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Banned
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Without Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff would never have gotten where he is, today.
Neither would the latest ex-congressman to "cop a plea", Bob Ney (R-OH). Tied to Abramoff's past, are Karl Rove, his and Bush's "special assistant", a the white house, Susan Ralston, Grover Norquist, and.....Ralph Reed.....and:
Quote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...062001626.html
<b>Ex-Aide To Bush Found Guilty
Safavian Lied in Abramoff Scandal</b>
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 21, 2006; Page A01
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.
David Safavian, the former chief of staff at the General Services Administration, leaves the U.S. District Courthouse on Monday in Washington. A prosecutor urged a jury Monday to convict Safavian in the Jack Abramoff influence peddling scandal, saying he abandoned the public interest in favor of a secret relationship with the lobbyist.
This was the first Abramoff-related legal action to go to trial and face a jury. Several legal experts said the case could embolden federal prosecutors to seek additional indictments against cronies of Abramoff, who has been cooperating with the Justice Department since pleading guilty in January to corrupting public officials......
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Resident Bush pulled his trademark, "I don't know him" when he was asked about his relationship with Jack Abramoff, just as he did when he was asked in 2001, about Enron Chairman, Ken Lay. Later, in 2001, it was determined that Bush not only knew Ken Lay, the two were friends and Bush had nicknamed Lay, "Kenny boy":
Quote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...012601228.html
<b>Bush Opposes Release of Photos With Abramoff</b>
By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 26, 2006; 2:48 PM
President Bush today dismissed the significance of photographs showing him with disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and indicated that the White House would continue to oppose releasing the photos, which he said are irrelevant to a federal investigation.
"I've had my picture taken with him, evidently," Bush said in response to a question at a White House news conference. "I've had my picture taken with a lot of people. Having my picture taken with someone doesn't mean that I'm a friend with him or know him very well." He said that "it's part of the job of the president to shake hands with people and smile.".....
......Federal prosecutors are "welcome" to look into those meetings if they believe they involved improprieties, Bush said.
Abramoff "contributed to my campaigns, but he contributed, either directly or through his clients, to a lot of people in Washington," he said.
Asked whether he personally has ever been lobbied by Abramoff or other lobbyists, Bush said: "I, frankly, don't even remember having my picture taken with the guy. I don't know him. . . . But I can't say I didn't ever meet him, but I meet a lot of people. And, you know, evidently he was . . . at the holiday party: Came in, put the grip-and-grin, they clicked the picture and off he goes."
Bush said that "obviously, we went to fund-raisers, but I've never sat down with him and had a discussion with the guy."....
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Quote:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,202459,00.html
Bush Says He Hopes Enron's Lay Was 'Right With the Lord'
Thursday, July 06, 2006
WASHINGTON — President Bush said Thursday he hopes Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay's "heart was right with the Lord" when he died before he could be sentenced on fraud and conspiracy charges.
Bush called Lay, who was a friend of the Bush family and a large donor to the president's campaign, "a good guy." He said he was shocked to hear both about the Enron scandal and Lay's death this week from a heart attack at age 64.....
..........Lay faced life in prison after his convictions May 25 that ended a blockbuster trial stemming from one of the biggest business debacles in U.S. history.
Bush had nicknamed Lay "Kenny Boy" but pointed out they weren't always allied. He said Lay supported his opponent in his first Texas gubernatorial race, Democrat Ann Richards. When host King pointed out that Richards had told him earlier that she liked Lay, Bush responded, "Yes, he's a good guy."...
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Quote:
http://web.archive.org/web/200201151...ART0.d1e8.html
<b>Lay gave more to Bush
President had said Enron chief was Richards supporter</b>
01/12/2002
By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – In distancing himself from Enron, President Bush said that CEO Kenneth Lay "was a supporter" of Democrat Ann Richards in his first race for Texas governor in 1994.
But records and interviews with people involved in the Richards campaign show that he was a far bigger Bush supporter.
Mr. Lay and his wife gave Mr. Bush three times more money than Ms. Richards in their gubernatorial contest, according to a computer-assisted review of campaign finance reports by The Dallas Morning News.
Because of its collapse, Enron's financial ties with candidates have drawn more scrutiny and increasingly are being viewed as a political liability. Some officeholders have returned Enron campaign contributions.
Mr. Bush, a Republican, collected $37,500 from the Lays in his successful bid to unseat the Democratic incumbent, state records show. Ms. Richards received $12,500. Enron executives and the company's political action committee also heavily favored Mr. Bush.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Friday that the president acknowledged that Mr. Lay more recently has been a Bush supporter but did not err in his comments Thursday.
Quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0020110-1.html
....Q -- to inoculate and your administration politically from the fallout?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, Ken Lay is a supporter. And I got to know Ken Lay when he was the head of the -- what they call the Governor's Business Council in Texas. He was a supporter of Ann Richards in my run in 1994. And she had named him the head of the Governor's Business Council. And I decided to leave him in place, just for the sake of continuity. And that's when I first got to know Ken, and worked with Ken, and he supported my candidacy.....
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Ms. Richards' former chief of staff, John Fainter, said Friday that Mr. Lay and the former Democratic governor "had a cordial relationship" and she named him to a state business council. But he said the Enron chief was not a Richards political supporter.
It is typical for some big-money donors in Texas politics to hedge their bets by contributing money to both sides in political races.
But interviews with people involved in the 1994 race indicate that Mr. Lay's initial $25,000 donation to help launch Mr. Bush's gubernatorial campaign–when he had no primary opposition– was seen in the Richards camp as early evidence he was against them.
Also, Mr. Lay identified himself in an interview broadcast last summer as a Bush supporter.
Mr. Lay told PBS' Frontline that he faced "a little difficult situation" in choosing sides.
"I'd worked very closely with Ann Richards also, the four years she was governor," Mr. Lay said.
"But I was very close to George W. and had a lot of respect for him, had watched him over the years, particularly with reference to dealing with his father when his father was in the White House," he said, "and some of things he did to work for his father, and so [I] did support him."
Thursday, amid growing national attention of the Enron bankruptcy, Mr. Bush was asked by reporters about his relationship with Mr. Lay.
Mr. Bush said he "got to know Ken Lay" as a member of the Governor's Business Council, a nonpartisan board appointed by the governor to boost economic development in Texas.
"He was a supporter of Ann Richards in my run in 1994 and she had named him the head of the Governor's Business Council.....And that's when I first got to know Ken."
President Bush said Mr. Lay later became a supporter of his gubernatorial re-election in 1998 and the presidential race in 2000.
Ties run deep
A longtime backer of the president's father when he was in the White House, Mr. Lay was a "Bush Pioneer" in the 2000 race, an elite tier of campaign contributors who pledged to raise at least $100,000. He also gave $100,000 to Mr. Bush's inauguration.
The ties between Mr. Lay and the Bush family are deep.
Besides being one of the first President Bush's major financial backers, Mr. Lay headed the host committee of the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston that nominated the ex-president's re-election effort.
"The president has clearly noted that Mr. Lay has been a supporter of his campaigns," Mr. McClellan said Friday.
He maintained that Mr. Bush was accurate in describing Mr. Lay as a Richards supporter in 1994. He noted that after giving $25,000 to Mr. Bush early in the contest, he contributed $12,500 to Ms. Richards in donations reported in July and October 1994.
Also in October, Mr. Lay's wife, Linda, contributed $12,500 to Mr. Bush.
"Mr. Lay was a supporter of Ann Richards during the 1994 race," he said. "And any suggestion to the contrary is revisionist history."
Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, a nonprofit group that tracks campaign contributions, dismissed the White House response.
"President Bush's explanation of his relationship to Enron is at best a half truth," he said. "He was in bed with Enron before he ever held a public office."
Perry to keep donations
Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Rick Perry said Friday that he will not return any of more than $139,000 in contributions he's received from Enron executives since 1994.
"Individuals who have worked for the Enron corporation have contributed to my campaign, I'm sure, over the last four or five years," Mr. Perry said.
"Campaign contributions don't impact my thought process. Never have, never will," he said.
According to state records, Mr. Lay's most recent contribution to Mr. Perry was $25,000 in June. That same month, he contributed $25,000 each to Attorney General John Cornyn and Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander, both Republicans.
"I took no money from Enron," Mr. Perry told reporters, apparently seeking to distinguish between contributions from individuals and from the company PAC.
In fact, Mr. Perry has received money from the Enron PAC, according to The News review.
The company gave $2,000 to Mr. Perry in December 1998, after his election as lieutenant governor.
The News review of campaign contributions from Mr. Lay over the last 10 years indicates that he has given money to Republicans and Democrats. But most has gone to Republicans.
For example, since 1996 in statewide races, Mr. Lay has given $3,000 to House Speaker Pete Laney, a Democrat and more than $200,000 to Republicans, including Mr. Perry, Mr. Cornyn, Ms. Rylander, and Railroad Commissioner Tony Garza.
A review of contributions before 1995, a period in which Democrats held most statewide offices, indicates a more balanced distribution of donations, including money to former Attorney General Dan Morales, former Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, and former Gov. Mark White, all Democrats.
At the same time, Mr. Lay donated thousands of dollars to Republican statewide candidates, including former Gov. Bill Clements, 1990 gubernational hopeful Clayton Williams, and former state Treasurer Kay Bailey Hutchison, now a U.S. senator from Texas.
Also Friday, Mr. Cornyn – who is seeking the Republican nomination for Senate – withdrew his involvement in inquiries into bankrupt energy giant Enron Corp., a day after he spurned calls from consumer and government watchdog groups to take himself off the case.
Texas Watch and Common Cause Texas on Thursday had complained that campaign contributions to Mr. Cornyn from Enron executives cast doubt over his ability to remain impartial.
Mr. Cornyn's office had insisted he would stay on the case but he changed his mind less than 24 hours later.
"It is imperative that the public maintain the utmost confidence in the integrity of any investigation," Mr. Cornyn said in a written statement.
Researcher Laura Nevarez contributed to this report.
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and....some of us have posted about Bob Ney's involvement with Abramoff's and his no convicted partner, Adam Kidan's, efforts to strong arm Florida casino ship fleet owner, Gus Boulis, into selling his "fleet" to the two, at the price and terms they wanted to pay....when they felt like paying it....using the insertion of comments into the Congressional Record of the United States,
about Boulis, to coerce his co-operation with Abramoff and Kidan. Boulis was murdered, not too long into this saga, and three accused mafia affiliated "hit men", were later arrested for that crime.
<b>All of this would be of only passing interest, here, if not for the fact that two of president Bush's close white house assistants, Karl Rove, and Susan Ralston, were once close to Jack Abramoff, and the former House majority leader, Tom Delay, was publicly supported by Bush, well past the day that he resigned from his House leadership post, and Delay hails from Bush's home state of Texas:</b>
Quote:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...y/15533905.htm
Posted on Sat, Sep. 16, 2006
<b>CORRUPTION
Lobby scandal topples U.S. rep
Rep. Bob Ney pleaded guilty to corruption charges in a case with South Florida roots that grew into a wide-ranging Washington scandal.</b>
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
U.S. Rep. Bob Ney agreed to plead guilty Friday to charges that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in trips, cash and campaign donations for political favors, making the once obscure Ohio Republican <b>the first lawmaker to fall in the probe of a once-powerful lobbyist.
Ney, 52, admitted his involvement in the influence-peddling enterprise run by convicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who brought the scandal to South Florida with the fraudulent purchase of a local fleet of gambling ships.
</b>
Abramoff, in his plea deal with prosecutors, detailed Ney's role in helping him and his clients in exchange for everything from a golf trip in Scotland to meals in the GOP lobbyist's Washington restaurant.
With November's congressional midterm elections looming, Friday's announcement of Ney's plea agreement reignited Democratic accusations of a Republican ''culture of corruption'' on Capitol Hill.
Ney had strongly denied wrongdoing even as the investigation closed in around him over the last year.
Now the 12-year veteran of Congress is set to plead guilty on Oct. 13 to charges he conspired to commit fraud and violate federal lobbying laws and that he made false statements. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he faces at least 27 months in prison.
In a statement, Ney apologized -- but said ''a dependence on alcohol has been a problem for me.'' Then he added: ``I am not making any excuses, and I take full responsibility for my actions.''
Justice Department officials condemned his misconduct.
''He illegally deceived the public and the House of Representatives about his actions,'' Alice Fisher, an assistant attorney general heading the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said in Washington. ``In doing so, the congressman was acting in his own best interests, and not in the best interests of his constituents.''
ASSISTANCE IN MIAMI
Fisher said Justice's public corruption prosecutors received ''substantial assistance'' from the Miami offices of U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta and the FBI.
<b>Indeed, Ney's downfall began in South Florida, where he had used his congressional influence to sway the sale of SunCruz Casinos to Abramoff and his New York partner Adam Kidan.</b>
The SunCruz case against Abramoff and Kidan gave Justice Department officials the leverage to pressure the lobbyist to turn on other colleagues, congressional aides and politicians early this year.
The charges against Ney are based primarily on his behind-the-scenes work for Abramoff's Indian tribal clients and for a foreign businessman who gave him tens of thousands of dollars in casino chips and cash. <h3>But the charges also include the lawmaker's unusual tactics to help the lobbyist purchase the Dania Beach-based SunCruz gambling fleet.
During negotiations in the SunCruz deal, Abramoff asked his lobbying partner, Michael Scanlon, to do him a favor. That's when Ney entered the picture.
Scanlon contacted Ney's chief of staff, Neil Volz, to arrange to have Ney disparage SunCruz owner Konstantinos ''Gus'' Boulis in the Congressional Record. Scanlon drafted a statement that Ney put into the record in March 2000, calling Boulis ''a bad apple'' to handicap the seller.
After the deal was completed that September, Ney praised Kidan in the Congressional Record as a businessman with a ``renowned reputation for honesty and integrity.''</h3>
Law enforcement officials said that just weeks after the controversial SunCruz sale, Abramoff and Kidan took $10,000 from their gambling business and donated the money to the National Republican Congressional Committee on Ney's behalf.
That SunCruz was the actual contributor was first reported by The Miami Herald in late November 2005.
Although Ney did not receive the $10,000 directly, U.S. officials said SunCruz's donation in his name to the GOP campaign committee was improper. The then-unknown Ohio congressman stood to gain stature with the Republican leadership.
Volz, who has already pleaded guilty in the Washington investigation, admitted to participating in the Congressional Record activities. <b>Scanlon, who has also pleaded guilty, was the former communications director for former House Republican leader Tom DeLay of Texas. At the time Scanlon sought Ney's help in early 2000, Scanlon had already left DeLay's office. Scanlon and Volz were close friends on Capitol Hill.</b>
CORRESPONDENCE
After the SunCruz sale in fall 2000, <b>Abramoff and Scanlon exchanged e-mails about the company's $10,000 contribution to the GOP's campaign committee on Ney's behalf, according to law enforcement officials.
Scanlon, who did public relations work for SunCruz, also corresponded with Ney's staff</b> about the Nov. 1, 2000 political contribution.
As lobbying partners, <b>Scanlon and Abramoff would go on to rake in as much as $80 million from their work with Indian tribal clients that owned casinos (none from Florida).</b> Those fees drew the scrutiny of the House Ethics Committee, Senate Indian Affairs Committee and the Justice Department.
As for the former SunCruz owner, <b>Boulis, he was gunned down in Fort Lauderdale in February 2001. Three men -- including one who was a former FBI informant with ties to the Mafia -- have been charged in his slaying.
A year ago, a South Florida federal grand jury indicted Abramoff and Kidan on charges of defrauding lenders of $60 million in the SunCruz sale. Both men pleaded guilty and were sentenced to nearly six years in prison.</b>
Both remain out on bond, while they cooperate with federal authorities.
Several Miami prosecutors have been involved in the SunCruz and Washington investigations: Lawrence LaVecchio, Paul Schwartz, Jeff Sloman, Paul Pelletier and Edward Nucci -- along with FBI agent Susan Sprengel.
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To put all of this in perspective, there is no article that covers so many former Tom Delay staffers, and their ties to Jack Abramoff, than the following one, found....believe it or not, in this esteemed (and trusted....) publication:
Quote:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article..._20060407.html
End of the Affair
Behind Unraveling
Of DeLay's Team,
A Jilted Fiancée
Breakup of Ex-Aides Shook
Group Tied to Abramoff;
The Prosecutors Move In
Ms. Miller's Tearful Apology
By BRODY MULLINS
March 31, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The engagement of Emily Miller and Michael Scanlon was supposed to mark the coming out of a new Washington power couple.
The two had met on Capitol Hill, where they worked as press secretaries to Rep. Tom DeLay, the feared Texas Republican. They got engaged in September 2001 on the beach in Santa Monica, Calif., and planned an August 2002 wedding. As the date approached, Mr. Scanlon bought a $4.7 million oceanside mansion and guest house, formerly part of the DuPont estate, in Rehoboth Beach, Del. He furnished it down to the monogrammed towels and presented it to his bride-to-be.
Then, with the wedding a few months away, he called off the engagement and started dating a 24-year-old waitress.
Mr. Scanlon and Ms. Miller, now both 35 years old, were among a tight-knit group of aides who helped Mr. DeLay rise to the pinnacle of Capitol Hill in the 1990s and cement his power as House majority leader. Some of those aides provided a link between their boss and Jack Abramoff, a Republican lobbyist.
The end of the engagement was part of that group's unraveling -- which has had significant consequences for official Washington. The aides have since turned on one another, feeding the ethics scandal surrounding Mr. Abramoff that now roils the capital. Mr. Abramoff has admitted he directed Native American clients to pay huge sums to Mr. Scanlon's public-relations firm. Mr. Scanlon secretly gave Mr. Abramoff half of his profits.
Prosecutors came to Ms. Miller to help them build a case that drove her ex-fiancé to plead guilty, according to a person familiar with the situation. Mr. Scanlon's testimony in turn helped force Mr. Abramoff into a guilty plea. Another former DeLay aide, Tony Rudy, has been cited by prosecutors in the investigation. Now Washington is wondering whether prosecutors will use testimony from Messrs. Scanlon and Rudy to go after Mr. DeLay, who has resigned as majority leader.
While Mr. Abramoff has become well-known as a symbol of the excesses of Washington influence-peddling, the story of the DeLay aides and their role in the scandal is less-known. People who have spoken to Ms. Miller say that after her breakup she began questioning how Mr. Scanlon could afford a lavish lifestyle while working summers as a beach lifeguard and doing seemingly little work at his public-relations firm. She talked about the beach house he had presented to her, the private jet he flew around in and the $17,000-a-month apartment he rented at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington. Prosecutors would later ask the same questions, and discover Mr. Abramoff's deals with the Indian tribes.
Ms. Miller, who hasn't been accused of wrongdoing, declined to comment through her attorney, Dan French, who said the "details of Ms. Miller's past personal life are not relevant to the criminal actions of Mr. Scanlon and Mr. Abramoff." Mr. Abramoff was sentenced this week in Florida to five years and 10 months in prison over fraud in a casino deal, but his ultimate prison term won't be known until he is sentenced in the corruption scandal in Washington.
The story of the star-crossed Capitol Hill romance -- and its repercussions in national politics -- begins in 1997, when Mr. Scanlon arrived in Rep. DeLay's office as press secretary. There he worked closely with Mr. Rudy. Both press aides were veterans of Republican politics and eager sportsmen. Mr. Scanlon, a native of suburban Washington, could run five miles in under 30 minutes, while Mr. Rudy, of Brooklyn, N.Y., played in an amateur ice-hockey league.
The two shared a pit-bull political style and pushed Mr. DeLay to lead the charge in 1998 for the impeachment of President Clinton. "This whole thing about not kicking someone when they are down is B.S.," Mr. Scanlon once wrote to Mr. Rudy in an email published in "The Breach," a book by Peter Baker about the impeachment. "Not only do you kick him -- you kick him until he passes out -- then beat him over the head with a baseball bat -- then roll him up in an old rug -- and throw him off a cliff into the pound surf below!!!!!"
The two staffers often lent a hand to Mr. Abramoff, according to court documents and former colleagues. The lobbyist helped Mr. DeLay raise millions of dollars. Mr. Abramoff frequently treated Mr. DeLay to dinner at his sushi restaurant on Capitol Hill and took the congressman on trips overseas. Mr. Abramoff spoiled Mr. DeLay's aides, too, taking them on trips to casinos and golf courses owned by his clients, according to travel disclosure forms.
The aides returned the favor. In the fall of 1998, Mr. Abramoff wanted to help a Republican, Joe Ada, get elected as governor in Guam, even though he was trailing incumbent Gov. Carl Gutierrez badly in the polls.
Just after lunch on Oct. 26, 1998, Mr. Abramoff emailed Mr. Rudy: "We want to know if there is anyway to get Tom to call for an investigation of the misuse of federal funds on Guam by this governor," he wrote in a message reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Abramoff said he would draft a statement for Mr. DeLay and suggested that if Mr. Rudy could "issue a press release and letter requesting an Inspector General (I guess from Interior?) to investigate these matters, it should have a major impact on the election next week."
Within a few hours, Messrs. Rudy and Scanlon released a statement from Mr. DeLay and a letter to the Department of the Interior's inspector general calling for a federal investigation into the Democratic governor. "The allegations and materials I reviewed point to serious corruption" by the governor, Mr. DeLay said in the letter.
Despite their efforts, Mr. Ada lost the race, and the department didn't conduct an investigation. After leaving office, Mr. Gutierrez was tried on corruption charges but acquitted on all counts. Mr. DeLay's spokeswoman said he declined to comment. Mr. Rudy's lawyer didn't return phone calls.
In late 1998, Mr. Rudy was promoted to deputy chief of staff and Mr. Scanlon was elevated to communications director, reporting to Mr. Rudy. To fill the void in the press office, Mr. Scanlon soon hired Ms. Miller, a Georgetown University graduate who had worked as an ABC News associate producer and as a press secretary for Rep. Rick Lazio, a New York Republican.
Ms. Miller shared the pugnacious style of her new colleagues. She was once quoted in a Washington Post profile of Mr. DeLay yelling at a reporter: "You lied!... You betrayed him! You twisted his words!... We don't know you. You don't exist... You are dead to us."
Ms. Miller and Mr. Scanlon soon became close friends. Mr. Scanlon, married at the time, would sometimes bring his newborn son into the office, and Ms. Miller enjoyed watching over him, according to DeLay staffers.
By the end of 1999, Mr. Scanlon's marriage was falling apart, and he moved out of the one-story bungalow he shared with his wife. He left the DeLay office for a private-sector job in public relations. In March 2000, Mr. Abramoff hired Mr. Scanlon to work with him in the Washington, D.C., lobbying office of Seattle-based law firm Preston Gates Ellis LLP.
Mr. Abramoff frequently sought Mr. Rudy's help to influence legislation on behalf of his clients. In exchange, Mr. Abramoff offered the DeLay aide meals, expensive trips and cash, according to Mr. Abramoff and prosecutors. In June 2000, Mr. Abramoff took Mr. Rudy to watch Tiger Woods win the U.S. Open golf championship at Pebble Beach.
Shortly afterward, Mr. Rudy helped arrange for Mr. DeLay to send a U.S. flag that had flown above the Capitol to the owner of the SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet, which Mr. Abramoff wanted to buy. When the SunCruz owners agreed to sell to Mr. Abramoff for $147.5 million, the lobbyist listed Mr. Rudy as a reference on his $60 million loan application. Mr. Abramoff later pleaded guilty to faking a wire transfer to get financing for the deal, which led to his sentencing in Florida this week.
In March 2001, Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon joined Greenberg Traurig, a Miami-based law firm looking to build a lobbying practice in Washington. One of Mr. Abramoff's first hires there was Mr. Rudy. The two former DeLay press secretaries, once allies, became fierce rivals.
Mr. Rudy bad-mouthed Mr. Scanlon among colleagues, according to other Greenberg Traurig lobbyists. Mr. Scanlon fought back by leaking unfavorable tidbits about Mr. Rudy to the press. Mr. Scanlon was now dating Ms. Miller, who had been promoted to Mr. DeLay's communications director.
Using Ms. Miller as his eyes and ears in the DeLay office, Mr. Scanlon, according to DeLay staffers and journalists, told reporters that Mr. Rudy often visited Mr. DeLay's office in 2001, a possible violation of lobbying rules. Former congressional aides must wait a year before lobbying their former colleagues. Mr. Scanlon also told reporters that when Mr. Rudy worked as a House aide, Mr. Rudy urged House Republicans to steer political work to his wife's firm.
When Mr. DeLay heard about the squabbling among his former aides, he was "livid" and threatened to get Mr. Scanlon booted from his lobbying job, according to a March 29, 2001, email from Mr. Rudy to Mr. Abramoff. Mr. Abramoff got Mr. Scanlon to stop the leaks, and no stories came out at the time about Mr. Scanlon's allegations.
Around this time, Mr. Abramoff's bet that SunCruz revenue would allow him to pay back the $60 million loan wasn't panning out. In June 2001, SunCruz filed for bankruptcy, and Mr. Abramoff's lender demanded payment. To resolve the matter, Mr. Abramoff needed to come up with millions of dollars. He hatched a plan to bilk his clients.
Most of Mr. Abramoff's Native American clients operated gambling casinos and wanted to block rival tribes from invading their turf. The tribes also worried that the federal government would tax their casino revenues. Mr. Abramoff told his tribal clients to hire Mr. Scanlon, who had set up his own public-relations firm and would soon leave the lobbying practice. Mr. Scanlon then secretly routed half of his net profits back to Mr. Abramoff. While Mr. Scanlon's actions didn't violate any laws, Mr. Abramoff admitted that he defrauded his clients by receiving kickbacks and not telling them.
As the friendship between Messrs. Abramoff and Scanlon deepened, they teased each other about their regular racquetball matches. "You better start pulling some real opponents or I am going to beat your ass to a pulp next time we get out there!" Mr. Scanlon told Mr. Abramoff in one trash-talking email. Mr. Scanlon was "afraid of a real man!" Mr. Abramoff answered in an email sprinkled with obscenities.
Mr. Scanlon reveled in his newfound wealth. In September 2001, he bought two houses in Washington for a total of $1.2 million, according to court papers. In November 2001, he bought a $1.6 million beach house in Rehoboth Beach and completely renovated it. A few months later, in March, he paid $4.7 million in cash for a place for him and Ms. Miller to live. The beachfront mansion had a weight room, sauna and a three-bedroom guest house. Mr. Scanlon mounted lights on the deck so he could hold parties on the beach at night, according to his surfing friends. He also bought vacation homes on the Caribbean island of St. Barts, including one villa he rented out for $50,000 a week.
In September 2001, Mr. Scanlon, now divorced from his wife, proposed to Ms. Miller before dinner at The Ivy, a Los Angeles restaurant popular with celebrities. The couple planned a wedding at the beach for the following summer. In January 2002 Ms. Miller quit her job as Mr. DeLay's spokeswoman to prepare for the Aug. 10 wedding. The couple sent a save-the-date card to guests that read: "The Celebration Begins."
The celebration never came. Mr. Scanlon broke off the engagement that spring and began dating a 24-year-old waitress at a Rehoboth Beach seafood restaurant.
Mr. Scanlon returned to his summer lifeguard job at Rehoboth Beach, occasionally visiting Washington and staying at his Ritz-Carlton apartment. In November 2002, Mr. Scanlon quietly married his new girlfriend.
Ms. Miller was devastated, according to friends. She spent hours at the gym. Two weeks after her planned wedding date, she started a blog with beauty and diet tips for women.
[The 'Save the Date' card announcing the Aug. 10, 2002, wedding of Emily Miller and Michael Scanlon was soon followed by a cancellation notice.]
The 'Save the Date' card announcing the Aug. 10, 2002, wedding of Emily Miller and Michael Scanlon was soon followed by a cancellation notice.
Three weeks after Mr. Scanlon got married, Ms. Miller was a bridesmaid at the Houston wedding of another former DeLay aide. Ms. Miller confessed to friends at the reception that she had helped Mr. Scanlon spread negative stories about Mr. Rudy, according to people who attended. When she saw Mr. DeLay and his wife, Ms. Miller tearfully apologized and said she had been used as a pawn in Mr. Scanlon's fight with Mr. Rudy, to whom she also expressed remorse.
Mr. DeLay accepted Ms. Miller's apology, according to wedding guests, and embraced her, saying: "We are all a part of the DeLay family." A DeLay spokeswoman, Shannon Flaherty, said Mr. DeLay couldn't recall his exact words.
After flying back to Washington, Ms. Miller called Mr. Scanlon's ex-wife, Carrie Anne Liipfert. People familiar with Ms. Miller's thinking say she missed spending time with Mr. Scanlon's son. She also sought the comfort of another woman hurt by Mr. Scanlon. Over the next few months, the two spoke frequently and became friends.
Ms. Miller told Ms. Liipfert about the millions of dollars Mr. Scanlon was making and about the properties he had purchased, according to people who know both women.
When Mr. Scanlon and Ms. Liipfert, who declined to comment, separated three years earlier, Mr. Scanlon was making $155,000 as Mr. DeLay's communications director and had $39,000 in debt, including $19,400 on his credit cards, according to court records. His child-support payment was set at $1,680 a month.
Now he had millions of dollars in beach houses and flew around in a private jet. In February 2003, Mr. Scanlon's ex-wife filed a motion in a suburban Washington court to increase the child-support payments. Mr. Scanlon's "financial circumstances...have improved dramatically," Ms. Liipfert told the court, according to records. "It is believed he earns millions of dollars per year now."
Mr. Scanlon fought his ex-wife's request and refused to tell the court how much he made. He said his ex-wife "has been in direct contact with third parties concerning his finances and business enterprises, apparently seeking to embarrass" him, according to court records.
In April, Ms. Liipfert asked the court to subpoena former yoga instructor Brian Mann, a move that suggested she had knowledge about her ex-husband's work with Mr. Abramoff. Federal investigators later discovered Mr. Mann was the director of a fake think tank that Messrs. Abramoff and Scanlon used to collect fees from clients.
At the end of the summer of 2003, Mr. Scanlon reached an out-of-court settlement with his ex-wife. Under the settlement, the two aren't permitted to discuss the terms.
Just as Mr. Scanlon was being pressed by his ex-wife for more money, Mr. Abramoff was starting to show the stress of being pinched by his lenders.
"Mike!!! I need the money TODAY! I AM BOUNCING CHECKS!!!" he emailed Mr. Scanlon on Feb. 19, 2003, as the latter vacationed in St. Barts, according to an email released by Senate investigators. After Mr. Scanlon promised to send a kickback check, Mr. Abramoff wrote: "Sorry I got nuts, but it's a little crazy for me right now. I am not kidding that I was literally on the verge of collapse. I hate all the s--t I'm into."
On Feb. 22, 2004, the Washington Post in a front-page article reported that Messrs. Abramoff and Scanlon charged four Indian tribes $45 million for lobbying and public-relations work over three years. The sum rivaled the lobbying fees of the biggest U.S. corporations.
Mr. Abramoff's world quickly caved in. The next week, he was fired from his lobbying job. On Capitol Hill, Sen. John McCain opened a Senate probe into his business.
The Justice Department, already investigating Mr. Abramoff's SunCruz deal in Florida, expanded its investigation to include his work in Washington with Mr. Scanlon and the Indian tribes. Federal prosecutors soon found out that Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon received more than $80 million from the tribes.
Mr. Scanlon at first seemed unfazed. In the months after the story broke, he bought a pair of $2 million beach houses and returned to his lifeguard job. In July 2005, he sold the beach house he bought for Ms. Miller for a $1 million profit, according to court records.
But pressure was mounting on him. Justice Department prosecutors secretly approached Ms. Miller to help build a case against her ex-fiancé, says a person familiar with the case. Last November, Mr. Scanlon pleaded guilty to bribery charges. He agreed to go to jail for as long as five years and pay back nearly $20 million to the tribes. Mr. Scanlon also implicated Mr. Abramoff.
Six weeks later, Mr. Abramoff pleaded guilty to corruption and bribery charges and agreed to pay the tribes $26 million. Depending on his sentence in Washington, he may spend a decade behind bars. In his plea agreement, Mr. Abramoff said he sought to bribe Mr. Rudy "to perform a series of official acts" by offering him golf trips, meals and a $50,000 payment to his wife.
Days later, Mr. DeLay announced he wouldn't seek another term in the Republican leadership in the House. He faces a re-election fight this fall. Mr. Rudy quit his lobbying job.
Until the summer of 2005, Ms. Miller worked as a spokeswoman at the State Department. In May 2004, she earned a bit of fame when she cut off a live interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" with then-Secretary of State Colin Powell. Ms. Miller hasn't held a steady job since leaving the State Department. She blames talk about her involvement with the investigation.
Friends say Ms. Miller still has Mr. Scanlon's four-carat engagement ring.
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Since the Abramoff / Tom Delay, and ex-Delay staffers tied to Abramoff, connections are so numerous, and each is being investigated by prosecutors and reported by the press, there isn't room in one post, to detail it all. We'll just touch on some of the highlights, and ask other interested TFP members to post their thoughts. I'd especially enjoy seeing documentation posted, that points out any elected democratic party members who either accepted money or favors directly from Jack Abramoff or his web of cronies, or who are under investigation by prosecutors....anywhere.
The "scandal" has already cost Rove's, Abramoff's, and Norquist's fellow "College Republican", Ralph Reed, from their early 1980's affiliation with that group, his political influence, as founder of the Christian Coalition, and his political career....he recently lost his primary run to be the republican candidate for Georgia Lt. Governor, on the november ballot.
Quote:
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/nation/14903527.htm
LaTourette downplays lobbyist link
14th District GOP lawmaker fends off allegations he sent letters as favor to Abramoff
By Carl Chancellor
Beacon Journal staff writer
The stench of corruption tied to disgraced superlobbyist Jack Abramoff is wafting over another Ohio congressman.
In testimony in a federal trial that concluded this week in Washington with the conviction of David Safavian -- a former top federal procurement officer -- the name of Republican U.S. Rep. Steven LaTourette surfaced.
Safavian, who was found guilty on four felony counts of lying and obstruction, was caught up in the wide-ranging investigation into influence peddling involving Abramoff.
Although LaTourette's re-election bid isn't on ground as politically shaky as fellow Ohio Republican Congressman Bob Ney's, cracks are developing in the incumbency of the six-term representative from Madison, who two years ago was a shoo-in.......
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Quote:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/15529762.htm
Bush to visit California on fundraising trip for Doolittle, Pombo
ERICA WERNER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush will visit California next month to raise money for Republican Reps. Richard Pombo of Tracy and John Doolittle of Rocklin, who are seeking re-election amid ethics questions.
Bush will attend a breakfast for Pombo on Oct. 3 and a fundraising lunch at an El Dorado Hills country club for Doolittle the same day, the campaigns said separately on Friday.
The Doolittle event, which his campaign hopes will raise as much as $500,000, will be Bush's first appearance on behalf of Doolittle. The congressman's friendships with former Majority Leader Tom DeLay and convicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff have provided fodder for Doolittle's Democratic opponent, Charlie Brown.
Doolittle accepted campaign cash from Abramoff and Abramoff clients, while interceding on their behalf. His wife also performed fundraising work for Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January in a conspiracy to corrupt public officials.
Unlike Doolittle, Pombo has donated to charity the campaign money he received directly from Abramoff. But he has been targeted by environmentalists over his chairmanship of the House Resources Committee, where he has shepherded legislation helpful to oil and gas interests that have donated generously to him........
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Quote:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...535551,00.html
Who's the Next Target in the Abramoff Probe?
Former Ohio Congressman Bob Ney has admitted his role in Washington's influence-peddling scandal, but prosecutors still have other politicians in their sights
By ADAM ZAGORIN/WASHINGTON
Posted Friday, Sep. 15, 2006
......... A source close to the investigation told TIME that scores of US prosecutors and FBI agents continue to examine the activities of other sitting members of Congress and prominent individuals who could face prosecution, though not necessarily before the November 7 election. The source confirmed previous public reports that particular scrutiny is being paid to Sen. Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican who faces a tough campaign for reelection.
"A lot of the conduct to which Ney has pleaded guilty is similar to the alleged conduct of Senator Conrad Burns and his staff," points out Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a non-profit watchdog group. "Abramoff has said that Burns and his staff used Signatures [Abramoff's restaurant] like their cafeteria. And Burns took a number of legislative actions on Abramoff's behalf, even as members of his staff went on trip to the 2001 Super Bowl on private jet and visited Sun Cruise gambling ships, which were partly owned by Abramoff. "Abramoff himself said in an interview earlier this year, "Every appropriation we wanted [from Burns's committee] we got. Our staffs were as close as they could be. They practically used Signatures as their cafeteria. I mean, it's a little difficult for him to run from that record."
But Erik Iverson, a senior advisor to Sen. Burns campaign in Montana told TIME, "There is no federal investigation. Certainly no one has ever told us there is, or contacted us. And there is absolutely no similarity between what's happening to Mr. Ney and Mr. Burns. That is all just politics." As a matter of policy, the Justice Dept. does not comment on possible targets of its investigations.
Ney, 52, is the first member of Congress to admit wrongdoing in the federal probe. Prosecutors are likely to insist that he spend as much as 27 months in prison, although a judge could impose up to 10 years, though that stiff a sentence is considered unlikely. His plea agreement lacks language that would require him to testify or to cooperate in other federal prosecutions — in contrast to earlier plea agreements of Ney's longtime chief of staff, Neil Volz, as well as Abramoff himself. The absence of such language suggests that Ney was able to provide little information beyond the scope of his own activity....
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Quote:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...s/15511768.htm
Posted on Wed, Sep. 13, 2006
<b>Efforts to rein in lobbyists stall in Congress</b>
By Richard Clough
Chicago Tribune
.......Congress is not completely ignoring the issue, though. The House could vote on a measure as early as Thursday to require identification of lawmakers who seek to attach spending earmarks - often "pork" funding for specific projects in their congressional districts or states. The Senate passed a bill last week that would simplify the tracking of congressional spending habits.
But until Congress sends a comprehensive lobbying reform package to the president's desk, lawmakers seem content to just chip away at a problem they had pledged to wipe out.
After Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to fraud and conspiracy charges and Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., was imprisoned in March for bribery and tax evasion, congressional leaders declared in no uncertain terms their commitment to reforming the system that led to these disgraces.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., proclaimed the need to "regain the trust of the American people" while Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., spoke of "significant reform" that Congress would enact.
The House and Senate set out to make good on such promises by drafting legislation to rein in shady lobbying practices.
The Senate voted overwhelmingly in March to pass the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act. But two champions of reform, Obama and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., voted against the bill because they - and numerous watchdog groups - said it was insufficient to deal with the problems that led to the scandals.
The House narrowly approved a similar bill in May, which drew mixed opinions from lawmakers.
Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., who has introduced his own legislation aimed at lobbying reform, called the House bill "a sham" when it was approved.
"It does nothing to address the problems in the current lobbying system," Meehan told the House in May.
Some lawmakers have defended the bill and are hopeful that it might yet pass. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., called the bill "very strong."
But the legislation has been in limbo for the past four months after the Senate resisted a portion of the House measure that would increase regulation on so-called 527 political groups, referring to the part of the tax law that allows organizations to raise money to influence political races independent of the candidates themselves. The House has not yet named conferees to negotiate with the Senate, and some believe this may be the death knell for the package.
"That's not a good sign," said Douglas Pinkham, president of the Public Affairs Council, a nonpartisan organization for public affairs professionals. "At this point, I would not expect lobbying reform to pass this year."
Pinkham said that as public outrage faded, congressional leaders no longer felt the obligation to reform.........
.........But a coalition of six reform-oriented groups sent a letter last week to lawmakers castigating them for their failure to "take any meaningful steps to deal with the extraordinary congressional corruption scandals that have occurred."
Though congressional leaders have left the centerpiece reform package on the shelf for months, many have pointed to this week's discussion on earmarks as a sign that Congress has not forgotten about the commitment to reform.
Hastert issued a statement with Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., saying they want to establish the earmark changes immediately "to ensure these new rules apply to all spending and tax measures that will go to the president's desk this fall."
Amid the debate over lobbying practices and congressional ethics, lawmakers and lobbyists maintain that, despite what the majority of Americans may believe, most lobbying that takes place in Washington is beyond reproach.
"The vast majority of lobbyists in Washington are just representing their clients," Obama said.
A Pew Research Center survey this year found that <b>81 percent of Americans believe it is common for lobbyists to bribe members of Congress.....</b>
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We get the government that we deserve. Here's the national US Treasury debt, on six different dates. Who are the "tax and spend"....?
http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm
09/12/2006 $8,534,633,344,894.82
09/30/2005 $7,932,709,661,723.50
09/28/2001 $5,807,463,412,200.06
09/30/1996 $5,224,810,939,135.73
09/30/1993 $4,411,488,883,139.38
09/29/1989 $2,857,430,960,187.32 |