'Complex, tangled web' of political deals listed

[paineinthearse]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0206abramoff-acts.html

'Complex, tangled web' of political deals listed

Jon Kamman
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 6, 2005 12:00 AM

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff and public relations sidekick Michael Scanlon invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering senators' questions last fall, but evidence turned up by investigators says plenty.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, has described the pair's dealings as a "complex and tangled web." The pair collected $82 million from six Indian tribes and secretly split the profits. Along the way, they privately denigrated tribal members in e-mails as "stupid," "moronic," "monkeys" and "troglodytes. "

They worked at no charge in Michigan to elect a Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Council majority that then approved paying them at least $10million. In the same vein, they helped swing an election of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. The Palm Springs, Calif., tribe then paid them at least $7 million in contracts opposed by the tribal chairman, vice chairman and legal counsel. Hired by casino interests for behind-the-scenes work to block possible gambling competition in Texas, the two paid former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed more than $4 million to mobilize religious factions and apply anti-gambling pressure to close an El Paso tribe's gambling hall.

{PitA note: Reed is considering running for Lt. Governor of Georgia. See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3060984&mesg_id=3060984&page=}.

Within days of the closure of the Tigua Indians' casino, Abramoff and Scanlon turned coat and persuaded the tribe to hire them for $4.2million to try to get it reopened. Their attempt to add an obscure amendment to an unrelated bill failed. Abramoff instructed the tribe to provide $300,000 in political contributions. The tribe says it sent the checks for Abramoff to forward. But many of the intended recipients say they never received the money. The congressman who received the largest amount, $33,000, was Bob Ney, R-Ohio, chairman of the House committee that would pass judgment on the bill. Abramoff and Scanlon took Ney, Reed and another official on a $150,000 golfing trip to Scotland.

(In a statement issued by his Century Strategies consulting firm in Georgia, Reed said he remains opposed to gambling and did not have "direct knowledge" that casino interests were providing Abramoff's funding. "At no time were we retained by, nor did we represent, any casino or casino company," Reed's statement said.)

much more.....

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Ah yes...

the "Don't tell me" defense. :eyes: