 Edwin
Buckham
 Mark
Zachares
  Tom
DeLay
 Doc
Hastings
 Bob
Ney
 Ralph
Reed
|
 Abramoff
Republican Scandal
JACK ABRAMOFF News:
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
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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