Texas tribe names Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed in suit
Found this story linked at Buzzflash
Texas tribe names Abramoff, Reed in suit
By SUZANNE GAMBOA, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jul 12, 7:40 PM ET
WASHINGTON - A Texas Indian tribe filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday alleging that ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and their associates engaged in fraud and racketeering to shut down the tribe’s casino.
The Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Livingston, Texas, alleged the defendants defrauded the tribe, the people of Texas and the Legislature to benefit another of Abramoff’s clients — the Louisiana Coushatta tribe — and “line their pockets with money.”
“Ultimately, the defendants’ greed and corruption led to the Alabama-Coushatta tribe permanently shutting its casino. The funding for economic programs evaporated, over 300 jobs were lost in Polk County and the Alabama-Coushatta tribe has spent years struggling to recover and revitalize its economy through other means,” the tribe said in its lawsuit, obtained by The Associated Press.
The lawsuit also names Abramoff’s ex-business partner Michael Scanlon, a former aide to former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas; Neil Volz, a former aide to Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio; and Jon Van Horne, Abramoff’s former colleague at his law and lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig.
Although the tribe alleges Greenberg Traurig was part of the scheme, it did not name the firm as a defendant. Attorney Fred Petti said the tribe is in settlement discussions with the firm.
The tribe did not specify how much money it is seeking in the lawsuit. Petti said it is asking for the amount of revenue it lost since it was forced to close down its casino. The casino operated for only nine months and shut down in 2002.
“It’ll be in the tens if not the hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said.
Without its casino, the Alabama-Coushatta tribe has lost opportunities to improve housing, roads and education programs for its members, said tribal chairwoman Jo Ann Battise.
“What we’re looking for through this lawsuit is the right to make our own decisions, the right to run our own gaming operations, the right to have the same opportunity as other tribes across the nation,” Battise said in Austin, Texas, where the lawsuit was filed.
Abramoff, Scanlon and Volz have pleaded guilty in a public corruption probe involving Abramoff’s former tribal clients and possibly members of Congress. The Alabama-Coushatta never hired Abramoff.
The Alabama-Coushatta’s casino, on its reservation north of Houston, was closed in 2002 by a federal court ruling in a 1999 lawsuit filed by the state’s then attorney general, John Cornyn, now a U.S. senator.
The Alabama-Coushatta said Abramoff and others conspired to defeat a bill in the 2001 Legislature that would have allowed it to operate gaming on its reservation. Reed helped to rally Christians against the bill with a group he formed, Committee Against Gambling, the tribe alleged.
The tribe, which says it has strong Christian values, alleges Reed’s group called state legislators, sent targeted mailings to voters and ran radio ads against the bill without revealing their true origins, preventing the tribe from fighting back.
“They made it appear as if they were operating on behalf of religious groups, but in fact they were operating on behalf of the Louisiana-Coushatta,” Petti said.
Lisa Baron, communications director of the Reed for Lt. Governor campaign, said in a statement: “This frivolous lawsuit is utterly without merit. The illegal casino violated Texas and federal law and was ordered closed by a federal judge. As a longtime opponent of casino gambling, Ralph was happy to work with Texas pro-family citizens to close it.”
Attempts to get comment on Abramoff’s behalf were not immediately successful.
Reed’s work made the opposition to the tribe’s casino appear to be based on Christian concerns, not competitive concerns from its sister tribe, the Alabama-Coushatta said.
Had the public or tribe known the Louisiana Coushatta tribe was the main opponent, Christian groups would have been “less mobilized.” Because the Texas and Louisiana tribes share family ties, Louisiana Coushatta members would have opposed the attack on their sister tribe, the Alabama-Coushatta said.
“They pitted Christian against Christian, tribe against tribe and cousin against cousin,” the tribe said.
The tribe also alleges that Abramoff fraudulently bilked it of $50,000 and used it to “bribe” Ney with a golfing trip to Scotland in exchange for “fixing” its gaming problem. In his guilty plea, Abramoff said Ney accepted the trip knowing the tribal clients paid for the trip. Ney has repeatedly said he is innocent of wrongdoing.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court’s western district of Texas in Austin
July 19th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Ralph Reed became the first political casualty of Jack Abramoff’s lobbying scandals yesterday. Voters in the Georgia Republican primary passed judgment that they did not want someone who put political money before morals.
Together, we played a leading role in educating voters about Reed’s connections to the Washington scandals, and we ought to be proud today that our work paid off. In the critical final period leading to the primary election, we:
Ran a hard-hitting radio ad calling Reed out for his hypocrisy for calling gambling “a cancer,” then taking millions in lobbying fees from tribal gambling interests.
Aired a television ad in the last days of the campaign that used Reed’s own words to expose the work he did to oppose legislation that would have protected women workers on the Northern Marianas Islands from exploitation by their employers.
Delivered approximately 200,000 recorded phone messages to targeted Republican voters highlighting themes similar to those of our paid advertising.
Reed was supposed to waltz through this primary on his way to the Lieutenant Governor post, but our collective efforts ensured he couldn’t escape his pay-to-play past. The generous support of our members made this effort possible.
We will build from this success in holding a politician accountable for pay-to-play politics. In the coming weeks, we will roll out an ambitious plan to take our voter education effort to many of the most hotly-contested congressional races in the country. We’ll talk about where candidates stand on the Voters First Pledge, and what favors they’ve done for political contributors.
As I’m quoted saying in this morning’s New York Times, “It’s clear that politicians that put money before their morals should be very worried by these results.” They may be worried this morning, but I think you’d agree that far too few will change their ways without significant pressure from people like us.
Today, we thank you for making our work possible and for fighting alongside us to show that concerned citizens can hold politicians accountable for their actions. There’s much work to do, and we should feel emboldened by these results to do it.
Thank you,
David Donnelly
Director
Public Campaign Action Fund’s Campaign Money Watch project
P.S. Our work is not done — across the nation politicians continue to do favors for wealthy interests at the expense of average citizens and we need to hold them accountable. Support our ongoing work today!
P.P.S. If you’re a Mac user you may not be able to access our links directly, please copy and paste these links into your browser window. To read the New York Times story: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/us/19georgia.html?ex=1153972800&en=d5e8a4a67709f133&ei=5070&emc=eta1
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