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Abramoff's Fecal Tempest Touches More than DeLay & Hastert Email Print

By D Cupples
11/12/2005 12:19:06 PM EST

As you know, some of the 300-plus pages in the Senate Indian Affairs Committee  exhibits (released Nov. 2, 2005) link Republican officials to the Abramoff scandal.  Page numbers and brief descriptions of some of those docs are listed below, following some background info.

BACKGROUND

One of Abramoff's numerous lobbying scams involved the Jena Choctaws, an impoverished Indian tribe that got the Louisiana Governor's okay to build a casino.  The tribe also needed approval from the U.S. Department of Interior, headed by Gale Norton (appointed 2001).  

Two casino-owning Abramoff clients [the Louisiana Coushattas and Mississippi Choctaws] feared competition from new casinos.  On those tribes' behalf, Abramoff tried to get Interior to reject the Jenas' casino plans by lobbying Interior staff and getting certain congressmen to pressure Norton directly.

In 2002, Norton killed the Jena's casino plan.  In 2003, she approved their re-submitted plan, after the Jenas reportedly got support from R-heavyweights Haley Barbour and Billy Tauzin.

Back in 1999, Gale Norton, Grover Norquist and Italia Federici co-founded the "Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy" (CREA), a questionably named group that fights for corporate interests.  Federici was CREA's president while Abramoff generated fecal matter that started hurtling toward the fan in 2004.  

Incidentally, Abramoff funneled about a quarter-million dollars to the CREA while pressuring Norton and Interior staff to reject the Jenas' plans.  Meanwhile, Abramoff also funneled Indian-gambling dollars to Ralph Reed (former Christian Coalition head, former Enron consultant, and current contender for Lt. Governor of Georgia), who orchestrated "grass roots" anti-gambling campaigns to defeat the Jenas.

You can download the Senate Committee's exhibits here.  Because it's a pdf file, I couldn't link to pages, but page numbers are listed below.

GALE NORTON

Page 4: the Coushattas and Mississippi Choctaws agreed to pay for polls conducted by CREA "on behalf of Gayle [sic] Norton."

Page 188:  Norton's then-deputy at Interior thought Abramoff and Reed's "finger prints" were all over the anti-Norton PR-campaign; Abramoff denied it in one email but admitted in another that Reed was "bombing" Norton.

Pages 248-49:  Federici asked Abramoff for a donation to CREA because the group had spent all of last year's budget; Abramoff asked Federici to get Norton's then-deputy to "put Kibosh" on Louisiana Governor's support of the Jenas.

TOM DELAY

Page 205:  Abramoff said DeLay wants donations for the Capitol Athletic Foundation (CAF), one of Abramoff's "charities" that funneled money to various R-politicians (e.g., paying for Tom DeLay's $150,000 trip to Scotland in 2000); Abramoff bragged that he already got $25K apiece from 6 clients.  

Pages 206-07:  Tony Rudy (DeLay's aide at the time) said that it's okay for Abramoff to mention the "leadership" when asking for donations to the CAF.

Pages 214:  Abramoff said he's getting "daily calls" seeking donation's to the CAF and thinks "tom himself" will call about it.

Pages 218-19:  Abramoff reminded the Saginaw Chippawa tribe to donate to CAF "per delay [sic] request."

HASTERT, DELAY, BLUNT, CANTOR

Pages 277-78: a jointly-signed letter to Norton opposing the Jenas' casino.

ROY BLUNT (Interim House Maj. Leader)

Pages 275:  Blunt's individual letter to Norton opposing the Jenas' casino.

DEBORAH PRYCE (R-OH)

Pages 279-80:  Pryce's individual letter to Norton opposing the Jenas' casino.

HALEY BARBOUR

Pages 169-171: Abramoff's team seemed unnerved by the fact that the Jenas hired the lobbying firm of Republican heavyweight Haley Barbour; Abramoff asked Ralph Reed to get James Dobson (Christian radio-show host) to "hit" Haley for it.  

BILLY TAUZIN

According to the Washington Post, then-House-Commerce-Committ ee-Chair Billy Tauzin Billy (R-LA) also supported the Jenas.  I didn't find that email in the exhibits released on Nov. 2, but it may be in earlier exhibits.

Cross-posted at DailyKos.


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Abramoff's Fecal Tempest Touches More than DeLay & Hastert | 9 comments (9 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
And don't forget.... (none / 0)
For those of you who want even more reason to read the document dcupples is writing about, this IS the place where you can hear the Republican operative refering to his GOP bed-partner, the Christian Right, as "wackos" ---- ON THE RECORD!

by jlhagstrom on 11/12/2005 01:06:16 PM EST

Thanks for the reminder (none / 0)
Yes, the quote is on page 119 of the Nov. 2 exhibits.  It was from Mike Scanlon (Abramoff's partner), when he was explaining why a casino-owning client shouldn't run anti-gambling ads in mainstream media (Exb., 119):

"Simply put we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them.  The wackos get their information form [sic] the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees."

by D Cupples on 11/12/2005 07:59:25 PM EST

[ Parent ]
This is an EXCELLENT article (none / 0)
Very well researched and written; kudos!

by S M Dixon on 11/12/2005 01:43:32 PM EST

I've been waiting... (none / 0)
....for a clear explaination of this issue and this is it. Kudos, Cupples.

I'm also thrilled that I have now written the previous sentence at least once in my life.

The Albany Project. The best damned blog about New York State politics.

by NYBri on 11/12/2005 05:24:05 PM EST

Thanks. (none / 0)
Of course, the Jenas are only one tribe that Abramoff and company betrayed.  And as someone on Kos pointed out, they were involved in more than just the Indian-gam scam.

by D Cupples on 11/12/2005 08:02:23 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Its amazing (none / 0)
that the GOP is so aligned with gambling, liquor and tobacco interests. And the Christian Right "wackos" go along for the ride.

by Lekker on 11/13/2005 01:21:45 AM EST

[ Parent ]
You make a good point, and (none / 0)
I can't help feeling outraged on the "wackos'" behalf.  

by D Cupples on 11/13/2005 01:49:47 AM EST

[ Parent ]
One more interesting tidbit (none / 0)
This one comes from emails between Abramoff and Scanlon where they are discussing Choctaw money that Ralph Reed set up to funnel through Grover Norquist's group Americans for Tax Reform.

Apparently, even thieves have limits and Ralph had gone over the line:

The e-mails released Wednesday showed Abramoff and his Washington partner, Michael Scanlon, considered dumping Reed in 2002 in order to keep more of the money they were draining from tribal clients.

He is a bad version of us! no more money for him, Abramoff wrote to Scanlon.

The man who is running for Lt. Governor of GA, Ralph Reed, is considered bad news by his partners in crime.

The link to this is in the archives, so this is the citation:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Author: JIM GALLOWAY
Section: News
Page: A1
June 23, 2005

All it takes to fly is to hurl yourself at the ground... and miss. (Douglas Adams)

by scoophound on 11/13/2005 01:32:08 PM EST

Cutting Ralph Out (none / 0)
I found two emails seeming to mention cutting out Ralph:  Exhibits pages 144 and 177.

They're vague (i.e., context seemed to be missing).  I don't know why, but I got the impression that Ralph had done something that angered Abramoff/Scanlon, had asked for too much money, or had failed to come through on something.

by D Cupples on 11/13/2005 08:08:21 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Abramoff's Fecal Tempest Touches More than DeLay & Hastert | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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