HavenWorks.com/people/a-z/a/abramoff-jack - Jack Abramoff News

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

Jack Abramoff News, Republican Lobbyist Scandal Jack Abramoff News

HavenWorks Edwin Buckham Alaska Mark Zachares Tom DeLay Washington Doc Hastings Ohio Bob Ney Georgia Ralph Reed ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Abramoff Republican Scandal JACK ABRAMOFF News: 20090204 Judd Gregg - Jack Abramoff - Corporate - Government - Legislative - Politics - Investigation - New Hampshire "Former Gregg Aide Tied To Abramoff Scandal, Court Documents Report He Took Gifts In Exchange For Favors." ... "Earlier today, the AP reported that Kevin Koonce, who worked as Commerce Secretary-nominee [New Hampshire Republican Senator] Judd Gregg’s legislative director from 2002-04, “has been caught up in a long-running investigation into a Capitol Hill lobbying scandal.” Koonce “was cited in a guilty plea last week by Todd Boulanger, a former deputy to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff,” as having taken gifts exceeding $10,000 in exchange for favors in spending legislation." ... "According to Boulanger’s plea documents, Koonce “tried to help insert spending measures and add other amendments to legislation for Boulanger’s clients.” At one point, Boulanger sent an e-mail to Abramoff saying that he was confident Koonce’s boss would help them out:" "Later, Boulanger sent an e-mail to Abramoff expressing confidence that the senator [Republican Judd Gregg] for whom the staffer worked would give them a favor. “Easy money,” Boulanger wrote, adding that the aide “practically lives in our various suites. We are shady.”" "As Raw Story notes, Gregg’s spokesman Joel Maiola said in 2006 that Gregg had “never had any contact” with Abramoff, despite his acceptance of donations from “two Indian tribes represented by Abramoff’s firm in 2002 and 2004.” Gregg reportedly donated the $12,000 to a New Hampshire-based charity." -By Matt Corley -ThinkProgress.org 20090109 Abramoff - Cheney - Secret - Illegal - Politics - Computer - Archives - Federal - Investigation - Censorship "Judge rules against White House on visitors logs." ... "A federal judge on Friday rejected the [Republican President] Bush administration's latest attempt to keep secret the identities of White House visitors and declared that the government illegally deleted Secret Service computer records." ... "[United States] U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth concluded that the deletions took place before October 2004 when the Secret Service transferred large numbers of entry and exit logs to the White House and then deleted copies of them." ... "The deletions ceased after the archivist to the United States instructed the Secret Service to stop the practice and after various private organizations went to court in an effort to gain access to the logs, according to papers filed in the case. The deletions go back at least as far as 2001, the government's papers added, the year President George W. Bush took office." ... "Secret Service logs have been used in investigations by Congress and federal prosecutors." ... "In the spring of 2006, in the midst of an influence peddling scandal involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement declaring the Secret Service logs identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public." ... "Four months later, [Republican Vice President] Cheney's office told the Secret Service in a letter that visitor records for the vice president's personal residence "are and shall remain subject to the exclusive ownership, custody and control of OVP [Office of the Vice President]."" -By Pete Yost -AP via -Yahoo 20081211 John Boehner - Don Young - Doc Hastings - Jack Abramoff - Tom DeLay - Jerry Lewis - Ken Calvert - John Doolittle - Ohio - AK - WA -Texas - CA - Florida - Money - Politics - US Attorney - Law - Federal - Investigation "House GOP [Republicans] Gives Scandal-Ridden Don Young’s Committee Seat To Scandal-Ridden Doc Hastings." ... " ... [Ohio Republican Representative and House Minority Leader John Boehner told Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young (R-AK [Republican-Alaska]) that he could no longer support him as ranking Republican on the Natural Resources Committee, leading to Young’s resignation from the post." ... "The AP reports that a panel of top House leaders picked [Washington state Republican Representative] Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA [Republican-Washington]) today to lead the committee. “The recommendation by the GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] Steering Committee is final under a rule change adopted Wednesday.”" ... "Recall, Jack Abramoff once boasted of having an “excellent relationship” with Hastings, who received $14,000 [*] from Abramoff’s firm, Preston Gates — including $1,000 from Abramoff himself. After taking control of the Ethics Committee, Hastings reportedly fired two staff lawyers involved in unanimous decisions to admonish [Texas Republican] Tom DeLay for improper fundraising. Hastings also contacted fired [United States] U.S. Attorney John McKay and attempted to pressure him in an ongoing investigation." ... "As ThinkProgress has documented, Boehner has a history of playing musical chairs with committee assignments for corrupt members:" "[California Republican Representative] Rep. Jerry Lewis: Boehner ruled that Rep. Jerry Lewis of California could continue as the ranking member on the Appropriations Committee while under federal investigation on ethics charges." "[California Republican Representative] Rep. Ken Calvert: The GOP Steering Committee appointed Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA[ Republican-California]) to [California Republican Representative] Rep. Jon Doolittle’s (R-CA[ Republican-California]) Appropriations seat, after Doolittle was the subject of an FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] investigation for his ties to Abramoff. Calvert has profited from legislation he supported and was caught in the act with a prostitute." "[Florida Republican Representative] Rep. Tom Feeney: Feeney, who was questioned by the FBI over his relationship with Abramoff took over as GOP [Republican] leader on the space subcommittee for Calvert." "Despite Boehner’s ethics pledge after ethics pledge, the culture of corruption still rules at the end of the day." -By Satyam Khanna -ThinkProgress.org 20080914 Sarah Palin - Rove - Abramoff - E-Mail - Secrecy - Government - Archive - Politics - Legal - Investigation - Computer - Internet - Tech - Alaska - 2008 Election "Even before VP nomination, Palin's e-mail use questioned." ... "Moments after [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin's first speech as Republican [2008 Election Presidential Candidate] John McCain's running mate, she sat with her kids backstage, thumbing one of the two BlackBerrys that are always with her." ... "The tech-savvy governor has one of the devices (which allow users to read and send e-mails) for state business and another for personal matters, but those worlds intertwine." ... "Palin routinely uses a private Yahoo e-mail account to conduct state business. Others in the governor's office sometimes use personal e-mail accounts, too." ... "The practice raises questions about backdoor secrecy in an administration that vowed during the 2006 campaign to be "open and transparent."" ... "Even before the McCain campaign plucked Palin from Alaska, a controversy was brewing over e-mails in the governor's office. Was the administration trying to get around the public records law through broad exemptions or private e-mail accounts?" ... "The governor's Yahoo account is "the most nonsensical, inane thing I've ever heard of," said Andree McLeod, who is appealing the administration's decision to withhold e-mails." ... ""The governor sets the tone and the tone that has been set by this governor is beyond the pale," McLeod said. "Common sense tells you to use an official state e-mail account for official state business."" ... "State lawyers say that the governor's e-mails about public business should be treated like any other public record, even if she's sent them through a private account such as Yahoo." ... "Some of her aides also routinely use Yahoo, but even messages sent from one private account to another should be public, if they concern public business, said Dave Jones, an assistant attorney general." ... ""The difficulty is finding out they exist," Jones said." ... "The [Republican President] Bush administration has drawn heat over revelations that more than 80 White House aides, including senior Bush adviser Karl Rove, used private GOP e-mail servers for government business. The controversy surfaced during congressional investigations into White House contacts with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and into the firings of U.S. attorneys." -By Lisa Demer -ADN.com via -McClatchyDC.com 20080818 John McCain - Ralph Reed - Jack Abramoff - Criminal Investigation - Religion - Politics - Georgia - 2008 Election "McCain nets $1.75 million at Reed-linked event." .. "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain raised more than $1.75 million for Republicans Monday at a fundraiser [in Georgia's capital Atlanta] clouded by confusion over the role of a political operative connected to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff." .. "The downtown event was promoted by Ralph Reed, a former head of the Christian Coalition. McCain's campaign said the event was organized by the Republican National Committee — not Reed, who was linked to the Abramoff scandal that McCain investigated in the Senate." .. "A House investigative committee in 2006 did not call Reed as a witness, but concluded that he interceded with the [Republican President] Bush White House to help some of Abramoff's clients. Reed's public relations firm also received $4.2 million from Abramoff to mobilize Christian voters to fight the opening of casinos that could compete with Abramoff's Indian tribe clients." .. "Abramoff went to prison for conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion." -By Philip Elliott -AP via -Yahoo John McCain - Ralph Reed - Jack Abramoff - Money - Religion - Georgia - 2006 Election - 2008 Election "Protesters mark McCain’s visit to Atlanta for fund-raiser." ... "More than 50 protesters marched in front of the Marriott Marquis [in Georgia's capital Atlanta] on Monday, shouting “Bush, McCain, same thing!”" ... "Across Peachtree Center Avenue, Georgia Democratic Party chairwoman Jane Kidd and state [Georgia Democratic state Senator] Sen. David Adelman (D-Atlanta) held a news conference to add a more official voice of protest." ... "Kidd blasted McCain for only coming to the state to raise money and not to meet with regular voters." ... "“Instead of listening to Georgians, John McCain chose to talk with people who have given him thousands of dollars,” she said." ... "That includes Ralph Reed, said Adelman." ... "Reed is the former head of the Christian Coalition who in 2006 [election] lost a bid for the Georgia GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] nomination as lieutenant governor after he was implicated, but not charged, in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal in Washington." ... "Reed e-mailed supporters and friends to urge them to give to the [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain campaign. Reed also instructed potential donors to send contributions directly to him. Reed told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he sent the e-mail at the request of the campaign and was given boilerplate language to use. He said he has no role in the campaign or in this event, something the McCain campaign confirmed." ... "But Reed’s involvement in raising money has been a source of ridicule and scorn from Democrats." ... "Reed, Adelman said, “has sold his influence with Christian conservative voters to the highest bidder.”" -By Aaron Gould Sheinin -AJC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

20080225 John McCain - Jack Abramoff - Bob Riley - Money - Politics - Investigation -Law - EMail - Alabama - 2002 Election - 2006 Election - 2008 Election "McCain Withheld Controversial Abramoff Email." ... "In the 2006 Senate report concerning [Republican Lobbyist Jack] Abramoff's activities, which [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain spearheaded, the Arizona Republican conspicuously left out information detailing how Alabama [Republican Governor] Gov. Bob Riley was targeted by Abramoff's influence peddling scheme. Riley, a Republican, won election in November 2002, and was reelected in 2006." ... "In a December 2002 email [PDF] obtained by the Huffington Post -- which McCain and his staff had access to prior to the issuance of his report -- Abramoff explains to an aide what he would like to see Riley do in return for the "help" he received from Abramoff's tribal clients." ... "An official with the Mississippi Choctaws "definitely wants Riley to shut down the Poarch Creek operation," Abramoff wrote, "including his announcing that anyone caught gambling there can't qualify for a state contract or something like that."" ... "The note showed not only the reach of Abramoff, but raised questions about Riley's victory in what was the closest gubernatorial election in Alabama history." ... "And yet, despite the implications of the information, McCain and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee sat on the controversial portion of the email. According to an official familiar with the investigation, McCain also subsequently refused to make the email public after the report was released." ... "There was a brief footnote in the report that quoted William Worfel, former vice chairman of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, saying that Abramoff told the chief of a Mississippi tribe to spend $13 million "to get the governor of Alabama elected to keep gaming out of Alabama so it wouldn't hurt ... his market in Mississippi."" ... "But Riley's name and the details of what was being asked of him were not mentioned once in the 373-page document." ... "Indeed, as the Associated Press noted in 2006, McCain stayed deliberately agnostic as to Riley's involvement." ... ""Although Sen. McCain has long bragged of his role in the Abramoff investigation, he let [former Texas Republican Representative] Tom DeLay and the other members of Congress who were doing Abramoff's bidding completely off the hook. The sole exception was [former Ohio Republican Representative] Rep. Bob Ney, who served time in prison," Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics In Washington told the Huffington Post recently. "Sen. McCain knew what his colleagues were up to, he chose to take the easier path and give them a free pass."" -By Sam Stein -HuffingtonPost.com

Republican Scandal JACK Abramoff News Jack Abramoff Scandal Buckham DeLay Federici Griles Ney Pombo Ralston Reed Rove Rudy Safavian Scanlon Volz ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MONEY

Jack Abramoff News Sources: Search Jack Abramoff News: News Search <Jack Abramoff> in: <AllTheWeb-[News]> <AltaVista-[News]> <Google-[News]> <MSN-[News]> Specialty search: <Google's U.S. "Uncle Sam," .gov and .mil>  Search: <Jack Abramoff News> in: <Google> <MSN> <Yahoo> Abramoff, Jack Brought to you by the alphabet letter A A

20080812
John McCain - Ralph Reed - Jack Abramoff - Grover Norquist -Politics - Georgia - Arizona - 2008 Election
"McCain ignoring calls to cancel controversial fundraiser." ... "[2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate John McCain so far is ignoring calls from several watchdog groups to cancel an Atlanta [Georgia] fundraiser promoted by [Georgia Republican] Ralph Reed, a longtime friend and business partner of imprisoned [Republican] lobbyist Jack Abramoff." ... "Public Citizen, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and Campaign Money Watch are urging the Arizona senator to cancel plans for the [August] Aug. 18 fundraiser at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta and remove Reed from McCain’s Victory 2008 Team." ... "Reed lost his 2006 campaign for Georgia lieutenant governor in large part because of details about his relationship with Abramoff — much of the information uncovered by McCain’s Indian Affairs Committee investigation into the wide-ranging lobbying corruption scandal." ... "The Senate probe discovered $4 million in payments Reed accepted to run a bogus anti-casino campaign aimed at reducing gambling competition. An Indian tribe with a competing casino made payments to Reed, which according to the Senate investigation’s final report, were “passed through” Abramoff’s firm, Preston, Gates, Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, and another organization, Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform." -By Susan Crabtree -TheHill.com

---

20080627
Grover Norquist - Jack Abramoff - John McCain - Racial - Politics - History - Military - People - Economic -Illinois - 2008 Election - Obama
"Norquist describes Obama as ‘John Kerry with a tan’." ... "Grover Norquist has quite a history of being unhinged. He’s said the Estate Tax is morally equivalent to the Nazi Holocaust; he’s called WWII veterans “anti-American,” and he’s called bipartisanship “another name for date rape.”" ... "But this clown isn’t done pushing the envelope."

"Norquist dropped by The [Los Angeles] Times’ Washington bureau today and, as part of his negative critique of Obama’s liberal stances on economic issues and other matters, he termed the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee “John Kerry with a tan.”" ... "Since Norquist isn’t running for anything, he can get away with such remarks; we doubt McCain will be incorporating the line into his speeches anytime soon."

"Greg Sargent responded, “Guess it could have been worse. He could have termed the Illinois Senator ‘John Kerry in blackface.’ Such admirable restraint on Norquist’s part!" ... "Now, the LAT’s Don Frederick noted that Norquist can “get away with such remarks,” presumably because he’s not a candidate and everyone expects lunacy from him anyway. He’ll “get away with” this, just as Norquist got away with the other instances of insane rhetoric, not to mention his role in the Abramoff scandal, which somehow seems to have been largely forgotten." ... "But I’m going to go ahead and argue that this probably should matter in the context of the presidential campaign, not just because Norquist is using offensive racial language, but also because he’s suddenly best buddies with [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain." -Steve Benen -TheCarpetbaggerReport.com

---

20080612
John E Sweeney - Jack Abramoff - Criminal - Money - Politics - Jobs - New York - Federal - Law
"Job for funding at issue: Work record of Gayle Sweeney [former wife of former New York Republican Representative John Sweeney] scrutinized as FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] probes congressional spouses getting work." ... "Federal investigators, several wearing Glock pistols, asked question after question about Gayle Sweeney's work habits in interviews with current and former employees of [Republican lobbyist] William D. Powers' lobbying firm, sources close to the investigation said Wednesday." ... "The FBI seized documents, computers and BlackBerries in a roughly six-hour occupation of Powers & Co.'s Albany office on Friday and questioned Powers, at least one of his sons and others who work for the influential lobbying firm, according to the informed sources." ... "Central to the inquiry is whether Powers and former Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, were involved in an improper quid pro quo arrangement in which Sweeney steered federal funds to Powers' lobbying clients and Powers set up a make-believe job for Gayle Sweeney, the congressman's wife at the time." ... "They are are now divorced." ... "Powers, of Chatham, is the former head of the New York Republican Party." ... "[Sweeney's lawyer E. Stewart Jones Jr.] Jones said he doubts the investigation is a remnant from the probe of former Washington [Republican] lobbyist Jack Abramoff." ... "But a person involved in the case, said the investigation is tied to the FBI's probes into congressional spouses getting jobs, an offshoot to the Abramoff bribery case." ... "Gayle Sweeney's work history did not include politics or directing donation drives, but her husband hired her as a fundraising consultant for his campaign. The job paid her consulting company a commission and it received at least $42,000, according to Sweeney's campaign records." ... "A person close to the investigation said the consulting arrangement, first reported in the Times Union, is the root of the current investigation." ... "Critics have questioned whether Sweeney was converting campaign cash for personal use." (1, 2) -By James M. Odato -TimesUnion.com

---

20080422

Jack Abramoff - John Doolittle - Criminal - Money - Politics - Sports - Government - Texas - California - "Former Justice official pleads guilty in Abramoff probe." ... "The [Republican President Bush] Justice Department lost one of its own to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal Tuesday as a former high-ranking department attorney pleaded guilty to conflict of interest." ... "Robert E. Coughlin II admitted in federal court in Washington that he accepted meals, concert tickets and luxury seats at Redskins and Wizards games from a lobbyist while helping the lobbyist and his clients. He pleaded guilty to a single conflict-of-interest charge and faces up to 10 months in prison under a plea deal with the government." ... "The lobbyist is identified in court documents only as "Lobbyist A," but details make clear that he is Kevin Ring, a former member of Abramoff's lobbying team who also is under investigation." ... "Coughlin, now 36 and living in Texas, accepted the gifts from 2001 to 2003 while working on legislative affairs for the Justice Department. He later became deputy chief of staff of the department's criminal division - the same division handling the Abramoff probe - before he resigned a year ago, citing personal reasons." ... "Ring worked for [California Republican Representative John] Doolittle, who's retiring from Congress at the end of this year, before going to work for Abramoff." -By Erica Werner with contributions by Matt Apuzzo -AP via -Courier-Journal.com

---

20080420

Don Young - Abramoff - Bob Schaffer - Money - Politics - Mariana Islands - Chinese - Garment - Factory - Industry - Labor - Women - Abortion - Human Rights - Investigations - Government - Immigration - Law- History - US - Colorado - Alaska - "Records expose Young-Abramoff ties: MARIANA ISLANDS." ... "[Alaska Republican Represenative] Rep. Don Young has said he never allowed convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff to be an influential force over him in Congress." ... "But now a trove of old billing records from two of Abramoff's firms show that his team of lobbyists had more than 120 contacts with Young's personal and committee staffs over 25 months, including at least 10 with Young himself." ... "The available records cover a single Abramoff client, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. [United States] territory in the Pacific that Young oversaw when he chaired the House Resources Committee from 1995 to 2001." ... "The records show that one of the looming concerns of Abramoff and his fellow lobbyists at the time was a bill introduced by Young's fellow Alaskan, [Republican Senator] Sen. Frank Murkowski, to reform labor and immigration practices feeding the island's notorious Chinese-owned sweatshops. In 2000, Murkowski's bill passed the Senate unanimously, but Young stopped it cold in his committee, refusing to hold even a hearing." ... "Investigations by the government, media and human rights groups uncovered widespread abuses in the garment industry and among sex workers there starting in the mid-1990s, but Young asserted those investigations were bogus." ... "As a member of Young's Resources Committee, [Colorado Republican Representative and 2008 Election Colorado Senator Candidate Bob] Schaffer took a free trip to the Mariana Islands arranged by Abramoff's law firm, then played a central role in a 1989 committee hearing investigating Interior department officials in the [Democratic President Bill] Clinton administration who were trying to rein in the Saipan government [Saipan is the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands' capital]." ... "A growing number of reports spoke of near slave-labor conditions, with workers kept in sealed compounds, required to work seven days a week without overtime, and sometimes getting no paycheck at all. There were widespread reports of women coerced into getting abortions to keep their jobs. Some women hired abroad found themselves working not in garment factories at all, but sex clubs." -By Richard Mauer -ADN.com

---

20080412

Secret - Jack Abramoff - Bob Schaffer - Money - Politician - Travel - Garment - Factories - Lawmaker - History - Colo - California - American - Northern Mariana Islands - Labor - Investigations - "Schaffer, lobbyist strategies meshed: The Coloradan's acts align with an Abramoff plot; he denies any link." ... "In early 1998, now-jailed [Republican] lobbyist Jack Abramoff sent a secret memo to a textile tycoon on the Northern Mariana Islands, an American protectorate whose garment factories had been heavily criticized for squalid working conditions and abusive labor practices." ... "The lobbying plan focused on using congressional oversight hearings to change the subject from factory conditions to political shenanigans by the [Democratic President] Clinton administration. Abramoff's lobbying team would prepare questions and "factual backup" for friendly lawmakers. Trips to the island for congressmen and staff would be a key tool to "build permanent friends," the memo said." ... "The linchpin would be an attack on the Interior Department's Office of Insular Affairs (OIA), which was the lead agency pushing for reform." ... "Twenty months later, Republicans on the House Resources Committee, including [Colorado Republican Representative] Rep. Bob Schaffer, R-Colo., turned what was supposed to be an oversight hearing into an attack on OIA officials, suggesting that federal employees were paying workers to protest and providing them signs, cars and other resources." ... "Schaffer was one of the key players in the hearing, grilling a young worker who had been called before the committee to talk about the desperate conditions faced by some laborers, suggesting instead that he was agitating in exchange for money and came to Washington to seek political asylum." ... "The hearing provides a key context for a trip to the islands that Schaffer had taken a month before, partly arranged by Abramoff's lobbying firm and now an issue in Schaffer's campaign for the U.S. [United States] Senate." ... "By the time Schaffer had flown to the islands with his wife the month before, the protectorate's textile industry had been the subject of dozens of government and journalistic investigations, which documented abuses including debt servitude, coerced abortions and squalid living conditions." ... "Preston-Gates, Abramoff's firm, made the travel arrangements for Schaffer's August 1999 trip, according to a memo to Schaffer from his staff. The $13,000 trip was paid for by the Orange County[California]-based Traditional Values Coalition, which later investigations showed was often used by Abramoff in his lobbying operations." -By Michael Riley -DenverPost.com

---

20080410

Jack Abramoff - Bob Schaffer - Criminal - Money - Politician - Vacation - Colorado - US - Mariana Islands - Textile - Factory - Immigration - Human Rights - Law - 2008 Election - "Abramoff ties cloud [Bob] Schaffer's '99 fact-finding trip." ... "Just before boarding a plane to the [Northern] Mariana Islands in 1999, [Colorado Republican Representative] then-Congressman Bob Schaffer announced he was embarking on a fact-finding mission to get to the bottom of repeated allegations of labor abuse in the American protectorate." ... "What he didn't say was that the trip was partly arranged by the firm of now-jailed [Republican] lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented textile factory owners fighting congressional efforts to reform labor and immigration laws on the islands and who was being handsomely paid to keep the islands' cherished exemptions." ... "Schaffer and his wife stayed for free at a palm-studded beach resort and, besides factories, also toured historical sites and met with clients of Preston-Gates, Abramoff's firm, according to a copy of the trip's agenda archived in Schaffer's congressional papers." ... "In a recent interview with The Denver Post, the Republican candidate for Colorado's open Senate seat described the protectorate's guest-worker program as a "model" lawmakers could use as they overhaul the U.S. [United States] immigration system." ... "It has left Schaffer defending a guest-worker program criticized in more than a decade of government reports and journalistic exposés; and it links him to what Abramoff later boasted was an incredibly successful lobbying effort to quash reform by cashing in on ties to key House Republicans, including those on the House Resources Committee, on which Schaffer sat." ... ""Given that many Republican members, including Tom DeLay, Bob Ney and Conrad Burns, have lost their seat or gone to prison based on their association with this criminal, it's pretty remarkable that Schaffer seems to be proud of his association with these sleazy Abramoff-sponsored junkets," said Taylor West, a spokeswoman for Schaffer's [2008 Election] Democratic opponent, Mark Udall." ... "At heart of the issue is the islands' massive textile industry, which is exempted from the U.S. minimum wage as well as most American immigration laws. The Northern Marianas economy is built on thousands of workers from China, the Philippines and Bangladesh, some of whom pay labor recruiters as much as $7,000 to land a job on U.S. soil." ... "A class-action lawsuit filed the year Schaffer toured the islands alleged that many of those workers lived in slum conditions, housed seven to a room in barracks surrounded by barbed wire designed to keep the workers in. Workers in some factories labored 12 hours a day, seven days a week, the suit alleged — without pay if they fell behind set quotas." ... "A U.S. Interior Department investigation found that pregnant workers were forced to get illegal abortions or lose their jobs. Some were recruited for factories but forced into the sex trade instead." ... "Said Matthew Miller, spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee: "The fact that (Schaffer) sided against the human rights of those workers, not just then, but still today, shows he was more interested in doing the bidding of the people who set up the trip than in actually investigating abuses."" -By Michael Riley -DenverPost.com

---

20080409

Bob Schaffer - Jack Abramoff - Criminal - Money - Politician - Abortion - Child - Labor - Female - Textile - Factory - Immigration - Human Rights - Law - History - US - Mariana Islands - 2008 Election - Colorado - Vacation - "Fashhhionating." ... "Earlier today we noted that the [2008 Election] Republican Senate candidate from Colorado, Bob Schaffer, told the Denver Post that America should adopt an immigration and guest labor policy modeled on that of the Mariana Islands (aka the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) -- whose guest worker program is notorious around the world for forced abortion, slavery, child prostitution, sex trafficking, beatings, female workers kept in shacks with no plumbing surrounded by barbed wire and other fun stuff [sarcasm]." ... "TPM Reader AK points out that the folks at ProgressNowAction have done a little digging. And it seems that that back in 1999, when Schaffer was serving in Congress, he went on one of those junkets to the Islands put together by none other than disgraced lobbyist and now-federal inmate Jack Abramoff." ... "Those of you with a clear recollection of the details of the Abramoff scandal will remember that one of Jack's biggest clients was the group of sharks who ran the Marianas sweat shops." ... "They had a great thing going because they were able to slap Made In The USA labels on clothes and other items made in Saipan [Northern Mariana Islands capital] by female guest workers imported from other parts of East Asia to work in sub-Third World labor conditions. That is, when the guest workers weren't busy getting beaten, raped or coerced into having abortions. Jack's job was to find politicians willing to travel with him on junkets to the Marianas, hang out at the casinos and come back to the states and say how well the labor conditions actually there seemed to be." ... "In any case, it was just one of these junkets with Abramoff that then US Rep. Bob Schaffer took back in 1999, which, as it happens, was a year after the release of the Department of Labor report that confirmed the 15 year old sex slave's account." -By Josh Marshall -TalkingPointsMemo.com

---

Watch TPMtv Video update: "... Colorado senate candidate Bob Schaffer (R) says we should remodel our national immigration policy on that of the Mariana Islands -- a program notorious for child prostitution, forced abortions, beatings, slavery, twelve hour days and sex trafficking. Now it turns out he went on a Jack Abramoff junket to the islands and came back saying it was A-OK!" -By Josh Marshall -Veracifier

---

20080307
Gordon Smith - Abramoff - John Roberts - Ore - Ariz - Nev - Georgia - US - UK Scotland - Sports - History - Politics
"Gordon Smith says he is missing the links." ... "He [Oregon Republican Senator Gordon Smith] once paid $1.25 million for four really vintage golf clubs - including a putter owned by King James IV in 1504 - and can speak at passionate length about golfing in Scotland [UK], having done so several times." ... "Golf Digest says it ran into a lot of this reticence in [Washington Top 200 golf list] its survey this year."

"In the wake of the [Jack] Abramoff scandal, there's a greater-than-ever hesitancy among golfers to admit they play. [Republican lobbyist Jack] Abramoff is the former high-powered lobbyist who pleaded guilty in 2006 to charges involving fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials. Luxury golf junkets to Scotland were among the things that got him in trouble." ... "For now, mum's the word among many D.C. golfers. Even Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, a longtime player whose 14.5 Index hasn't been updated since 2000, declined to approximate his handicap, saying he hasn't been playing enough to have one. Same for [Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore. [Republican-Oregon]) and [Arizona Democratic Representative] Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz. [Democratic-Arizona]). Freshman [Nevada Republican Representative] Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev. [Republican-Nevada]), a member of the Republican "Ryder Cup" team, also declined to reveal a handicap. [former Georgia Republican Representative] Newt Gingrich, a proud 47-handicapper as a new golfer in 2005, doesn't admit to playing, either."

" -By Jeff Mapes -Oregonian

---

20080225

John McCain - Jack Abramoff - Bob Riley - Tom DeLay - Bob Ney - Money - Politics - Investigation - Law - EMail - Alabama - Louisiana - Mississippi - Arizona - Texas - Ohio - History - 2002 Election - 2006 Election - 2008 Election - "McCain Withheld Controversial Abramoff Email." ... "In the 2006 Senate report concerning [Republican Lobbyist Jack] Abramoff's activities, which [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain spearheaded, the Arizona Republican conspicuously left out information detailing how Alabama [Republican Governor] Gov. Bob Riley was targeted by Abramoff's influence peddling scheme. Riley, a Republican, won election in November 2002, and was reelected in 2006." ... "In a December 2002 email [PDF] obtained by the Huffington Post -- which McCain and his staff had access to prior to the issuance of his report -- Abramoff explains to an aide what he would like to see Riley do in return for the "help" he received from Abramoff's tribal clients." ... "An official with the Mississippi Choctaws "definitely wants Riley to shut down the Poarch Creek operation," Abramoff wrote, "including his announcing that anyone caught gambling there can't qualify for a state contract or something like that."" ... "The note showed not only the reach of Abramoff, but raised questions about Riley's victory in what was the closest gubernatorial election in Alabama history." ... "And yet, despite the implications of the information, McCain and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee sat on the controversial portion of the email. According to an official familiar with the investigation, McCain also subsequently refused to make the email public after the report was released." ... "There was a brief footnote in the report that quoted William Worfel, former vice chairman of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, saying that Abramoff told the chief of a Mississippi tribe to spend $13 million "to get the governor of Alabama elected to keep gaming out of Alabama so it wouldn't hurt ... his market in Mississippi."" ... "But Riley's name and the details of what was being asked of him were not mentioned once in the 373-page document." ... "Indeed, as the Associated Press noted in 2006, McCain stayed deliberately agnostic as to Riley's involvement." ... ""Although Sen. McCain has long bragged of his role in the Abramoff investigation, he let [former Texas Republican Representative] Tom DeLay and the other members of Congress who were doing Abramoff's bidding completely off the hook. The sole exception was [former Ohio Republican Representative] Rep. Bob Ney, who served time in prison," Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics In Washington told the Huffington Post recently. "Sen. McCain knew what his colleagues were up to, he chose to take the easier path and give them a free pass."" -By Sam Stein -HuffingtonPost.com

---

20080131

Jack Abramoff - John A Boehner - John T Doolittle - Legal - Politics - Ohio - California - Georgia - Utah - Colorado - Indiana - California - Texas - "Fellow Republicans Help Doolittle Pay Legal Bills Stemming From Abramoff Ties." ... "A House Republican under Justice Department investigation because of ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has garnered help with his legal bills from a handful of colleagues, including [Ohio Republican Representative] Minority Leader John A. Boehner." ... "[California Republican Representative] Rep. John T. Doolittle, R-Calif., reported in a filing made available Thursday that his legal expense fund had received $5,000 from Boehner’s leadership PAC. The money was part of $36,500 kicked in by GOP colleagues to Doolittle’s legal defense between June 27, when he opened the fund, and year’s end." ... "Other Republican lawmakers who contributed money from their campaign funds or leadership committees included [Republican Senator] Sens. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, [Republican Senator] Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and [Republican Senator] Wayne Allard of Colorado, and Reps. [Republican Representative] Dan Burton of Indiana, [Republican Representative] Wally Herger of California, [Republican Representative] Jack Kingston of Georgia, [Republican Representative] Sam Johnson of Texas, and [California Republican Representative] Howard P. “Buck” McKeon and [Republican Representative] Dana Rohrabacher of California." -By Kathleen Hunter -CQPolitics.com 

---

20080129

Jack Abramoff - Randy Cunningham - Money - Government - Lawmakers - History - 2006 Election - California - Maryland - "Question of Timing on Bush’s Push on Earmarks." ... "[Republican] President Bush has never shown much distaste for Congressional pork." ... "In the last seven years he has signed spending bills containing about 55,000 earmarks worth more than $100 billion for projects like a new lane for a local road, a new facade for a town landmark or a weapons contract for a company that happened to be a big donor to an influential lawmaker." ... "Such projects tucked into the endnotes of complex spending bills at the request of individual lawmakers with almost no oversight have contributed to a mounting pileup of waste and corruption, including sending the [Republican] lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the former [California Republican] congressman Randy Cunningham, a California Republican, to jail." ... "Mr. Bush was notably silent on the subject until after his fellow Republicans lost control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections." ... "“When the president and the Republican Congress had the power to address this, they did nothing,” [Maryland Democratic Representative Chris] Mr. Van Hollen said." -By David D. Kirkpatrick -NYTimes

---

20080110

John McCain - Law - Investigation - Ralph Reed - Jack Abramoff - Grover Norquist - Tom DeLay - Secret - Corporate - Religion - History - Georgia - New Hampshire - 2008 Election - Television - Politics - Opinion - "Ralph Reed's New Role." ... "Eighteen months ago, the political career of Christian right golden boy [Republican] Ralph Reed came crashing down, a casualty of his role in the [Republican] Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. This week, Reed has found a new calling. He appeared on CNN during its New Hampshire primary coverage and again last night, labeled as a "GOP [Grand Old Party=Republican] political analyst."" ... "Reed sounded none too bullish about [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain's prospects going forward despite his big New Hampshire win. That's perhaps not surprising, given the long history between the two." ... "McCain, as chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, launched an investigation of Abramoff's tribal lobbying that turned up a mountain of e-mails, including some between Reed and Abramoff." ... "The e-mails revealed Abramoff's corrupt dealings with politicians, as well as conservative religious and advocacy groups. Reed often participated in Abramoff's business schemes, telling him in a 1998 e-mail after stepping down as head of the Christian Coalition: "I need to start humping in corporate accounts!"" ... "E-mails and testimony before McCain's panel showed that Reed, who once branded gambling a "cancer" on society, reaped millions of dollars in tribal casino proceeds that Abramoff secretly routed to him through various non-profit front groups. Abramoff, a lobbyist for the tribes, paid Reed to whip up "grassroots" Christian opposition to prevent rival tribes from opening casinos." ... "Abramoff sometimes routed his money to Reed through a group called Americans for Tax Reform, run by conservative anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist. Norquist lately has been attacking McCain's record on taxes, placing robo calls to voters in New Hampshire." ... "Reed's much-publicized role in the Abramoff scandal cost him the 2006 Republican primary for Georgia lieutenant governor--the first rung on what was widely expected to be a climb into national politics." ... "Former House majority leader [Republican] Tom DeLay, who left Congress and is still under investigation by the Justice Department in connection with the Abramoff probe, predicted to MSNBC's Chris Matthews that McCain won't fare well with conservatives in the South." -By Susan Schmidt -WashingtonPost

---

John Doolittle - Jack Abramoff - Brent Wilkes - Randy Cunningham - Military - Government - Money - Politics - San Diego - California - "Lawmaker Tied to Abramoff to Retire." ... "[Republican] Representative John Doolittle of California, once a rising star in the Republican Party but more recently under investigation in a scandal involving the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, announced his retirement from Congress on Thursday, declaring that it was time for a new chapter in his life." ... "He stepped down last April from the powerful Appropriations Committee after he was linked to three inquiries involving accusations that panel members accepted bribes or campaign contributions in exchange for earmarking federal money to certain projects." ... "Mr. Doolittle has also been under scrutiny for the role that Mrs. Doolittle has played as a fund-raiser for her husband. Under the arrangement, the Doolittles kept some of the contributions given to his campaign committees, blurring the distinction between personal and campaign contributions." ... "Finally, Mr. Doolittle is under investigation for his ties to Brent Wilkes, a San Diego [California] military contractor who was convicted in November of 13 felonies related to the bribery of former Representative Randy Cunningham, another California Republican." -By David Stout -NYTimes 

---

20080109

John Doolittle - Jack Abramoff - Calif - Lawmaker - Investigated - Va - 2008 Election - "GOP officials urging embattled Calif. Rep. Doolittle not to seek reele[ction]." ... "As speculation mounts about his future, [California Republican Representative] Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) is being urged by friends and colleagues not to seek reelection [2008 Election]." ... "Republican operatives fear that if Doolittle does not retire at the end of this Congress and survives what would be a bruising GOP [Grand Old Party=Republican] primary, they will lose the nine-term lawmaker’s seat. Doolittle is under an ethics cloud, having had his Virginia house investigated by the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] last year. Several prominent Republicans are seeking to defeat him in the primary." ... "The FBI raided his Oakton, Va. [Virginia], home in an attempt to gain information about Sierra Dominion, a fundraising company operated by his wife, Julie, that received payments from Jack Abramoff." -By Jackie Kucinich with contributions by Susan Crabtree and Aaron Blake -TheHill.com

---

20071217

Secret - Jack Abramoff - Dick Cheney - Government - Religion - Politics - "Judge: White House visitor logs are public documents." ... "The [Republican President Bush] White House must release its visitor logs and cannot hide behind a shield of privilege, a federal judge ruled Monday. The Bush administration has resisted public disclosure while it fights a lawsuit over alleged political influence by conservative Christian leaders." ... "The White House claimed exclusive control of the documents, subject to the complete discretion of the president over their release." ... "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a self-described government watchdog group, sought the visit records of prominent conservatives James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Wendy Wright of Concerned Women of America and seven others including the late televangelist Jerry Falwell." ... "Separate legal action by CREW and other groups, including Judicial Watch and the Washington Post, sought White House visitor logs that listed lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He pleaded guilty last year to public corruption charges." ... "Another federal judge in Washington ordered the release of Secret Service logs of visitors to [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney's office. Cheney claimed those logs were subject to executive privilege. That ruling is being appealed." -By Bill Mears -CNN 

---

20070831

Neil Volz - Bob Ney - Jack Abramoff - Michael Scanlon - Tony Rudy - David Safavian - Money - Law - Politics - Ohio - "Document details Volz’s cooperation in Abramoff case." ... "A new court document details the extent to which Neil Volz, who at one point was the top aide of former [Ohio Republican Representative] Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) before going to work for lobbyist Jack Abramoff, assisted federal authorities in building a case against the lawmaker that resulted in a guilty plea on charges of bribery and public corruption last year." ... "Volz was one of the first people to begin to explore cooperating with federal prosecutors in its investigation of the wide-ranging corruption scheme Abramoff and others perpetrated. According to a “substantial assistance memorandum” filed in the D.C. district court Wednesday, his cooperation was both “timely and substantial.”" ... "In May of last year, Volz pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring with Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Tony Rudy and others to commit honest services fraud and to violate the federal one-year lobbying ban, For his help in bringing down Abramoff, Ney and others, prosecutors are recommending home confinement as punishment." ... "In February 2006, he began providing “unlimited cooperation in dozens of debriefings, and his cooperation was substantial, especially in connection with the investigation and prosecutions of Ney, [William] Heaton and [General Services Administration chief of staff] David Safavian,” according to the document." -By Susan Crabtree -TheHill.com

---

20070813

Bob Ney - Jack Abramoff - Money - Politics - Law - Secrets - Ohio - "Ney's Chief of Staff Wore Wire, Was Key To Boss's Conviction." ... "When Will Heaton went to work for [Ohio Republican Representative] Rep. Robert W. Ney in 2001, he was 23 years old and still in awe of the members of Congress he had come to know years earlier as a congressional page. Within six months, the Ohio Republican promoted the fresh-faced neophyte to be the youngest chief of staff in Congress." ... "For the next five years, Heaton stuck by Ney, even as the House Administration Committee chairman accepted free meals at super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's downtown restaurant, sports tickets in his arena skyboxes and luxurious junkets around the world. Heaton accompanied Ney on a golf junket to Scotland with Abramoff, and he helped Ney return the favors to Abramoff." ... "But as Ney's political career disintegrated amid revelations of his ties to Abramoff, Heaton became disillusioned and began secretly helping an FBI task force investigating Abramoff. At first, through his attorney, Heaton handed over internal documents from Ney's office to the FBI. Then he recorded colleagues in Ney's office." ... "Last summer, Heaton began secretly recording his conversations with the six-term congressman, according to documents filed in court last week by the government and Heaton's lawyers. Heaton taped numerous phone calls and wore a hidden wire to a 2 1/2 -hour, face-to-face meeting with Ney that provided "exceptionally important" help to the FBI's investigation of Abramoff." (1, 2) -By James V. Grimaldi -WashingtonPost

---

20070725

Don Young - Jack Abramoff - Ted Stevens - Ben Stevens - Alaska - VECO - Oil - Construction - Money - Politics - Colorado - "Alaska's Young and Stevens Face Criminal Inquiry." ... "[Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young of Alaska, the former chairman of the House Transportation Committee, now is the subject of a continuing criminal inquiry involving possible political favors for a company in Alaska, people close to the case said. [Alaska Senator Representative] Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, the powerful former chairman of the Appropriations Committee and the longest-serving Senate Republican, is also under criminal investigation." ... "Federal investigators are examining whether Rep. Young or Sen. Stevens accepted bribes, illegal gratuities or unreported gifts from VECO Corp., Alaska's largest oil-field engineering firm, people close to the case said." ... "Mr. Young has also faced questions about campaign donations received from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff." ... "VECO was acquired in June by CH2M Hill, a closely held Colorado engineering firm, after Mr. Allen, VECO's former CEO, agreed in May to plead guilty to charges of bribery, conspiracy and extortion." ... "Mr. Stevens has publicly said that he was asked to retain documents related to the federal investigation of his son, [former Alaska State Republican Senator] Ben Stevens, and other members of the state legislature, and related to VECO's role in the remodeling of a family home in Alaska in 2000." -By John R. Wilke -WSJ.com 

---

20070719

John Doolittle - Jack Abramoff - Tom DeLay - US- Northern Mariana Islands - Calif - Money - Politics - "Marianas governor and Doolittle ally says cooperating in probe." ... "The governor of the Northern Mariana Islands said Thursday he's cooperating with the Justice Department's corruption investigation around jailed GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, which is focused in part on GOP [California Republican Representative] Rep. John Doolittle of Rocklin, Calif." ... "The tiny U.S. commonwealth also is still trying to get back some of the millions it paid Abramoff's firms over the years, said [Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Governor] Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, a one-time Abramoff ally who counted Doolittle among his congressional supporters." ... ""When I have a friend that friend always remains a friend," said Fitial, who became House speaker of the Marianas in 2000 after intervention from two former aides to former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. After becoming speaker Fitial pushed for Abramoff's contract to continue." -By Erica Werner -NCTimes.com 

---

20070704

I Lewis "Scooter" Libby - Dick Cheney - David H Safavian - Jack Abramoff - J Steven Griles - Government - Military - Law - Prison - Politics - "Libby's sentence not unusually long: Though [Republican President] Bush calls the 30-month prison term 'excessive,' records show defendants convicted of similar crimes served jail time." ... "In commuting the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, President Bush said that the former [Republican Dick Cheney] vice presidential aide had suffered enough and that the 30-month prison term ordered up by a federal judge was "excessive."" ... "But records show that the Justice Department under the Bush administration frequently has sought sentences that are as long, or longer, in cases similar to Libby's." ... "Three-fourths of the 198 defendants sentenced in federal court last year for obstruction of justice — one of four crimes Libby was found guilty of in March — got some prison time. According to federal data, the average sentence defendants received for that charge alone was 70 months." ... "Just last week, the Supreme Court upheld a 33-month prison sentence for a decorated Army veteran who was convicted of lying to a federal agent about buying a machine gun. The veteran had a record of public service — fighting in Vietnam and the Gulf War — and no criminal record. But Justice Department lawyers argued his prison term should stand because it fit within the federal sentencing guidelines." ... "Former members of the Bush administration have been sentenced to jail time in circumstances roughly analogous to those of Libby." ... "A former federal procurement official, David H. Safavian, was sentenced to 18 months in October for lying and concealing his dealings with GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Late last month, a federal judge sentenced J. Steven Griles, the former second-ranking official in the Interior Department, to 10 months in prison for obstructing a Senate investigation into his dealings with Abramoff." (1, 2) -By Richard B. Schmitt and David G. Savage -LAtimes 

---

20070626

J Steven Griles - Jack Abramoff - Dick Cheney - Government - Energy - Money - Politics - "Former Interior Official Gets Prison." ... "A federal judge chastised the Interior Department's former No. 2 official and doubled his proposed prison term to 10 months Tuesday for lying to senators in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and making excuses about it in court." ... "J. Steven Griles was the department's deputy secretary and is the highest administration official sentenced in the probe. He pleaded guilty to obstructing a congressional investigation, but on Tuesday his lawyers tried to deflect blame for his faulty testimony." ... "Griles admitted to lying to Senate investigators about his relationship with Abramoff, the central figure in a corruption investigation that has led to convictions of a former congressman, legislative aides, lobbyists and officials in the [Republican President] Bush administration." ... "Second in rank only to then-Secretary Gale Norton, Griles effectively was Interior's chief operating officer between 2001 and 2005 and its top representative on [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force." -By Matt Apuzzo -AP 

---

20070618

Jack Abramoff - Ralston - Alberto Gonzales - Karl Rove - Political - Government - E-Mail - Communications - Presidential Records Act - Law  - US Attorneys - California - "Report: White House aides used GOP e-mail to skirt law." ... "E-mail records are missing for 51 of the 88 White House aides with Republican Party accounts, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee reported Monday." ... "The White House says the accounts were set up to keep political work separate from official business, but investigators concluded White House officials used the accounts to conduct official business in a way that circumvented the Watergate-era Presidential Records Act." ... "The committee, led by California Democrat [Represenative] Henry Waxman, began looking into the GOP e-mail accounts after messages from the accounts turned up in two cases -- the case of imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the 2006 firings of eight U.S. attorneys by the Justice Department." ... "[Susan] Ralston told investigators that [Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales, now attorney general, knew [Karl] Rove was using his party e-mail account for official business, "but took no action to preserve Mr. Rove's official communications," the report states." -CNN 

---

20070609

Italia Federici - Jack Abramoff - Politics - "Federici cuts deal in Abramoff case." ... "As part of her plea deal, [Italia] Federici agreed to provide information that people close to the case said could lead investigators to officials in Congress and the Bush administration." -LAtimes 

---

20070608

Jack Abramoff - Italia Federici - J Steven Griles - Money - Politics - "GOP Activist Pleads Guilty in Abramoff Scandal." ... "Prosecutors said [Italia] Federici served as a conduit for information between [lobbyist Jack] Abramoff and former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles, who pleaded guilty in March to lying to a Senate committee about his dealings with Abramoff." -CQ.com

---

Italia Federici - Jack Abramoff - J Steven Griles - Environmental - Politics - "Federici pleads guilty, will assist in Abramoff probe." ... "Federici is the second person with ties to Norton to plead guilty in the Abramoff investigation. Former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his relationship to Abramoff and Federici." ... "Federici is the president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), which evolved from a group Federici and Norton founded in 1997 with tax activist Grover Norquist to push for Republican environmental goals." -By Mike Soraghan -TheHill.com

---

Jack Abramoff - Italia Federici - Steven Griles - Environmental - Money - Politics - "Republican figure pleads guilty in Abramoff probe." ... "A Republican activist [Italia Federici] pleaded guilty on Friday to obstructing Congress and evading taxes in a deal with prosecutors probing the influence-peddling scandal involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff." ... "As head of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, Federici, 37, had close ties to senior Interior Department officials, including former Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Founded by Federici and Norton in 1997, CREA is a nonprofit group that touts Republicans' environmental accomplishments and criticizes established environmental groups like the Sierra Club." ... "According to the plea agreement, Federici introduced Abramoff to the Interior Department's No. 2 official, Steven Griles, in March 2001." ... "Federici's involvement masked the extent of Abramoff's influence over Griles, the agreement says, allowing the two to discuss how to block casinos that might compete with those owned by Abramoff clients, among other matters." ... "Griles pleaded guilty in March to obstructing Congress, becoming the highest-ranking [Republican President] Bush administration official convicted in the lobbying scandal." (1, 2) -By Andy Sullivan -Reuters

---

20070607

Italia Federici - Jack Abramoff - Environment - Money - Politics - "GOP activist charged in Abramoff probe: Environmental group founder Italia Federici is accused of tax evasion and obstruction of justice in the lobbying case." ... "The founder of a Republican environmental organization was charged Wednesday with tax evasion and obstruction of justice as part of the continuing federal criminal investigation into lobbying practices in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal." ... "Italia Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, allegedly failed to pay more than $77,000 in federal income taxes from 2001 to 2003. She was also cited for making "false and fictitious" statements before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 2005, which was investigating Abramoff's representation of Native American tribes." ... "According to the charges filed Wednesday, Federici founded the environmental council in 1997 in Colorado with the help of Gale A. Norton, who later became secretary of the Interior under President Bush." -By Richard A. Serrano -LAtimes 

---

20070606

Italia Federici - Jack Abramoff - Steven Griles - Environment - Money - Politics - "Republican with Abramoff ties to plead guilty." ... "A Republican activist will plead guilty to obstructing Congress in the influence-peddling scandal centered around former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, her lawyer said on Wednesday." ... "According to criminal charges filed by the government, Federici in 2001 introduced Abramoff to her sometime boyfriend, ex-Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles." ... "Abramoff, currently serving a six-year prison sentence, is at the center of a lobbying scandal that has resulted in prison time for several Bush administration officials and one congressman." ... "Over the next several years, Federici served as a go-between for Griles and Abramoff, the charges say. Abramoff donated roughly $500,000 to her group during that time." (1, 2) -By Andy Sullivan -Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com

---

20070529

Cheney - Abramoff - Secret - Archives - Lawsuit- Religious - Politics - "Lawyer: Cheney visitor logs not recorded." ... "A lawyer for Vice President Dick Cheney told the Secret Service in September to eliminate data on who visited Cheney at his official residence, a newly disclosed letter states. The Sept. 13, 2006, letter from Cheney's lawyer says logs for Cheney's residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory are subject to the Presidential Records Act." ... "Such a designation prevents the public from learning who visited the vice president." ... "The Justice Department filed the letter Friday in a lawsuit by a private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, seeking the identities of conservative religious leaders who visited Cheney at his official residence." ... ""The latest filings make clear that the administration has been destroying documents and entering into secret agreements in violation of the law," said Anne Weismann, CREW's chief counsel." ... "The letter regarding the vice president's residence was in addition to an agreement quietly signed between the White House and the Secret Service a year ago when questions were raised about visits to the executive compound by convicted influence peddler Jack Abramoff." -By Pete Yost -AP via -USATODAY 

---

20070424

Abramoff - Mark Zachares - Money - Government - Politics - Alaska - Transportation - "11th conviction in Abramoff-lobbying probe: Fifth congressional staffer to admit guilt in Capitol Hill lobbying scandal." ... "A former [Republican] congressional aide pleaded guilty Tuesday to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from lobbyist Jack Abramoff in an influence-peddling scandal that has touched the White House, Interior Department and congressional Republicans." ... "Mark Zachares was the 11th person to be convicted in the Justice Department probe." ... "Zachares admitted engaging in official acts on Abramoff's behalf while working for [Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who chaired the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee." -AP via -MSNBC 

---

20070423

Abramoff - Mark Zachares - Government - Money - Politics - Sports - Alaska - Transportation - "Ex-Congressional Aide Charged in Probe of Abramoff (Update2)." ... "A former [Republican] U.S. congressional aide was charged with using his position to help disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in exchange for food, tickets to sporting events, a golf trip to Scotland and the promise of future employment." ... "Mark Zachares, 49, was charged with conspiracy in a criminal information filed in federal court, which indicates the defendant has agreed to plead guilty." ... "Court documents said Zachares used his post as staff director of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Coast Guard and Maritime subcommittee to help Abramoff land clients and obtain favorable congressional action. Zachares agreed to use his committee position to retaliate against companies that hired other lobbyists, the document said." ... "Abramoff, once one of the Republican Party's best-connected and most powerful lobbyists, is in jail for fraud after pleading guilty in two separate cases." ... "Steve Hansen, a spokesman for Representative Don Young, an Alaska Republican who was chairman of the House Transportation committee when Zachares worked for the panel, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment." ... "Zachares is the 10th person charged in the Abramoff investigation and the fifth former congressional aide." -By Jonathan D. Salant and Cary O'Reilly -Bloomberg

---

20070419

Doolittle - Abramoff - Family - Money - Government - Lawmaker - Politics - Virginia - Calif - "FBI Raids Business of Congressman's Wife." ... "The FBI on Friday raided the Northern Virginia home consulting business owned by the wife of [California Republican Representative] Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.), whose ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff have been under investigation for two years, sources familiar with the matter said." ... "Doolittle's wife, Julie, operates Sierra Dominion Financial Services Inc. out of the couple's home in Oakton [Virginia]. Since 2005, a Justice Department task force has been looking into payments made by Abramoff and other lobbyists to Doolittle's wife and the spouses of other lawmakers." -By James V. Grimaldi and Susan Schmidt -WashingtonPost

---

20070418

US - Korea -  John Doolittle - Brent Wilkes - Abramoff - Buckham - DeLay - Politician - Lawmaker - Government - Military - Money - Sports- Virginia - Calif - Texas - "FBI searches Republican lawmaker’s home." ... "The FBI searched the Virginia home of [California Republican Representative] Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) last Friday in its investigation into ties between the congressman and his wife, Julie, and disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to law enforcement and other Congressional and K Street sources." ... "Doolittle used Abramoff’s luxury sports box for a fundraiser without initially reporting it to the Federal Election Commission." ... "Doolittle also has been under fire for paying his wife’s company, Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, a 15 percent commission on all contributions that the company raised for Doolittle’s campaign committee and leadership PAC. Her only other clients were Abramoff’s former firm, Greenberg Traurig; Abramoff’s former restaurant Signatures; and the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, which Ed Buckham, a former chief of staff to ex-Majority Leader [Texas Republican Representative] Tom DeLay (R-Texas), created." ... "Doolittle also received contributions from indicted defense contractor Brent Wilkes and his associates, and investigators are probing whether those contributions are linked to any official action Doolittle took to help Wilkes’ company obtain millions of dollars in government earmarks." -By Mike Soraghan and Susan Crabtree -TheHill.com 

---

20070412

Rove - Ralston - Abramoff - Government - E-Mail - Electronic - Communication - History - Archive - Law - US Attorneys - Politics - "Countless White House E-Mails Deleted." ... "Countless e-mails to and from many key White House staffers have been deleted -- lost to history and placed out of reach of congressional subpoenas -- due to a brazen violation of internal White House policy that was allowed to continue for more than six years, the White House acknowledged yesterday." ... "The leading culprit appears to be President Bush's enormously influential political adviser Karl Rove, who reportedly used his Republican National Committee-provided Blackberry and e-mail accounts for most of his electronic communication." ... "Until 2004, all e-mail on RNC accounts was routinely deleted after 30 days. Since 2004, White House staffers using those accounts have been able to save their e-mail indefinitely -- but have also been able to delete whatever they felt like deleting. By comparison, the White House e-mail system preserves absolutely everything forever, in accordance with the Presidential Records Act." ... "In an afternoon conference call with reporters, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel spread the blame all around. "White House policy did not give clear enough guidance," he said." ... "But when I asked Stanzel to read out loud the White House e-mail policy, it seemed clear enough to me: "Federal law requires the preservation of electronic communications sent or received by White House staff," says the handbook that all staffers are given and expected to read and comply with." ... ""As a result, personnel working on behalf of the EOP [Executive Office of the President] are expected to only use government-provided e-mail services for all official communication."" ... "The handbook further explains: "The official EOP e-mail system is designed to automatically comply with records management requirements."" ... "And if that wasn't clear enough, the handbook notes --as was the case in the Clinton administration -- that "commercial or free e-mail sites and chat rooms are blocked from the EOP network to help staff members ensure compliance and to prevent the circumvention of the records management requirements."" ... "Stanzel refused to publicly release the relevant portions of the White House staff manual and denied my request to make public the transcript of the call, which lasted more than an hour but which -- due to Stanzel's refusal or inability to provide straight answers on many issues -- raised more questions than it answered." ... "The use of non-government e-mails first became an issue about four weeks ago, when some of the e-mails turned over in a congressional investigation of the firing of eight U.S. attorneys showed that Rove deputy Scott Jennings repeatedly used an RNC e-mail address (sjennings@gwb43.com) in his official communications. One e-mail to Rove was sent to a kr@georgewbush.com address." ... "Since then, it's been pointed out that some of the e-mails released in the congressional investigation of now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff indicated that former Rove aide Susan Ralston made a point of keeping her communication with Abramoff off the White House e-mail servers, and on either her RNC or AOL e-mail accounts." (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) -By Dan Froomkin -WashingtonPost 

---

20070404

Italia Federici - Jack Abramoff - Environment - Money - Politics - Colorado - "Federici linked to Abramoff case." ... "A one-time Colorado political activist and ex-girlfriend of a convicted Interior Department official has been informed by the Justice Department that there is "substantial evidence" linking her to criminal activity in the Jack Abramoff scandal." ... "In a January 2007 letter obtained by the publication Legal Times, a federal prosecutor urged Italia Federici to hire an attorney to defend against allegations she illegally used a tax-exempt organization to lobby for Abramoff's clients and lied about the organization's activities to Congress." ... ""The investigation is focused on the allegedly illegal manner in which you operated the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, commonly known as CREA," wrote Justice Department tax division attorney Stephanie D. Evans to Federici, an ex-aide and Colorado fundraiser for former Interior Secretary Gale Norton." ... "Founded by Federici and Norton in 1997, CREA became ensnared in scandal after evidence emerged that Abramoff's Indian casino clients gave the conservative environmental group almost $500,000 to gain influence with the Interior Department." -By Christa Marshall -DenverPost.com

---

20070403

Italia Federici - Jack Abramoff - J Steven Griles - Environmental - Politics - "Ex-Interior Secretary's Former Girlfriend Is Latest Target in Abramoff Probe." ... "Italia Federici, the one-time girlfriend of a convicted former senior official at the Interior Department, is a target of the ongoing federal influence-peddling investigation into the activities of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to court documents obtained by Legal Times." ... ""The investigation is focused on the allegedly illegal manner in which you operated the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy," wrote Stephanie Evans, a trial attorney in the department's Tax Division. Federici co-founded CREA, a conservative-leaning environmental-advocacy group, in 1997 with Gale Norton, who became secretary of the Interior Department in 2001." ... "Federici was central to the charges against J. Steven Griles, the former deputy secretary of the Interior Department who pleaded guilty March 23 to misleading Senate investigators about his relationship with Abramoff, the infamous then-Greenberg Traurig lobbyist who pleaded guilty to several felonies last year." ... "According to the Jan. 19 target letter filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, investigators are looking at whether Federici violated five statutes in connection with running the group: conspiracy to defraud the United States, tax evasion, impeding the Internal Revenue Service, and obstructing proceedings and making false statements before the Senate." ... "Federal officials also informed Federici that they believe she "may have assisted others in depriving the American Public of honest services of at least one administration official," the letter states." -By Emma Schwartz -LegalTimes.com via -Law.com

---

20070324

J Steven Griles - Jack Abramoff - Italia Federici - Money - Government - Environmental - Energy - Companies - Politics - Law - "Ex-Official At Interior Hid His Ties To Abramoff: Griles Pleads Guilty To Lying to Senate." ... "The former No. 2 official in the Interior Department yesterday admitted lying to the Senate about his relationship with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who gained the official's intervention at the agency for his Indian tribal clients." ... "J. Steven Griles pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a felony for making false statements in testimony before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in November 2005 and in an earlier interview with panel investigators. He is the 10th person -- and the second high-level [Republican President] Bush administration official -- to face criminal charges in the continuing Justice Department investigation into Abramoff's lobbying activities." ... "Griles, 59, a gregarious former mining lobbyist, drew the wrath of environmentalists and his department's inspector general during a stormy four-year tenure at Interior." ... "Griles told the Senate panel and its investigators that his relationship with Abramoff was no different from that with any lobbyist. Griles's then-girlfriend, however, had introduced him to the lobbyist and then acted as a go-between. The woman, Italia Federici -- identified as "Person A" in court papers -- ran an advocacy group to which Abramoff and his clients donated $500,000." ... ""Abramoff occasionally sought and received -- both directly and through Person A -- defendant James Steven Griles' advice and intervention on issues within DOI that directly affected Abramoff and his clients," said the government's charging document. Griles was not accused of accepting anything of value in exchange." ... "Griles was a controversial political appointee from the start of his tenure at Interior under then-Secretary Gale A. Norton. Environmentalists and the department's inspector general faulted him for keeping ties to energy and mining companies that were once his lobbying clients." (1, 2) -By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi -WashingtonPost

---

20061103

Ney - Abramoff - Money - Politics - Ohio - "Ney Says He’ll Resign From House." ... "Rep. Bob Ney, facing certain expulsion from the House after being convicted of two felonies in relation to the Jack Abramoff scandal, said on Friday he will resign by the end of the day." ... "Ney’s corruption case was detailed in Justice Department documents released in September, and they revealed a five-year association with Abramoff that included taking trips to Scotland, luxury sports suite tickets and gambling chips from a foreign businessman." ... "In return for these favors, Ney tried to give Abramoff clients favorable treatment." ... "In the plea document, Ney says he accepted free trips, including a $160,000 excursion to play golf in Scotland in 2002; a $7,200 gambling vacation in New Orleans in 2003; and a $3,500 vacation in Lake George, N.Y., that same year, with lobbyists picking up the tab in each case." ... "Ney also accepted thousands in gambling chips at a British casino. He had a staffer carry $5,000 in cash through U.S. Customs so he wouldn’t have to report tens of thousands in winnings from the casino." -By Martin Kady II -CQ.com

---

20061019
John E Sweeney - Jack Abramoff - Tony Rudy - Politician -Trip - Northern Mariana Islands - US - New York - Law
"Congressman Faces Questions Over Who Paid for Pacific Trip." ... "[New York Republican] Representative John E. Sweeney, an upstate Republican who is in a fierce fight to keep his seat, is facing questions about a trip he took to a western Pacific island with an associate of Jack Abramoff, the powerful Washington lobbyist at the center of an extensive corruption scandal." ... "The Times Union of Albany reported yesterday that Mr. Sweeney might have violated House ethics rules when he failed to disclose who paid for a trip that he made in January 2001 to one of the Northern Mariana Islands with Tony Rudy, who worked for Mr. Abramoff." ... "Mr. Sweeney made the trip to deliver a speech to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a territory of the United States. Mr. Rudy was lobbying on behalf of the commonwealth." ... "The newspaper reported that the Chamber of Commerce says it paid for Mr. Sweeney’s visit. But Mr. Sweeney failed to report that the chamber paid for the trip, despite Congressional rules requiring full disclosure of privately financed travel, according to the newspaper." -By Raymond Hernandez -NYTimes

---

20061014

Ney - Abramoff - Doolittle - Volz - Money - Politics - Ohio - Montana - California - "Ney Pleads Guilty to Corruption Charges: Lawmaker's Conviction Is 8th in Abramoff Probe." ... "[Ohio Republican Bob] Ney is the eighth person convicted in the continuing federal investigation into Abramoff's activities. A federal task force that includes a dozen Justice Department prosecutors is investigating Abramoff's dealings with other congressional offices, including those of Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont. [Republican-Montana]) and Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif. [Republican-California]), according to lawyers and witnesses involved in the probe." ... "The Ohio Republican had been a target of the investigation for a year and came under increasing pressure -- first in January with Abramoff's guilty plea and agreement to cooperate in the investigation, then with the guilty plea in May of his former aide Neil G. Volz, who admitted conspiring to corruptly influence the congressman and others. Ney admitted encouraging Volz to violate the one-year ban on lobbying by former staffers." ... "Earlier this year, Ney's committee passed ethics legislation to strip convicted lawmakers of their pensions, but the bill died in the House." -By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi with contributions by Alice Crites -WashingtonPost 

---

20061013

Abramoff - Doolittle - Family - Business - E-Mail - California - Military - "E-mail adds fuel to the fire: It suggests Doolittle wanted wife to work for Abramoff in 2000." ... "A day after a hot campaign debate in which [California Republican] Rep. John Doolittle said there was nothing unethical in his relationship with Jack Abramoff, a new e-mail surfaced Thursday indicating he was hoping his wife could go to work for the disgraced lobbyist as early as 2000." ... "The e-mail released Thursday was written by Kevin Ring, an Abramoff associate and former Doolittle staffer, to his boss. In it, Ring relates that Doolittle is "very very excited and appreciative" about the possibility of his wife, Julie, going to work for an Abramoff nonprofit group called Toward Tradition." ... ""JTD knows of the group and would like to talk to you about it," the e-mail says." ... "The e-mail suggests Doolittle was trying to get a job for his wife two years before she ultimately took a position working for Abramoff at his law firm, Greenberg Traurig." ... "[Democrat Charlie] Brown, a retired Air Force officer, is seeking to unseat Doolittle, who is running for a ninth term representing the 4th Congressional District. Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district 48 percent to 30 percent." -By David Whitney -SacBee.com

---

Abramoff - Norquist - Rove - Money - Government - Newspaper - Op-Ed - Politics - "Report Says Nonprofits Sold Influence to Abramoff." ... "Five conservative nonprofit organizations, including one run by prominent Republican Grover Norquist, "appear to have perpetrated a fraud" on taxpayers by selling their clout to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Senate investigators said in a report issued yesterday." ... "The report includes previously unreleased e-mails between the now-disgraced lobbyist and officers of the nonprofit groups, showing that Abramoff funneled money from his clients to the groups. In exchange, the groups, among other things, produced ostensibly independent newspaper op-ed columns or news releases that favored the clients' positions." ... "Officers of the groups "were generally available to carry out Mr. Abramoff's requests for help with his clients in exchange for cash payments," said the report, issued by the Senate Finance Committee." ... "The Senate report released yesterday states that the nonprofit groups probably violated their tax-exempt status "by laundering payments and then disbursing funds at Mr. Abramoff's direction; taking payments in exchange for writing newspaper columns or press releases that put Mr. Abramoff's clients in a favorable light; introducing Mr. Abramoff's clients to government officials in exchange for payment; and agreeing to act as a front organization for congressional trips paid for by Mr. Abramoff's clients."" ... "The report bolstered earlier revelations that Abramoff laundered money through the nonprofits to pay for congressional trips and paid Norquist to arrange meetings for Abramoff's clients with government officials including White House senior adviser Karl Rove." (1, 2) -By James V. Grimaldi and Susan Schmidt with contributions by Alice Crites -WashingtonPost 

---

Ney - Abramoff - Norquist - Rove - Money - Politics - Ohio - "Rep. Bob Ney Pleads Guilty to Bribery Charges: Linked to Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Ney Says He'll Resign Soon but Perhaps Not Soon Enough for GOP Leadership." ... "Republican Bob Ney, a six-term congressman from Ohio, pleaded guilty today in Federal District Court to taking bribes in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal." ... "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." ... "Three former House GOP aides have already pleaded guilty to corruption charges involving Abramoff, a once powerful lobbyist with especially close ties to top Republicans." ... "The Abramoff fallout has now spread wider, with a Senate Finance Committee report maintaining that five conservative nonprofit groups may have illegally helped the once powerful lobbyist." ... "Most notable are the charges aimed at Americans for Tax Reform, headed by Grover Norquist, an influential adviser to Republicans with close ties to President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove. The organizations cited in the report deny any wrongdoing." ... "Committee investigators said the groups may have violated their tax-exempt status by helping Abramoff and his clients." (1, 2, 3) -By John Cochran -ABCNEWS.com 

---

Ney - Abramoff - Volz - Money - Politics - Ohio - "Rep. Ney to enter guilty plea." ... "The Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation claims its first member of Congress with Rep. Bob Ney set to plead guilty to taking bribes." ... "Ney, an Ohio Republican in his sixth term, faces up to 10 years in prison in a scandal that has tainted the White House as well as Capitol Hill." ... "Ney, scheduled enter his plea Friday, signed papers a month ago admitting to charges of conspiracy and making false statements. He also acknowledged that he had deprived the public of his honest services." ... "Ney's former chief of staff Neil Volz, who left Capitol Hill to work with Abramoff, pleaded guilty in May to charges that he conspired to corrupt his former boss and others." -AP via -USATODAY

---

20061012

Abramoff - Doolittle - Family - Politics - California - Virginia - "Abramoff e-mail indicates more ties with Doolittle." ... "[California Republican] Rep. John Doolittle wanted to talk to lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2000 about a position for his wife Julie Doolittle at a nonprofit now accused of doing favors for Abramoff in exchange for cash, according to an e-mail released Thursday." ... "Doolittle has denied any wrongdoing in his ties with Abramoff and has said he's not been contacted by prosecutors in connection with the ongoing investigation. Among other ties, Doolittle accepted campaign money from Abramoff, interceded on behalf of two of his tribal clients and used Abramoff's luxury sports box for a fundraiser without initially reporting it." ... "Julie Doolittle's company, Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions Inc. of Oakton, Va. [Virginia], was paid $66,690 by Abramoff's firm Greenberg Traurig from September 2002 to February 2004." -By Erica Werner -AP via -MercuryNews 

---

20061011

Abramoff - Pombo - Money - Lawmakers - History - US - Northern Mariana Islands - Garment - Labor - California - "AP Exclusive: Records suggest Abramoff, Pombo lobbying contacts." ... "California [Republican] Rep. Richard Pombo has insisted he was never lobbied by [Republican lobbyist] Jack Abramoff. Records show the disgraced lobbyist billed a client for at least two contacts with Pombo a decade ago." ... "The lobbying records released by the Northern Mariana Islands show that Abramoff billed once for calls to Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, and a second time for a discussion with him, while lobbying in 1996." ... "On more than two dozen other occasions from 1996 through 2001, Abramoff associates called or met with members of Pombo's staff, including his chief of staff, the records indicate. As the contacts picked up, Pombo voted Abramoff's way on a bill important to Abramoff's clients." ... "The Northern Mariana Islands, a chain of 14 islands near Guam, became a U.S. commonwealth in 1986. Residents have nonvoting citizenship but the islands are exempt from many federal labor laws." ... "Democrats, complaining about reported abuses at low-paying garment factories, have sought to end those exemptions and increase the minimum wage, now $3.05 an hour. The Marianas government hired Abramoff to block such moves." ... "On Sept. 10, 1996, Abramoff billed for a discussion with Pombo. Two days later he gave Pombo a $500 donation, the first of what would become $7,500 in campaign contributions. Pombo has since donated the money to charity. On Nov. 21, 1996, Abramoff reported putting in calls to Pombo and other lawmakers." -By Erica Werner -AP via -MercuryNews

---

20061007

Rove - Abramoff - Ralston - Sports - Entertainment - Money - Government - Intelligence - Northern Mariana Islands - E-Mail - Safavian - "Rove Aide Linked To Abramoff Resigns: Scandal Claims Its First West Wing Job." ... "A top aide to White House strategist Karl Rove resigned yesterday after disclosures that she accepted gifts from and passed information to now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, becoming the first official in the West Wing to lose a job in the influence-peddling scandal." ... "Susan B. Ralston submitted her resignation to avoid causing political damage to President Bush a month before the midterm elections, officials said. "She did not want to be a distraction to the White House at this important time," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino." ... "A congressional report showed last week that Ralston accepted sometimes-pricey tickets to nine sports and entertainment events from Abramoff while she provided him with inside White House information. The bipartisan report said there is no evidence that Rove knew of or approved of Ralston's actions, and sources said yesterday that the White House was surprised by the report's revelations." ... "The only other White House official caught up in the probe has been David H. Safavian, the procurement chief for the Office of Management and Budget, who was convicted in June of lying about his ties to Abramoff." ... "As a former Abramoff assistant, Ralston played intermediary between the lobbyist and Rove. The congressional report found 66 Abramoff contacts with the White House, more than half of them with Ralston. In addition, Abramoff's lobbying colleagues contacted Ralston 69 times." ... "On Oct. 21, 2001, Ralston e-mailed Abramoff that Rove had read an Abramoff memo about a political endorsement in the Mariana Islands governor's race, a little-noticed election but one important to Abramoff because he had lucrative clients there. Ralston reported to Abramoff that Rove had agreed, writing the next day: "You win :)."" (1, 2) -By Peter Baker and James V. Grimaldi -WashingtonPost 

---

20060928

Abramoff - Karl Rove - Ralph Reed - Money - Religion - Government - Mississippi - Northern Mariana Islands - "House Report Details 485 Contacts Between Abramoff Team and White House Officials." ... "A House committee has documented hundreds of contacts between top White House officials and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates, as well as tens of thousands of dollors worth of meals and tickets to sporting events and concerts that were offered to these officials during a three-year period starting in early 2001." ... "The Government Reform Committee report singled out two of President Bush’s top lieutenants, Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman, as having been offered expensive meals and exclusive tickets to premier sporting events and concerts by Abramoff and his associates." ... "In total, the committee was able to document 485 contacts between White House officials and Abramoff and his lobbying team at the firm Greenberg Traurig from January 2001 to March 2004, with 82 of those contacts occurring in Rove¹s office, including 10 with Rove personally. The panel also said that Abramoff billed his clients nearly $25,000 for meals and drinks with White House officials during that period." ... "Rove, Mehlman, and other White House officials have denied having any close relationship with Abramoff, despite the fact that Abramoff was a “Pioneer” who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Bush’s White House campaigns." ... "During the period examined by the committee, Bush administration officials repeatedly intervened on behalf of Abramoff’s clients, including helping a Mississippi Indian tribe obtain $16 million in federal funds for a jail the tribe wanted to build." ... "Abramoff was able to block the nomination of one Interior Department official using Christian conservative Ralph Reed as a go-between with Rove, according to e-mails between Abramoff and Reed." ... "Abramoff also tried to oust a State Department employee who interfered with their efforts on behalf of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, one of Abramoff’s most lucrative clients." -By John Bresnahan and Paul Kane -RollCall.com 

---

20060914

Ohio - Bob Ney - Jack Abramoff - Politics - 2006 Election - "GOP: Ohio Rep. Ney To Plead Guilty: Expected To Plead To At Least One Criminal Charge, Republican Officials Say." ... "[Republican] Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, is expected to plead guilty as early as Friday to at least one criminal charge in an election-year congressional corruption investigation, Republican officials said Thursday night." ... "Ney, whose ties with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff have long been under scrutiny by prosecutors, has consistently denied all wrongdoing. He announced earlier this summer he would not seek re-election, a step he took reluctantly and at the prodding of party leaders fearful of the loss of his seat." -AP via -CBSNews 

---

20060906

Tom DeLay - Texas - Money - Politics - Jack Abramoff - Edwin Buckham - "Lobbying Probe Looks at Payments To DeLay's Wife." ... "The Justice Department's congressional lobbying-and-bribery investigation is looking into whether former House Majority Leader [Texas Republican] Tom DeLay's wife received money from a lobbying firm for a no-show job, recent FBI interviews indicate." ... "The two-year investigation is examining whether lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others sought legislative favors for their clients by offering expensive meals, sports tickets, golf outings and other gifts to about a dozen lawmakers and congressional aides." ... "In the last few weeks, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have interviewed several people at the Alexander Strategy Group lobbying firm to determine if Christine DeLay was being paid $3,200 a month -- a total of $115,000 over three years -- but not earning it." ... "Alexander Strategy was run by a pair of Mr. DeLay's former aides: Tony Rudy, who pleaded guilty to bribery charges in March; and Edwin Buckham, who remains under investigation. The firm also shared clients with Jack Abramoff." -By Brody Mullins -WSJ.com 

---

20060814

Ohio - 2006 Election - Bob Ney - Abramoff - Law - "Ney's formal withdrawal sets clearer stage for House race." ... "[Ohio Republican] Rep. Bob Ney's official withdrawal from a southeast Ohio congressional race Monday was more than a procedural formality." ... "It ended a week of intense speculation about how and if the embattled Republican would be replaced on the Nov. 7 [2006 Election] ballot and brought at least some clarity to the legal fight ahead over his hand-picked successor's ability to run in his place." ... "Monday's letter from Ney to the controlling election board in Tuscarawas County, the most populous in the sprawling rural district, formally ends his bid for a seventh term. It also means Republican voters, not the leaders of various party committees, will choose his replacement." ... "When Ney announced his plans to withdraw, he cited the strain of an intensifying corruption investigation that had focused for months on his dealings with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Ney denies wrongdoing and has not been charged." -By David Hammer with contributions by John McCarthy -AP via -MercuryNews

---

20060811

Abramoff - Political - Government - Money - Northern Mariana Islands - "Former Interior official pleads guilty in Abramoff probe." ... "A former Department of Interior employee pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge for failing to report gifts he received from influence-peddler Jack Abramoff." ... "Roger Stillwell told a federal magistrate that he had been given hundreds of dollars worth of football and concert tickets from Abramoff, who at the time was lobbying for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands." -AP via -USATODAY

---

20060719

Georgia - Ralph Reed - Jack Abramoff - Pat Robertson - Religion - Money - "Cagle tops Reed for GOP nomination." ... "Despite the backing of top conservatives including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Georgia Gov. Zell Miller, [Ralph] Reed failed to win Georgia’s GOP nomination for lieutenant governor Tuesday. He lost to little-known state Sen. Casey Cagle of Gainesville." ... "After attending high school and college in Georgia, Reed in 1989 joined the Rev. Pat Robertson’s new organization, the Christian Coalition. As executive director, Reed applied a precinct-style organization that stressed grass-roots organizing." ... "An early backer of George W. Bush in his 2000 presidential campaign, Reed parlayed those Bush contacts, and a reputation for grass-roots organization, into a successful bid for chairman of the state Republican Party in 2001. Republicans won the governorship and the state Senate the next year. Reed took an even larger role in Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign." ... "A Senate Indian Affairs Committee, chaired by U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), concluded that Reed had been paid $5.3 million by two casino-owning Indian tribes, both Abramoff clients, to rally Christian voters against attempts by other tribes to establish competing casinos." ... "Reed repeatedly denied that he knew the money that financed his anti-gambling campaigns came from gambling revenue, although several e-mails showed that Abramoff informed Reed of the money’s origins several times." -By Jim Galloway-AJC 

---

20060712

Texas - Money- Abramoff - Ralph Reed - Georgia - DeLay - Ney - Ohio - Politics - "Texas Tribe Names Abramoff, Reed in Suit." ... "A Texas Indian tribe filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday alleging that ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed [Republican running for Lt. Governor in Georgia] and their associates engaged in fraud and racketeering to shut down the tribe's casino." ... "The Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Livingston, Texas, alleged the defendants defrauded the tribe, the people of Texas and the Legislature to benefit another of Abramoff's clients _ the Louisiana Coushatta tribe _ and "line their pockets with money."" ... "The lawsuit also names Abramoff's ex-business partner Michael Scanlon, a former aide to former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas; Neil Volz, a former aide to Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio; and Jon Van Horne, Abramoff's former colleague at his law and lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig." ... "Abramoff, Scanlon and Volz have pleaded guilty in a public corruption probe involving Abramoff's former tribal clients and possibly members of Congress. The Alabama-Coushatta never hired Abramoff." (1, 2) -By Suzanne Gamboa -AP via -WashingtonPost 

---

20060707

Secret - Abramoff - Reed - Mark Zachares - Rove - Political - Money - Government - Mississippi - Alabama - Labor - Northern Mariana Islands - "Reed In The Rough." ... "Just days before [Republican President] George W. Bush took office in 2001, lobbyist Jack Abramoff was busily working with Ralph Reed, his longtime friend, political sidekick, and business associate, to place a key ally in the Interior Department." ... "Reed, an elite "Pioneer" fundraiser for the Bush campaign and a campaign adviser, had already helped Abramoff land his own plum slot on Bush's Interior transition team. Abramoff coveted the slot because Interior was overseeing the lobbyist's two biggest clients at the time -- the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians." ... "Now Abramoff, who had hired Reed in 1999 and 2000 to run anti-gambling drives in Alabama to fend off threats to the Choctaws' casino profits, was looking for more help. This time, Abramoff was trying to secure a job at Interior for Mark Zachares, a former secretary of labor in the Marianas government." ... "On January 11, 2001, Abramoff e-mailed Reed. "I was thinking about this appointment" to the Office of Insular Affairs at Interior, Abramoff wrote. "I know it is perhaps a bizarre request, but considering how quickly I was named to the transition advisory team thanks to your request, perhaps it would be possible to ask Karl [Rove, the president's chief political adviser]... that they should appoint Mark Zachares to head the Office of Insular Affairs.... Do you think we could get this favor from Karl? It would be my big ask for sure."" ... "Reed replied quickly: "It never hurts to ask. What's the next move?" Later that day, Reed sounded even more eager. "Just let me know who to call, when to call, and what to say. And while you're at it get me another client! NOW!"" ... "On March 6, Abramoff met with Rove for about half an hour and pushed for Zachares, according to Abramoff's former lobbying colleagues at the firm Greenberg Traurig and to Secret Service logs released earlier this year." -By Peter H. Stone -NationalJournal

---

20060621
David Safavian - Abramoff -Government - Money - Politics - "Ex-Aide To Bush Found Guilty: Safavian Lied in Abramoff Scandal." ... "A federal jury found former White House aide David H. Safavian guilty yesterday of lying and obstructing justice, making him the highest-ranking government official to be convicted in the spreading scandal involving disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff." ... "Safavian, a former chief of staff of the General Services Administration, was convicted in U.S. District Court here of covering up his many efforts to assist Abramoff in acquiring two properties controlled by the GSA, and also of concealing facts about a lavish weeklong golf trip he took with Abramoff to Scotland and London in the summer of 2002." ... "The jury found him guilty of obstructing an inquiry by the inspector general's office of the GSA and of lying to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, a GSA ethics officer and the GSA inspector general. He was acquitted of obstructing the Senate's probe. He faces up to 20 years in jail and $1 million in fines; sentencing was set for Oct. 12." (1, 2) -By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum-WashingtonPost

---

David Safavian - Abramoff - Government - Money - Politics - "Safavian guilty in lobby scandal." ... "A former White House aide was convicted Tuesday of lying to government investigators about his ties to the disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, in the first trial to result from the influence-peddling inquiry centered on Abramoff." ... "The former aide, David Safavian, who resigned from the White House budget office days before his arrest last September, was convicted of four counts of lying and obstruction of justice in his statements to investigators about Abramoff and about a 2002 golf trip to Scotland that the lobbyist arranged for Safavian and others. Safavian was acquitted on an additional obstruction charge." ... "The verdict was hailed by Justice Department officials as a victory in their wide-ranging criminal investigation of the lobbying operations run by Abramoff, a Republican fundraiser who pleaded guilty in January to conspiring to bribe public officials, including members of Congress, and is cooperating with prosecutors." -By Philip Shenon -NYTimes via -RegisterGuard 

---

David Safavian - Abramoff - Money - Government - Law - "Where Did Safavian Work Again?" ... "You wouldn't know it from the coverage of David H. Safavian's conviction yesterday for lying and obstructing justice, but some of his criminal activity actually took place while he was working at the White House." ... "Safavian managed to avoid being frog-marched out of the White House by resigning three days before his arrest." ... "And it's true that the underlying acts in his case -- helping to assist corrupt super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff in acquiring some properties and accepting a lavish weeklong overseas golf trip -- took place while Safavian was the Bush-appointed chief of staff at the General Services Administration." ... "But as so many others in Washington have learned before him, it's not the crime, it's the cover-up. And for Safavian, some of that cover-up was carried out from his White House office." -By Dan Froomkin-WashingtonPost 

---

20060620

David Safavian - Abramoff - Government - Money - Politics - Bob Ney - Ohio - Tom DeLay - Texas - "Former Bush official convicted of lying about ties to Abramoff." ... "A federal jury convicted a former Bush administration official Tuesday of lying about his relationship with a high-powered Washington lobbyist who's at the center of a broadening investigation into influence-peddling on Capitol Hill." ... "David Safavian, former chief of staff of the General Services Administration, the federal government's procurement agency, was found guilty of four charges of making false statements and misleading investigators who were looking into Jack Abramoff's dealings with other public officials and lobbyists." ... "Four other former Abramoff associates, including a former chief of staff for Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and two former aides to former Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, have pleaded guilty in the scandal. Ney and DeLay have denied any wrongdoing." ... "Neil Volz, Ney's former chief of staff, pleaded guilty in May to conspiring with Abramoff. Former DeLay aides Michael Scanlon and Tony Rudy have pleaded guilty to committing fraud and violating the federal one-year lobbying ban. Volz testified on behalf of the government during Safavian's trial." -By Marisa Taylor -KnightRidder via -RealCities

---

20060607

Tom DeLay - Jack Abramoff - Edwin Buckham - Money - Politics - Texas - "Retirement Account of DeLay's Wife Traced: With Disclosure, Family's Known Benefits From Ties With Lobbyist Exceed $490,000." ... "A registered lobbyist opened a retirement account in the late 1990s for the wife of then-House Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and contributed thousands of dollars to it while also paying her a salary to work for him from her home in Texas, according to sources, documents and DeLay's attorney, Richard Cullen." ... "The account represents a small portion of the income that DeLay's family received from entities at least partly controlled by lobbyist Edwin A. Buckham. But the disclosure of its origin adds to what was previously known about the benefits DeLay's family received from its association with Buckham, and it brings the total over the past seven years to about half a million dollars." ... "Buckham was DeLay's chief of staff before he became a lobbyist at the end of 1998, shortly before the account was opened and the flow of funds began. He has come under scrutiny from federal investigators because his lobbying firm received hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue from clients of indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff." ... "Buckham's financial ties to DeLay's family -- and the retirement account in particular -- have recently attracted the interest of FBI agents and others in the federal task force probing public corruption by lawmakers and lobbyists, according to a source who was questioned in the course of the government's investigation." (1, 2) -By R. Jeffrey Smith with contributions by Derek Willis, Madonna Lebling, and Lucy Shackelford -WashingtonPost 

---

20060518

Ralph Reed - Jack Abramoff - Law - Religion - 2008 Election - New York - Georgia - "Giuliani Headlines Ralph Reed Fundraiser: Former New York Mayor Giuliani headlines fundraiser for Ga. lt. gov. candidate Ralph Reed." ... "Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York mayor considered a potential 2008 candidate for president, headlined a fundraiser Thursday for former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed in his run for Georgia lieutenant governor." ... "Reed's campaign was looking for a boost before the July 18 Republican primary after being dogged by ties between Reed and Jack Abramoff, the powerful Washington lobbyist now facing prison time for conspiracy, tax evasion and fraud." -By Greg Bluestein -AP via -CBSNews 

---

20060508

Jack Abramoff - Political - Money - Bob Ney - Ohio- Tom DeLay - Texas - "Ney's Former Aide Volz Pleads Guilty in Abramoff Case (Update2)." ... "Neil Volz, former chief of staff to U.S. Representative Bob Ney, pleaded guilty in the corruption scandal surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff." ... "The agreement may increase the pressure on Ney, an Ohio Republican who accompanied Abramoff on a golf trip to Scotland in 2002. Papers filed as part of Volz's plea and three others in the Abramoff case referred to ``things of value'' Ney accepted from Abramoff and his team. Ney has denied wrongdoing." ... "Ney, 51, cited the allegations surrounding him in the Abramoff case when he temporarily stepped down in January from his post as chairman of the House Administration Committee, which oversees federal elections and day-to-day House functions such as assigning parking places." ... "Abramoff, 47, was one of Washington's best-connected lobbyists and a major fundraiser for the Republican Party and President George W. Bush. Before his downfall, Abramoff's ties extended into the Bush administration and throughout Congress to the office of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican who on April 4 announced he will resign from Congress." -By Kristin Jensen and Michael Forsythe -Bloomberg

---

Jack Abramoff - Political- Money - Bob Ney - Ohio - "Update 6: Former Aide to Rep. Ney Pleads Guilty." ... "A former top aide to Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, pleaded guilty Monday in the Jack Abramoff influence peddling scandal, admitting he conspired to corrupt Ney, his staff and other members of Congress with trips, free tickets, jobs, meals and campaign events." ... "In a nine-page document that focused on Ney's conduct, Volz enumerated 16 actions he said his old boss took on behalf of Abramoff clients. During the period from January 2000 through April 2004, Volz said Abramoff and his lobbyists gave Ney and members of his staff trips to Lake George in New York state, New Orleans, the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., in 2003, and a weeklong golfing retreat to the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland." ... "In addition, Volz wrote, Abramoff provided the congressman and his staff numerous tickets to concerts and sporting events in the Washington, D.C., area; regular meals and drinks at restaurants including Abramoff's restaurant Signatures, and unreported use of Abramoff's box suites at the MCI Center Arena in Washington and Camden Yards Stadium in Baltimore for political fundraisers for Ney and for candidates and political organizations he supported." -By Pete Yost with contributions by Mark Sherman and David Hammer -AP via -Forbes 

---

Jack Abramoff - Political - Money - Ohio - Bob Ney - Texas - "Ex-Aide in House to Cooperate in Abramoff Inquiry." ... "Neil G. Volz, formerly the chief of staff to [Ohio Republican] Representative Bob Ney, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud before Federal Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle." ... "Mr. Volz said in the court document that while he was on Mr. Ney's staff from 1995 until early 2002, he accepted "a stream of things of value" from Mr. Abramoff and others in return for taking official action on their behalf, including introducing a bill to help an Indian tribe in Texas with a gambling enterprise." ... "In early 2002, Mr. Volz left his Congressional position to join Mr. Abramoff's lobbying firm. In his new position, his role in the conspiracy changed to "providing a stream of things of value to other public officials," including a lawmaker identified as "Representative #1," the document states." ... "It has long been known that "Representative #1" is Mr. Ney, who immediately denied any wrongdoing, as he has since it emerged months ago that investigators were scrutinizing his activities." -By David Stout-NYTimes

---

20060419
Pete Sessions - Jack Abramoff - John Ashcroft - Gale Norton - Dana Rohrabacher - Curt Weldon - Tony Rudy - Michael Scanlon - Money - Politics - Law - Military - Technology - TX - San Francisco - CA - Louisiana - NY - PA - US - Malaysia
"CREW Files DOJ Complaint Against Texas Rep. Pete Sessions." ... "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) today filed a Department of Justice (DOJ) complaint against [Texas Republican Representative] Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX [Republican-Texas]) for official actions he may have taken on behalf of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, as well as possible bribes he may have accepted from a San Francisco [California] defense technology company. The complaint asks for the DOJ to immediately begin an investigation into Rep. Sessions." ... "Abramoff Ties" ... "CREW’s complaint alleges that Rep. Sessions co-signed two letters, one to former Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2001 and another to former Interior Secretary Gale Norton in 2002, which benefitted Mr. Abramoff’s client, the Louisiana Coushatta. One month after his 2002 letter was sent, Rep. Sessions’ political action committee, PETE PAC, received $3,500 from the Louisiana Coushatta and another $3,500 from other tribes with casinos. Within 18 months, PETE PAC received $20,500 from tribes associated with Abramoff." ... "Rep. Sessions also traveled to Malaysia on an Abramoff-arranged trip with indicted public relations executive Michael Scanlon, two lobbyists from Abramoff’s firm Greenberg Traurig, one of which, Tony Rudy has been indicted, and two other Members of Congress, [California Republican Representative] Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA [Republican-California]) and [New York Democratic Representative] Gregory Meeks (D-NY [Democratic-New York]). Prior to the trip, Rep. Sessions had shown no public interest in Malaysia, but four months after the trip, Rep. Sessions became an advocate for Malaysia by forming the Malaysia Trade, Security and Economic Cooperation in the House with trip-mate Rep. Meeks." ... "Promia Ties" ... "Additionally, Rep. Sessions promoted the interests of Promia, a firm based in San Francisco that hired Session’s former communications director, Adrian Plesha, as vice president and director of its Washington office. Mr. Plesha pleaded guilty to felony charges related to FEC [Federal Election Commission] offences shortly after he began working for Promia." ... "Promia was able to garner a nearly $800,000 Navy research and development contract in May, 2000 and Rep. Sessions, along with [Pennsylvania Republican Representative] Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA [Republican-Pennsylvania ]), publicly worked to get an additional $8 million for Promia through a Department of Defense grant." ... "In October 2000, the same month that Promia received $2 million from Trautman Wasserman & Co., a New York venture capital firm, Rep. Sessions received the maximum allowed — $1,000 each, from eight Promia executives for his re-election campaign. In 2002, Promia gave $30,000 to PETE PAC. In total Promia and its executives have contributed nearly $55,000 to Rep. Sessions since 2000 – by far the largest contribution Promia has made to any Member of Congress." ... "“Why would Rep. Sessions, who represents a northern Texas district, work so hard for and receive so much cash from a San Francisco firm?” Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW asked today. “The Department of Justice should open a criminal investigation to determine whether the campaign contributions Rep. Sessions received from Abramoff, the tribes and from Promia executives were a quid pro quo for official actions.”" -CitizensForEthics.org

---

20060411

Jack Abramoff - Money - EMail - Government - Law - Michigan - "E-mails show Abramoff's donation leverage." ... "When Jack Abramoff's lobbying team wanted to press Republican leaders for help with a tribal client, they minced no words. The help was deserved because Abramoff's clients overwhelmingly donated to Republicans." ... "E-mails that have become important evidence in the Abramoff corruption probe state the lobbyist's team bluntly discussed with a Republican Party official using large political donations as a way to pressure lawmakers and the administration into securing federal money for the Saginaw Chippewa of Michigan." ... "The e-mails have become evidence in a federal corruption probe into whether lawmakers, congressional aides and administration officials helped Abramoff's clients in exchange for gifts and donations." -By John Solomon and Sharon Theimer -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource 

---

20060329

Jack Abramoff - Business - Politics - Prison - "Abramoff Gets Minimum Sentence: Former Lobbyist to Spend 5 Years, 10 Months in Prison." ... "Jack A. Abramoff, the once-powerful Republican lobbyist at the center of a major corruption scandal, was sentenced Wednesday to five years and 10 months in prison for his role in the fraudulent purchase of a fleet of casino cruise ships. An associate received the same sentence." ... "U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck sentenced Abramoff, 47, and his former partner, Adam R. Kidan, 41, to the shortest possible prison terms under sentencing guidelines in the case. In pleading for the minimum sentence, lawyers for each defendant laid most of the blame on the other for the scam, in which they faked a $23 million wire transfer to obtain financing for the 2000 purchase of SunCruz Casinos from an owner who was later shot to death in a gangland-style hit." -By Peter Whoriskey and William Branigin -WashingtonPost 

---

20060327

Jack Abramoff - Ralph Reed - Religious- Money - Politics - Texas - Georgia - "Abramoff Associate Reed Won't Face Texas Probe of Advocacy Work." ... "A Texas prosecutor rejected a request by watchdog groups to investigate whether Christian activist Ralph Reed violated lobbying-registration laws, removing a potential headache for Reed in his campaign for lieutenant governor of Georgia." ... "Travis County Attorney David Escamilla cited a two-year statute of limitations on misdemeanors. Three groups in December petitioned him to investigate Reed's work on an anti-gambling campaign in 2001 and 2002. They said Reed, who oversaw the Southeast for President George W. Bush's 2004 re-election, may have violated Texas law by failing to register as a lobbyist while working to shut Indian casinos that would have competed with one run by a client of his associate, Jack Abramoff." -By Kristin Jensen -Bloomberg 

---

20060326

Tom DeLay - Jack Abramoff - Religion - Family - Law - Politics - Texas- "Former DeLay Aide Enriched By Nonprofit: Bulk of Group's Funds Tied to Abramoff." ... "A top adviser to former House Whip Tom DeLay [Texas Republican] received more than a third of all the money collected by the U.S. Family Network, a nonprofit organization the adviser created to promote a pro-family political agenda in Congress, according to the group's accounting records." ... "DeLay's former chief of staff, Edwin A. Buckham, who helped create the group while still in DeLay's employ, and his wife, Wendy, were the principal beneficiaries of the group's $3.02 million in revenue, collecting payments totaling $1,022,729 during a five-year period ending in 2001, public and private records show." ... "The group's revenue was drawn mostly from clients of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to its records." ... ""If an individual called DeLay's appointments secretary saying they wanted to talk to DeLay about overregulation, the appointment secretary would say go speak to Buckham," one former aide said. Buckham, an evangelical minister, also continued to serve as DeLay's spiritual adviser and prayed frequently with him, the former aides said." (1, 2, 3,4) Graphic: "Where the Money Went." -By R. Jeffrey Smith with contributions by Lucy Shackelford, Alice Crites and Madonna Lebling, Derek Willis, and James V. Grimaldi -WashingtonPost 

---

Ralph Reed - Jack Abramoff - Political - Money - Georgia - Texas - "From a Conservative, a Lack Of Compassion for Ralph Reed." ... "Ralph Reed, candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor and former executive director of the Christian Coalition, has a standard line when opponents link him to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "The Democrats, radical left, and dominant media have made numerous unfair personal attacks against Ralph," his Web site declares." ... "Lately, however, it's becoming harder for Reed to dismiss his critics as ideologically motivated. One of the toughest is Marvin Olasky, a close associate of President Bush who helped developed the administration's faith-based initiative and the concept of "compassionate conservatism."" ... "Olasky, a journalism professor at the University of Texas, is editor in chief of World magazine, the mission of which "is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Since Nov. 19, World has run 10 articles and essays describing the $4 million in gambling money Abramoff paid to Reed to lobby against casinos competing with Abramoff's clients. The articles have highlighted incriminating e-mails and other disclosures that have raised doubts about Reed's explanations of his activities." ... "Reed, Olasky wrote March 4, "has damaged Christian political work by confirming for some the stereotype that evangelicals are easily manipulated and that evangelical leaders use moral issues to line their own pockets."" -By Thomas B. Edsall and Dan Balz -WashingtonPost

---

20060311

Jack Abramoff - Money - Law - California - Illinois - Ohio - "Push to Tighten Lobbying Rules Loses Strength." ... "The drive for a tighter lobbying law, just two months ago a major priority on Capitol Hill, is losing momentum, a victim of shifting political interests, infighting among House Republicans and a growing sense among lawmakers of both parties that wholesale change may not be needed after all." ... "In the House, Representative David Dreier of California, the Republicans' point man on lobbying legislation, said reaching consensus on what the bill should include had been more difficult than he had expected." ... "In January, shortly after the lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to corruption charges, Mr. Dreier and [Illinois Republican] Speaker J. Dennis Hastert called for tough restrictions, including a ban on gifts, meals and privately financed travel. They said their aim was to have legislation drafted by February. But the new majority leader, [Republican] Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, is not keen on the travel ban, and there is still no legislation." ... "The initial fervor for legislation was fueled by the Abramoff scandal, coupled with the resignation of Representative Randy Cunningham, Republican of California, after he pleaded guilty in another corruption case." (1, 2) -By Sheryl Gay Stolberg -NYTimes 

---

20060309

US- United Arab Emirates - Transport- Bill Frist - Jack Abramoff - Money - Tennessee - Connecticut - New York - "Frist Suspends Senate Ethics Debate After Losing on Dubai Vote." ... "U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist [Tennessee Republican] suspended debate on overhauling lobbying rules after the chamber refused to prevent a vote on blocking a state-owned [UAE] Dubai company from taking over terminals at six American ports." ... "Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, urged Frist to allow debate to continue immediately on the lobbying measure, which was brought to the Senate floor in response to the scandal involving Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff." ... "``Doing ethics reform and dealing with the Dubai issue are not mutually exclusive,'' [New York Democratic Senator Chuck] Schumer said before today's vote." -By Jonathan D. Salant -Bloomberg

---

20060306

Jack Abramoff - Politics - Fla. - "Abramoff's Florida Sentencing May Force Details of Cooperation." ... "A federal judge in Miami [Fla.] set a March 29 sentencing date for lobbyist Jack Abramoff in connection with a wire-fraud case, prompting prosecutors and defense lawyers to warn that his cooperation in a separate federal corruption probe may be hindered." ... "``We would be naming names, and we would be providing evidence of what's going on out there,'' Abbe Lowell, one of Abramoff's lawyers, told Huck. ``This is not going to be good for the government.''" -Bloomberg 

---

20060304

Ralph Reed - Jack Abramoff - EMails - Internet - Law - Politics - Georgia - Connecticut - "E-mails undermine Reed claim." ... "[Georgia Republican lieutenant governor candidate] Ralph Reed has said he didn't know it until last year, but emails suggest he was informed that eLot — a firm then in the online lottery business — was behind his effort to fend off a ban against internet gambling in 2000." ... "The e-mails passed between Reed and Jack Abramoff, the now disgraced Washington lobbyist. Abramoff was lobbying for eLot Inc. of Connecticut, parent company of eLottery Inc., against a bill in Congress that would have banned most online betting. ELottery opposed the bill because it wanted to help states sell tickets online." ... "Reed, a lifelong opponent of gambling, said last year that he did not know in 2000 he was actually working on behalf of eLottery." ... "But e-mails obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution show Reed was offered the name of the company at the beginning of his involvement in the campaign, in May 2000. The e-mails emerged as dozens of federal investigators have increased their focus on events surrounding the defeat of the Internet gaming ban." -By Jim Galloway-AJC 

---

20060223

US - Russia - Military - Energy - Politics - Business - Jack Abramoff - Tom DeLay - "Abramoff ties to Russians probed: US inquiry widens to energy concerns." ... "The federal investigation into the lobbying activities of Jack Abramoff has broadened to examine his dealings with the Russian government and a pair of high-profile Russian energy company executives, according to documents made available to the Globe." ... "The subpoena seeks information about ties between Abramoff-related groups and a Moscow energy giant that is called Naftasib, a major supplier to the Russian military." ... "Investigators have asked for any information about Abramoff's dealings with two top Naftasib executives, Alexander Koulakovsky and Marina Nevskaya. Senior Naftasib executives helped arrange a trip Abramoff took to Moscow in 1997 with former House majority leader Tom DeLay, a longtime Abramoff friend." -By Michael Kranish -Boston/Globe 

---

20060220

US - Malaysia - Jack Abramoff - Money - "Ex-Malasian Leader Says He Paid Abramoff." ... "Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to organize his 2002 meeting with President Bush, but denied the money came from the Malaysian government." ... "Mahathir told reporters he was aware a payment was made to Abramoff, but he didn't know who made it. He said he had been persuaded by the U.S. think tank Heritage Foundation to meet with Bush at the time." -AP via -HoustonChronicle.com 

---

20060215

US - Malaysia - Karl Rove - Jack Abramoff - Business - "Rove tied to Malaysian-Bush visit: Abramoff reportedly called adviser to get leader into Oval Office." ... "When the government of Malaysia sought to repair its tarnished image in the U.S. by arranging a meeting between President Bush and its controversial prime minister in 2002, it called on lobbyist Jack Abramoff for help." ... "A few years earlier, the [Malaysian] prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, had been chastised by the Clinton administration for making anti-Semitic statements and jailing political opponents." ... "Abramoff contacted presidential adviser Karl Rove on at least four occasions to help arrange a meeting, according to an eyewitness to the activities." ... "Finally, this former associate said, Rove's office called to tell Abramoff personally that the Malaysian leader would get an official White House invitation." -By Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten with contributions by Stephen Braun -LAtimes -ChicagoTribune 

---

20060214

Abramoff - Pombo - DeLay - Texas - California - Animal - Environmental - Legislation - Money - "Foe of Endangered Species Act on Defensive Over Abramoff." ... "After finally getting a bill through the House last fall that would eliminate habitat protections on more than 150 million acres, [California Republican Richard] Pombo has never been closer to reaching his goal. But as the Senate prepares to take up his measure this year, Pombo finds himself on the defensive, with his ideology increasingly viewed as extreme and his connections to industry and to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff under scrutiny." ... "Pombo's critics have focused on his campaign's reliance on donors from industries that stand to benefit from his legislation. Just months before the mining proposal made it out of Pombo's committee, a former committee aide who once worked for Abramoff's firm and is now a lobbyist for mining interests hosted a $1,000-a-head fundraiser for Pombo." ... "The Times reported earlier this year that Pombo joined forces with former House Majority Leader [Republican] Tom DeLay of Texas in efforts to squelch a federal banking investigation of Texas financier Charles Hurwitz. Pombo, who had previously received a campaign contribution from Hurwitz, has contended that the investigation was unfounded and abusive." ... "A Massachusetts tribe and client of Abramoff's that donated $20,000 to Pombo received the congressman's help seeking federal tribal recognition. Pombo supported the resumption of commercial whaling while accepting thousands of dollars in international travel from a private foundation funded by the seafood industry and a whaling association." ... "According to data compiled by the Campaign Finance Analysis Project, Pombo has, during his congressional career, collected more than $800,000 from agriculture, timber and fishing interests. The building industry has given him $205,000; oil and gas, $169,000; mining, $55,000; and casinos and gambling, $147,000." ... "Pombo denies any improprieties and says he has no fear of being tainted by the Abramoff scandal. "I met the guy a few times. He never lobbied me on anything. Never set foot in my office." -By Bettina Boxall with contributions by Maloy Moore -LAtimes 

---

20060116

Jack Abramoff - Ralph Reed- Money - Religion - Georgia - "In Ga., Abramoff Scandal Threatens a Political Ascendancy." ... "Ralph Reed, [Georgia's] candidate for lieutenant governor, had just finished his opening statement to the Dawson County Republican Party when retired pulp paper executive Gary Pichon sprang from his seat with a question that cut to the chase:" ... ""Did you accept any gifts, commissions or other payments of any kind from Mr. Abramoff, and are you likely to be a party in the unfolding investigation?"" ... "Silence enveloped the 60 or so Republicans in the auditorium, and Reed's cheerful manner turned tense. "No," he replied. "No to all these."" ... "As everyone knew, Pichon was referring to Jack Abramoff, whose outsize Washington lobbying scandal has reached down to Georgia. Abramoff and Reed -- the former executive director of the Christian Coalition -- have been friends for 25 years, and until recently it had been a mutually profitable association. Now it is proving highly inconvenient for Reed, and threatens to stall a career that has been emblematic of the modern GOP." ... "At age 44, he still has the choirboy looks that have been noted in dozens of profiles over the past 20 years. But the first major dent in Reed's carefully cultivated image came with the disclosure in the summer of 2004 that his public relations and lobbying companies had received at least $4.2 million from Abramoff to mobilize Christian voters to fight Indian casinos competing with Abramoff's casino clients." (1, 2, 3) -By Thomas B. Edsall with contributions by Zachary Goldfarb -WashingtonPost 

---

20060110

Tom DeLay - Jack Abramoff - Money - Missouri - Ohio - "Blunt, Boehner Share Broad Network of Lobbyist Ties With DeLay." ... "Representatives Roy Blunt of Missouri and John Boehner of Ohio have been among the key intermediaries between Republican lawmakers and lobbyists since their party took control of the U.S. Congress in 1995." ... "Both [Blunt and DeLay] men's political action committees employ Jim Ellis, who was indicted along with DeLay. DeLay's PAC gave Blunt's committee a $150,000 donation in 2000, and Blunt's PAC gave $10,000 to DeLay's non-profit foundation that same year. Both lawmakers' PACs have employed Alexander Strategy Group, a Georgetown-based firm whose partners include former Abramoff and DeLay associates." ... "In 1995, Boehner handed out campaign checks from the tobacco industry to members on the House floor at a time when lawmakers were considering eliminating a tobacco subsidy." -By Laura Litvan -Bloomberg

---

20060107

Tom DeLay - Texas - Finance - Law - Jack Abramoff - "DeLay abandons bid to remain House leader." ... "Embattled Rep. Tom DeLay on Saturday abandoned his bid to remain as House majority leader, clearing the way for leadership elections among Republicans eager to shed the taint of scandal." ... "DeLay is battling campaign finance charges in Texas and was forced to step aside temporarily as majority leader last fall after he was charged in his home state. He has been trying to clear his name and, until Saturday, resume his leadership role." ... "DeLay's about-face came amid growing pressure from fellow Republicans who were concerned about their own political futures in the wake of this past week's guilty pleas by lobbyist Jack Abramoff." -By David Espo -AP via -BostonGlobe

---

20060106

Tom DeLay - Money - Politics - Jack Abramoff - Randy Cunningham - "`DeLay Inc.' Lobbying Firm Has Links to Three Capital Scandals." ... "Representative Tom DeLay's campaign to get Republicans to dominate Washington lobbying may have worked too well for Alexander Strategy Group." ... "The firm has links to no fewer than three of the scandals convulsing the U.S. capital. One partner, former DeLay aide Tony Rudy, is now a focus of a federal investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The group's founder, former DeLay chief of staff Ed Buckham, set up a South Korea junket for his old boss that violated ethics rules. And the firm represents a company whose owner, prosecutors allege, bribed former Representative Randy Cunningham." ... "Alexander Strategy's links to lawmakers are an outgrowth of a decade-long effort by DeLay, 58, to force lobbying firms to hire more Republicans, who can direct corporate money to the party. The system, known as ``DeLay Inc.'' or ``the K Street Project,'' has fueled a surge of money in politics, and critics say it has also created the potential for greater corruption." -By Michael Forsythe -Bloomberg

---

20060104

Jack Abramoff - Money - 2006 Election - Illinois - "Abramoff scandal sends waves across Washington." ... "Lobbyist Jack Abramoff's guilty plea in a U.S. corruption probe sent shock waves across Washington on Wednesday as top Republicans sought to avoid being tainted by the scandal and Democrats pressed the issue." ... "President George W. Bush and House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois were among Republicans who donated to charity campaign contributions they had received from Abramoff, while Democrats said the issue would loom large in November's congressional elections." (1, 2) -By Andy Sullivan with contributions by Steve Holland, Donna Smith, Susan Cornwell and Rick Cowan -Reuters

---

Jack Abramoff - Money - "Bush campaign to give Abramoff money to charity." ... "President George W. Bush's re-election campaign will give to charity $6,000 in contributions linked to a lobbyist at the center of a mounting corruption scandal, the Republican National Committee said on Wednesday." ... "Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean on Tuesday called on Bush to return to donors what he said was more than $100,000 in campaign contributions raised by Abramoff, whom he described as a major fund-raiser for the president's 2004 re-election bid." -Reuters

---

20051222

Jack Abramoff - Florida - Political - Business - "Talk of Plea by Lobbyist Has Hill on Edge." ... "[Jack] Abramoff, a once-powerful lobbyist who is the subject of a federal influence-peddling investigation, is considering a deal to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors, according to sources familiar with the probe. That could open the prospect that Abramoff will implicate any number of lawmakers and aides who were part of his vast network of access." ... "Abramoff's former business associate, Michael P.S. Scanlon, last month pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe public officials and to defraud tribes. He promised to cooperate with the investigation." ... "In separate federal proceedings in Florida, Abramoff has been indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges in connection with his purchase of the Florida-based SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet. His co-defendant, Adam R. Kidan, last week pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Abramoff. Abramoff's trial is set to begin Jan. 9." -By Janet Hook and Chuck Neubauer -LAtimes 

---

20051215

Richard Pombo - Abramoff - Money- Lawmaker - California - Massachusetts - US - Northern Mariana Islands - "Miller presses Pombo to investigate Abramoff." ... "Rep. George Miller (D-Calif. [Democrat-California]) continues to petition House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif. [Republican-California]) for an investigation into indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s activities on behalf of the Northern Mariana Islands." ... "Resources has sole jurisdiction over the Marianas, whose government hired Abramoff in the late 1990s to lobby Washington on its behalf." ... "Pombo has received more than $35,000 in contributions from Abramoff and Indian tribes he represented, including $27,000 from the Mashpee Wampanoag of Massachusetts, which received federal recognition from a bill Pombo passed through the committee in 2004." -By Elana Schor -HillNews.com 

---

20051206

Burns - Abramoff - Money - Government - Lawmaker - Montana - US - Northern Mariana Islands - Garment - Worker - Florida - Sports - 2006 Election - "Records Show Burns' Abramoff Meetings: Senate Panel Chairman Met Abramoff Team, Collected $12,000 in Donations While Helping Lobbying Client." ... "[Montana Republican Senator] Sen. Conrad Burns and his staff met Jack Abramoff's lobbying team on at least eight occasions and collected $12,000 in donations around the time that the lawmaker took legislative action favorable to Abramoff's clients in the Northern Mariana Islands, records show." ... "The 2001 donations to Burns, a Montana Republican, included money directly from Abramoff and a key garment company executive in the Pacific islands who was part of the coalition paying Abramoff's firm to fend off stronger U.S. [worker] regulations on the islands." ... "In addition, two Burns staffers had accepted a trip arranged by Abramoff to attend the Super Bowl in Florida earlier that year." ... "At the time, Burns served on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that was considering legislation the Marianas opposed. He also ran a Senate appropriations subcommittee that controlled spending for the Interior Department, which regulates U.S. territories including the islands." ... "Burns, who is up for re-election to a fourth term in 2006, received about $150,000 in donations from Abramoff, his firm and his clients between 2001 and 2004." (1, 2, 3) -By Mary Clare Jalonick -AP via -ABCNEWS.com 

---

20051126

Ohio - Texas - Montana - California - Jack Abramoff - Tom DeLay - Political - Business - "Corruption probe swells in Congress, lawyers say." ... "Justice Department prosecutors investigating former lobbyist Jack Abramoff are beginning to move on evidence pointing to possible corruption in Congress and executive-branch agencies, lawyers involved in the case said." ... "Prosecutors have told one lawmaker, Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio, and his former chief of staff that they are preparing a possible bribery case against them, according to two sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity." ... "Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican now facing separate campaign-finance charges in his home state, is one of the members under scrutiny, the sources said. Others include Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. [Montana], Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif. [California], and several other members of Congress involved with Indian affairs, one of Abramoff's key areas of interest." -By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi -WashingtonPost via -SeattleTimes.NWsource

---

20051121

Tom DeLay - Money - Politics - "Former DeLay Aide Pleads Guilty." ... "Michael Scanlon, a former partner to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to bribe public officials, a charge growing out of the government investigation of attempts to defraud Indian tribes and corrupt a member of Congress." ... "Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle and agreed to pay restitution totaling more than $19 million to the tribes." -AP via -CBSNews

---

20051026

Tom DeLay - Texas - Politics - "DeLay acknowledges failure to report money." ... "Rep. Tom DeLay has notified House officials that he failed to disclose all contributions to his legal defense fund as required by congressional rules." ... "The fund is currently paying DeLay's legal bills in a campaign finance investigation in Texas, where DeLay has been indicted, and in a federal investigation of Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The lobbyist arranged foreign travel for DeLay and had his clients pay some of the cost." ... "DeLay, R-Texas, has denied wrongdoing in both cases." -APvia -USATODAY

---

20050929

Tom DeLay - Texas - Business - Labor - Politics - "DeLay Indictment May Be Overshadowed by Looming Abramoff Probe." ... "The larger legal challenge for [Texas Republican Tom] DeLay may center on a task force led by the U.S. Justice Department that's investigating Jack Abramoff, the indicted lobbyist who boasted of his relationship with DeLay." ... "Delay, 58, who stepped down temporarily as House majority leader after being indicted, once called Abramoff ``one of my closest and dearest friends.'' He has traveled to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, an Abramoff client, on trips organized by Abramoff's law firm and has blocked efforts to apply U.S. minimum wage and labor laws to the commonwealth." ... "He also sided with another Abramoff client, Tyco International Inc., in opposing efforts to stop federal contracts from going to the Bermuda-based company and other firms that have incorporated overseas to cut their tax bills while maintaining their business in the U.S." -By Jonathan D. Salant -Bloomberg

---

20050920

Hurricane Katrina - Government - Politics - "Bush Official Arrested in Corruption Probe." ... "The Bush administration's top federal procurement official resigned Friday and was arrested yesterday, accused of lying and obstructing a criminal investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with the federal government. It was the first criminal complaint filed against a government official in the ongoing corruption probe related to Abramoff's activities in Washington." ... "The complaint, filed by the FBI, alleges that David H. Safavian, 38, a White House procurement official involved until last week in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, made repeated false statements to government officials and investigators about a golf trip with Abramoff to Scotland in 2002." ... "It also contends that he concealed his efforts to help Abramoff acquire control of two federally managed properties in the Washington area." -By R. Jeffrey Smith and Susan Schmidt -WashingtonPost

---

20050920

Hurricane Katrina - Government - Politics - "Bush Official Arrested in Corruption Probe." ... "The Bush administration's top federal procurement official resigned Friday and was arrested yesterday, accused of lying and obstructing a criminal investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with the federal government. It was the first criminal complaint filed against a government official in the ongoing corruption probe related to Abramoff's activities in Washington." ... "The complaint, filed by the FBI, alleges that David H. Safavian, 38, a White House procurement official involved until last week in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, made repeated false statements to government officials and investigators about a golf trip with Abramoff to Scotland in 2002." ... "It also contends that he concealed his efforts to help Abramoff acquire control of two federally managed properties in the Washington area." -By R. Jeffrey Smith and Susan Schmidt -WashingtonPost

---

20050812

Florida - CA - TX - Tom DeLay -  - "Figure in DeLay investigation appears in LA federal court." ... "Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a major figure in investigations involving House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, appeared in [Los Angeles, California] federal court Friday and was released to return to Florida to face an indictment alleging fraud in the purchase of casino boats from a businessman who was later shot to death." ... "Abramoff is also under investigation for his lobbying activities on behalf of Indian tribes and for his role in paying for overseas trips for DeLay. The Texas Republican has denied knowing Abramoff paid the expenses." -By Jeremiah Marquez -Knight Ridder via -MercuryNews

---

CA - TX - Tom DeLay -  - "Lobbyist Tied to DeLay Indicted: Jack Abramoff and an associate are accused of using a counterfeit wire transfer to get financing. He surrenders to the FBI in L.A. [Los Angeles, California] and is jailed." ... "Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff was indicted Thursday on federal fraud charges accusing him and an associate of using a counterfeit $23-million wire transfer to get financing to buy a fleet of casino boats five years ago." ... "Abramoff, formerly a powerful and highly paid lobbyist who boasted of his ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and others, also is under investigation by a separate federal grand jury in Washington for his dealings with Indian tribes. DeLay once described Abramoff as a close friend." -By John-Thor Dahlburg with contributions by Chuck Neubauer and David Rosenzweig -LAtimes

---

20050811

Florida - New York - Tom DeLay -  - "Washington Lobbyist Abramoff Charged." ... "Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a key figure in investigations involving House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on fraud charges arising from a 2000 deal to buy casino boats." ... "The indictment, returned by a grand jury in Fort Lauderdale [Florida], charges that Abramoff and an associate, 36-year-old New York businessman Adam Kidan, used a fake wire transfer to defraud two lenders out of some $60 million to finance the deal for SunCruz Casinos." -By Curt Anderson -AP via -Guardian.co.uk

---

20050625

US - UK - Canada - WV - Washington - Hastings - DeLay - Abramoff - Ed Cassidy - Nuclear - Money - Travel - Law - "Ethics claims target Doc Hastings." ... "[Washington state Republican Representative] Rep. Doc Hastings, already under fire as chairman of the stalled House ethics committee, accepted a $7,800 trip to England [UK] in 2000 from a company he championed for a multibillion-dollar contract at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, records released by an advocacy group yesterday show." ... "In addition, other records released yesterday by a political Web site show that Hastings, a Republican from Pasco, did not file a required travel report for a 2004 trip to a resort on Stuart Island, B.C. [British Columbia, Canada] That was paid for by another company also working at Hanford." ... "Hastings has been under fire for not scheduling hearings on ethics allegations against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay is accused of accepting a trip paid for by lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under investigation over allegations that he defrauded clients of millions of dollars." ... "The ethics committee has been stalled for six weeks. Democrats, led by ranking member Alan Mollohan [Representative] of West Virginia, declined to meet after Hastings proposed making his longtime chief of staff, Ed Cassidy, staff director for the committee." ... "Mollohan said that violates rules that say professional staffers who take part in investigations of House members must be nonpartisan and elected by committee members."I don't think it's possible to make the rule clearer," he said. "It is very simple."" -By Alicia Mundy -SeattleTimes

---

20050608
Doc Hastings - Jack Abramoff - Tom DeLay - Money - Politics - Federal - Law - Investigation - Clothing - Factories - Workers - Human Rights - Seattle - Washington - Texas - Northern Mariana Islands
"House Ethics Chief Is Tied to Lobby Figures." ... "Newly disclosed lobbying records and other documents show that the chairman of the House ethics committee, [Washington Republican Representative] Doc Hastings, a Washington State Republican, has had a close relationship for years with lobbyists at the Seattle[ Washington]-based law firm that is at the center of ethics accusations involving [Texas Republican Representative] Tom DeLay, the House majority leader." ... "The records from the law firm, Preston Gates & Ellis, show that the firm's former star lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, a close friend of Mr. DeLay who is now the focus of a federal corruption investigation, boasted to a client in the mid-1990's that the firm had "excellent" ties to Mr. Hastings. The firm repeatedly billed the client for meetings and telephone conversations between Mr. Abramoff's lobbying team and Mr. Hastings's staff." ... "... Preston Gates pressed Mr. Hastings and his staff several years ago for help on behalf of Mr. Abramoff's most important lobbying client at the time, the government of the Northern Mariana Islands, a small American commonwealth in the Pacific, in blocking the imposition of the federal minimum wage on the islands' clothing factories; human rights groups have long described the factories as sweatshops." ... "Federal Election Commission records show that the firm and its partners have been consistent campaign contributors to Mr. Hastings, donating more than $14,000 since he entered Congress a decade ago, $1,000 of that from Mr. Abramoff." ... "The firm's billing records show that after lobbying contacts on behalf of the Northern Marianas in 1996, Mr. Hastings placed statements in The Congressional Record in opposition to the minimum-wage proposal; he praised the islands' government for "moving in the right direction toward self-sufficiency."" (1, 2) -By Philip Shenon -NYTimes

---

20050501

- Tom DeLay - "A Lobbyist in Full." ... "Early on, Abramoff made friends who would be vital to his future success. His College Republican campaign had been managed by Grover Norquist, who is now one of Washington's most influential conservative activists. Joining the team as a $200-per-month intern was a baby-faced college student, Ralph Reed. Together, the three of them shaped the organization into a right-wing battle machine. ''It is not our job to seek peaceful coexistence with the Left,'' Abramoff was quoted as saying in the group's 1983 annual report. ''Our job is to remove them from power permanently.''" ... "As his business and reputation grew, Abramoff was becoming a vital cog in the G.O.P.'s money machine. He played a major role in ''The K Street Project,'' a Norquist-designed initiative that pressured lobbying firms to slant Republican in their hiring and donations. Public-interest watchdogs were appalled at the new level of coordination between Congress and business lobbyists, but Abramoff makes no apologies for it. ''It was my role to push the Republicans on K Street to be more helpful to the conservative movement,'' Abramoff told me. Partly to that end, Abramoff hired several former senior G.O.P. Congressional aides onto his lobbying team, including [Tom] DeLay aides like Michael Scanlon and Tony Rudy, now a prominent lobbyist. He also sent his associates in the other direction; in 2001, for example, his personal assistant, Susan Ralston, took the same job under Karl Rove, effectively making her Rove's gatekeeper."" (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) -By Michael Crowley -NYTimes

---

20050430

Tom DeLay - "Jack in a Box: Besieged lobbyist Jack Abramoff offers his take on the ethics scandals roiling Washington and threatening his good friend Tom DeLay." ... "Since he emerged as a leading character in the controversy over House majority leader Tom DeLay's ethical standards, Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been famously tight-lipped. A central issue is whether some of DeLay's overseas travel was funded, at least indirectly, by Abramoff, in violation of House rules barring legislators from accepting travel paid for by lobbyists. Abramoff, 46, an orthodox Jew who espouses conservative values, was already under investigation by two congressional committees and the fbi for allegedly bilking his Indian-tribe clients and possibly abusing tax exemptions on charities he set up. Abramoff spoke to TIME's Adam Zagorin about the questions swirling around him." -By Jack Abramoff and Adam Zagorin ed. 20050509 -TIME.com

---

- Tom DeLay - "Lawmaker Should Step Aside in DeLay Inquiry, Groups Say." ... "Campaign watchdog groups said on Friday that it would be inappropriate for Representative Melissa A. Hart to oversee any potential inquiry of the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, because she had received $15,000 from his political action committee and held a fund-raiser at a restaurant owned by a Republican lobbyist at the center of a growing corruption scandal." ... "Ms. Hart, a Pennsylvania Republican, has been named by the House ethics committee chairman to look into accusations about Mr. DeLay, who is under scrutiny for overseas trips organized by Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist. Mr. Abramoff's far-reaching political work is now the subject of a federal grand jury investigation. Campaign records filed with the Federal Election Commission show that Ms. Hart held a fund-raising event at his restaurant, Signatures, in Washington." -By Anne E. Kornblut andf Philip Shenon -NYTimes

---

20050424

-  -  - Tom DeLay - "DeLay Airfare Was Charged To Lobbyist's Credit Card." ... "The airfare to London and Scotland in 2000 for then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was charged to an American Express card issued to Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist at the center of a federal criminal and tax probe, a