Taylor denies link between donations, letter over tribal money (Abramoff)

[NVMojo]

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor said he met with lobbyists from Jack Abramoff's firm a month before endorsing a policy that provided $3 million to their client, but denied any connection between a letter he wrote and campaign donations he received.

"We did not accept any money for any type of action on my part. We have never done that. We are not going to do that. It is not our policy to do that," Taylor, R-N.C., said in interviews this week with the Asheville Citizen-Times.

A recent Associated Press report discussed efforts by Abramoff's lobbying team to get the Bureau of Indian Affairs and a Republican congressional aide to stop blocking school construction money for the Saginaw Chippewa tribe. The tribe was a client of Abramoff's Greenberg Traurig lobbying firm.

Taylor and Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana signed a May 2003 letter for the bureau in which they said the "Saginaw Chippewa tribal school in question clearly falls within" the bureau's construction program.

more...

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/14380799.htm

[Charlie Brown]

1. I'm guessing this is not the former dictator of Liberia n/t

[The Magistrate]

2. This, Ma'am, Is An Industrial Strength Nimrod

A lie on that scale is an insult to the audience it is directed at, tantamount to accusing them in so many words of being too stupid to live....

[msgadget]

3. Okay, is it just me or have Indian interviews and statements

been noticeably absent from most (all?) things Abramoff? Why is that?

[Ecumenist]

4. You noticed that too, huh?

I thought it was just me....

[sofa king]

5. There's more to this story.

The above cited article appears to be talking about an effort by Jack Abramoff's firm to enlist Rep. Taylor and Sen. Burns to directly influence the Department of the Interior in 2003, in order to get $3 million for a new school. But it doesn't get close to telling the whole story.

I happen to have some personal experience within the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is the part of the Department of Interior on which the Members of Congress were leaning. I've met personally with the education folks within the BIA. I thought they were very decent, very dedicated people. One thing I know very well is that because they are perpetually starved of funds (and that starvation became far, far worse after our Education President snuck in), the BIA construction and education folks evaluate the means of the tribe in question before they hand out school construction money. Saginaw-Chippewa is one of the wealthiest tribes in the nation, and they would certainly have been turned away if normal procedures were followed.

One thing this article doesn't clearly say is whether or not the BIA education folks caved in to the request. But I'm certain that they didn't.

The reason why I'm betting they didn't is not just because I think the education folks at BIA are nice and pretty honest. It's because later that year, the Saginaws did in fact get their money, but only thanks to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5299944">an earmark from Conrad Burns. (The Saginaw-Chippewa tribe later gave it back, but not until after the damage was done.)

Actually, it's not really an earmark, in the sense that money is specifically appropriated for a specific thing. It's a lot worse. Here's the relevant text of the legislation:

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (b)(1) of section 122 of division F of Public Law 108-7, as amended by this Act, the Saginaw-Chippewa tribal school and the Redwater Elementary School shall receive priority for funding available in fiscal year 2004. The Saginaw-Chippewa tribal school shall receive $3,000,000 from prior year funds, and the Redwater Elementary School shall receive $6,000,000 available in fiscal year 2004.

This wasn't extra funding being appropriated to the wealthy Saginaw Chippewa Tribe. This was ripping three million dollars out of money which was already spent by the BIA. It was a disaster, and it had major repercussions for all school construction for tribes the following year.

Propriety dictates that I not elucidate too clearly, but I saw personally what this did to the poorer tribes which were competing for these same funds. It was a shameful thing, and it harmed real people with real lives.

Anyway, this story fills in an important blank, because now we know some of what happened before that infamous legislation appeared out of nowhere.

What's illegal about all of this? Hell if I know. But it certainly was harmful and unfair. Perhaps that's enough to affect the careers of the politicians involved. But I doubt it.

[salin]

6. ^^^ Important info and insight your post is a *must read* ^^^

the ^^^ are an attempt to make arrows pointing to your post.

It makes clear how much work these congress/senators were doing on behalf of abramoff's clients. Working multiple ends of the system (legislative///administrative) before finally coming up with the goods - in a way that is harmful to others in need.

Back to the original issue (per Taylor from NC) why would he get so proactive for a wealthy tribe in Michigan for a new school in Michigan. Wonder if any of the projects that were cut/postponed/ended were in ND or NC - seems that if it were able to be juxtaposed that way (given your clarity that this was 'reallocated' money not new earmark - and it was reallocated from somewhere) - more folks at home (NC or ND) would be forced to pay attention to the story and less inclined to try (due to party loyalty or some shred left of the belief that folks we elect act in our best interest) eat the dismissive spin being attempted by the likes of Taylor.

[sofa king]

9. Thank you.

Thank you very much for your kind comments, salin. Your question is a good one and if you permit me to think out loud I'll comment on it.

In North Carolina there is only one federally recognized tribe, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. On the surface, the Eastern Cherokee are the only NC tribe which could have directly suffered from the $3 million reallocation to the Saginaw Chippewa (but the ripples from the event certainly had subtle effects elsewhere). I'm sure others have noted specific repercussions and if you think it's important I'll try to find them.

Now if you will permit me to veer off in another direction entirely, here's something I've been looking at today.

There is another small battle being fought in North Carolina which may have some relation to this issue. There is a currently unrecognized tribe in the state called the http://64.62.196.98/News/2005/010945.asp">Lumbee which for reasons too arcane to describe here require federal legislation in order for them to be restored to their status as a http://www.msaj.com/papers/fedrecnov.htm">federally recognized tribe. Taylor has been very quietly and carefully backing the Eastern Cherokee interests, which are to prevent the Lumbee from getting a casino. Unfortunately, the easiest way to prevent or delay the casino is to prevent or delay the recognition of the Lumbee (and thus prevent or delay the exercise of the rights due to a federally recognized tribe). Recognition is always a catfight, everywhere, and I strongly suspect that there has been covert intervention in a number of cases since the Bush Administration took office.

But honestly, I haven't looked very closely at any of this and it's difficult to make heads or tails of it. As a curious ellipse I'll show you one of the threads I've been toying with today:

* Rep. Charles Taylor appears to have a concrete (but quiet) position in favor of the Eastern Band of Cherokees over the recognition of the Lumbee Nation.

* Rep. Charles Taylor took large contributions from Jack Abramoff and his clients, which isn't illegal or even very suspicious, but it lets you spin the Abramoff Wheel of Corruption. So we spin it and find that:

* Abramoff also had very close ties to Alexander Strategy Group and Tom DeLay's pals Tony Rudy and Ed Buckham.

* Alexander Strategy Group also represented Freddie Mac, which just paid $3.8 million to slide off the FEC's hook for illegal campaign contributions.

* Another firm which represented Freddie Mac is Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, a bafflingly large and diverse lobbying group which also happens to represent...

* ...The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, who are backed by Liddy Dole.

Well how about that? All of a sudden we're back to the recognition issue, but now we're on the other side of it. We know that Jack liked to be on both sides of any tribal issue, particularly issues of his own creation. But Jack doesn't appear to be making any money off of this. Is someone else, maybe?

Does this mean anything? Probably not. Unfortunately, the GOP slush machine's tendrils are so widespread and far reaching that one might as well be playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. A lot more research and some hard-nosed investigative reporting would be necessary to check that out. Still, it's one of those things you try to remember and see if it fits with something else in the future.

[salin]

10. On short time tonight... but am bookmarking to come back to

interesting digging - and connections/possible connections worthy of exploration.

Can I suggest you think of a snazzy/attention grabbing title - and post this in GD, depending on the timing (per who is reading at that time) it might get a really interesting conversation and some interesting digging going on.

Thanks again - this is what I love about DU - someone with some insight into an area (and thus can shed initial light into implications) then some digging to see what else might be there... and in the process, a number of folks getting tuned in to some previously not-very-explored areas of thought/information.

[OKthatsIT]

12. No, thank you~~~ What a great read!

(collecting your post for reference)

[noonwitch]

7. Why would a US Rep from NC have anything to do with the Saginaw/Chippewa

Tribe? They are a Michigan tribe, so if someone is getting money from them who isn't a Michigan pol, than I'm already a bit suspicious.

[NVMojo]

8. As noted above, there is much more to this story than meets the eye

Crooks don't need a reason beside greed, do they?

[salin]

11. read posts 5 and 9

very interesting for context. Ripe for further digging and connecting news items.