From TPM Muckraker:
"Newly disclosed e-mails suggest that the ax fell [on State Department Official Allen Stayman] after intervention by one of the highest officials at the White House: Ken Mehlman, on behalf of one of the most influential lobbyists in town, Jack Abramoff....
"Besides the Stayman matter, the e-mails reveal Mehlman's role in helping an Abramoff client, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, secure $16.3 million for a new jail that government analysts concluded was not necessary. Mehlman also helped Abramoff obtain a White House endorsement in 2002 of the Republican gubernatorial ticket in the U.S. territory of Guam....
"The senior Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles, points to e-mails suggesting that in June 2001, amid negotiations over whether to fire Stayman, Mehlman requested and might have been given two U2 concert tickets in Abramoff's suite at what was then the MCI Center (now the Verizon Center)." (LA Times)
Foley Ethics Probe to Enter Its Second Week
"With the House page scandal weighing on GOP candidates, an ethics committee investigation will enter its second full week with many important figures still to be interviewed....
"[Top] GOP leaders, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert [R-IL] and Majority Leader John Boehner [R-OH] have yet to testify. Nor have senior Hastert aides who dealt last fall with [former Rep. Mark] Foley's inappropriate e-mails to a former page but claim they never told their boss." (AP)
Police Find No Report of Foley Dorm Incident
"U.S. Capitol Police said yesterday that they have no record of an alleged incident in which then-Rep. Mark Foley [R-FL] supposedly tried to enter a Capitol Hill dormitory for teenage pages.
"The purported nighttime incident has been cited by lawmakers and a key witness in the scandal that involves Foley's interactions with congressional pages and the House's handling of the matter. Unlike sexually graphic electronic messages that Foley sent to teenage boys, evidence of the alleged dorm incident has proved elusive." (WaPo)
Kolbe Camping Trip Being Investigated
"Federal prosecutors in Arizona have opened a preliminary investigation into a camping trip that an Arizona lawmaker took with two former pages and others in 1996, according to a law enforcement official.
"Rep. Jim Kolbe [R-AZ] took the former pages as well as staff members and National Park Service officials on a Fourth of July rafting trip in the Grand Canyon in 1996, his spokeswoman Korenna Cline said Friday." (AP)
Candidates Taking Aim at Lobbyists
"In close contests from Connecticut to California, Republicans and Democrats are attacking each other for getting too close to "special interests" and lobbyists. The accusation, a longtime election staple, is carrying greater heft than usual, election experts agree, thanks to the guilty plea of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in January and the recent e-mail scandal of former representative Mark Foley [R-FL]...
More Here
Monday, October 16, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Displease a Lobbyist, Get Fired
E-mails show Jack Abramoff's ability to influence White House staffing decisions through his highly placed friends.
By Peter Wallsten
Times Staff Writer
October 15, 2006
WASHINGTON — For five years, Allen Stayman wondered who ordered his removal from a State Department job negotiating agreements with tiny Pacific island nations — even when his own bosses wanted him to stay.
Now he knows.
Newly disclosed e-mails suggest that the ax fell after intervention by one of the highest officials at the White House: Ken Mehlman, on behalf of one of the most influential lobbyists in town, Jack Abramoff.
The e-mails show that Abramoff, whose client list included the Northern Mariana Islands, had long opposed Stayman's work advocating labor changes in that U.S. commonwealth, and considered what his lobbying team called the "Stayman project" a high priority.
"Mehlman said he would get him fired," an Abramoff associate wrote after meeting with Mehlman, who was then White House political director.
The exchange illustrates how, more than two years after the corruption scandal surrounding the now-disgraced Abramoff came to light, people are still learning the extent of the lobbyist's ability to pull the levers of power in Washington. The latest revelations provide more detail than the Bush administration has acknowledged about how Abramoff and his team reached into high levels of the White House, not just Capitol Hill, which has been the main focus of the influence-peddling investigation.
The e-mails, disclosed as part of a report by the House Government Reform Committee, show how Abramoff manipulated the system through officials such as Mehlman, now the chairman of the Republican National Committee. Doing so, Abramoff directed government appointments, influenced policy decisions and won White House endorsements for political candidates — all in the service of his clients.
The report found more than 400 lobbying contacts between Abramoff's team and the White House.
Besides the Stayman matter, the e-mails reveal Mehlman's role in helping an Abramoff client, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, secure $16.3 million for a new jail that government analysts concluded was not necessary. Mehlman also helped Abramoff obtain a White House endorsement in 2002 of the Republican gubernatorial ticket in the U.S. territory of Guam.
Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to federal charges in a congressional bribery investigation that continues to loom over Capitol Hill and the GOP. A Senate subcommittee concluded that Abramoff fleeced Indian tribes out of millions of dollars in fees that he split with one of his associates.
The scandal has touched just one West Wing staffer, Susan Ralston, a onetime Abramoff aide who resigned this month as executive assistant to strategist Karl Rove after congressional investigators documented frequent contact with the lobbyist's team.
Mehlman said he did not recall the details of his contacts with the Abramoff team, including discussions about Stayman, the former State Department official. But he said such interactions were part of his job as White House political director.
"I was a gateway," Mehlman said in an interview. "It was my job to talk to political supporters, to hear their requests, and hand them on to policymakers."
Mehlman said he had known Abramoff since the mid-1990s and would listen to his requests along with those of other influential Republicans.
"I know Jack," Mehlman said. "I certainly recall that if he and others wanted to meet I would have met with them, as I would have met with lots of people."
Mehlman, a Baltimore native and graduate of Harvard Law School, has remained a GOP power player since stepping down as political director in 2003. He built the party's grass-roots get-out-the-vote strategy, managing President Bush's 2004 reelection campaign before taking over the RNC last year.
Read more here
Now Mehlman is on the Abramoff hot seat!
By Peter Wallsten
Times Staff Writer
October 15, 2006
WASHINGTON — For five years, Allen Stayman wondered who ordered his removal from a State Department job negotiating agreements with tiny Pacific island nations — even when his own bosses wanted him to stay.
Now he knows.
Newly disclosed e-mails suggest that the ax fell after intervention by one of the highest officials at the White House: Ken Mehlman, on behalf of one of the most influential lobbyists in town, Jack Abramoff.
The e-mails show that Abramoff, whose client list included the Northern Mariana Islands, had long opposed Stayman's work advocating labor changes in that U.S. commonwealth, and considered what his lobbying team called the "Stayman project" a high priority.
"Mehlman said he would get him fired," an Abramoff associate wrote after meeting with Mehlman, who was then White House political director.
The exchange illustrates how, more than two years after the corruption scandal surrounding the now-disgraced Abramoff came to light, people are still learning the extent of the lobbyist's ability to pull the levers of power in Washington. The latest revelations provide more detail than the Bush administration has acknowledged about how Abramoff and his team reached into high levels of the White House, not just Capitol Hill, which has been the main focus of the influence-peddling investigation.
The e-mails, disclosed as part of a report by the House Government Reform Committee, show how Abramoff manipulated the system through officials such as Mehlman, now the chairman of the Republican National Committee. Doing so, Abramoff directed government appointments, influenced policy decisions and won White House endorsements for political candidates — all in the service of his clients.
The report found more than 400 lobbying contacts between Abramoff's team and the White House.
Besides the Stayman matter, the e-mails reveal Mehlman's role in helping an Abramoff client, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, secure $16.3 million for a new jail that government analysts concluded was not necessary. Mehlman also helped Abramoff obtain a White House endorsement in 2002 of the Republican gubernatorial ticket in the U.S. territory of Guam.
Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to federal charges in a congressional bribery investigation that continues to loom over Capitol Hill and the GOP. A Senate subcommittee concluded that Abramoff fleeced Indian tribes out of millions of dollars in fees that he split with one of his associates.
The scandal has touched just one West Wing staffer, Susan Ralston, a onetime Abramoff aide who resigned this month as executive assistant to strategist Karl Rove after congressional investigators documented frequent contact with the lobbyist's team.
Mehlman said he did not recall the details of his contacts with the Abramoff team, including discussions about Stayman, the former State Department official. But he said such interactions were part of his job as White House political director.
"I was a gateway," Mehlman said in an interview. "It was my job to talk to political supporters, to hear their requests, and hand them on to policymakers."
Mehlman said he had known Abramoff since the mid-1990s and would listen to his requests along with those of other influential Republicans.
"I know Jack," Mehlman said. "I certainly recall that if he and others wanted to meet I would have met with them, as I would have met with lots of people."
Mehlman, a Baltimore native and graduate of Harvard Law School, has remained a GOP power player since stepping down as political director in 2003. He built the party's grass-roots get-out-the-vote strategy, managing President Bush's 2004 reelection campaign before taking over the RNC last year.
Read more here
Now Mehlman is on the Abramoff hot seat!
Friday, October 13, 2006
Rep. Ney pleads guilty; GOP vows ouster
By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 4 minutes ago
Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record) pleaded guilty Friday in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation, the first lawmaker to confess to crimes in an election-year scandal that has stained the Republican-controlled Congress and the Bush administration.
Standing before Judge Ellen S. Huvelle, Ney pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements. He acknowledged taking money, gifts and favors in return for official actions on behalf of Abramoff and his clients.
Ney did not immediately resign from Congress, and within minutes, Republican and Democratic leaders vowed to expel him unless he steps down. The White House also called for Ney's resignation.
Beleaguered GOP leaders, struggling to overcome fallout from a separate scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record) and teenage male pages, said they would make Ney's ouster the "first order of business" in a postelection session.
"I never intended my career in public service to end this way, and I am ashamed it did," Ney said in a written statement issued moments after his plea.
The 52-year-old lawmaker faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. Huvelle said prosecutors had agreed to recommend a term of 27 months, and said federal guidelines suggest a fine of between $5,000 and $60,000.
Ney did not resign his seat. Several officials have said the congressman is financially strapped and needs his $165,200 annual paycheck and benefits as long as he can continue to receive them.
Ney's lawyer, Mark Touhey, told the judge he would resign before sentencing on Jan. 19. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republican leaders said he would be gone far more quickly than that.
"It is long past time for a new direction that restores integrity and civility to the House," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), the Democratic leader.
Ney is the latest in a string of once-influential men convicted in a scandal that so far has caught several lobbyists and two members of the Bush administration.
Abramoff, the Republican super-lobbyist, admitted guilt in January after secretly cooperating with prosecutors for weeks.
Two former aides to Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, have also pleaded guilty, as has Ney's former chief of staff.
Additionally, Roger Stillwell, a former Interior Department official, pleaded guilty in August to a misdemeanor charge for not reporting tickets he received from Abramoff.
And former White House official David Safavian, who had been the Bush administration's top procurement official, was convicted of covering up his dealings with Abramoff. He is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 27.
Ney confessed his wrongdoing in a federal courthouse a few blocks distant from the Capitol, where until recently he wielded a chairman's gavel.
The first charge accused Ney of conspiring to commit "honest services" fraud, a combination of mail and wire fraud often used in public corruption cases. The second count charges Ney with not revealing his gifts from Abramoff on financial disclosure forms.
Ney acknowledged accepting all-expense-paid and reduced-price trips to play golf in Scotland in August 2002, to gamble and vacation in New Orleans in May 2003 and to vacation in New York in August 2003. The total cost of all the trips — in which others, including some aides, participated — exceeded $170,000, prosecutors said.
Ney also admitted accepting meals and sports and concert tickets for himself and his staff.
The Ohio Republican did not speak with reporters as he entered or left the building. It was his first public appearance since quietly entering an alcohol rehabilitation program last month.
The written statement referred to that. "The treatment and counseling I have started have been very helpful, but I know that I am not done yet and that I have more work to do to deal with my alcohol dependency," it said.
The statement read like a cautionary tale for others who might be tempted by the allure of the Capitol. "I never acted to enrich myself or to get things I shouldn't, but over time, I allowed myself to get too comfortable with the way things have been done in Washington DC for too long," it said.
Until recently, Ney had insisted he would seek a new term. He reversed course in August, under pressure from party leaders who feared the loss of his seat if he remained on the ballot. The race to replace him is competitive, with Zach Space, the Democrat, running ahead of Republican Joy Padgett in several polls.
Inside the courtroom, Huvelle spent nearly a half-hour asking the sandy-haired congressman a series of questions about whether he understood the charges and agreed that he had taken money, gifts and favors in return for official actions on behalf of Abramoff and his clients.
At the end she asked him how he pleaded to the conspiracy count, he replied, "I plead guilty your honor."
Asked how he pleaded to the count of false statements, he replied, "I plead guilty, your honor."
LINK
1 hour, 4 minutes ago
Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record) pleaded guilty Friday in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation, the first lawmaker to confess to crimes in an election-year scandal that has stained the Republican-controlled Congress and the Bush administration.
Standing before Judge Ellen S. Huvelle, Ney pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements. He acknowledged taking money, gifts and favors in return for official actions on behalf of Abramoff and his clients.
Ney did not immediately resign from Congress, and within minutes, Republican and Democratic leaders vowed to expel him unless he steps down. The White House also called for Ney's resignation.
Beleaguered GOP leaders, struggling to overcome fallout from a separate scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record) and teenage male pages, said they would make Ney's ouster the "first order of business" in a postelection session.
"I never intended my career in public service to end this way, and I am ashamed it did," Ney said in a written statement issued moments after his plea.
The 52-year-old lawmaker faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. Huvelle said prosecutors had agreed to recommend a term of 27 months, and said federal guidelines suggest a fine of between $5,000 and $60,000.
Ney did not resign his seat. Several officials have said the congressman is financially strapped and needs his $165,200 annual paycheck and benefits as long as he can continue to receive them.
Ney's lawyer, Mark Touhey, told the judge he would resign before sentencing on Jan. 19. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republican leaders said he would be gone far more quickly than that.
"It is long past time for a new direction that restores integrity and civility to the House," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), the Democratic leader.
Ney is the latest in a string of once-influential men convicted in a scandal that so far has caught several lobbyists and two members of the Bush administration.
Abramoff, the Republican super-lobbyist, admitted guilt in January after secretly cooperating with prosecutors for weeks.
Two former aides to Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, have also pleaded guilty, as has Ney's former chief of staff.
Additionally, Roger Stillwell, a former Interior Department official, pleaded guilty in August to a misdemeanor charge for not reporting tickets he received from Abramoff.
And former White House official David Safavian, who had been the Bush administration's top procurement official, was convicted of covering up his dealings with Abramoff. He is scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 27.
Ney confessed his wrongdoing in a federal courthouse a few blocks distant from the Capitol, where until recently he wielded a chairman's gavel.
The first charge accused Ney of conspiring to commit "honest services" fraud, a combination of mail and wire fraud often used in public corruption cases. The second count charges Ney with not revealing his gifts from Abramoff on financial disclosure forms.
Ney acknowledged accepting all-expense-paid and reduced-price trips to play golf in Scotland in August 2002, to gamble and vacation in New Orleans in May 2003 and to vacation in New York in August 2003. The total cost of all the trips — in which others, including some aides, participated — exceeded $170,000, prosecutors said.
Ney also admitted accepting meals and sports and concert tickets for himself and his staff.
The Ohio Republican did not speak with reporters as he entered or left the building. It was his first public appearance since quietly entering an alcohol rehabilitation program last month.
The written statement referred to that. "The treatment and counseling I have started have been very helpful, but I know that I am not done yet and that I have more work to do to deal with my alcohol dependency," it said.
The statement read like a cautionary tale for others who might be tempted by the allure of the Capitol. "I never acted to enrich myself or to get things I shouldn't, but over time, I allowed myself to get too comfortable with the way things have been done in Washington DC for too long," it said.
Until recently, Ney had insisted he would seek a new term. He reversed course in August, under pressure from party leaders who feared the loss of his seat if he remained on the ballot. The race to replace him is competitive, with Zach Space, the Democrat, running ahead of Republican Joy Padgett in several polls.
Inside the courtroom, Huvelle spent nearly a half-hour asking the sandy-haired congressman a series of questions about whether he understood the charges and agreed that he had taken money, gifts and favors in return for official actions on behalf of Abramoff and his clients.
At the end she asked him how he pleaded to the conspiracy count, he replied, "I plead guilty your honor."
Asked how he pleaded to the count of false statements, he replied, "I plead guilty, your honor."
LINK
GOP congressman pleaded guilty today to accepting bribes for votes in Abramoff scandal. Then why is he staying in office until January?
by John in DC - 10/13/2006 11:39:00 AM
There will very likely be a lame duck session of congress following the November elections. Why in God's name should Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), an admitted criminal, be permitted to attend that session, vote during that session? The man just admitted to accepting bribes to influence his votes, and we're going to let him vote some more? That's a bit like giving Mark Foley a few more pages for his retirement.
Despite his guilty pleas, Ney did not resign his seat in Congress. His lawyer, Mark Touhey, told the judge he would do so before sentencing on Jan. 19. Under the Constitution, he'll be gone before then. His term expires when the new Congress is sworn in at noon on Jan. 3.
He is now an admitted criminal.
What is he doing staying in the Republican Congress? Being permitted to vote AGAIN?
I'll tell you why. Because the Republicans are afraid they may lose control of the congress and they'd rather leave in power a criminal, who takes bribes to influence his votes, than risk losing the seat.
So politics trumps ethics and morality and good government in the Republican party.
I'll bet the Mark Foley child sex predator cover-up is starting to make a whole lot more sense right about now.
Link
There will very likely be a lame duck session of congress following the November elections. Why in God's name should Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), an admitted criminal, be permitted to attend that session, vote during that session? The man just admitted to accepting bribes to influence his votes, and we're going to let him vote some more? That's a bit like giving Mark Foley a few more pages for his retirement.
Despite his guilty pleas, Ney did not resign his seat in Congress. His lawyer, Mark Touhey, told the judge he would do so before sentencing on Jan. 19. Under the Constitution, he'll be gone before then. His term expires when the new Congress is sworn in at noon on Jan. 3.
He is now an admitted criminal.
What is he doing staying in the Republican Congress? Being permitted to vote AGAIN?
I'll tell you why. Because the Republicans are afraid they may lose control of the congress and they'd rather leave in power a criminal, who takes bribes to influence his votes, than risk losing the seat.
So politics trumps ethics and morality and good government in the Republican party.
I'll bet the Mark Foley child sex predator cover-up is starting to make a whole lot more sense right about now.
Link
Nonprofits laundered cash for Abramoff: Senate panel
By Andy Sullivan
Fri Oct 13, 1:07 AM ET
Five conservative nonprofit groups laundered money and wrote opinion pieces for disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and sold their influence with U.S. government officials, according to a Senate report.
The Senate Finance Committee said in the report released on Thursday that the five groups probably violated their tax-exempt status by working closely with Abramoff, the lobbyist at the center of a growing corruption scandal.
"These tax-exempt organizations engaged in what amounted to profit-seeking and private benefit behavior inconsistent with their tax-exempt status," said the report, which was prepared by the Democratic committee staff and approved by its Republican chairman, Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley (news, bio, voting record).
By abusing their nonprofit status, "these tax-exempt organizations appear to have perpetrated a fraud on other taxpayers," the report said.
The five groups named in the report are Americans for Tax Reform, headed by influential conservative activist Grover Norquist; the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, which was founded by Gale Norton before she became Secretary of the Interior; Citizens Against Government Waste, which fights "pork barrel" spending; the National Center for Public Policy Research, a think tank; and Toward Tradition, a religious group.
According to the report, some of the groups laundered money from Abramoff's lobbying clients and took payments to write newspaper opinion pieces. Some took payments from Abramoff's lobbying clients in return for introducing them to prominent Bush administration officials, while others underwrote trips for members of Congress that were actually paid for with money from Abramoff lobbying clients.
All except Toward Tradition told The Washington Post that they have done nothing wrong.
Abramoff and several associates have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud in an influence-peddling scandal and are cooperating with investigators in the Justice Department.
Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record) has agreed to plead guilty to illegally accepting trips, meals, drinks and tickets from Abramoff and his lobbyists and was due to appear in court later on Friday to formally enter his plea. David Safavian, a former Bush administration official, was convicted in June of lying about his links to Abramoff.
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, resigned from his seat in June after his close ties with Abramoff were made public.
Link
Fri Oct 13, 1:07 AM ET
Five conservative nonprofit groups laundered money and wrote opinion pieces for disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and sold their influence with U.S. government officials, according to a Senate report.
The Senate Finance Committee said in the report released on Thursday that the five groups probably violated their tax-exempt status by working closely with Abramoff, the lobbyist at the center of a growing corruption scandal.
"These tax-exempt organizations engaged in what amounted to profit-seeking and private benefit behavior inconsistent with their tax-exempt status," said the report, which was prepared by the Democratic committee staff and approved by its Republican chairman, Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley (news, bio, voting record).
By abusing their nonprofit status, "these tax-exempt organizations appear to have perpetrated a fraud on other taxpayers," the report said.
The five groups named in the report are Americans for Tax Reform, headed by influential conservative activist Grover Norquist; the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, which was founded by Gale Norton before she became Secretary of the Interior; Citizens Against Government Waste, which fights "pork barrel" spending; the National Center for Public Policy Research, a think tank; and Toward Tradition, a religious group.
According to the report, some of the groups laundered money from Abramoff's lobbying clients and took payments to write newspaper opinion pieces. Some took payments from Abramoff's lobbying clients in return for introducing them to prominent Bush administration officials, while others underwrote trips for members of Congress that were actually paid for with money from Abramoff lobbying clients.
All except Toward Tradition told The Washington Post that they have done nothing wrong.
Abramoff and several associates have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud in an influence-peddling scandal and are cooperating with investigators in the Justice Department.
Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record) has agreed to plead guilty to illegally accepting trips, meals, drinks and tickets from Abramoff and his lobbyists and was due to appear in court later on Friday to formally enter his plea. David Safavian, a former Bush administration official, was convicted in June of lying about his links to Abramoff.
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, resigned from his seat in June after his close ties with Abramoff were made public.
Link
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Abramoff’s Billing Records Detail Repeated Contacts With Pombo
Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) has repeatedly insisted that he never worked with fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff:
I met the guy two or three times in my whole life — he never once lobbied me on anything.
ThinkProgress has obtained Abramoff’s billing records (HERE), which show that the lobbyist personally spoke with Pombo on Sept. 10, 1996 and Nov. 21, 1996. On 11 other occasions in 1996 and 1997, Abramoff’s staff met with either Pombo or his staff.
Two days after the first meeting on Sept. 10, Abramoff gave Pombo $500. The congressman eventually received a total of more than $35,000 from Abramoff and his Native American tribal clients. $27,000 of that money came from Abramoff’s client the Mashpee Wampanoag of Massachusetts, “which received federal recognition from a bill Pombo passed through the [House Resources] committee in 2004.”
Pombo’s spokesman is insisting that these billing records are “greatly inflated,” but they nevertheless indicate that Pombo’s office was contacted — and perhaps influenced — by Abramoff. Pombo’s committee, the House Resources Committee, had sole jurisidiction over the Mariana Islands, one of Abramoff’s client that he overcharged. Despite repeated requests from Rep. George Miller (D-CA) to investigate Abramoff’s dealings, Pombo has refused to do anything.
Say No To Pombo has more.
Think Preogress link Here
I met the guy two or three times in my whole life — he never once lobbied me on anything.
ThinkProgress has obtained Abramoff’s billing records (HERE), which show that the lobbyist personally spoke with Pombo on Sept. 10, 1996 and Nov. 21, 1996. On 11 other occasions in 1996 and 1997, Abramoff’s staff met with either Pombo or his staff.
Two days after the first meeting on Sept. 10, Abramoff gave Pombo $500. The congressman eventually received a total of more than $35,000 from Abramoff and his Native American tribal clients. $27,000 of that money came from Abramoff’s client the Mashpee Wampanoag of Massachusetts, “which received federal recognition from a bill Pombo passed through the [House Resources] committee in 2004.”
Pombo’s spokesman is insisting that these billing records are “greatly inflated,” but they nevertheless indicate that Pombo’s office was contacted — and perhaps influenced — by Abramoff. Pombo’s committee, the House Resources Committee, had sole jurisidiction over the Mariana Islands, one of Abramoff’s client that he overcharged. Despite repeated requests from Rep. George Miller (D-CA) to investigate Abramoff’s dealings, Pombo has refused to do anything.
Say No To Pombo has more.
Think Preogress link Here
Monday, October 09, 2006
Interview: Heist Author, Peter Stone
By Paul Kiel - October 9, 2006, 1:32 PM
House Government Reform Committee issued a blockbuster report revealing hundreds of contacts between Abramoff's team and the White House that resulted in the resignation last Friday of Karl Rove's assistant Susan Ralston.
The trail doesn't stop there, of course. So we sat down with National Journal's Peter Stone, the author of the forthcoming book Heist: Superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, His Republican Allies, And the Buying of Washington, who told us about how Abramoff operated, how the investigation is progressing, and what to expect next.
How much of the stuff in the recent Government Reform Report on Abramoff's ties to the Bush Administration is new?
Stone: I think there’s a fair amount of new detail in the Government Reform Report but I don’t think it’s the whole story by any means yet. I think we’ve now got a more conclusive e-mail trail from Abramoff and his associates to folks at the White House that show a little over 400 contacts apparently over a three year period between Team Abramoff and the White House.
This is all interesting stuff, and beyond that, there’s a section of the report which talks about results, which show that Jack had mixed results, but some of the results that were achieved seem suggestive, interesting ones that could lead to more investigations by Congressional investigators and perhaps by other investigators as well.
Whether any of this leads to criminal investigations, I think it’s too early to say, much too early to say. I think the report doesn’t flesh out a lot of stuff. It came out rather quickly, it seems, it’s unclear why it came out right now, but there’s a lot of good material here for reporters and investigators, both on the Hill and elsewhere perhaps to dig into in the coming months.
According to a recent ABC news report, Abramoff lobbied for something like 20 different nominations in Interior Department and other departments and they said he got one. It seems like he might have been more successful in blocking nominations than in getting them. Does that indicate to you that he wasn’t as successful as he would have liked?
Stone: Well, obviously he wasn’t as successful as he would have liked. And that’s part of the story of Jack Abramoff, there’s a mixed record of success.
It’s clear that he was working a lot of different folks in terms of getting appointments to the administration. One of the examples that I cite in my book, which I think is an interesting one that he tried very hard on was getting a former Secretary of Labor from the Marianas appointed to a top slot in Interior. And he worked very hard on this one, he pulled out a lot of stops on this, including getting Ralph Reed involved in early 2001 to go to Rove on this. Jack did have a meeting with Rove in March of 2001 on this issue but was never successful in getting his ally from the Marianas, Mark Zachares, an appointment in the administration.
In this case, Zachares was, according to Abramoff’s own associates, radioactive, very radioactive. First, because the issue was so politically charged on Capitol Hill with the Marianas under so much fire from Democrats and moderate Republicans -- because of their labor conditions and the sweatshops there in the textile industry. To get somebody in who had that kind of track record running the Marianas would have taken a lot of pull.
Secondly, this was a fellow who Abramoff, we now know, had made some contributions to, that were quite suspicious, one was $5,000 before he became secretary and I believe $5,000 after he left his post, these were monies that came from Abramoff’s personal charity, Capitol Athletic Foundation. So this was one where he tried very hard but didn’t have success.
Do you think that’s just the fact that he was trying to get someone who clearly was his shill on positions and it was just too much politically?
Stone: Well in this case the odor was too strong. As I said, even one of Abramoff’s associates told me this guy was “radioactive” and I quoted him as saying that in the book.
So, do you think you could say that his track record of success reflects his ambition as opposed to a lack of any traction at the WH?
Stone: Well, he did have a lot of drive and he tried, he had a lot of balls in the air simultaneously on lobbying issues and sometimes overreached. He often overreached, and this is a case of his, pushing too hard on something that was a tough sell.
What do you make of the White House’s response to this that there’s been fraud in the billing records before, you can’t believe anything these people say, they’re all admitted felons and that sort of thing?
Stone: Well, it’s a defensive posture obviously, it strikes me that it’s very much an administration trying to spin some new details and minimize and downplay new evidence.
They do have some grist for their argument: obviously he has exaggerated stuff in the past, obviously he has defrauded clients and over-billed clients. They’re trying to make the best out of a story that has negative implications for them.
The negative implications, as people have noted, are that in the past, Rove and Mehlman have downplayed, extraordinarily, Abramoff’s leaks to them and now there’s a little more evidence out there that there were more meetings than we knew about and there were cases where Jack apparently had some success on a few issues.
Let’s back up a little bit with regards to your book and the panoptic impression you’re able to get of how he worked.
Stone: I think it’s important to talk a little bit about the clients that Jack went for. That is emblematic of his career that Abramoff was very selective in his clients. He wanted ones that had a lot of money and who often didn’t have that much experience in Washington and in some cases clients who were facing a make or break situation, a do or die situation, a life or death situation.
And he liked to find folks who could pay a lot of money and who sometimes, as one of his former colleagues told me, didn’t have Washington offices so there would be less oversight of what Jack was doing for them, where he would have a freer hand.
And the Indian tribes fit the bill very well for this. As we know, Jack made a name for himself representing the Mississippi Choctaws in the mid-90’s when he started out as a lobbyist at Preston Gates right after the Republicans captured Congress, and he had some big successes early on.
Grover Norquist, his old friend from the College Republicans, became an early ally in this fight. Grover of course was running American for Tax Reform (ATR) and was very influential with top House Republicans including DeLay, and Speaker Gingrich at the time. A kind of symbiotic relationship developed early with Norquist, where Norquist would often, Jack would look to him for his grassroots clout on issues and Norquist’s ATR became a place that provided a lot of help to Jack’s clients, the Indian tribes and others, and benefited ultimately through contributions that some of these clients made to ATR over a period of years.
And about those young associates of his….
Stone: Jack was famously known for looking for younger aides who were wowed by his lifestyle, wowed by his entertainment operation, and who in some ways Jack was able to seduce, if you will, and who were attracted to his lifestyle. And we saw a bunch of folks who fit that bill: Neil Volz, who was chief of staff to Ney, who became very important to Jack’s lobbying operation, both when he was in Ney’s office and after he left in 2002 and joined Abramoff was one who fit that bill… [former DeLay chief of staff Tony Rudy] fit the bill, [former DeLay spokesman Michael Scanlon] fit the bill and [former chief of staff to Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA)] Kevin Ring also.
These were people who were impressed with Jack and were looking to earn a lot more money fast and they did that when they moved to K Street. They were drawing salaries of 2 or 300,000 very quickly and they were attracted to Jack’s flash and glitter.
What’s next for investigators?
Stone: I’m not sure how much this is going to change, in the short run the course of the investigation. This is an investigation that has been very methodical. Some people have wondered why it’s taken so long, but these kinds of investigations are fact-intensive, complicated ones, and so this year we’ve seen several plea deals worked out that many of us thought would come out a little earlier, but have taken a little longer, beginning with Rudy’s plea in late March and then followed in early May by Volz’s plea and most recently, Ney’s agreement in mid-September to plead guilty to charges of honest services fraud.
These are ones that are, they’re proceeding, I think, at a reasonable pace, it doesn’t reflect a lack of aggressiveness, I just think they’re putting these cases together very, very carefully to make sure they’re as solid as they can be. There are still investigations under way, as we know: Ed Buckham is very much under investigation…there’s still scrutiny going on of at least two if not three members: Doolittle is still facing scrutiny, DeLay is still facing scrutiny and I believe Conrad Burns is still facing scrutiny, although his office is downplayed this and said he is not under investigation.
They say he’s not a target.
Stone: He’s not a target. But we don’t know who targets are sometimes, that’s not always clear until very late in the investigation.
Have you seen any indication that investigators are looking seriously at the White House?
Stone: Not that I am aware of, no. As I said earlier when we started talking about the White House, I think this probably opens up, I mean, the investigators have most likely had this e-mail traffic for a long time. I have not heard of serious scrutiny of folks in the White House at this point. But once again, this stuff is very closely held.
And I don’t think that we’re going to see this wind down this year, I think we’re going to see it go well into 2007. I think we may see a little more activity before the election but I think there’s likely to be more certainly after the election and early next year.
I’m interested in this idea that Abramoff passed himself off as a good Republican, helping the movement and all that, and there’s the other side of him, which is just someone who’s trying to become a billionaire. You seem to reconcile those two sides of him pretty well in your book.
Stone: He was both. I think he was a key ally of some of the leading conservatives in Congress, I think he was a crucial part of building DeLay Inc., supporting the DeLay lobbying operation, DeLay money operation, that was an ideological effort.
Abramoff did do a lot to help, I mean a lot of his clients, the Indian casinos, the Marianas, became central to his lobbying operation. They helped provide wonderful places of entertainment, where Capitol Hill staffers, members, where they had great times in his skyboxes which these clients paid for, or at Signatures [Abramoff’s restaurant].
But he also used them as personal piggy banks and at some point in 2001, obviously, greed became a key driving force for Jack. I mean, he wanted to get rich before, but in 2001 he and Scanlon developed their kickback scheme, their gimme-five kickback scheme …
But I think he was, for many of these years, he was still a key fundraiser for Republicans. The clients were overwhelmingly helping… the Indian tribes were generally giving two out of three dollars to the Republican campaign committees and to Republican candidates as well as best friends in the conservative movement.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001758.php
House Government Reform Committee issued a blockbuster report revealing hundreds of contacts between Abramoff's team and the White House that resulted in the resignation last Friday of Karl Rove's assistant Susan Ralston.
The trail doesn't stop there, of course. So we sat down with National Journal's Peter Stone, the author of the forthcoming book Heist: Superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, His Republican Allies, And the Buying of Washington, who told us about how Abramoff operated, how the investigation is progressing, and what to expect next.
How much of the stuff in the recent Government Reform Report on Abramoff's ties to the Bush Administration is new?
Stone: I think there’s a fair amount of new detail in the Government Reform Report but I don’t think it’s the whole story by any means yet. I think we’ve now got a more conclusive e-mail trail from Abramoff and his associates to folks at the White House that show a little over 400 contacts apparently over a three year period between Team Abramoff and the White House.
This is all interesting stuff, and beyond that, there’s a section of the report which talks about results, which show that Jack had mixed results, but some of the results that were achieved seem suggestive, interesting ones that could lead to more investigations by Congressional investigators and perhaps by other investigators as well.
Whether any of this leads to criminal investigations, I think it’s too early to say, much too early to say. I think the report doesn’t flesh out a lot of stuff. It came out rather quickly, it seems, it’s unclear why it came out right now, but there’s a lot of good material here for reporters and investigators, both on the Hill and elsewhere perhaps to dig into in the coming months.
According to a recent ABC news report, Abramoff lobbied for something like 20 different nominations in Interior Department and other departments and they said he got one. It seems like he might have been more successful in blocking nominations than in getting them. Does that indicate to you that he wasn’t as successful as he would have liked?
Stone: Well, obviously he wasn’t as successful as he would have liked. And that’s part of the story of Jack Abramoff, there’s a mixed record of success.
It’s clear that he was working a lot of different folks in terms of getting appointments to the administration. One of the examples that I cite in my book, which I think is an interesting one that he tried very hard on was getting a former Secretary of Labor from the Marianas appointed to a top slot in Interior. And he worked very hard on this one, he pulled out a lot of stops on this, including getting Ralph Reed involved in early 2001 to go to Rove on this. Jack did have a meeting with Rove in March of 2001 on this issue but was never successful in getting his ally from the Marianas, Mark Zachares, an appointment in the administration.
In this case, Zachares was, according to Abramoff’s own associates, radioactive, very radioactive. First, because the issue was so politically charged on Capitol Hill with the Marianas under so much fire from Democrats and moderate Republicans -- because of their labor conditions and the sweatshops there in the textile industry. To get somebody in who had that kind of track record running the Marianas would have taken a lot of pull.
Secondly, this was a fellow who Abramoff, we now know, had made some contributions to, that were quite suspicious, one was $5,000 before he became secretary and I believe $5,000 after he left his post, these were monies that came from Abramoff’s personal charity, Capitol Athletic Foundation. So this was one where he tried very hard but didn’t have success.
Do you think that’s just the fact that he was trying to get someone who clearly was his shill on positions and it was just too much politically?
Stone: Well in this case the odor was too strong. As I said, even one of Abramoff’s associates told me this guy was “radioactive” and I quoted him as saying that in the book.
So, do you think you could say that his track record of success reflects his ambition as opposed to a lack of any traction at the WH?
Stone: Well, he did have a lot of drive and he tried, he had a lot of balls in the air simultaneously on lobbying issues and sometimes overreached. He often overreached, and this is a case of his, pushing too hard on something that was a tough sell.
What do you make of the White House’s response to this that there’s been fraud in the billing records before, you can’t believe anything these people say, they’re all admitted felons and that sort of thing?
Stone: Well, it’s a defensive posture obviously, it strikes me that it’s very much an administration trying to spin some new details and minimize and downplay new evidence.
They do have some grist for their argument: obviously he has exaggerated stuff in the past, obviously he has defrauded clients and over-billed clients. They’re trying to make the best out of a story that has negative implications for them.
The negative implications, as people have noted, are that in the past, Rove and Mehlman have downplayed, extraordinarily, Abramoff’s leaks to them and now there’s a little more evidence out there that there were more meetings than we knew about and there were cases where Jack apparently had some success on a few issues.
Let’s back up a little bit with regards to your book and the panoptic impression you’re able to get of how he worked.
Stone: I think it’s important to talk a little bit about the clients that Jack went for. That is emblematic of his career that Abramoff was very selective in his clients. He wanted ones that had a lot of money and who often didn’t have that much experience in Washington and in some cases clients who were facing a make or break situation, a do or die situation, a life or death situation.
And he liked to find folks who could pay a lot of money and who sometimes, as one of his former colleagues told me, didn’t have Washington offices so there would be less oversight of what Jack was doing for them, where he would have a freer hand.
And the Indian tribes fit the bill very well for this. As we know, Jack made a name for himself representing the Mississippi Choctaws in the mid-90’s when he started out as a lobbyist at Preston Gates right after the Republicans captured Congress, and he had some big successes early on.
Grover Norquist, his old friend from the College Republicans, became an early ally in this fight. Grover of course was running American for Tax Reform (ATR) and was very influential with top House Republicans including DeLay, and Speaker Gingrich at the time. A kind of symbiotic relationship developed early with Norquist, where Norquist would often, Jack would look to him for his grassroots clout on issues and Norquist’s ATR became a place that provided a lot of help to Jack’s clients, the Indian tribes and others, and benefited ultimately through contributions that some of these clients made to ATR over a period of years.
And about those young associates of his….
Stone: Jack was famously known for looking for younger aides who were wowed by his lifestyle, wowed by his entertainment operation, and who in some ways Jack was able to seduce, if you will, and who were attracted to his lifestyle. And we saw a bunch of folks who fit that bill: Neil Volz, who was chief of staff to Ney, who became very important to Jack’s lobbying operation, both when he was in Ney’s office and after he left in 2002 and joined Abramoff was one who fit that bill… [former DeLay chief of staff Tony Rudy] fit the bill, [former DeLay spokesman Michael Scanlon] fit the bill and [former chief of staff to Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA)] Kevin Ring also.
These were people who were impressed with Jack and were looking to earn a lot more money fast and they did that when they moved to K Street. They were drawing salaries of 2 or 300,000 very quickly and they were attracted to Jack’s flash and glitter.
What’s next for investigators?
Stone: I’m not sure how much this is going to change, in the short run the course of the investigation. This is an investigation that has been very methodical. Some people have wondered why it’s taken so long, but these kinds of investigations are fact-intensive, complicated ones, and so this year we’ve seen several plea deals worked out that many of us thought would come out a little earlier, but have taken a little longer, beginning with Rudy’s plea in late March and then followed in early May by Volz’s plea and most recently, Ney’s agreement in mid-September to plead guilty to charges of honest services fraud.
These are ones that are, they’re proceeding, I think, at a reasonable pace, it doesn’t reflect a lack of aggressiveness, I just think they’re putting these cases together very, very carefully to make sure they’re as solid as they can be. There are still investigations under way, as we know: Ed Buckham is very much under investigation…there’s still scrutiny going on of at least two if not three members: Doolittle is still facing scrutiny, DeLay is still facing scrutiny and I believe Conrad Burns is still facing scrutiny, although his office is downplayed this and said he is not under investigation.
They say he’s not a target.
Stone: He’s not a target. But we don’t know who targets are sometimes, that’s not always clear until very late in the investigation.
Have you seen any indication that investigators are looking seriously at the White House?
Stone: Not that I am aware of, no. As I said earlier when we started talking about the White House, I think this probably opens up, I mean, the investigators have most likely had this e-mail traffic for a long time. I have not heard of serious scrutiny of folks in the White House at this point. But once again, this stuff is very closely held.
And I don’t think that we’re going to see this wind down this year, I think we’re going to see it go well into 2007. I think we may see a little more activity before the election but I think there’s likely to be more certainly after the election and early next year.
I’m interested in this idea that Abramoff passed himself off as a good Republican, helping the movement and all that, and there’s the other side of him, which is just someone who’s trying to become a billionaire. You seem to reconcile those two sides of him pretty well in your book.
Stone: He was both. I think he was a key ally of some of the leading conservatives in Congress, I think he was a crucial part of building DeLay Inc., supporting the DeLay lobbying operation, DeLay money operation, that was an ideological effort.
Abramoff did do a lot to help, I mean a lot of his clients, the Indian casinos, the Marianas, became central to his lobbying operation. They helped provide wonderful places of entertainment, where Capitol Hill staffers, members, where they had great times in his skyboxes which these clients paid for, or at Signatures [Abramoff’s restaurant].
But he also used them as personal piggy banks and at some point in 2001, obviously, greed became a key driving force for Jack. I mean, he wanted to get rich before, but in 2001 he and Scanlon developed their kickback scheme, their gimme-five kickback scheme …
But I think he was, for many of these years, he was still a key fundraiser for Republicans. The clients were overwhelmingly helping… the Indian tribes were generally giving two out of three dollars to the Republican campaign committees and to Republican candidates as well as best friends in the conservative movement.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001758.php
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