In the midst of the persecuted prosecutors case, Casino Jack keeps on rollin’: Six days after the FBI searched his home in connection with the Abramoff investigation, California Republican John Doolittle steps down from the House Appropriations Committee. “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…Doolittle also helped steer millions of dollars in military funding to one of the defense contractors tied to the bribery case of former congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.).” Update: And another, although this time not Abramoff related: Arizona Republican Rick Renzi leaves the House Intelligence Committee as the result of an ongoing investigation into a 2005 land deal. I’m sensing a pattern.
Tag: Jack Abramoff
The Ghost of Albert Fall.
Exposed as a target in January, former Dubya Interior official J. Stephen Griles pleads guilty to lying to Congress about his connections with “Casino” Jack Abramoff’s influence-peddling operation. “‘Today’s guilty plea clearly establishes that former deputy secretary J. Steven Griles was ready and willing to serve as Jack Abramoff’s “man inside Interior,” ‘ said Inspector General Earl E. Devaney, whose criminal investigators worked with the Justice Department and the FBI on the case.”
Thirty Months for Ney.
“‘Whether or not you’ve served your constituents well, on some level you have seriously betrayed the public’s trust and abused your power as a congressman,’ Huvelle told Ney. ‘You have a long way to go to make amends for what’s happened.'” Casino Jack flunky and former House GOP poobah Bob Ney gets thirty months in prison for his role in Abramoff’s operation. Ney, meanwhile, is still blaming it on the booze: ““I will continue to take full responsibility for my actions and battle the demons of addiction.” Um, at what point between opening the beer and it touching your lips did taking bribes enter the equation? Save that stuff for Oprah…Most people hopefully realize that Ney’s corruption had less to do with the demon rum than with standard operating procedure under Boss DeLay and the Republicans.
The J. Griles Brand.
The DeLay-Abramoff era in DC may be a thing of the past, but the investigations into flagrant GOP corruption continue. Now, word leaks out that the Casino Jack probe has targeted another official in Dubya’s Interior: J. Stephen Griles. “Griles was a controversial figure at Interior, strongly criticized by the department’s inspector general for maintaining ties to energy and mining companies that were once his lobbying clients.“
Ney’s Nyet-Nyet.
Federal prosecutors build out their case against Bob Ney, and disclose that the disgraced former GOP rep had possibly shady dealings with Abramoff and DeLay’s Russian connections at Naftasib. “Abramoff’s lobbying team got the congressman to intervene with the U.S. Consulate in Moscow to help resolve a passport issue for the daughter of Abramoff client Alexander Koulakovsky, the e-mails show…A charity sponsored by DeLay received a $1 million check from a London law firm linked to the two. Former charity officials told The Washington Post last year the donation originated with Russian oil and gas executives, and was intended to influence DeLay’s vote on an issue affecting the Russian economy.“
Let’s Go to Prison.
The wreckage of the midterms behind him, disgraced GOP operative Jack Abramoff heads to prison today to begin a 5-year, 10-month stint in the Big House…but, not — according to ABC News — before dropping dirt on Karl Rove and “dozens of members of Congress and staff” including “six to eight seriously corrupt Democratic senators.” Sounds like the Ballad of Casino Jack might keep on keepin’ on right through the next cycle…Let’s hope the Dem Congress are much more vigilant about rooting out the corruption in their midst than were their predecessors.
The Chickens Come Home to Roost.
Remember when Boehner and the GOP banked on their widespread corruption not playing on Election Day? Well, they chose poorly. Among the many seats lost by the GOP last night were those of Abramoff flunkies Conrad Burns, Richard Pombo, and Bob Ney, notorious friend-of-pages Mark Foley, the recently-FBI-implicated Curt Weldon, mistress-beater Don Sherwood, and the fatcat architect of it all, Boss DeLay. (Surviving the corruption purge: the Foley-connected Tom Reynolds, Duke Cunningham‘s replacement, Brian Bilbray, and — though a runoff hopefully won’t shake his way — corrupt Dem William Jefferson.)
Talk to Ken.
“‘Everyone would appreciate it if you would contact Ken only and not others here at the WH,’ reads one message to Abramoff from Bush advisor Karl Rove’s assistant Susan Ralston, ‘because they just forward it to him anyway.'” Salon‘s Mark Benjamin takes a gander at Casino Jack’s man in the White House, Republican Party chair Ken Mehlman. “More than once, Abramoff asks for a favor, Mehlman fulfills the request, and then one of Abramoff’s wealthy Indian tribe clients sends a political donation to a GOP cause.“
Not-so-Super-Grover | Ney Day.
A new minority staff report by the Senate Finance Committee concludes that “[f]ive 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.” Among the organizations called out are Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (sheah), an outfit created by Norquist and former Dubya Interior Secretary Gail Norton, whose office was already waist-deep in ill-gotten Casino Jack loot. (In fact, Abramoff’s point person in Norton’s office was CREA’s president, Italia Federici.)
Update: In related news, Abramoff flunky Bob Ney pleaded guilty today to conspiracy and making false statements (without, mind you, resigning his seat in Congress.) While he didn’t speak with reporters, Ney’s written statement noted that the “treatment and counseling I have started have been very helpful, but I know that I am not done yet and that I have more work to do to deal with my alcohol dependency.” Ok, one more time, people. Alcoholism means you drink too much. It does not mean that you bilk the public, indulge in bribes, or send teenagers dirty IMs.
Jack’s Back.
“‘Voters are tying both of these scandals together,’ said Paul A. Miller, president of the American League of Lobbyists, a lobbyist trade group in the capital. ‘First with Abramoff and now with Foley, corruption has risen to play a big role in this election. It disappoints me, but it’s happening.'” It disappoints you? As the lobbyists lament, it appears Foleygate has brought ethics in government back into focus as a central 2006 campaign issue, despite the GOP’s earlier banking on Casino Jack fading from memory. And, worse still for the Republicans, it seems the so-called “values vote” won’t save them this time ’round.