Holidays, Lobbyists & Murder

By Richard Fricker
December 23, 2005

As the wags of Washington make their Christmas rounds and chardonnay corks
litter the streets like cherry blossoms, there is a chill in the holiday spirit
for friends and associates of Republican super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff –
since some of them are facing a New Year that may include testimony in a murder
and corruption case in Florida.

While Abramoff's influence-buying schemes are likely to entangle prominent
politicians in bribery cases in Washington, the Fort Lauderdale
murder-corruption case surrounding the SunCruz casino stands out as possibly the biggest
embarrassment for the Republican power structure, since it may feature
appearances by Abramoff and his onetime aide Michael Scanlon.

Fort Lauderdale homicide detectives are interested in questioning Abramoff
about the 2001 murder of SunCruz casino owner Konstantinos “Gus” Boulis.
Prosecutor Brian Cavanaugh told me he most certainly “will be spending time with
Mr. Scanlon.”

Boulis was gunned down in his car on Feb. 6, 2001, amid a feud with an
Abramoff business group that had purchased Boulis’s SunCruz casino cruise line in
2000. On Sept. 27, 2005, Fort Lauderdale police charged three men, including
reputed Gambino crime family bookkeeper Anthony Moscatiello, with Boulis’s
murder.

As part of the murder probe, police are investigating payments that SunCruz
made to Moscatiello, his daughter and Anthony Ferrari, another defendant in
the Boulis murder case. Moscatiello and Ferrari allegedly collaborated with a
third man, James Fiorillo, in the slaying.

Abramoff Indictment

The SunCruz deal also led to the August 2005 indictment of Abramoff and his
partner, Adam Kidan, on charges of conspiracy and wire fraud over a $60
million loan for buying the casino company in 2000. Prosecutors allege that
Abramoff and Kidan made a phony $23 million wire transfer as a fake down payment.

In pursuing the casino deal, the Abramoff-Kidan group got help, too, from
then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Rep. Robert W. Ney, R-Ohio,
the Washington Post reported. Abramoff impressed one lender by putting him
together with DeLay in Abramoff’s skybox at FedEx Field during a football game
between the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys.

Ney placed comments in the Congressional Record criticizing Boulis and later
praising the new Abramoff-Kidan ownership team. [Washington Post, Sept. 28,
2005]

After the SunCruz sale, when tensions boiled over, Boulis and Kidan got into
a fistfight. Kidan claimed that Boulis threatened his life. Two months
later, however, Boulis was the one who was shot to death when a car pulled up next
to him and a gunman opened fire. Lawyers for Abramoff and Kidan say their
clients know nothing about the murder.

Police, however, are investigating financial ties between the Abramoff-Kidan
group and Moscatiello and Ferrari.

In a 2001 civil case, Kidan testified that he had paid $145,000 to
Moscatiello and his daughter, Jennifer, for catering and other services, although
court records show no evidence that quantities of food or drink were provided.
SunCruz also paid Ferrari’s company, Moon Over Miami, $95,000 for surveillance
services.

Kidan told the Miami Herald that the payments had no connection to the
Boulis murder. “If I’m going to pay to have Gus killed, am I going to be writing
checks to the killers?” Kidan asked. “I don’t think so. Why would I leave a
paper trail?”

Kidan also said he was ignorant of Moscatiello’s past. In 1983, Moscatiello
was indicted on heroin-trafficking charges along with Gene Gotti, brother of
Gambino crime boss John Gotti. Though Gene Gotti and others were convicted,
the charges against Moscatiello – identified by federal authorities as a former
Gambino bookkeeper – were dropped.

Abramoff’s influence reached into George W. Bush’s White House, too, where
chief procurement officer David H. Safavian resigned in September and then was
arrested on charges of lying to authorities and obstructing a criminal
investigation into Abramoff’s lobbying activities.

Rep. Ney and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed were among
influential Republicans who joined Safavian and Abramoff on an infamous golf trip to
Scotland in 2002. Safavian is a former lobbying partner of anti-tax activist
Grover Norquist, another pillar of right-wing politics in Washington and
another longtime Abramoff friend. [Washington Post, Sept. 20, 2005]

Abramoff also has boasted of his influence with Bush’s top political adviser
Karl Rove. [For more background on Abramoff, see Consortiumnews.com's "How
Rotten Are These Guys?"]

Plea Bargains

The latest wrinkle in this melodrama appears to be the race to the
courthouse between Abramoff and his casino co-owner Kidan, who is in the soup with
Abramoff for the SunCruz money-laundering and wire-fraud charges. This is a
classic race in that he who cuts the first deal wins.

If Kidan can offer up Abramoff and a few congressmen before Abramoff can rat
out his congressional minions before Kidan inks a deal, he wins. Or, in the
alternative, if they can collectively offer up a bevy of congressmen, Capitol
Hill aides and fat-cat contributors, then they both can minimize possible
jail time.

The New York Times reported on Dec. 22 that Abramoff was close to completing
a plea agreement in the Florida fraud case, setting the stage for him
becoming a witness in a broad federal corruption investigation. One participant in
the case said a deal could be completed by next week. [NYT, Dec. 22, 2005]

In the meantime, the Fort Lauderdale police and prosecutor Cavanaugh need
only wait. If Scanlon, Abramoff and Kidan all agree to “cooperate” with the
government in plea-bargaining on white-collar crimes, Cavanaugh will still get
his shot at the wheeler-dealers because murder trumps fraud in the
prosecutorial world.

Investigators have tried to interview Abramoff about the Boulis case, but
those efforts were blocked by his attorneys who refused to volunteer Abramoff's
testimony. Cavanaugh has declined to subpoena Abramoff because it might muddy
the legal waters should it be decided the GOP fundraiser had some direct
knowledge of the Boulis slaying.

Kidan, meanwhile, is rumored to be ready to make his own plea deal and start
naming names of politicos who gave, took, hustled funds. Should that happen
Congressman Ney can expect more questions about his insertion of comments in
the Congressional Record criticizing Boulis for his management of SunCruz
when Abramoff and Kidan were trying to buy the company.

The Boulis murder trial is set for mid-January, but a postponement is likely
as both sides take depositions of witnesses.

Meanwhile, DeLay awaits trial on alleged laundering of corporate campaign
funds into Texas political races that were central to DeLay's efforts to
redistrict Texas and give Republicans additional seats in the U.S. Congress.

DeLay’s problems may just be beginning as new revelations show he received
special favors including use of private jets and money from sources connected
to other bribery allegations.

All in all, the legal entanglements of Abramoff and his friends may make for
something less than a very Happy New Year.

It is posted at Smirking Chimp.com and many other sites.

"This Abramoff guy is a bad guy," Burns told a Montana television station. "I hope he goes to jail and we never see him again. I wish he'd never been born, to be right honest with you."

Former Republican congressman Mickey Edwards (Okla.), usually a defender of lobbying and Congress, said there have always been members who get caught "stuffing money in their pants." But he said this is different - a "disgusting" and disturbingly broad scandal driven by lobbyists whose attitude seemed to be "government to the highest bidder."

full article:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122905J.shtml

2175 KIA
15,955 maimed and wounded
$250 Billion thrown down a rat hole
DRAFT Chickenhawk Neo-Cons NOW!

What was that about Abramoff giving money to Democrats?
by John in DC - 1/04/2006 01:15:00 AM

Here is the list of who Abramoff gave money to, per Michael Petrelis'
research: $172,933 - Republican
$88,985 - special interest
total: $261,918That's 229 donations and not a DIME to Democrats.

The list of donations is long, but it makes a great visual, so I'm posting
it anyway. Next time you hear someone say that this is a bipartisan scandal,
whip out this list and laugh.

This comes from Newsmeat.com, they have all the FEC data. I just counted,
and I think this list of GOP donors and organizations is around 15 feet
long. Someone REALLY needs to print out this list and get in front of a
camera. Hell, every single one of our pundits should have this list with
them on TV and just roll it out on the table.

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/01/what-was-that-about-abramoff-giving.
html

Read article:http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/30381/

The media has mostly focused on the stunning $82 million Abramoff and Scanlon
billed six tribes for lobbying and public relations work. Less attention has
been paid to the political contributions, by Abramoff's own account another
eye-popping $10 million, made by the six tribes. (The Coushattas alone, a
southwest Louisiana tribe of 837 members, operate a casino that does an
estimated $300 million in annual business.) That piece of the story involves
the "K Street Project," which launders the money of corporate lobbyists into
the accounts of Republican candidates.

Abramoff advised tribal leaders that the contributions were "just the cost of
doing business in Washington," where he could "protect them" (the similarity
of the practice of "offering protection" to businesses, once practiced by the
Mafia, is not coincidental) from other tribes trying to open casinos to
compete with those that already had them. He sent orders for the checks to
be cut, designating each recipient personally.

Abramoff brought the Coushatta and Choctaw chiefs to Washington at the request
of Grover Norquist, founder and director of Americans for Tax Reform,
committed to slashing taxes (for the wealthy) until the federal government
(except for Fatherland Security and Halliburton) "is so small you can drown
it in the bathtub." Norquist started ATR in 1985, with the assistance of
Ronald Reagan's second-term handlers. His power increased exponentially in
1994, when Republicans took control of the House of Representatives. He
collaborated with then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay to launch the "K Street
Project" - a coordinated campaign to force lobbyists to contribute only to
Republican candidates and hire only Republicans.

Norquist has not responded to inquiries about using the White House as a
fundraiser. It is, however, a regular ATR practice to invite state
legislators and tribal leaders who have supported ATR anti-tax initiatives to
the White House for a personal thank-you from Bush. A source at ATR said no
money is ever accepted from participants in these events. The $25,000 check
from the Coushattas suggests that Norquist's organization makes, uh,
exceptions.

The Pimping of the Presidency
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010606Z.shtml
Abramoff was so closely tied to the Bush administration that he could, and
did, charge two of his clients $25,000 for a White House lunch date and a
meeting with the president. From the same two clients he took to the White
House in May 2001, Abramoff also obtained $2.5 million in contributions for a
non-profit foundation he and his wife operated.

The Other Mega-Scandal

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pled
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/03/AR2006010300474_pf.html guilty to to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public
officials, capturing the attention of Washington's chattering class who
believe Abramoff will incriminate numerous members of Congress. (They are
probably right.) But another scandal -- which could be equally damaging to
powerful conservatives in Congress -- lurks in the shadows. Federal
prosecutors have already secured a guilty plea from former Rep. Randy "Duke"
Cunningham (R-CA), who had admitted to "to taking more than
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/28/cunningham/ $2 million in bribes in
a criminal conspiracy involving at least three defense contractors." But the
investigation is far from over. In the end, two powerful House chairman --
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) of the Armed Services Committee and Rep. Jerry
Lewis (R-CA) of the Appropriations Committee -- could become ensarled in the
legal probe. Both men have close connections to military contractor Brent
Wilkes -- who is referred to as "co-conspirator No. 1" in Justice department
documents -- and who provided more that $630,00 in cash and favors to
Cunningham "for
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20051204-9999-1n4adcs.html help
in landing millions of dollars in federal contracts."

THE DUNCAN HUNTER CONNECTION: Along with Cunningham, Duncan Hunter helped
companies who have employed Wilkes -- ADCS Inc.and Audre Inc. -- secure over
$190 million for a system to "convert printed documents to computer files"
that the Department of Defense said they didn't need. (This included "a $9.7
million contract for ADCS to digitize historical documents from the Panama
Canal Zone that the Pentagon considered insignificant.") A 1994 report from
the General Accounting Office noted that the DoD "already had the tools for
such work." The San Diego Tribune notes "Cunningham,
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051208/news_lz1ed08top.html
Hunter and their House allies didn't care. Audre and ADCS were generous with
contributions - and ADCS executive Brent Wilkes allegedly was bribing
Cunningham." The Tribune concludes, "This isn't governance. This is
looting."

THE JERRY LEWIS CONNECTION: Wilkes also employed a lobbyist named Bill
Lowery, paying him about $200,000 between 1998-2000. What did all that money
buy? Access to House Appropriations Committee chairman Jerry Lewis.
According to a three month investigation by Copley News Service, Lewis "has
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20051223-9999-lz1n23lewis.html
greenlighted hundreds of millions of dollars in federal project for clients"
of Bill Lowrey. Meanwhile, "Lowery, the partners at his firm and their
clients have donated 37 percent of the $1.3 million that Lewis' political
action committee received in the past six years." Copley reports "the
essential ingredient in the Lew-Lowery relationship is earmarking, the
congressional practice in which special projects, sometimes derided as
'pork,' are slipped quietly into the federal budget without public review."
Virtually every client who has signed up with Lowery in recent years "cashed
in with earmarks." Lowery was also tight with Duke Cunningham, paying the
staff's $1800 bill for their 2001 Christmas party at a fancy restaurant in
D.C.

WHY DID THE GOVERNMENT ACCEPT CUNNINGHAM'S PLEA: It is conventional wisdom
that the government agreed to a plea deal with Jack Abramoff -- one of the
most powerful lobbyists in Washington -- only after he agreed to provide
information about people higher up the food chain, powerful
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/politics/06prexy.html members of
Congress. The government also gave Rep. Duke Cunningham a plea deal. Why? It
stands the reason that he will cooperate in efforts to prosecute more
powerful members of Congress, possibly including Hunter and Lewis.

The Jack Abramoff scandal is a bipartisan scandal.

FACT:

The Abramoff scandal reveals the scope and depth of the corrupt Republican
power structure that dominates Congress and Washington today:

Jack Abramoff personifies the Republican culture of corruption through cozy
relationships (going well beyond giving out campaign contributions) between
Republican Congressional lawmakers, various high level administration
officials from government agencies, and the powerful lobbying interests in
Washington's K Street. His central role in the numerous, inter-related
scandals weave a web of corruption that exemplifies the dangers of one party
rule, and one that is truly unique in its scope, nature and impact to the
Republican Conference which runs both houses of Congress.

*Abramoff was a Bush "Pioneer," raising more than $100,000 for the
President's reelection in '04.

*Tom DeLay once called Abramoff one of his "closest and dearest friends"

*Abramoff was a major part of the Republican's "K Street Project"

*All four lawmakers said to be under Justice Department investigation for
the Abramoff scandal are Republicans (Ney, Burns, Doolittle, and DeLay)

*Nearly 2/3rd of contributions from Abramoff's tribal clients, Abramoff
himself, his lobbying team, and their spouses from 1999-2004 went to
Republicans.

*64 of the 72 skybox fundraising events held by Abramoff between 1999 and
2003, were put on for Republicans, many of them members of the House
leadership, and many of them undisclosed.

JACK ABRAMOFF's REPUBLICAN RESUME:

HE AND HIS WIFE ONLY DONATED TO REPUBLICANS AND CONSERVATIVE PACS: From
1992-2004, Jack Abramoff and his wife personally donated $189,003 to
Republican candidates, and $111,735 to Republican and conservative PACs.
They donated no money to Democrats. [opensecrets.org
<http://www.opensecrets.org/> ]

A BUSH "PIONEER": Abramoff was a Bush "Pioneer," raising more than $100,000
for his reelection in ?04. [R. Jeffrey Smith, "A High-Powered Lobbyist?s
Swift Fall From Grace," Washington Post, 8/12/05.]

MEMBER OF BUSH'S PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION TEAM: Abramoff was a member of
Bush?s Presidential Transition Team, "advising the administration on policy
and hiring at the Interior Department, which oversees Native American
Issues." [Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey, "Oil Dilemma," Newsweek
Web-Exclusive Commentary, 4/21/05.]

TOM DELAY'S "CLOSEST AND DEAREST" FRIEND: Tom DeLay once called Abramoff one
of his "closest and dearest friends." [Jeff Shields, "GOP?s best friend
could be its nightmare," Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/7/05]

CHAIRMAN OF THE COLLEGE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Abramoff was chairman
of the College Republican National Committee in the early 80?s, where he met
his longtime associates Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed. [Michael Crowley, "A
Lobbyist in Full," New York Times, 5/1/05]

MAJOR PART OF THE REPUBLICAN'S "THE K STREET PROJECT": Abramoff was a major
part of "The K Street Project," in which lobbying firms were pressured to
hire and donate to Republicans. "It was my role to push the Republicans on K
Street to be more helpful to the conservative movement." [Michael Crowley,
"A Lobbyist in Full," New York Times, 5/1/05]

NEARLY 2/3RD OF CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ABRAMOFF'S TRIBAL CLIENTS, ABRAMOFF
HIMSELF, HIS LOBBYING TEAM, AND THEIR SPOUSES FROM 1999-2004 WENT TO
REPUBLICANS: Of the $5,355,039 in contributions from Abramoff?s tribal
clients, Abramoff himself, his lobbying team, and their spouses from
1999-2004, 63.7% of it went to Republicans. [Derek Willis and Laura Stanton,
"How Abramoff Spread the Wealth," Washington Post, 12/12/05
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2005/12/12/GR200512120
0286.html> ]

ALL FOUR LAWMAKERS KNOWN BE UNDER JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATIONS FOR THE
ABRAMOFF SCANDALS ARE REPUBLICANS: All four lawmakers known to be under
Justice Department investigation for the Abramoff scandal are Republicans
(Ney, Burns, Doolittle, and DeLay). A former Bush Administration official
has also been charged in the case. [Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi,
"Lawmakers Under Scrutiny in Probe of Lobbyist," Washington Post, 11/26/05]

64 OF HIS 72 SKYBOX FUNDRAISING EVENTS BETWEEN 1999 AND 2003 WERE PUT ON FOR
REPUBLICANS: Of the 72 skybox fundraising events held by Abramoff between
1999 and 2003, 64 were put on for Republicans, many of them members of the
House leadership, and many of them undisclosed. [Susan Schmidt and Jeffrey
H. Birnbaum, "Tribal Money Linked to GOP Fundraising," Washington Post,
12/26/04]

ACCORDING TO THE HILL, BIGGEST FIGURES IN THE ABRAMOFF SCANDALS ARE ALL
REPUBLICANS: In a December ?05 article, The Hill listed the 17 biggest
figures in the Abramoff scandal. All were Republican lawmakers, officials,
and aides save one, a business partner of Abramoff?s with ties to the mob.
[Josephine Hearn, "High-stakes players who gambled at the table with Casino
Jack," 12/7/05]

Why was Abramoff giving money to Diebold that counts 80% of our votes?

http://www.bbvdocs.org/diebold/pre-check-register.pdf

http://www.bbvdocs.org/diebold/pre-check-register.pdf

Not mentioned anywhere is -- why was Abramoff giving money to Diebold that
counts 80% of our votes? For pictures/photocopies of check and information,
you can see here in pdf format. (adobe) Then incredibly researched and
detailed article is below.

******
http://www.bbvdocs.org/moneytrail/greenberg.pdf A one-month check from
Abramoff to Diebold. This was recovered from McKinney, Texas ---- remember
the dumpster where a couple of women found all kinds of stuff thrown into
the dumpster???

Here is a corresponding payment, with the full words "Greenberg Traurig"

http://www.bbvdocs.org/diebold/pre-check-register.pdf

Printed from http://www.texasobserver.org
C Texas Democracy Foundation
http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle_new.asp?ArticleID=13 Return to
siteNot mentioned anywhere is -- why was Abramoff giving money to Diebold
that counts 80% of our votes? For pictures/photocopies of check and
information, you can see here in pdf format. (adobe) Then incredibly
researched and detailed article is below.
******

http://www.bbvdocs.org/moneytrail/greenberg.pdf A one-month check from
Abramoff to Diebold. This was recovered from McKinney, Texas ---- remember
the dumpster where a couple of women found all kinds of stuff thrown into
the dumpster???

Here is a corresponding payment, with the full words "Greenberg Traurig"
http://www.bbvdocs.org/diebold/pre-check-register.pdf

http://www.texasobserver.org/showForPrint_new.asp?ArticleID=13

Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist Billing Clients for Face Time with G.W.
Bush

BY LOU DUBOSE

our months after he took the oath of office in 2001, President George W.
Bush was the attraction, and the White House the venue, for a fundraiser
organized by the alleged perpetrator of the largest billing fraud in the
history of corporate lobbying. In May 2001, Jack Abramoff's lobbying client
book was worth $4.1 million in annual billing for the Greenberg Traurig law
firm. He was a friend of Bush advisor Karl Rove. He was a Bush "Pioneer,"
delivering at least $100,000 in bundled contributions to the 2000 campaign.
He had just concluded his work on the Bush Transition Team as an advisor to
the Department of the Interior. He had sent his personal assistant Susan
Ralston to the White House to work as Rove's personal assistant. He was a
close friend, advisor, and high-dollar fundraiser for the most powerful man
in Congress, Tom DeLay. Abramoff was so closely tied to the Bush
Administration that he could, and did, charge two of his clients $25,000 for
a White House lunch date and a meeting with the President. From the same two
clients he took to the White House in May 2001, Abramoff also obtained $2.5
million in contributions for a non-profit foundation he and his wife
operated.

Abramoff's White House guests were the chiefs of two of the six casino-rich
Indian tribes he and his partner Mike Scanlon ultimately billed $82 million
for services tribal leaders now claim were never performed or were
improperly performed. Together the six tribes would make $10 million in
political contributions, at Abramoff's direction, almost all of it to
Republican campaigns of his choosing. On started ATR in 1985. His power
increased exponentially in 1994, when Republicans took control of the House
of Representatives and he collaborated with then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay to
launch the "K Street Project"-a coordinated campaign to compel lobbyists to
contribute only to Republican candidates and ultimately to hire only
Republicans. Like Abramoff and Rove, Norquist considered George Bush's
victory over Al Gore the culmination of a project the three Washington
insiders started 30 years ago as national leaders of the College
Republicans.

Since the Post's Susan Schmidt broke the Jack Abramoff story, the media has
focused on the stunning $82 million Abramoff and Scanlon billed six tribes
for lobbying and public relations work. Far less attention has been paid to
the political contributions, by Abramoff's account $10 million, made by the
six tribes. That piece of the story involves the K Street Project, which
moves the money of corporate lobbyists and their clients into the accounts
of Republican candidates, PACs, and issue advocacy groups. May 9, 2001, when
he ushered the two tribal chiefs into the White House to meet the President,
The Washington Post story that would end his lobbying career and begin two
Senate Committee investigations was three years away. (When the Post story
broke in February 2004, however, Abramoff and Scanlon, a former Tom DeLay
press aide, were already targets of a U.S. Attorney's investigation in
Washington.)

Abramoff brought the Coushatta and Choctaw chiefs to Washington at the
request of Grover Norquist. Norquist is founder and director of Americans
for Tax Reform, the advocacy group committed to slashing taxes until the
federal government is so small you "can drown it in the bathtub." Norquist

Republican Campaign Accounts
Abramoff advised tribal leaders that the contributions were the cost of
doing business in Washington, where he could protect them from other tribes
trying to open casinos to compete with those that already had them. He sent
orders for the checks to be cut, designating each recipient. On March 6,
2002, for example, Coushatta Tribal Council Chair Lovelin Poncho followed
Abramoff's orders and disbursed $336,300 in tribal funds, according to
tribal accounting ledgers obtained by the Observer.

The Coushattas, a southwest Louisiana tribe of 837 members, operate a casino
that does an estimated $300 million in annual business. The $32 million they
paid Abramoff and Scanlon makes the tribe the largest victim of the fraud
their lawyers now allege in a lawsuit filed by Texas plaintiff's firm
Provost Umphrey. The tribe also contributed what tribal council member David
Sickey said was probably "many millions" of dollars to political causes and
charities designated by Abramoff.

Since we first reported the White House ATR fundraiser and the $1 million
contribution to the Capital Athletic Foundation (
<http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1800> see "K Street
Croupiers," November 19, 2004), the Coushattas, speaking through Austin
attorneys at Hance, Scarborough, Wright, Ginsburg & Brusilow, and through
Louisiana political consultant Roy Fletcher, have vociferously denied that
tribal Chairman Poncho visited the White House after contributing $25,000 to
ATR. They also denied the $1 million contribution to Abramoff's foundation.
Recently the story has changed. Or at least the version told by the majority
that controls the council has begun to change. Two minority members of the
five-seat council have pointed to the pay-to-play meeting with President
Bush and the $1 million contribution to Abramoff as examples of the
council's financial mismanagement. One of the two members of the minority
faction, David Sickey, has regularly made himself available to the press.
Normally, press inquiries to the council majority are answered by Hance
Scarborough, by Roy Fletcher, or occasionally by sources close to the
council majority.

According to a source close to the tribal majority, Chairman Poncho recently
"revisited that issue" of his visit to the White House. He had previously
denied it because he thought he was responding to press inquiries that
implied he had a one-on-one meeting with Bush. He now recalls that he in
fact did go to the White House on May 9, 2001. Tribal attorney Kathryn
Fowler Van Hoof went with him, although she did not get into the meeting
with the President. That meeting lasted for about 15 minutes and was not a
one-on-one meeting. At the meeting, Bush made some general comments about
Indian policy but did not discuss Indian gaming. Abramoff was at the
meeting-for which he charged the Coushatta Tribe $25,000. The change in
Poncho's position is odd in light of the fact that he and his spokespersons
have maintained for more than a year that he did not meet with President
Bush in May 2001.

Norquist has not responded to inquiries about using the White House as a
fundraiser. It is, however, a regular ATR practice to invite state
legislators and tribal leaders who have supported ATR anti-tax initiatives
to the White House for a personal thank-you from the President. A source at
ATR said no money is ever accepted from participants in these events. The
$25,000 check from the Coushattas suggests that, at least in this instance,
Norquist's organization made an exception. The $75,000 collected from the
Mississippi Choctaws and two corporate sponsors mentioned in Abramoff's
e-mail suggests there were other exceptions. Norquist recently wrote to the
tribes who paid to attend White House meetings. His story regarding that
event is also evolving. The contributions, he told tribal leaders in letters
that went out in May, were in no way related to any White House event. That
doesn't square with the paper trail Abramoff and Norquist left behind, which
makes it evident that they were selling access to the President.

The Coushatta Tribal Council majority has also revised its response to
questions about the $1 million contribution, which critics in the tribe have
insisted was made to Abramoff's Capital Athletic Foundation in 2001. The
foundation funded Abramoff's Jewish prep school in Bethesda, MD, which
closed soon after his lobbying scheme unraveled. When the Observer inquired
in November 2004 about the $1 million contribution, we had obtained a copy
of the Capital Athletic Foundation's tax filing, but the contributor's name
was redacted. Following the lead of Lake Charles, Louisiana, American Press
reporter Shawn Martin, the Observer last week obtained an un-redacted copy.
The $1 million contribution, roughly 95 percent of what the foundation
raised in 2001, was attributed to the Coushatta Tribe. A source working with
the Coushatta Tribal Council majority said it now appears that the
contribution was made in response to a bill sent by Mike Scanlon.
Accountants working under the direction of Hance Scarborough found a
$1-million Greenberg Traurig invoice that Scanlon sent the tribe. Scanlon
routinely sent un-itemized bills for larger sums, which the tribe routinely
paid. But as he was not a Greenberg Traurig employee, he billed on his own
Capitol Campaign Strategies invoices. On the $1 million Greenberg Traurig
invoice Scanlon sent the tribe in 2001, the company name was misspelled.

There will need to be more accounting, probably by different accountants.
And perhaps by different legal representation, or at least under a different
understanding between the tribe and its lawyers. In the May 28 tribal
election on the Elton, LA reservation, a reform slate won a majority on the
five-member council. Sickey, who five days before the election maintained
that the $1 million contribution was made and that tribal chair Poncho
indeed went to the White House in 2001, predicted the new majority will hire
forensic accountants to determine where all the money went. (A week before
the election he was looking for a tribal newsletter in which, he said,
Poncho described his 2001 White House visit.) The shift on the council does
not bode well for its Austin law firm. Hance Scarborough had gone to tribal
court and successfully blocked a recall election that would have forced the
council majority to stand for election a year ago, and David Sickey was a
proponent of the recall. "Kent Hance doesn't represent me or [the other
minority dissident] Harold John," said Sickey. "He represents Lovelin
Poncho."

The White House press office has not responded to our questions about other
visits Jack Abramoff might have made to the White House or about Norquist
using the official residence of the President to raise funds for Americans
for Tax Reform. None of the political contributions Abramoff insisted the
tribes make as yet have been returned.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-next-abramoff-shoe-to_b_13469.html

By Larisa Alexandrovna

As the Abramoff Scandal sqirms, so does the Bush Administration. What makes this particularly tantalizing is that it puts the White House squarely in the middle of a 2002 corruption investigation of a sleazy arrangement between Abramoff and Guam Superior Court officials. The chief prosecutor in the investigation was acting U.S. Atty. for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, Frederick A. Black. As the LA Times wrote back in August 2005, in more innocent times when Abramoff's shenanigans did not make front page news, Black was removed from his position as acting U.S. Attorney in November 2002. It was a position he had held for over a decade, and which he lost one day after a subpoena was issued demanding the release of records involving the Guam court's lobbying contract with Abramoff -- including bills and payments.

And if this is not a bizarre enough coincidence for you, Black's replacement, Leonardo Rapadas, was a cousin of "one of the main targets" of the Guam investigation. Rapadas, who had been recommended to Karl Rove for the U.S. Attorney position by a lobbyist under contract with Guam's Gutierrez Administration, whom Black had also been investigating, promptly recused himself, and the investigation was very conveniently ended.

Look for more news on this very soon. And this next Abramoff storm will be gathering momentum just as the White House is desperately trying to distance itself from Abramoff, and Scott McClellan insists that "the President does not know [Abramoff], nor does the President recall ever meeting him." Possibly true. But what's more scandalous -- shaking hands with the man or unethically jury-rigging a corruption investigation so he'd never have to see a jail cell? Unfolding...

Summary: The New York Times reported that President
Bush and other Republican lawmakers were moving to
return or donate to charity campaign contributions by
lobbyist Jack Abramoff in the wake of his plea
agreement. However, the Times omitted any reference to
the more than $100,000 Abramoff reportedly raised in
his capacity as a Bush-Cheney campaign "Pioneer,"
which the Republican National Committee, apparently
speaking for the Bush campaign, said the campaign has
no plans to donate or return.

A January 5 New York Times article reported that
President Bush and other Republican lawmakers were
moving to donate to charity or return campaign
contributions by Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff in
the wake of Abramoff's plea agreement, the carrying
out of which, the lobbyist said, could implicate as
many as 60 lawmakers and staff, according to The Wall
Street Journal. However, the Times article omitted any
reference to the more than $100,000 Abramoff
reportedly raised in his capacity as a Bush-Cheney '04
campaign "Pioneer," which the Republican National
Committee (RNC), apparently speaking for the Bush
campaign, reportedly said the campaign has no plans to
donate or return. White House press secretary Scott
McClellan said that the RNC will donate to the
American Heart Association the $6,000 contributed
directly by Abramoff, his wife, Pam, and a single
Abramoff client; McClellan directed questions about
the $100,000 bundled contributions to the RNC. In
contrast to the Times article, reports in The
Washington Post and Newsweek.com mentioned Abramoff's
Pioneer status in the campaign and Bush's refusal to
relinquish the funds Abramoff raised.

Anne E. Kornblut and Abby Goodnough wrote in the
Times:

President Bush and senior Republican lawmakers
moved on Wednesday to dump thousands of dollars in
campaign donations from Jack Abramoff, the former
lobbyist, hastily distancing themselves as he pleaded
guilty to two more criminal counts under his agreement
with prosecutors.

Mr. Bush will donate $6,000, the amount he
received from Mr. Abramoff, Mr. Abramoff's wife and a
lobbying client in his re-election campaign in 2004,
to the American Heart Association, a spokesman said.

However, The Washington Post reported that the
Bush-Cheney campaign has no plans to similarly
discharge the bundled contributions raised by
Abramoff, the sum total of which is reportedly well
over $100,000, and quoted RNC spokeswoman Tracey
Schmitt as saying, "At this point, there is nothing to
indicate that contributions from those individual
donors represents anything other than enthusiastic
support for the [Bush-Cheney] re-election campaign."

As the Post reported on May 16, 2004, Abramoff was one
of 64 lobbyists in a group of more than 300 Pioneers
and Rangers who bundled individual contributions for
Bush's 2004 presidential campaign. To earn Pioneer
status, individuals raised $100,000 or more for the
campaign.

Bush's campaign first organized a bundling system in
1998 as a way of formalizing a process whereby
individuals could take credit for raising sums of
money far beyond the then-$1,000 individual
contribution limits set by campaign finance law.
Individuals could raise additional contributions from
friends and associates and bundle those contributions
together and forward them to the campaign. The system
expanded significantly in 2004, with the
implementation of a four-digit ID code for each
prospective Pioneer or Ranger. Individuals were
credited only for checks carrying their individual ID
numbers.

Abramoff told The New York Times in July 2003 -- more
than a year before the election -- that he had already
raised at least $120,000 for Bush. Though his final
bundled total has not been released by the Bush-Cheney
campaign, his status as Pioneer would indicate that it
was less than $200,000, the threshold for Ranger
status.

From the January 5 Washington Post article:

Abramoff raised more than $100,000 for the
Bush-Cheney reelection campaign, making him an
honorary Bush "Pioneer." But the campaign is giving up
only $6,000, which came directly from Abramoff, his
wife and one of the Indian tribes the lobbyist
represented. The money will be donated to the American
Heart Association.

The gesture was criticized by the watchdog group
Public Citizen, which called for an accounting of all
the money that Abramoff had raised for the campaign.

"President Bush needs to ... reveal just how much
money Abramoff raised for him and who that money came
from," said Frank Clemente, director of Public
Citizen's Congress Watch.

But McClellan contested any suggestion that
Abramoff's fundraising had won him any special favors
or access.

"If someone thinks that money is coming in with
strings attached, it doesn't get in the door," he
said.

From a January 4 Newsweek.com commentary by Richard
Wolffe and Holly Bailey:

Yet the Bush-Cheney campaign is returning only a
fraction of the campaign contributions it received
with Abramoff connections. During the 2004 campaign,
Abramoff was a top fund-raiser for the Bush
re-election effort, raising more than $100,000 for the
campaign. While exact figures on how much he raised
for the campaign aren't known, Abramoff told The New
York Times in July 2003 -- months before active
fund-raising began -- that he had already raised
$120,000 for the Bush-Cheney campaign. "And I haven't
even started making phone calls," the lobbyist told
the Times. An Orthodox Jew, Abramoff was considered an
important intermediary between Jewish groups and the
Bush campaign, which worked heavily to make inroads
with the voting bloc. When fund-raising began for
Bush's re-election effort, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, a
prominent Seattle radio host and activist, urged
friends and colleagues to steer campaign checks to
Bush via Abramoff.

For now, the Bush-Cheney campaign has no plans to
donate or return funds raised by Abramoff from other
individuals. "At this point, there is nothing to
indicate that contributions from those individual
donors represents anything other than enthusiastic
support for the [Bush-Cheney] re-election campaign,"
RNC spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said.

— R.M.

Controversial lobbyist had close contact with Bush team
USA Today - May 7, 2005
WASHINGTON (AP) - In President Bush's first 10 months, GOP fundraiser Jack
Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the new
administration as they pressed for friendly hires at federal agencies and
sought to keep the Northern Mariana Islands exempt from the minimum wage and
other laws, records show.
Abramoff remains under investigation for some of his
lobbying work. Dennis Cook, AP
The meetings between Abramoff's lobbying team and the administration
ranged from Attorney General John Ashcroft to policy advisers in Vice
President Dick Cheney's office, according to his lobbying firm billing
records.
Abramoff, a $100,000-plus fundraiser for Bush, is now under criminal
investigation for some of his lobbying work. His firm boasted its lobbying
team helped revise a section of the Republican Party's 2000 platform to make
it favorable to its island client.
In addition, two of Abramoff's lobbying colleagues on the Marianas won
political appointments inside federal agencies.
"Our standing with the new administration promises to be solid as several
friends of the CNMI (islands) will soon be taking high-ranking positions in
the Administration, including within the Interior Department," Abramoff
wrote in a January 2001 letter in which he persuaded the island government
to follow him as a client to his new lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig.
The reception Abramoff's team received from the Bush administration was in
stark contrast to the chilly relations of the Clinton years. Abramoff, then
at the Preston Gates firm, scored few meetings with Clinton aides and the
lobbyist and the islands vehemently opposed White House attempts to extend
U.S. labor laws to the territory's clothing factories.
The records from Abramoff's firm, obtained by The Associated Press from
the Marianas under an open records request, chronicle Abramoff's careful
cultivation of relations with Bush's political team as far back as 1997.
In that year, Abramoff charged the Marianas for getting then-Texas Gov.
George W. Bush to write a letter expressing support for the Pacific
territory's school choice proposal, his billing records show.
"I hope you will keep my office informed on the progress of this
initiative," Bush wrote in a July 18, 1997, letter praising the islands'
school plan and copying in an Abramoff deputy.
White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said Thursday that Bush didn't consider
Abramoff a friend. "They may have met on occasion, but the president does
not know him," she said.
As for the number of Abramoff lobbying team contacts with Bush officials
documented in the billing records, Healy said: "We do not know how he
defines 'contacts.'"
Andrew Blum, a spokesman for Abramoff, declined comment.