abramoff, the convicted former lobbyist, met with Bush administration officials -- and with whom he met.

U.S. District Judge John Garrett Penn approved an agreement last Tuesday between the Secret Service and Judicial Watch, a public interest group, that requires the agency to produce records of Abramoff's visits from Jan. 1, 2001, to the present.

Judicial Watch filed suit in February after the Secret Service did not respond to its request under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Abramoff once was one of the city's most successful lobbyists. He represented Indian tribes in their dealings with Washington politicians.

He pleaded guilty in January in Washington to federal charges stemming from an investigation into his ties with members of Congress and the Bush administration. He also pleaded guilty to fraud charges in Miami concerning a multimillion-dollar purchase of the SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet in 2000.

Administration officials have refused to say how many times Abramoff, who raised at least $100,000 for President Bush's reelection, has been to the White House. Bush has said he does not know Abramoff.

The visitor logs are to be delivered to Judicial Watch by May 10.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/01/AR2006050101311.html

Blkvoz · May 2, 2006

What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.

QueEx · May 9, 2006

<center>Former Aide to Rep. Ney Pleads Guilty
Volz Will Be Third Abramoff Associate to Testify Against GOP Lawmaker</center>

Washington Post
By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 9, 2006; Page A01

A former senior aide to Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) who left Congress to join Jack Abramoff's lobbying team pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to corruptly influence Ney's official actions by showering him with gifts and trips.

Neil G. Volz, 35, a Ney confidant who spent seven years on the congressman's staff, joins Abramoff and three of his other former associates in agreeing to cooperate with the government and testify against Ney in the unfolding public corruption scandal on Capitol Hill.

Ney, one of half a dozen lawmakers under scrutiny because of ties to Abramoff, has been forced to give up his chairmanship of the House Administration Committee. He handily won the GOP primary in Ohio last week, and Democrats are targeting him for defeat in November.

Ney's attorneys acknowledged yesterday that he is under mounting pressure from the Justice Department, but they insisted that he has no intention of pleading guilty to crimes they said he did not commit.

Volz, who served as press secretary and later chief of staff to Ney, is a pivotal figure in the investigation because he has agreed to testify about actions that Ney performed while Volz was working in Ney's office and while Volz was on Abramoff's lobbying team.

In an interview on Fox News Channel yesterday, Ney was asked whether he would resign if indicted. "I'm not going to comment on hypotheticals," he replied. "I don't believe I'm going to be indicted."

Regarding previous plea bargains for Abramoff and two former aides to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), Ney said that the three are attempting to stay out of prison and that "they've said a lot of things, as I understand, about a lot of people." He continued: "I think fact will be separated from fiction. We haven't done anything wrong. I haven't done anything wrong."

Volz appeared before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle to enter a guilty plea to a single count of conspiracy, admitting that he helped deprive the public of honest services and violated a federal ban on lobbying within one year of his congressional employment. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine but could receive a substantially lower penalty depending on his cooperation in the continuing corruption investigation, attorneys in the case said.

Volz, who has been talking to prosecutors for three months, is providing information on other lawmakers and staff, according to a source close to the ongoing investigation.

The object of the conspiracy was for Volz and his other Abramoff associates "to unjustly enrich themselves by corruptly receiving, while public officials, and providing, while lobbyists, a stream of things of value with the intent to influence and reward official acts and attempting to influence members of Congress in violation of the law," according to an eight-page document filed by prosecutors.

Volz admitted in court papers that when he worked for Ney, Abramoff's lobbying team provided him with travel, golf fees, restaurant meals and entertainment, including tickets to a U2 concert. Volz did not make required disclosures of the gifts, which exceeded House limits. In exchange, Volz admitted, he induced Ney to act in ways that benefited Abramoff's clients, including sponsoring legislation, placing statements in the Congressional Record and contacting agency officials.

After joining Abramoff's lobbying team in early 2002, Volz admitted, he and the group provided Ney and members of the congressman's staff with all-expense-paid and reduced-price trips to Scotland and London in August of that year; to the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., in January 2003; to New Orleans in May 2003; and to the posh Sagamore resort at Lake George, N.Y., in August 2003. The court papers refer to Ney not by name but as "Representative #1."

"In exchange for this stream of things of value," the Justice Department said in court papers, "Volz and his co-conspirators sought and received Representative #1's agreement to perform a series of official acts."

Volz's plea agreement lists 16 acts Ney undertook for Abramoff's team, including seeking a visa for one of Abramoff's Russian clients, sponsoring the issuance of a Congressional Gold Medal to a tribal chief, and meeting with the secretary of housing and urban development to help Abramoff clients.

Ney also acted to press the gambling interests of Abramoff's tribal clients, as well as the interest of a garment manufacturer who opposed minimum-wage laws in the Northern Mariana Islands, according to the court papers.

Ney attorney Mark Tuohey denied some of the government's claims and sought to cast doubt on the motives of the five witnesses who have pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Ney. The five are Abramoff; Volz; Adam Kidan, Abramoff's former partner in a casino cruise business; and Michael Scanlon and Tony C. Rudy, who were aides to DeLay, the former House majority leader.

Tuohey said Abramoff and others are making false allegations to win lighter sentences.

"The enormity of the crimes they committed has created a situation where they are singing for their supper," he said. "They are making it up. They are flat making it up."

But according to the court papers, in March 2002, Ney -- at the urging of Abramoff, Volz, Scanlon and Rudy -- agreed to sponsor legislation that would reopen a shuttered casino for a Texas Indian tribe they represented. The Tigua tribe's casino had been shut down at the urging of state officials. Abramoff secretly agitated for the closing, then signed the tribe as a client, promising he could help get the casino reopened. Ney's office said he did not follow through with the legislation.

At a meeting with Abramoff on May 10, 2001, Volz and Ney agreed to help an Israeli telecommunications company pursue a license to install cellphone antennas for the House, according to the court documents.

The company later paid Abramoff $280,000 for lobbying, according to disclosure forms. It also donated $50,000 to the Capital Athletic Foundation, a charity Abramoff sometimes used to secretly pay for lobbying activities.

In the summer of 2002, Abramoff had CAF pay for the golfing trip to Scotland for Ney; David H. Safavian, then chief of staff at the General Services Administration; and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed. They flew aboard a private jet and played at St. Andrews, prosecutors noted yesterday.

Safavian, who went on to become the chief White House procurement officer, will face trial this month on charges that he lied to investigators looking into the Scotland trip when he said Abramoff had no business before his agency. Abramoff sought to acquire land for a religious school from the GSA when Safavian was there, and in July 2002 Ney agreed to help, court papers said.

Ney's official report to Congress listed the purpose of the trip as a "speech to Scottish Parliamentarians," though no record exists of such a speech in the Scottish Parliament's register of official visits. Tuohey said Ney met three members of Parliament for lunch, but he declined to name them.

According to court documents, Ney also accepted many favors from Abramoff, including campaign contributions, dinners at the lobbyist's restaurant, and use of his skyboxes at MCI Center (now Verizon Center) and Camden Yards for fundraisers.

In a conference call with reporters, Tuohey said the government was wrong in saying that lobbyists improperly paid Ney's way. He said, for instance, that Ney and his staff paid their own bills at the Sagamore resort. Court papers filed by the government show that Volz, then a lobbyist, paid part of Ney's costs. Volz assured Ney that Volz would be reimbursed by Abramoff.

Foreshadowing a likely defense, Ney, who has variously blamed Abramoff, the media and liberal interests for his troubles, turned his fire toward the Justice Department yesterday, suggesting in a prepared statement that prosecutors coerced Volz into cooperating.

"While I am very saddened to see what has happened today, I also understand that Neil has been under tremendous pressure from the government," Ney said. "For a young man like Neil, it is virtually impossible to have the financial resources to adequately defend yourself against the federal government," he said.

Timothy Broas, Volz's attorney, released a statement saying that his client "deeply regrets how his actions have affected the people most important to him."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...6050800443.html?referrer=email&referrer=email

muckraker10021 · May 27, 2006

[frame]http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/060320roco04?print=true[/frame]

QueEx · Jun 25, 2006

<center>E-Mails Reveal Abramoff Requests, Contacts</center>

Jun 25, 9:32 AM (ET)
Associated Press
By JOHN SOLOMON

WASHINGTON (AP) - Wanted: Face time with President Bush or top adviser Karl Rove. Suggested donation: $100,000. The middleman: lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Blunt e-mails that connect money and access in Washington show that prominent Republican activist Grover Norquist facilitated some administration contacts for Abramoff's clients while the lobbyist simultaneously solicited those clients for large donations to Norquist's tax-exempt group.

Those who were solicited or landed administration introductions included foreign figures and American Indian tribes, according to e-mails gathered by Senate investigators and federal prosecutors or obtained independently by The Associated Press.

"Can the tribes contribute $100,000 for the effort to bring state legislatures and those tribal leaders who have passed Bush resolutions to Washington?" Norquist wrote Abramoff in one such e-mail in July 2002.

"When I have funding, I will ask Karl Rove for a date with the president. Karl has already said 'yes' in principle and knows you organized this last time and hope to this year," Norquist wrote in the e-mail.

A Senate committee that investigated Abramoff previously aired evidence showing Bush met briefly in 2001 at the White House with some of Abramoff's tribal clients after they donated money to Norquist's group.

The 2002 e-mail about a second White House meeting and donations, however, was not disclosed. The AP obtained the text from people with access to the document.

The tribes got to meet Bush at the White House in 2002 again and then donated to Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, or ATR.

Though Norquist's own e-mail connects the $100,000 donation and the White House visit, ATR spokesman John Kartch said Norquist never offered to arrange meetings in exchange for money.

Instead, Norquist simply wanted Abramoff's tribes to help pay for a conference where lawmakers and tribal leaders passed resolutions supporting the Bush agenda, ultimately securing a brief encounter with Bush, Kartch said.

"No one from Americans for Tax Reform ever assisted Jack Abramoff in getting meetings or introductions with the White House or congressional leaders in exchange for contributions," Kartch said, suggesting some of the e-mails might be misleading.

"If you look at some of Abramoff's e-mails to third parties, they might be misread to suggest that he was misrepresenting or confusing support for a project with a specific meeting," Kartch said. "This could have been deliberate or just unclear."

Kartch said: "People were invited to ATR's conference and to the White House only if they worked on pro-tax-cut resolutions. Nobody was invited because they made a contribution to ATR."

Lawyers for Abramoff declined comment.

The White House said Rove was unaware that Norquist solicited any money in connection with ATR events in both 2001 and 2002 that brought Abramoff's tribal clients and others to the White House.

"We do not solicit donations in exchange for meetings or events at the White House, and we don't have any knowledge of this activity taking place," said a White House spokeswoman, Erin Healy.

After the tribes' 2002 event with Bush, Norquist pressed Abramoff anew for tribal donations - this time for a political action committee. "Jack, a few months ago you said you could get each of your Indian tribes to make a contribution. ... Is this still possible?" Norquist asked in an October 2002 e-mail.

Abramoff responded that "everyone is tapped out having given directly to the campaigns. After the election, we'll be able to get this moving."

The e-mails show Abramoff delivered on his original promise to get tribal money for the event that included the Bush visit, sending one check from the Mississippi Choctaw tribe in October and one in November from the Saginaw Chippewa of Michigan. Kartch said Abramoff didn't deliver on PAC contributions.

Norquist and Abramoff were longtime associates who went back decades to their days in the Young Republicans movement. Norquist founded ATR to advocate lower taxes and less government. He built it into a major force in the Republican Party as the GOP seized control of Congress and the White House.

Abramoff became one of Washington's rainmaker lobbyists before allegations that he defrauded Indian tribes led to his downfall and a prison sentence. He is cooperating with prosecutors.

At the time ATR dealt with Abramoff, Kartch said, "he was a longtime and respected Republican activist in Washington. There was no reason to suspect any of the problems that later came up."

The e-mails show Abramoff, on multiple occasions, asked clients for large donations to Norquist's group while Norquist invited them to ATR events that brought them face to face with top administration officials.

For instance, several months after donating $25,000 to Norquist's group, Saginaw officials attended a reception in the summer of 2003 at Norquist's home. They posed for a photo with Norquist and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.

A few weeks earlier, then-Saginaw tribal chief Maynard Kahgegab Jr. had been appointed by Chao to a federal commission, according Labor Department and tribal documents obtained by the AP.

The Saginaw used the Chao photo, the commission appointment and photos they took with Bush at the White House to boast on their internal Web site about the high-level Washington access that Abramoff's team had won.

Labor officials confirmed that Chao attended the reception at Norquist's home. But they said they do not know who recommended Kahgegab to be appointed in May 2003 to the U.S. Native American Employment and Training Council. The department sought to remove the chief a year later after he lost a tribal election, documents show.

"This is one of hundreds of advisory appointments that are sent forward by agencies within the department for front office signoff," said a department spokesman, David James.

ATR's Kartch suggested Chao's contact with the Saginaw at Norquist's home was incidental. "ATR does many receptions for supporters. There were dozens of people in attendance that evening. This event was not organized specifically for any person, but was rather a widely attended general event," he said.

Norquist did make a special effort - at Abramoff's request - to introduce a British businessman and an African dignitary to Rove at another ATR event in summer 2002.

Abramoff bluntly told Norquist he was asking the African dignitary for a $100,000 donation to ATR and suggested the introduction to Rove might help secure the money.

"I have asked them for $100K for ATR," Abramoff wrote Norquist in July 2002. "If they come I'll think we'll get it. If he is there, please go up to him (he'll be African) and welcome him."

Norquist obliged.

"I am assuming this is very important and therefore we are making it happen," the GOP activist wrote back, promising to introduce the two foreigners as well as a Saginaw tribal official to Rove that night.

A day later, an ecstatic Abramoff sent an e-mail thanking Norquist for "accommodating" the introductions. "I spoke with the ambassador today and he is moving my ATR request forward," the lobbyist wrote, referring to the donation.

Kartch confirmed Norquist invited the foreigners to the ATR event, but Kartch said the group never asked for, expected or received the $100,000.

It was not the first time that Abramoff sought ATR donations in connection with lobbying business. E-mails dating to 1995 show Abramoff solicited donations from clients to Norquist's group as part of lobbying efforts.

"I spoke this evening with Grover," Abramoff wrote in an October 1995 e-mail outlining how Norquist and his group could help a client on a matter before Congress.

Abramoff wrote that the lobbying help he was seeking from Norquist's group was "perfectly consistent" with ATR's position but that Norquist nonetheless wanted a donation to be made.

"He said that if they want the taxpayer movement, including him, involved on this issue and anything else which will come over the course of the year or so, they need to become a major player with ATR. He recommended that they make a $50,000 contribution to ATR," the lobbyist wrote.

Abramoff cautioned one of his colleagues that the donation needed to be "kept discreet."

"We don't want opponents to think that we are trying buy the taxpayer movement," he said.

Kartch denied that anyone at ATR asked Abramoff for the money. "ATR is not responsible for comments by Jack Abramoff to third parties," he said.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20060625/D8IF91980.html

QueEx · Jun 25, 2006

<center>Nonprofit Groups Funneled Money For Abramoff
Funds Flowed to Lobbying Campaigns</center>

Washington Post
By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 25, 2006; Page A01

Newly released documents in the Jack Abramoff investigation shed light on how the lobbyist secretly routed his clients' funds through tax-exempt organizations with the acquiescence of those in charge, including prominent conservative activist Grover Norquist.

The federal probe has brought a string of bribery-related charges and plea deals. The possible misuse of tax-exempt groups is also receiving investigators' attention, sources familiar with the matter said.

Among the organizations used by Abramoff was Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform. According to an investigative report on Abramoff's lobbying released last week by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Americans for Tax Reform served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to surreptitiously finance grass-roots lobbying campaigns. As the money passed through, Norquist's organization kept a small cut, e-mails show.

A second group Norquist was involved with, the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, received about $500,000 in Abramoff client funds; the council's president has told Senate investigators that Abramoff often asked her to lobby a senior Interior Department official on his behalf. The committee report said the Justice Department should further investigate the organization's dealings with the department and its former deputy secretary, J. Steven Griles.

Norquist has long been an architect of tax-cutting policies and political strategies that have boosted the Republican Party. He and Abramoff have been close since their days as young conservative leaders of the College Republicans more than two decades ago.

The Senate committee report also details Abramoff's dealings with two others from the College Republicans crowd: Ralph Reed, former Christian Coalition executive director; and Amy Moritz Ridenour, president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, which sponsored a golf trip in 2000 to Scotland for then-Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).

"Call Ralph re Grover doing pass through," Abramoff wrote in a stark e-mail reminder to himself in 1999, a year in which Norquist moved more than $1 million in Abramoff client money to Reed and Christian anti-gambling groups. Reed was working to defeat lotteries and casinos that would have competed with Abramoff's tribal and Internet gambling clients.

In a recent interview at The Washington Post, Norquist said that Americans for Tax Reform and Abramoff's gambling clients worked together because they shared anti-tax, anti-regulatory views. He denied that Americans for Tax Reform was used to conceal the source of funds sent to Reed.

Reed reiterated in a statement last week that he did not know the money he received originated as the proceeds of gambling at Indian casinos.

Ridenour, appearing before the Indian Affairs Committee last year, acknowledged that her organization had accepted grants lined up by Abramoff and disbursed funds at his suggestion. She insisted that she told Abramoff that the National Center for Public Policy Research would be willing to finance only programs consistent with the group's tax-exempt purpose, listed in tax records as "nonpartisan analysis, study and research."

But dozens of e-mails show that Abramoff and his team considered the national center and other tax-exempt groups a ready resource in their efforts to influence Congress.

In one instance, Abramoff's team wanted to send two lawmakers on a trip to the Mississippi Choctaw reservation in 2001, but one congressman's office had concerns about accepting such a trip from a gaming tribe.

"How about getting National Center for Public Policy Research to sponsor the trip?" Abramoff suggested. "Works for me," replied a lobbying colleague.

E-mails suggest Ridenour was well aware that Abramoff viewed her organization as a convenient pass-through.

In September 2002, Abramoff suggested to one of his associates placing $500,000 in client funds with the national center because the group "can direct money at our discretion, anywhere if you know what I mean."

The same morning Abramoff messaged Ridenour: "I might have $500K for you to run through NCPPR. Is this still something you want to do?" Ridenour was enthusiastic: "Yes, we would love to do it."

Ridenour did not respond to requests for comment on the Senate committee report or the e-mails released with it.

Earlier this year, after Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiring to ply lawmakers with gifts in exchange for favors, IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said, "One of the most disturbing elements of this whole sordid story is the blatant misuse of charities in a scheme to peddle political influence."

Tax experts said it is impermissible for a tax-exempt organization to act as a pass-through for money destined for private business purposes.

"It's not a tax-exempt activity to act as a bag man for Jack Abramoff," said Marcus S. Owens, a tax lawyer at Caplin & Drysdale and a former Internal Revenue Service official.

'Hole in My Budget'

Norquist's relationship with Abramoff's gambling clients began in 1995 when Congress was considering taxing tribal casinos.

Abramoff, then a newly registered lobbyist with Preston Gates & Ellis, e-mailed a colleague that Norquist was willing to fight a tax opposed by another of his clients -- a beverage company -- if the firm became "a major player with ATR." Abramoff suggested the firm donate $50,000 to the group.

"What is most important however is that this matter is kept discreet," Abramoff said in an e-mail on Oct. 24, 1995. "We do not want the opponents to think that we are trying to buy the taxpayer movement." He promised that Norquist would be "very active" on the issue.

The following year, according to the Senate committee report, the Choctaw tribe donated $60,000 to Americans for Tax Reform to oppose a tax on Indian casinos. By 1999, ATR was getting large sums of Choctaw money. "What is the status of the Choctaw stuff?" Norquist asked Abramoff in an e-mail that May. "I have a 75g hole in my budget from last year. ouch."

All told in 1999, the Choctaws gave Americans for Tax Reform $1.15 million, most of which ATR passed on to Reed's for-profit political consulting company, Century Strategies, and Christian anti-gambling groups working to defeat a state lottery in Alabama.

Norquist said in The Post interview that the Choctaw tribe originally wanted ATR to direct the anti-lottery campaign, but his organization decided that it would be better to assist Christian groups already fighting the lottery.

"When we looked at it, we said they have an actual ongoing effort, we don't need to run it and [could instead] just contribute there, which was a continuation of the previous coalition," Norquist said. "They said fine."

But Choctaw representative Nell Rogers told Senate Indian Affairs Committee investigators that ATR "was not involved and was not considering getting involved in any efforts the Choctaw ultimately paid Reed and others to oppose," the committee reported. "Rogers told the committee staff that she understood from Abramoff that ATR was willing to serve as a conduit, provided it received a fee," the report said.

Rogers said the tribe had a long relationship with Americans for Tax Reform and assumed that the fee "would simply be used to support the overall activity of ATR."

Abramoff, however, grew annoyed at the amount that Norquist took off the top before sending the money on, e-mails show. "Grover kept another $25 k!" Abramoff wrote in a February 2000 note to himself.

John Kartch, a spokesman for Americans for Tax Reform, said Friday that the group was not involved in Abramoff's lobbying business. The Choctaw tribe, he said, "was a longtime supporter of ATR. They had no business dealings with Grover Norquist, nor did Jack Abramoff."

E-mails show that Abramoff also moved client money through a conservative Jewish foundation called Toward Tradition, run by longtime Abramoff friend Rabbi Daniel Lapin. In January 2000, when Reed sent Abramoff an $867,000 invoice to be billed to a Choctaw official, Abramoff responded: "Ok, thanks. Please get me the groups we are using, since I want to give this to her all at once." Reed responded: "Amy, Grover, Lapin and one other I will get you."

Abramoff tapped the same cluster of tax-exempt groups in 2000 to help defeat legislation to ban gambling on the Internet. Abramoff's client, an online gambling services company called eLottery, donated money to ATR, the policy research center and Toward Tradition.

In May 2000, just before a key vote on the anti-gambling bill, the research center paid for the Scotland trip for then-House Majority Whip DeLay. Toward Tradition hired the wife of DeLay aide Tony C. Rudy, who later pleaded guilty to conspiring to corrupt public officials, saying his wife was paid in exchange for his official actions. Lapin has said his hiring of Lisa Rudy was not connected to any eLottery donations.

Americans for Tax Reform received $160,000 from eLottery, and Norquist immediately sent most of the money to a state nonprofit group, which in turn sent the money to another Ralph Reed company to fund attack ads on Republicans who supported the gambling ban.

In the interview, Norquist denied that the purpose of the transfer was to hide the money's origin.

"Someone from eLottery talked to me or somebody on our staff and said, 'Will you help us with this campaign?' and we said, 'We're certainly supportive of it,' and they gave us resources and asked if we would contribute to the state group," Norquist said.

Norquist said he could not remember if he knew at the time that eLottery was an Abramoff client, but he said it would not have made any difference

Trip to the Marianas

As far back as 1996, Abramoff was using Ridenour's National Center for Public Policy Research to hide the source of funding for trips and other ventures intended to boost the interests of his lobbying clients, e-mails show.

Douglas Bandow, a think-tank scholar and former Copley News Service columnist, received $10,000 that year from Abramoff clients through the center, according to an Abramoff e-mail. Bandow has acknowledged that he accepted money from Abramoff in exchange for writing articles supporting the lobbyist's clients in the 1990s.

Abramoff used the center to hide his sponsorship of an all-expenses-paid trip in 2000 for three congressional staffers to the Northern Mariana Islands that now figures in the investigation. The trip is listed as an illicit activity in the plea agreements of Abramoff and three associates.

The congressional staffers on the Marianas trip worked on the campaign of a Marianas politician who pushed through a $100,000-a-month government lobbying contract for Abramoff.

Abramoff e-mailed instructions to his assistant, Susan Ralston, and others to conceal the true source of funding for the "very important" trip. "The tickets should not in any way say my name or our firm's name," Abramoff wrote. "They should, if possible, say 'National Center for Public Policy Research.' We should pay using my Visa."

Ridenour readily agreed to help, e-mails show. A Marianas client wired about $25,000 to the center's bank account. Abramoff instructed Ridenour to write checks to cover the travel costs of the congressional staffers and Edwin A. Buckham, a former DeLay top aide and lobbyist.

"We'll call the bank first thing in the a.m. and confirm that the money has arrived, and then I will get checks out to you and Ed," Ridenour wrote.

"Yes, we should get invoices for these. This is not only good for us, but if the IRS should later inquire, it is proof for you and Ed that you do not owe income tax on this money. The invoices need not be fancy. Thanks, Amy."

Last year, Ridenour told the Senate committee that she thought the DeLay trip she agreed to sponsor in 2000 was "an educational trip" to Britain, not a golfing junket to Scotland. "The trip I believed I was approving -- and indeed the trip that I invited the member of Congress on . . . was simply to be a trip to London, meet with some members of Parliament and fly home," she said.

By this time, Abramoff was routinely juggling money among various groups. Months after the Scotland trip, Buckham complained to Abramoff that he was still awaiting reimbursement for costs incurred on the trip by DeLay and DeLay's chief of staff, Susan Hirschmann.

"Jack, I hate to bother you on this note, but I am still carrying the DeLay/Hirschmann etc. bills on my American Express Sign and Travel and the interest keeps adding up. Any hope on reimbursement by Amy's group?"

Abramoff replied: "Sorry about this Ed. How much is it again? Would it be alright to get the payment from somewhere other than Amy's group?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...6062401080.html?referrer=email&referrer=email

QueEx · Oct 13, 2006

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[hide]Report Says Nonprofits Sold Influence to Abramoff

By James V. Grimaldi and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 13, 2006; 1:32 AM

Five conservative nonprofit organizations, including one run by prominent Republican Grover Norquist, "appear to have perpetrated a fraud" on taxpayers by selling their clout to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Senate investigators said in a report issued yesterday.

The report includes previously unreleased e-mails between the now-disgraced lobbyist and officers of the nonprofit groups, showing that Abramoff funneled money from his clients to the groups. In exchange, the groups, among other things, produced ostensibly independent newspaper op-ed columns or news releases that favored the clients' positions.

Officers of the groups "were generally available to carry out Mr. Abramoff's requests for help with his clients in exchange for cash payments," said the report, issued by the Senate Finance Committee. The report was written by the Democratic staff after a yearlong investigation and authorized by the Republican chairman, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa).

Abramoff has pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy and could go to prison as early as next month. Prosecution and defense lawyers jointly filed papers yesterday asking a judge to recommend that he be sent to a federal facility in Cumberland, Md., to make it easier for him to cooperate with the ongoing probe. The investigation has resulted in one conviction and seven guilty pleas -- including one from a lawmaker, Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), who is to appear today before a federal judge in the District.

The Senate report released yesterday states that the nonprofit groups probably violated their tax-exempt status "by laundering payments and then disbursing funds at Mr. Abramoff's direction; taking payments in exchange for writing newspaper columns or press releases that put Mr. Abramoff's clients in a favorable light; introducing Mr. Abramoff's clients to government officials in exchange for payment; and agreeing to act as a front organization for congressional trips paid for by Mr. Abramoff's clients."

The report bolstered earlier revelations that Abramoff laundered money through the nonprofits to pay for congressional trips and paid Norquist to arrange meetings for Abramoff's clients with government officials including White House senior adviser Karl Rove.

The groups named in the report are Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform; the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, which was co-founded by Norquist and Gale Norton before she became secretary of the interior; Citizens Against Government Waste; the National Center for Public Policy Research, a spinoff of the Heritage Foundation; and Toward Tradition, a Seattle-based religious group founded by Rabbi Daniel Lapin.

E-mails released by the committee show that Abramoff, often with the knowledge of the groups' leaders, exploited the tax-exempt status and leveraged the stature of the organizations to build support among conservatives for legislation or government action sought by clients including Microsoft Corp., mutual fund company DH2 Inc., Primedia Inc.'s Channel One Network, and Brown-Forman, maker of Jack Daniel's whiskey.

A spokesman for Norquist, John Kartch, called the report "political nonsense" pushed by Democrats close to the midterm elections.

Norquist's attorney, Cleta Mitchell, had told the Senate panel that, as long as Americans for Tax Reform spends funds in keeping with its general purpose, "there is no 'abuse' of ATR's tax status." Officials with the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy denied wrongdoing. Citizens Against Government Waste said the group did not abuse its tax status and always adhered to long-held positions.

Amy Ridenour of the National Center acknowledged in an interview with investigators that donations can have some sway with think tanks but denied that they were made in exchange for positions.

Sen. Max Baucus (Mont.), the Finance Committee's ranking Democrat, called on the IRS and the FBI to investigate. "These groups' dealings with Jack Abramoff certainly violated the spirit, and perhaps the letter, of the laws that give charitable and social welfare organizations a break for the good work they're supposed to do," Baucus said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Grassley said the chairman did not co-write the report because he had hoped it would include a broader range of groups that he believes also breached their tax status. A Baucus aide said the Democratic staff did not object to a broader review.

The Abramoff scandal has bruised the image of Norquist, a friend of Abramoff's since their days in the College Republicans. Often consulted by Rove, Norquist for decades has convened a key Wednesday morning strategy session for conservative leaders, lobbyists and Republican lawmakers.

Abramoff traded on Norquist's cachet, at one point referring to him in an e-mail as a "hard-won asset" of his lobbying empire. In exchange for Norquist's opposition to taxes on Brown-Forman products, Norquist recommended that a $50,000 donation be made to Americans for Tax Reform, according to an Abramoff e-mail.

"What is most important, however, is that this matter is kept discreet," Abramoff wrote to a colleague at the Preston, Gates & Ellis law firm. "We do not want the opponents to think that we are trying to buy the taxpayer movement."

The e-mails show that Abramoff and Norquist explicitly discussed client donations to Norquist's group in exchange for Norquist's support. The group's advocacy "appears indistinguishable from lobbying undertaken by for-profit, taxable firms," the report said.

Among those who agreed to donate money for an opinion piece was DH2, which in 2004 pushed for tax breaks for its customers.

E-mails show that DH2 understood that Norquist's help came with a price tag. The tab was sent to DH2's managing director, Robert S. Rubin.

"I told Rubin he needs to round up some $$$ for ATR," wrote lobbyist Michael E. Williams to his boss, Abramoff.

"Get the money from Rubin in hand," Abramoff replied, "and then we'll call Grover."

How much, Williams asked.

"50K," Abramoff wrote.

Abramoff e-mailed Norquist on Feb. 10, 2004: "I have sent over a $50K contribution from DH2 (the mutual fund client). Any sense as to where we are on the op-ed placement?"

Replied Norquist: "The Wash Times told me they were running the piece. . . . I will nudge again."

The Washington Times has published about 50 Norquist op-eds since 1993 but apparently none on mutual funds. Norquist did write a letter in April 2004 to a congressman praising him for sponsoring "legislation that would finally allow mutual fund shareholders to defer their capital gains tax" and pledging that his group "is committed to helping you pass this legislation."

Norquist wrote an op-ed piece, published in the Washington Times, as part of an extensive Abramoff campaign for Channel One, which broadcasts educational programming and advertising into public school classrooms. An Abramoff e-mail to Norquist offered him $1,500 for an op-ed, and another e-mail exchange suggested up to $3,000 to buy an "economic analysis."

The Council for Republican Environmental Advocacy, founded by Norquist and Norton, who resigned as interior secretary earlier this year, also appeared to have been used "as an extension of Mr. Abramoff's lobbying organization," the report said.

Abramoff directed his client Indian tribes to donate a total of about $500,000 to the group, telling them that the donation was a way to cultivate Norton at the Interior Department, which oversees the tribes and their casinos. E-mails show that Abramoff told the tribes that they would be CREA's "trustees" and that Norton would "host" a series of CREA dinners. Interior Department documents obtained by The Washington Post suggest that Norton was an invited guest at a CREA dinner, not a host.

Research editor Alice Crites contributed to this report.

[/hide]

Dolemite · Oct 14, 2006

Dolemite · Oct 14, 2006

QueEx · Apr 23, 2008

<center>
Top Justice official - Robert E. Coughlin
admits Abramoff fueled his regal life</center>

By Marisa Taylor | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008

WASHINGTON — A former senior Justice Department official admitted Tuesday that he did favors for clients of lobbyist Jack Abramoff while accepting free meals at upscale Washington restaurants and luxury-suite tickets to sports games paid for by Abramoff's former firm.

In court papers, Robert E. Coughlin II acknowledged using his position as a department official to help Abramoff's former firm, Greenberg Traurig, including campaigning on the firm's behalf to secure a $16.3 million grant for a Indian tribe to build a jail.

Coughlin, 36, also set up meetings with "friendly" Justice officials to discuss the grant and intentionally cut out a Democratic-leaning official who he assumed wouldn't be open to helping Abramoff's firm, the court records show.

Coughlin, who pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to a felony conflict of interest charge, made the admissions as part of an agreement to cooperate with federal prosecutors in exchange for a lighter sentence. Prosecutors, who plan to seek four to six months in prison, declined to comment.

Coughlin, then 29, began helping Abramoff's clients in 2001 at the request of his longtime friend, who in court papers is only referred to as "lobbyist A." Attorneys familiar with the investigation, but who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly, identified "lobbyist A" as Kevin Ring. Ring is a former key associate of Abramoff and a former aide to Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., who's also under scrutiny in the Abramoff probe.

Ring is accused of routinely buying meals and drinks for various government officials such as Coughlin at Signatures, a restaurant that Abramoff once owned.

At the behest of Abramoff, known as "lobbyist B" in court records, Ring also allegedly gave officials, including those with the department, free tickets to sports events at Washington area stadiums. Prosecutors estimate that Coughlin received more than $6,000 in gifts from 2001 to 2003, including about 25 meals and tickets to 25 sporting events and concerts. He didn't report the gifts as required by the department.

Coughlin told prosecutors that he and Ring strategized routinely to help the tribe. When the tribe received only $9 million for the jail, Coughlin successfully pushed the department in 2002 to waive a competitive bidding process and to reverse the decision.

After Ring heard the news, he wrote to Coughlin, "Thanks is not strong enough," in an e-mail with the subject line that included "CHA-CHING!!!!"

Three days later, Ring paid for lunch for Coughlin and two unidentified department officials at Signatures.

At Ring's request, Coughlin also persuaded immigration officials to expedite the review of a school that Abramoff owned. Twice in 2002, Ring and Coughlin discussed the idea of Coughlin going to work for Abramoff's firm.

Lobbying disclosure records show Ring had more than a dozen contacts with the department from 2000 to 2004, half of them for Indian tribes that Abramoff represented on casino issues.

When Ring was lobbying the Justice Department, Coughlin was a special assistant in the department's office of legislative affairs and later deputy director of the office of intergovernmental and public liaison.

Coughlin told prosecutors that he never had a "substantive conversation" with Abramoff.

Coughlin, who stepped down from his post in the criminal division last April as investigators in his division ratcheted up their investigation of Ring, had recused himself from the Abramoff inquiry. He left the courthouse without commenting. In court, he said he was currently unemployed and lived in Texas.

His attorney, Joshua Berman, said his client was "deeply saddened by these events and looks forward to focusing his attention on his family."

McClatchy Newspapers 2008

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/34549.html

Jack Abramoff pleads !!

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