The NYT examines yet another front in the widening Abramoff investigation: the quid pro quo hiring of GOP flunkies on K Street for legislative favors. “Investigators are said to be especially interested in how Tony C. Rudy, a former deputy chief of staff to Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, and Neil G. Volz, a former chief of staff to Representative Bob Ney of Ohio, obtained lobbying positions with big firms on K Street.“
Category: The Ballad of Casino Jack
Yo, you got the big guy.
“I never file taxes! What’s the big deal?” No, no, he just looks like Inconsiderate Cell Phone Man (Rob Huebel). The Post profiles Abramoff/DeLay flunky Michael Scanlon, who pleaded guilty today to fraud charges he picked up last Friday, and will soon act as a witness for the prosecution. “His cooperation…increases pressure on Abramoff to make his own deal with the prosecution…[Scanlon] may not have been privy to all of DeLay’s dealings with Abramoff, a lobbyist the Texas lawmaker once called ‘one of my closest and dearest friends.’ But Scanlon could be a guide to the activities of top House GOP staffers, some of whom are now lobbyists and political consultants who work closely with DeLay, now the former majority leader.”
All about the Green.
“‘You know what bothers me?’ [Sen. Byron] Dorgan asked at the end of the hearing. ‘It’s pretty clear that this is one of the most disgusting tales of greed and avarice, and perhaps fraud and stealing. It’s unbelievable what we have uncovered here. It’s almost sickening to see what we have uncovered. And you come to our table and say, “Oh, gosh, this is just about friendships.”‘” Salon surveys the recent Senate testimony of Abramoff flunky Italia Federici, she of the quarter-million-dollar bribe. And it isn’t just the Dems disgusted by the flimsiness of her defense. “‘Since your answers are so bizarre, I won’t continue,” said McCain…’I will let others make the judgment.’“
Update: In related news, Abramoff/DeLay aide Michael Scanlon is charged with fraud. “The filing of a criminal information, rather than an indictment, often means prosecutors have reached a plea agreement with a defendant.” Does that mean Scanlon, so eager to turn on the Religious Right, will roll up on Boss DeLay? One can only hope.
To Whom It May Concern…
“It must be on the basis by which I travel anywhere, being in a private aircraft, which bears a substantial cost unfortunately…I am confident that we will have a long, productive and warm relationship, but good relationships are built on firm understandings at the outset.” Among his many other shady dealings, it seems “Casino Jack” Abramoff tried to bilk the President of Gabon for $9 million, in order to set up a meeting with Dubya. Apparently, Gabon didn’t take up his offer…I wonder if they considered it spam.
Ney-deep in corruption.
DeLay flunky and high-ranking GOP rep Robert Ney, whom the Washington Post earlier implicated in the Abramoff scandals, is subpoenaed by the grand jury examining Casino Jack’s shakedown operation. Apparently, Ney, among other likely misdeeds, allegedly took what appear to be several bribes from one of Abramoff’s clients, SunCruz Casinos, including $32,000 in campaign contributions and a golfing boondoggle to Scotland (with Abramoff, former White House procurement head David Safavian (already arrested), and former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed (clearly in deep himself).) “Abramoff stated in an e-mail to tribal officials that ‘our friend’ — later identified in Senate testimony as Ney — sought the Scotland trip after he agreed to help Abramoff’s Texas Indian clients…Ney’s official report to Congress listed a purpose of the trip as ‘speech to Scottish Parliamentarians.’ However, there is no record of Ney’s speech in the Scottish Parliament’s register of official visits. In addition, at the time of Ney’s trip, the Scottish Parliament was out for its August recess.”
The widening cesspool.
“‘The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees,’ Scanlon wrote in the memo, which was read into the public record at a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. ‘Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them.‘” Senate hearings delve further into the exploits of “Casino Jack” Abramoff and former Boss DeLay aide Michael Scanlon, as well as the cynicism and hypocrisy driving the GOP machine.
Meanwhile, more DeLay flunkies are found to be greasing the wheels for Abramoff, and the stench of corruption spreads to Interior Secretary Gail Norton’s office. There, it seems an aide, Italia Federici, received a $250,000 bribe from Abramoff clients (in the form of a payment to an environmental group she co-founded with, natch, Grover Norquist), in return for White House access. Says Senate panel chairman John McCain, it’s “a complex and tangled web…a story alarming in its depth and breadth of potential wrongdoing. It is breathtaking in its reach.”
Scandalized.
As Washington waits for the Plamegate endgame and the administration prepares for a possible White House without Rove and Libby, the Post offers brief primer on the major figures in the scandal. Meanwhile, fresh off his felon photo-op, the Hammer tries to get a new judge in his Texas money-laundering case, and seems to be trying every trick in the book to turn his trial into a partisan sideshow. But remember, Boss DeLay, the Abramoff case is closing in fast…
Ralph, Grover, & the Jack of Hearts.
Kickbacks, bribes, forgery, money-laundering…it’s all in a day’s work for Casino Jack and his band of conservative cronies. In a must-read piece of reporting, the Washington Post tells the sordid tale of Jack Abramoff’s shilling for eLottery Inc in full. Along with paying off both Boss DeLay and a senior aide on his payroll to spike an anti-gambling bill, “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.”
Pick your Poison.
“‘The one that people are most worried about is Abramoff because it seems to have such long tentacles…This seems to be something that could spread almost anywhere…and that has a lot of people worried.'” As Rove testifies for a fourth time before Patrick Fitzgerald’s inquiry into Plamegate and Boss DeLay’s phone records are subpoenaed by Texas DA Ronnie Earle, the WP surveys the political fallout from the many GOP corruption scandals currently in play.
Karl Marked.
“There is no reason for Rove to make this appearance unless he and his counsel believe he is at serious risk of indictment. None.” On the day after former White House procurement chief David Safavian is indicted on five counts of lying and obstruction of justice, Karl Rove decides to testify for a fourth time before the grand jury delving into the felonious unmasking of Valerie Plame (presumably to stave off his indictment, or that of someone above him.) So…Rove, Safavian, Libby, Abramoff, Frist, DeLay…how many investigations and indictments can the GOP leadership rack up? Is the whole rotten edifice of GOP corporate cronyism threatening to topple? One can only hope.