Tyco Exec: Abramoff Claimed Ties to Administration/ Rove

[cal04]

Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff bragged two years ago that he was in contact with White House political aide Karl Rove on behalf of a large, Bermuda-based corporation that wanted to avoid incurring some taxes and continue receiving federal contracts, according to a written statement by President Bush's nominee to be deputy attorney general.

Timothy E. Flanigan, general counsel for conglomerate Tyco International Ltd., said in a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that Abramoff's lobbying firm initially boasted that Abramoff could help Tyco fend off a special liability tax because he "had good relationships with members of Congress," including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).


Abramoff later said "he had contact with Mr. Karl Rove" about the issue, according to the statement by Flanigan, who oversaw Tyco's dealings with Abramoff and his firm and received reports from Abramoff about progress in the lobbying campaign. Flanigan's statement is the latest indication that Abramoff promoted himself as having ready access to senior officials in the Bush administration. A White House spokeswoman, Erin Healy, said Rove "has no recollection" of being contacted by Abramoff about Tyco's concerns.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092202204.html

[Scout1071]

1. Whoa. Red Rover, Red Rover, send Karl on over!

If Abramoff starts rolling over on Karl....this administration is effin' cooked.

[MADem]

31. Well, hell, he has gotta roll over, America's Most Wanted

...had him as a subject of interest (not a target, mind) a couple of weeks ago in that casino murder down in FL a few years back...they even showed pics of him and DeLay. The script almost sounded like a WARNING, if ya know what I mean.

He probably figures they are gonna get him on conspiracy/murder if he doesn't roll over like a well trained puppy!

[olddad56]

2. Corporate Fascism at it's finest.

[alittlelark]

3. The corruption runs sooo deep....

I don't think this cancer can be cured w/o RADICAL surgery. If not surgery the patient needs to die.

[The Doctor.]

13. Ummm.... but aren't we... I mean isn't this country the patient?

Scary

[alittlelark]

16. Yeah.... that's the problem.

[alittlelark]

4. Recommending... I hope others do the same.

This is heavy sh*t.

[punpirate]

5. The question not addressed...

... by this WaPo story is why the Bushies are nominating the general counsel of one of the most corrupt organizations in the country to be deputy attorney general....

No shame whatsoever, it seems. It's not like Flanigan didn't have a clue about what was going on in the company. If he didn't, then why do the Bushies expect someone as clueless as that to be an effective deputy AG?

[loudsue]

37. That's what I've been trying to say, punpirate: They are doing these

things OPENLY. They KNOW they have control of the voting machines, and they will do as they well please. THAT is what is behind their hubris. There will be no consequences at the polls that will be discernable in terms of our corporate governance. They may let one person get defeated to try to put lipstick on the pig, and act as though "voters show their displeasure"...all the while knowing full well that THE BASIC STRUCTURE they have in place will not suffer.

:kick::kick::kick:

[MGKrebs]

6. Wait a minute... Tyco's Gen. Counsel is nominated to be Deputy AG?

Is that really the best we can do?

[Mr Rabble]

7. Here we go again. Recommended.

This shit just never ends.

History will not be kind to these bastards.

[lyonn]

9. History will not be kind either to the Dems

that sat silently by and let it happen. Where is the noise in Washington over these arrogant acts?

[Mr Rabble]

15. Agreed. This is shameful. nt

[nookiemonster]

20. Absolutely!

This is the shit that really pisses me off. I've come to the realization that their silence hits really damn close to complicitness.

What the fuck are they holding back for??? This is the time.

Public perception is a bitch. If the Dems stand by and do nothing, if and when this administration goes down, it will be too late. The hell with keeping the powder dry, unload on these Repuke bastards NOW!!

Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[blm]

22. Throughout the campaign Kerry pointed out that BushInc was giving federal

contracts to companies that were based offshore to avoid taxes.

He said that he would sign an executive order to change that practice - NO company that set up offices outside the US to avoid paying taxes would be allowed to bid for federal contracts.

Another part of the campaign that the corporate media editted out on a regular basis.

The only way you heard about this was watching his speeches on Cspan or reading his website.

[cyberpj]

23. I remember - and have mourned the fact that no other Dem picked this up

You want to take care of the deficit?

Start collecting taxes from all the US businesses that DON'T PAY ANY!

This should have been and shoud continue to be A MAJOR ISSUE.

[blm]

25. That's the real problem with Dems - they have no organized media machine

to push through these issues of actual importance and are always on the defensive with the GOP media machine that overpowers the real issues of American governance while hyping the emotional, personal and bedroom issues that have no place in the public arena, at all.

[cyberpj]

26. That may be true but what news channel would not air HILLARY or KENNEDY

speaking publicly about these issues. Big name Dems can always get face time on the news if they just start speaking UP! So why don't they?

Well, I think the problem is that the powerful Dems are now all pretty much "beltway Dems" and are feeding from the very same trough.

Seen this?

Beltway vs. Blogosphere
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Howard Fineman - Newsweek

Sept. 14, 2005 - If I am hearing Simon Rosenberg right (and he is worth listening to), a nasty civil war is brewing within the Democratic Party, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton­the party’s presumptive 2008 nominee­needs to avoid getting caught in the middle of it.

“It’s not a fight between liberals and conservatives,” Rosenberg told me the other day. “It’s between our ‘governing class’ here and activists everywhere else.”

In other words, it’s the Beltway versus the Blogosphere.

cont'd...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9339863/site/newsweek/

[blm]

27. Kennedy did speak out about this with Kerry in 2003 and 2004.

They BOTH got editted down and editted out.

Of course, Hillary gets airtime any time she chooses but, I don't think this particular issue was one she took up.

[lyonn]

30. The Dems in Congress must do more than make statement

in the halls of congress and hope people are listening to C-Span. You have got to get face time on the talking heads shows, nightly news, and speak in short but succinct language, like Dean has. Dean usually manages to get some air time due to him speaking clearly where no one doubts what he is saying. Well, maybe some question his terminology! Ha. Let's face it, Bush says some of the most ridiculous things and the media goes blank, Dean says something and they use every angle to turn what he says into stupid anger. Yup, many of us are angry.

[WCGreen]

33. The problem is they get just enough money from

these same companies to keep them quiet.....

Fuck them all....

They feel if they speak up, they won't be able to raise any money at all.....


If Hilary is the candidate in 2008, I'm gonna sit out the race.....

[blm]

36. I don't think that's the issue. The RW owners of the media companies

put their big bucks and soft money into GOP related organizations, while the lesser employees put their smaller dollars towards Dems.

Like, you know AOL and Fox are going to make a show of putting 2000 bucks to a Dem candidate, but put their really big money into RNC affiliated pacs and organizations.

Warner employees like label artists and performers or Fox's Matt Groening are going to put money into a Democrat, but still get labeled as a media donation.

There's a big difference there that doesn't get specified often enough.

[WCGreen]

38. I'm not talking about media money...

I'm talking about corporate money....

[blm]

39. Same thing happens there, too. Except for a few centrist Dems, most DON'T

get anywhere NEAR the same bucks as the Republicans do.

[WCGreen]

40. I know... I was the treasurer for the local party

we raided over three million during my term...

The GOP raise three times that....

But, the dems own every office in the county, most of the cities in the country....

The corporations donated because they had too...

They donated to the GOP because they wanted too....

[0007]

29. Either it time to clean house or turn green

[alittlelark]

17. Let's just hope that we have a history....

unkind or not.

[DeepModem Mom]

8. Would testifying under oath jog Karl's "recollection," I wonder? nt

[lyonn]

10. Oath to who or what?

Just had to make a smart a*s remark about Rove being truthful. Does he even know or recognize it? Ah, oath to his greed and power.

[Alizaryn]

11. Wasn't Flanagan the person that there was concern

about taking over the oversite of Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald? The outgoing deputy who had been the one to oversee Fitzgerald ended up appointing Margolis instead?

[Carolab]

18. Indeed, it WAS Flanigan. More here.

http://www.libertyforum.org/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=iraq_war&Number=293881187&view=collapsed&sb=4&o=21&part=

Career Justice Department attorney named firewall between Special Prosecutor and Attorney General.

August 13, 2005 -- In another sign that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has uncovered some serious criminal wrongdoing in the investigation of the White House leak of Valerie Plame and her non-official cover network tracking weapons of mass destruction proliferation, outgoing Deputy Attorney General James Comey appointed career Justice Department attorney and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis as the person who will broadly oversee Fitzgerald's investigation. Margolis has served as Chief of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section and head of the Strike Force Against Organized Crime and he is considered a top organized crime buster by his colleagues. The Margolis appointment is significant since President Bush announced that Timothy E. Flanigan would replace Comey. Flanigan's links to recently indicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff has Democrats and Republicans questioning Flanigan's suitability for the number two job at Justice. There was also a Newsweek report that Bush Yale/Skull & Bones classmate Robert McCallum would be named as Fitzgerald's overseer. With Comey trumping the White House by naming Margolis, a 40 year Justice Department veteran whose portfolio includes the Abscam investigation of powerful politicians, it now appears that the McCallum story was floated by the White House as an attempt to intimidate Fitzgerald. Career Justice Department prosecutors view the Margolis appointment as an indication that Comey wants to protect his friend Fitzgerald from White House pressure as preperations for indictments of at least two White House officials are in their final stages.

International fugitive Marc Rich. Margolis and Libby sparred before over the Rich pardon.

What is particularly noteworthy with the Margolis appointment is a note that surfaced during the congressional investigation of President Clinton's pardon of fugitive billionaire Marc Rich. A 1999 note written by Jack Quinn, Rich's Arnold & Porter law firm attorney, states that David Margolis was one of the Justice Department prosecutors who thought it was ridiculous for any Justice Department to meet with Rich's attorneys to hammer out a pardon agreement. <"Eric" and "EH" are references to then-Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder; "Mary Jo" is Mary Jo White, then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and chief investigator of the Rich pardon; "JR" is a reference to then-Attorney General Janet Reno.> Obviously Margolis, as an organized crime buster, was well aware of Rich's international criminal activities and his ties with Russian and Israeli mobsters. Margolis, along with other Justice prosecutors, including White, was opposed to the pardon of Rich. At the time of the lobbying effort for the pardon, one of Rich's other attorneys was none other than Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a prime target of the Fitzgerald probe.

[willing dwarf]

19. This is like deciphering the Rosetta Stone

That Liberty Forum article was especially informative! Thanks.

[usregimechange]

12. kicked and mediablasted

[blm]

28. kicked again....this is so important.....

this web can snare a whole mess of these varmints.

[usregimechange]

14. kicked

[FlashHarry]

21. Kick

:kick:

[Algorem]

24. When's Rove gonna make America's Most Wanted?

http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=34202

...Cops then began to wonder if Gus' cold-blooded murder was related to his riches -- and his businesses. One of Gus' most profitable business ventures was SunCruz Casinos. In 2000, SunCruz Casinos was purchased by a Washington DC investor group headed by businessman Adam Kidan. The sale price -- $147 million. From the beginning there were problems with the deal, and soon, Gus and Kidan were at each other's throats - locked in a bitter battle as they fought over money and control.


Casino Sale Motive For Murder?

Adam Kidan, left, and Jack Abramoff, right, were charged with wire fraudNow, high-profile Washington DC lobbyist, Jack Abramoff and Adam Kidan have been charged with conspiracy and wire fraud for allegedly scheming to defraud two lenders in the purchase of SunCruz Casinos. Abramoff - a central figure in investigations involving House Majority Leader Tom DeLay - has pled not guilty against those charges in a Florida court. Abramoff and Kidan face one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wide fraud. Each count carried a maximum punishment of five years in prison. According to prosecutors, the pair deceived lenders by pledging to invest $23 million in SunCruz in return for a $60 million loan. The indictment alleges Abramoff and Kidan offered a fake wire transfer document as proof they had invested the money.

Abramoff is also under investigation over millions of dollars he was paid by an Indian tribe for lobbying efforts. The well-connected Republican lobbyist and political fund-raiser, allegedly received at least $66 million from six Indian tribes to lobby for their casinos and other interests. He has been linked to DeLay, a Texas Republican, who is accused of using funds from Abramoff to fund foreign trips. Lawmakers are prohibited from accepting payment from registered lobbyists, according to House ethics rules.

Detectives hope that just as money was probably the motive in Gus' death, money will motivate someone to talk about what really happened.

[Roland99]

32. Den of Thieves. n/t

[tanyev]

34. Terrible tragedy.

So many Republicans having so much trouble remembering things lately. Maybe we need to have a telethon for this horrible new disease afflicting the Republican party.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

35. LOL! Thanks for my morning laugh...good way to start out the day!

:)