Posts on Jack Abramoff

Take a stroll around John McCain’s website and you’ll see that he is no fan of corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff.  In fact, he seems to view him as a symbol of what is wrong with Washington DC and himself as the one man who can fix it:

I led the Abramoff investigation. I can bring about the necessary changes. Are we going to hand off to the next generation these problems? Of course we shouldn't. Have to regain the trust that dollars they send to Washington are being wisely and carefully spent. I know these people (in Congress) well and I know how to reach across the aisle to solve these problems.

McCain says he gets angry when “I uncover a guy like Abramoff ripping off Indian tribes” and when, just last week, his campaign unveiled its “Broken” ad, it cited McCain’s role in leading “the Congressional investigation into Jack Abramoff” as proof of the ad’s assertion that he “fought corruption in both parties.”

Yet, despite his pose as a crusading maverick, McCain has committed himself to attending a fundraiser with Ralph Reed, one of Abramoff’s closest friends and associates who was repeatedly and directly implicated in the very investigation that took down Abramoff:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain so far is ignoring calls from several watchdog groups to cancel an Atlanta fundraiser promoted by Ralph Reed, a longtime friend and business partner of imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

…

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.

In our report on Reed written back in 2006, we explained just how deeply involved he was in Abramoff’s shady dealings:     

In 1999, Abramoff subcontracted Reed’s firm to generate opposition to attempts to legalize a state-sponsored lottery and video poker in Alabama, an effort that was bankrolled by the Choctaw Tribe in order to eliminate competition to its own casino in neighboring Mississippi.   Reed promised that Century Strategies was “opening the bomb bays and holding nothing back” and his firm ultimately received $1.3 million from the Choctaws for this effort, which included engaging the Alabama chapter of the Christian Coalition, as well as influential right-wing figures such as James Dobson, to work to defeat the proposals. 

The strategy had one small problem: the Alabama Christian Coalition had an explicit policy that it “will not be the recipient of any funds direct or in-direct or any in-kind direct or indirect from gambling interests.” (Emphasis in original.) Knowing this, Reed and Abramoff worked to hide the source of the $850,000 paid to the Christian Coalition for its anti-gambling efforts by funneling money from the Choctaws through Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington, DC anti-tax organization headed by their old College Republican friend Grover Norquist.  When asked why the tribe’s money had to be funneled through conduits such as ATR, a Choctaw representative stated it was because Reed did not want it known that casino money was funding his operation: “It was our understanding that the structure was recommended by Jack Abramoff to accommodate Mr. Reed’s political concerns.”

…

Perhaps the most audacious of all of Abramoff’s efforts on which Reed worked was the successful attempt on behalf of the Coushatta Tribe to shut down a rival casino in Texas.  After doing so, Abramoff then sold his lobbying services for $4 million to the same Texas tribe – the Tiguas - vowing to reopen the very casino he had just managed to shut down.

Reed was instrumental in the initial effort, building public support for then-Texas Attorney General, now a US Senator, John Cornyn’s drive to close the casino.  Reed organized a group of Texas pastors to “provide cover” for Cornyn’s effort to shutter the casino, at one point pledging to send “50 pastors to give him moral support” when it appeared as if Cornyn was going to be confronted by protestors.

Reed also developed close ties with sources in Cornyn’s office who kept him informed on developments, which he shared with Abramoff.  When Reed found out from Cornyn’s office that a court decision shutting down the casino was expected soon, he emailed Abramoff.  Thinking ahead, Abramoff was already preparing to fly to Texas to meet with the tribe whose casino was about to be closed thanks, in large part, to his handiwork.  In an email he sent to Reed just before his trip, he wrote “I wish those moronic Tiguas were smarter in their political contributions. I’d love to get my hands on that moolah!! Oh well, stupid folks get wiped out.”

Just days after the Tigua’s casino was closed, Abramoff met with them and offered to work to reopen the casino at no charge, though Scanlon’s PR work was going to cost them more than $4 million.  Abramoff declared himself outraged by the “gross indignity perpetuated by the Texas state authorities” – an “indignity” that he had helped orchestrate and for which he had been well paid.

Of the four men identified in this photo, all were implicated in Abramoff's corruption and three received prison sentences – McCain is attending a fundraiser with the fourth:

The Denver Post reports that The Traditional Values Coalition financed then-Congressman, and curent Senate candidate, Bob Schaffer's trip the to Mariana Islands on behalf of Jack Abramoff: "Schaffer's $13,000 trip was paid for by the Orange County, Calif.-based Traditional Values Coalition, which Schaffer described as a religious group 'concerned with human rights.'"

The Washington Post reports that Newt Gingrich’s new organization recently received “a $1 million check from Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman Sheldon G. Adelson.”

The Post turned to Traditional Values Coalition head Lou Sheldon for comment on the idea that Gingrich would be using gambling funds to bankroll his right-wing agenda:

"The problem is the income comes from what we call a vice, and that is an issue," said the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, which has long been a powerful voice on social issues inside the GOP.

"I certainly could never have done that and I certainly can't encourage it, but if good will comes out of it in terms of these issues . . . then that remains to be seen. There's an old expression that the devil's had the money long enough, it's about time the good people got their hands on it," he said.

Oh the hypocrisy:

[Jack] Abramoff quietly arranged for eLottery to pay conservative, anti-gambling activists to help in the firm's $2 million pro-gambling campaign, including Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, and the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition. Both kept in close contact with Abramoff about the arrangement, e-mails show. Abramoff also turned to prominent anti-tax conservative Grover Norquist, arranging to route some of eLottery's money for Reed through Norquist's group, Americans for Tax Reform.

…

In May, eLottery hired Abramoff's firm, Preston Gates & Ellis LLP, for $100,000 a month, according to lobbying reports. In the following months, Abramoff directed the company to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to various organizations, faxes, e-mails and court records show. The groups included Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform; Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition; companies affiliated with Reed; and a Seattle Orthodox Jewish foundation, Toward Tradition.

In 2000, Abramoff’s client, eLottery, faced devastation if Congress passed legislation prohibiting internet gambling.  Abramoff’s solution was to take an exception for jai alai and horse racing contained in the legislation and argue that the exceptions would actually expand legalized gambling and then gin up right-wing opposition.  

Unfortunately for him, most of the Right supported the bill, so Abramoff reached out to Sheldon and Ralph Reed in an effort to kill it.  Sheldon when to work pushing House members to oppose the bill and targeting Reps. Robert Aderholt, J.C. Watts and others with mailers accusing them of supporting a “law the gamblers want” for having voted for the gambling bill.  

In the end, Abramoff’s scheme paid off and Congress adjourned without passing the legislation.  

It was no coincidence that Abramoff called Sheldon "Lucky Louie."

In a rousing call to arms, Rabbi Daniel Lapin cites the failure to heed warnings about the rise of Hitler, Communism, and Islamic terrorism in warning of “a serious war” that “is being waged against a group of Americans” – a war against “Christian conservatives,” or perhaps just “Christians.” “I am certain that if we lose this war, the consequences for American civilization will be dire,” he writes.

Phase one of this war I describe is a propaganda blitzkrieg that is eerily reminiscent of how effectively the Goebbels propaganda machine softened up the German people for what was to come.

There is no better term than propaganda blitzkrieg to describe what has been unleashed against Christian conservatives recently.

Consider the long list of anti-Christian books that have been published in recent months.

Lapin lists six books critical of the Religious Right (and one critical of religion in general). “Fervent zealots of secularism are flinging themselves into this anti-Christian war with enormous fanaticism,” he writes of this “proliferation of anti-Christian print propaganda.”

If they succeed, Christianity will be driven underground, and its benign influence on the character of America will be lost. In its place we shall see a sinister secularism that menaces Bible believers of all faiths. Once the voice of the Bible has been silenced, the war on Western Civilization can begin and we shall see a long night of barbarism descend on the West.

Lapin, president of a group called Toward Tradition, is adopting the “persecuted majority syndrome” championed by the right-wing activists who brought you “Justice Sunday: Stopping the Filibuster against People of Faith” in 2005 and the “War on Christians” conference in 2006. (Lapin was a featured speaker at “Justice Sunday.”) In this tactic, political disagreements with the Religious Right in particular are neatly translated into attacks on Christianity in general.

Called the “Republicans’ Rabbi-in-Arms” in a Washington Post profile, Lapin has carved out a particular niche among D.C.-based right-wing activists and the leadership of the GOP. It was reportedly Lapin who introduced Jack Abramoff to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and Toward Tradition has been implicated in allegedly funneling bribes from a gambling company to a DeLay aide.

With Abramoff now in prison and DeLay out of office (and under indictment), Lapin’s influence on the Right may be less certain. Perhaps his embrace of the mythical “war on Christians” theme represents an attempt to reestablish his right-wing credentials.

There really is very little one can add to this rant from Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition since his bizarre rambling pretty much speaks for itself

Billionaire Atheist And Homosexual Activist Are Busy Building A Shadow Government

The Washington Post did conservative voters a favor two weeks ago by running a feature on the newest venture of billionaire atheist/socialist George Soros and his ally, millionaire homosexual activist Tim Gill.

…

Soros and Gill hope that their millions will buy them far left control of Congress and the White House in 2008.

Soros’ front organizations typically use words “progress” or “progressive” in their titles. These words are code for socialist or internationalist ideologies and amorality. Soros pours money into efforts to legalize marijuana, euthanasia, and other anti-life activities.

Tim Gill has used his millions to try to defeat marriage protection amendments all over the U.S. The Gill Foundation is an artesian well of money for homosexual activist groups. His foundation is targeting our nation’s public school children for pro-homosexual brainwashing programs through its funding of  “Gay Straight Alliance” clubs on junior high and high school campuses. These groups exploit sexually confused youth into believing they’re “born gay” and that they must become a liberal political force in America.

Of course, if anyone knows about shamelessly shilling for a millionaire in order to advance said millionaire’s personal agenda, it’s Sheldon

YOU KNOW the Rev. Lou Sheldon as the anti-gay leader of the California-based Traditional Values Coalition, but star lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- now the sultan of pleading guilty -- knew Sheldon as "Lucky Louie."

The Washington Post reported in October how Sheldon helped gambling interests who did business with Abramoff -- and Sheldon. In 2000, eLottery, an Abramoff client -- sent a $25,000 check to the Traditional Values Coalition, as per Abramoff's instruction. Then, the anti-gambling Sheldon lobbied enthusiastically against a bill to curb online gambling. At Casa Sheldon, grease is a traditional value.

When the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act went down in flames in a House vote, an Abramoff associate e-mailed colleagues, "There was Lucky Louie out front" high five-ing with some lobbyists.

For more info on Sheldon’s Abramoff-related work, check out this Washington Post article.

Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform is defending himself from allegations contained in the recent Senate Indian Affairs Committee report [PDF] on Jack Abramoff.  The report says that Norquist siphoned money from transfers funneled through his organization that were destined for Ralph Reed’s work fighting the expansion of gambling for the benefit of one of Abramoff’s clients, the Choctaw Tribe of Mississippi. 

Abramoff and the Choctaw allegedly used ATR as a way to hide the origins of the money it was sending to Reed for his anti-gambling work, because “Ralph Reed did not want to be paid directly by a tribe with gaming interests.” 

The committee report alleges that Norquist received $50,000 for his role as a conduit for the tribe’s money, but Norquist insists that the money was just the tribe’s contribution to his organization and was, according to Newsmax, “roughly the same amount the tribe had contributed to ATR for more than seven years.”

Whatever the case may be, there is one nagging question: if the $50,000 ATR received was indeed part of a routine donation, why would the Choctaw bundle that money in with hundreds of thousands of dollars destined for Reed anti-gambling work?  

The report states

In late 1999, the Choctaw paid ATR $325,000. In a 2005 interview with The Boston Globe, Norquist said that ATR had sent $300,000 of that $325,000 to Citizens Against Legalized Lottery (“CALL) … Out of the Choctaw’s $325,000, ATR apparently kept $25,000 for its services.

…

The Tribe was nevertheless able to continue funding Reed’s efforts. On February 17, 2000, Abramoff advised Reed that “ATR will be sending a second $300K today.” This money, too, came from the Choctaw. Norquist kept another $25,000 from the second transfer, which apparently surprised Abramoff.

If the Choctaw intended to donate to ATR, couldn’t they have simply done so directly?