Abramoff’s Case

[blackcrowheart]

Lessons From Abramoff’s Case


by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, Gelya Frank and Carole Goldberg


Lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s recent indictment and arrest on charges of wire fraud involve an already notorious individual. The U.S.

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and federal grand jury have already investigated him about his unscrupulous dealings with Indian tribes.

Because Abramoff’s public persona trades on a glossy presentation of himself as an exemplar of Jewish values, his case calls for careful attention — not only from the general public but specifically the Jewish community. As Jews who have worked with Native American communities, we feel that the Abramoff case can open a long-overdue conversation among American Jews about Native Americans today and some areas of common interest.

To start with, there are Abramoff’s dealings with tribal governments that were his clients. Marketing his influence with key members of Congress, Abramoff allegedly secured fees from one tribe to help it obtain legal rights to conduct gaming, then took fees from another tribe to help it squelch the other client’s tribal gaming prospects. If true, this stunning disregard of basic fiduciary responsibility would be but one example of his business practices with Native Americans. According to the New York Times, Abramoff wrote e-mails to his business partner, Michael Scanlon, referring to his Native American clients as “idiots,” “troglodytes” and “monkeys.”

According to a June 23, 2005 report in the Los Angeles Times, Abramoff used funds gained by allegedly defrauding Indian tribes to finance “a Jewish religious school that he founded” and “paramilitary operations mounted by Jewish settlers in the West Bank.” Because of the public association of Abramoff’s activities with support for Jewish causes, an affirmation is needed that he does not represent Jewish religious values regarding the ethical treatment of non-Jews and respect for the divine image of all human beings. Abramoff’s actions and words also depart from the important American Jewish traditions of respect for democracy and activism to achieve social justice.

Then there is Abramoff’s alleged conduct toward his Native American clients from a perspective grounded in Jewish sources. According to the Torah, cheating, lying, expropriation of other people’s property, misuse of funds and condescending attitudes toward non-Jews are not Jewish values, and are expressly forbidden. The idea of establishing a school to teach Torah using misappropriated funds would be total nonsense from a Jewish point of view — the worst example of faulty ethical and moral thinking.

If they prove authentic, Abramoff’s racist and demeaning references to his Native American clients would suggest that he has not been thinking and behaving according to the Jewish teachings that, as the founder of a Jewish school, he claims to espouse. The Jewish tradition teaches us that all human beings — not just Jews — are made in the image of God. Abramoff’s proffered excuse, that he was just indulging in “locker-room talk,” runs aground on the most basic Jewish teachings that you must “Love your fellow as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) and “You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people” (Leviticus 19:16).

Abramoff’s conduct should prompt more from American Jews than a repudiation. It should serve as an occasion for forging better relations and understanding between Native and Jewish communities. If anything, Abramoff’s experience as a Jew should have made him more, not less, sensitive to the humanity and concerns of Indian people. Like Jews, American Indians know what it means to be historically dispossessed. They are struggling to assert sovereignty over what remains. Like Jews, American Indians wrestle with the meaning of their remembered past and how to accommodate to the powerful society that surrounds them.

Because of reservation poverty and forced relocation programs mounted by the federal government in the 1950s to move tribal members off reservations and into cities, Indian nations also share with Jews the experience of Diaspora. Like Jews, they have been subjected to coercive programs of conversion and assimilation, their cultures and sacred practices outlawed, their numbers diminished by genocide and their identity made more complex by intermarriage. Desecration of cemeteries and burial sites, long a problem for European Jews, remains a current horror for Indian people.

Jews should seek a higher level of understanding and better relations with Indian peoples. We are egregiously misrepresented by the likes of Abramoff. We feel pride and a sense of affinity with distinguished legal scholar Felix S. Cohen, whose “Handbook of Federal Indian Law” (1942) and other writings have been crucial to restoring federal recognition of tribal sovereignty. A secular Jew committed to democratic principles, Cohen wrote passionately about Native American self-government from a perspective informed by Jewish history:

“Our interest in Native American self-government today is not the interest of sentimentalists or antiquarians,” Cohen wrote in 1949. “We have a vital concern with Indian self-government because the Native American is to America what the Jew was to the Russian Czars and Hitler’s Germany. For us, the Indian tribe is the miner’s canary, and when it flutters and droops we know that the poison gasses of intolerance threaten all other minorities in our land.”

Haim Dov Beliak is rabbi at Temple Beth Shalom of Whittier and is co-director of Coalition for Justice in Hawaiian Gardens and Jerusalem. Gelya Frank is a USC professor and director of Tule River Tribal History Project. UCLA law school professor Carole Goldberg directs the Joint Degree Program in Law and American Indian Studies.

www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=14747

[Okwes]

Tribe sues Abramoff, Reed over casino closure By Andy Sullivan
Wed Jul 12, 7:18 PM ET



A Texas Indian tribe on Wednesday sued former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Republican activist Ralph Reed, charging that their lobbying efforts unfairly prevented the tribe from operating a casino.

The lawsuit by the Alabama-Coushatta tribe could spell trouble for Reed, who has sought to distance himself from the Abramoff lobbying scandal as he campaigns for lieutenant governor in Georgia.

Reed, a longtime Republican activist known for his influence among Christian conservatives, worked with Abramoff to block casinos in Texas that would have competed with those run by an Abramoff client in nearby Louisiana, according to documents made public by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

The lawsuit, filed in Texas state court, charges that their lobbying effort led to the closure of the Alabama-Coushattas' casino nine months after it opened in November 2001, and blocked legislative fixes that would have allowed the casino to operate.

The lawsuit says that Reed mobilized religious groups to oppose the casino, but hid the fact that most of the money for the campaign -- which included phone calls, mailings, and radio ads -- came from Abramoff's client, the Louisiana-Coushattas.

"Had the Alabama-Coushatta tribe or the public been aware that the Louisiana-Coushatta Tribe was behind the efforts, the Christians would have been less mobilized and the opposition efforts less effective," the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages resulting from the loss of the casino.

A Reed spokeswoman said the lawsuit was without merit.

"As a longtime opponent of casino gambling, Ralph was happy to work with Texas pro-family citizens to close it," said Lisa Baron, communications director for Reed's lieutenant-governor campaign.

Abramoff has pleaded guilty to criminal charges relating to his lobbying efforts and is currently cooperating with U.S. investigators in a corruption probe. An Abramoff spokesman declined to comment.

Also named in the suit were several former Abramoff associates, including two, Michael Scanlon and Neil Volz, who also have pleaded guilty to criminal charges.

[Okwes]

Abramoff and 4 Others Sued by Tribe Over Casino Closing
By Rick Lyman
The New York Times

Thursday 13 July 2006

www.truthout.org/docs_2006/071306Z.shtml

Houston - An Indian tribe sued the former superlobbyist Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed, a candidate for lieutenant governor in Georgia, on Wednesday, seeking millions of dollars in lost revenues from a casino that the Texas tribe said had been fraudulently closed.

The suit, in Federal District Court in Austin, says Mr. Abramoff, Mr. Reed and three other men mounted a fake religiously themed moral crusade in 2001 to defeat a bill in the Texas Legislature that would have legalized gambling in Indian casinos.

Their real motive, the suit adds, was to promote the gambling interests of a tribe in Louisiana that was paying them to represent its interest in a competing casino.

Two former Congressional aides who pleaded guilty to corruption charges along with Mr. Abramoff were also named in the suit: Michael Scanlon, who worked for the former House majority leader Tom DeLay of Texas; and Neil Volz, formerly on the staff of Representative Bob Ney of Ohio.

Jon Van Horne, who worked with Mr. Abramoff at his lobbying firm in Washington, was also named.

"This case chronicles Jack Abramoff and his associates' greed, corruption and deceit and their devastating impact on Texas's oldest recognized Indian tribe," said the suit, filed by the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas.

The tribe, whose 4,594-acre reservation is 75 miles northeast of here, was forced to close its sole casino in 2002 by a federal court order. Lawyers for the tribe said the closing had devastating economic effects on the community, including the loss of several hundred jobs.

Mr. Reed, who faces a Republican primary in Georgia on Tuesday, has previously denied ever working on behalf of a casino or accepting money from a casino company, saying all of his actions were aimed at stalling the spread of gambling.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Reed, Lisa Baron, said the suit was without merit. "The illegal casino violated Texas and federal law and was ordered closed by a federal judge," Ms. Baron said. "As a longtime opponent of casino gambling, Ralph was happy to work with Texas pro-family citizens to close it."

Mr. Abramoff declined to comment, said a spokesman, Andrew Blum.

The Louisiana-Coushatta tribe, Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon's original clients, sued the two in November 2004, accusing them of overcharging for work never done.

Fred Petti, a lawyer in Phoenix for the Texas tribe, said the tribe wanted compensation for all its lost gambling revenues since the casino closing. The figure, Mr. Petti said, would certainly run "in the tens of millions of dollars, and perhaps into the hundreds of millions of dollars."

Mr. Abramoff became one of the most powerful and connected lobbyists before a corruption scandal involving free trips and other gifts for elected officials led to his guilty pleas in January and a promise to cooperate with investigators.

Mr. Reed, whose ties with Mr. Abramoff have become a thorny issue in his campaign, was executive director of the Christian Coalition in the 1990's and started his consulting firm, Campaign Strategies, before making this run for office.

Beyond the Alabama-Coushatta casino, the suit says, the defendants conspired to pit tribes against one another, defrauding one at the behest of another before trying to persuade the victim to hire them to retaliate.

[Okwes]

Abramoff probe looks to Nashville-based PAC
Group's records sought, paper reports

By KATE HOWARD
and ANITA WADHWANI
Staff Writer


An evangelical Christian political action group based in Nashville has been subpoenaed by federal investigators to produce records that may tie them to Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

J. Thomas Smith, president of America 21, said Tuesday that he couldn't confirm reports that he or his records have been subpoenaed. A memo Abramoff wrote in 2001 to a Native American tribe telling them to contribute to America 21 was made public last year.




Reached by phone Tuesday, Smith said he could not confirm any subpoenas. In a statement issued later Tuesday, Smith denied any allegation of wrongdoing and said that no money from his organization ever paid anyone targeted in the Abramoff investigations.

The National Journal, a weekly political paper based in Washington, reported this week that the nonprofit civic lobbying organization was being scrutinized as part of the federal influence-peddling probe into Abramoff's dealings. It cited unnamed sources.

When asked if Abramoff had any connection to his organization, Smith said, "None that I know of. I really shouldn't be talking about that."

Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to charges he conspired to corrupt public officials and took millions from Native American tribes. At least four of Abramoff's associates have pleaded guilty to similar charges in the federal probe.

In a letter sent to the Coushatta Indian tribe in Louisiana in 2002, Abramoff wrote that a $10,000 check the tribe contributed to the political action committee Texans for a Republican Majority needed to be canceled and the money reissued to America 21.

Abramoff directed the tribe to make tens of thousands of donations and once directed leaders to cancel $55,000 in checks to then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and divert them to other groups.

The stated purpose of America 21 is to "educate, engage, and mobilize Christians to influence national policy at every level." The conservative, nonprofit lobbying organization was active in the 2002 elections that maintained a Republican majority of the U.S. House of Representatives. America 21 ran an outreach program in 2002 that targeted voters with conservative religious ties. The group maintains a public charity and a civic organization that is involved in political lobbying.

America 21 has been called a "critical friend" by Abramoff allies in e-mails obtained by the National Journal.

A report by a political action committee watchdog group, Public Citizen, said that America 21 raised more than $3 million from an anonymous donor in 2002, the only recent year the group was politically active. That year, the group sent direct mailings in at least 18 federal races but reported no political expenditures, according to the report. •
Jack Abramoff
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Anita Wadhwani can be reached at 259-8821 or [e-mail]. Kate Howard can be reached at 726-8968 or [e-mail].

[Okwes]

Report: Abramoff team had 485 contacts with White House
The Associated Press

Published: September 28, 2006


WASHINGTON Jack Abramoff had hundreds of contacts with White House officials but they brought mixed results for the disgraced lobbyist's clients, according to a U.S. congressional report.

The draft report of the House Government Reform Committee said the documents — largely Abramoff's billing records and e-mails — listed 485 lobbying contacts with White House officials over three years, including 10 with Karl Rove, a top aide to President George W. Bush

Abramoff and associates were successful in getting appropriations for some of their Indian clients, but efforts to influence presidential appointments and nominations "were often not successful," according to the report, obtained Thursday.

The report indicated that Abramoff and associates lobbied on behalf of more than 20 individuals for administration jobs and only was successful once.

Another time the lobbyist, who received lucrative payments from Indian tribal clients, was infuriated that some White House officials said they could work with Indian tribes directly without the need for lobbyists.

"This is horrible," Abramoff wrote his colleagues, using an expletive to describe the way he and his associates were being treated.

There were several instances where the documents — supplied by Abramoff's former lobbying firm — indicated Rove ate at an Abramoff restaurant, Signatures. There was one occasion where Abramoff got Rove NCAA basketball tournament tickets, but Rove may have paid for them.

"I just saw Karl ... and mentioned the NCAA, opportunity, which he was really jazzed about it," Abramoff wrote Rove aide Susan Ralston.

"Karl has to pay for his tickets," Ralston e-mailed the lobbyist.

Abramoff responded the cost would be $50 (€40)for each ticket, "payable to me personally."

The White House confirmed that Rove paid for the tickets.

Learning that Rove would appear at his restaurant, Abramoff wrote, "I want him to be given a very nice bottle of wine and have Joseph whisper in his ear (only he should hear) that Abramoff wanted him to have this wine on the house."

The report said that of the 485 contacts listed, 345 were described as meetings or other in-person contacts; 71 were described as phone conversations and 69 were e-mail exchanges.

The White House responded by sharply criticizing Abramoff.

"It is shocking and deeply disturbing that this admitted and proven liar ripped off his clients by over-billing and over-selling his supposed influence with any number of policymakers," Dana Perino, deputy White House press secretary, said Thursday.

WASHINGTON Jack Abramoff had hundreds of contacts with White House officials but they brought mixed results for the disgraced lobbyist's clients, according to a U.S. congressional report.

The draft report of the House Government Reform Committee said the documents — largely Abramoff's billing records and e-mails — listed 485 lobbying contacts with White House officials over three years, including 10 with Karl Rove, a top aide to President George W. Bush

Abramoff and associates were successful in getting appropriations for some of their Indian clients, but efforts to influence presidential appointments and nominations "were often not successful," according to the report, obtained Thursday.

The report indicated that Abramoff and associates lobbied on behalf of more than 20 individuals for administration jobs and only was successful once.

Another time the lobbyist, who received lucrative payments from Indian tribal clients, was infuriated that some White House officials said they could work with Indian tribes directly without the need for lobbyists.

"This is horrible," Abramoff wrote his colleagues, using an expletive to describe the way he and his associates were being treated.

There were several instances where the documents — supplied by Abramoff's former lobbying firm — indicated Rove ate at an Abramoff restaurant, Signatures. There was one occasion where Abramoff got Rove NCAA basketball tournament tickets, but Rove may have paid for them.

"I just saw Karl ... and mentioned the NCAA, opportunity, which he was really jazzed about it," Abramoff wrote Rove aide Susan Ralston.

"Karl has to pay for his tickets," Ralston e-mailed the lobbyist.

Abramoff responded the cost would be $50 (€40)for each ticket, "payable to me personally."

The White House confirmed that Rove paid for the tickets.

Learning that Rove would appear at his restaurant, Abramoff wrote, "I want him to be given a very nice bottle of wine and have Joseph whisper in his ear (only he should hear) that Abramoff wanted him to have this wine on the house."

The report said that of the 485 contacts listed, 345 were described as meetings or other in-person contacts; 71 were described as phone conversations and 69 were e-mail exchanges.

The White House responded by sharply criticizing Abramoff.

"It is shocking and deeply disturbing that this admitted and proven liar ripped off his clients by over-billing and over-selling his supposed influence with any number of policymakers," Dana Perino, deputy White House press secretary, said Thursday.

[blackcrowheart]

Abramoff Goes to Prison, Says 'Going to Get Worse'
Wednesday November 15, 2006 9:13 pm


At the height of his power, lobbyist Jack Abramoff's e-mails were the confident, sometimes brash dispatches of a man willing to spend big to shape things his way.

Hours before dawn Wednesday, Abramoff typed another e-mail, this one a contrite and reflective farewell to his friends, then headed off to federal prison.

"Unfortunately, things are going to get worse (starting Wednesday no doubt) before they get better, but I am confident that ultimately the turmoil will subside and we will have our lives back," Abramoff wrote.

It's a far cry from the man who used e-mail to get the ear of the president's closest adviser and casually encouraged a colleague to boost his monthly bill to "around $150,000."

The man who parlayed campaign donations and expensive gifts into access to Congress and the White House will serve nearly six years in a Maryland prison where he will earn no more than 40 cents an hour for assigned jobs.

Back in Washington, the city is still shaken by his scandal. A congressman has admitted corruption, a Bush administration official was convicted of lying, Republicans were driven from office and several aides have pleaded guilty.






And, with Abramoff's cooperation, federal prosecutors are investigating several others. On top of his six-year sentence for a fraudulent Florida casino deal, he is awaiting sentencing in a Capitol Hill public corruption case in which he also is the star witness.

"This nightmare has gone on for almost three years so far and I expect we are not even half way through," Abramoff wrote.

The message, described by Abramoff as "my last e-mail for a while," was provided to The Associated Press by one his correspondents, who asked to remain anonymous.

Abramoff, inmate No. 27593-112, was delivered to prison out of sight of reporters and camera crews. He will be held at a 334-bed, minimum-security prison camp.

From prison, Abramoff is to continue cooperating with the Justice Department, helping explain how he manipulated government decisions and who else was involved. The case has already led to the conviction of former Bush administration official David Safavian and guilty pleas from former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and several congressional aides.

Like all federal prisoners, Abramoff will be required to have a prison job. Unlike his previous work, which involved chartering jets for exotic golf excursions and facilitating huge campaign donations, he will make between 12 and 40 cents an hour. New inmates typically start in lower-paying food service jobs and move up to more desirable jobs, said Stephen Finger, the prison's executive assistant.

The all-male prison camp, which is surrounded by Appalachian Mountain ridges, consists of two-story cinderblock dormitories. Abramoff will share a dorm with five inmates, many of whom are drug offenders, Finger said.

Wake-up call is 6 a.m., and prisoners work 7? hours, five days a week. Free time can mean reading in the prison library, working out in the gym or watching television in a common room. Sometimes, the staff plays G-rated movies, Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said.

Visitation is limited and, in his e-mail, Abramoff told friends he understood if they couldn't make the trip. He explained the 15-minute time limit on phone calls, said he wouldn't have access to e-mail and hoped he'd have use of a typewriter.

"Please bear in mind, though, that I am not permitted to conduct any ongoing business while in prison, and plan to be even stricter on myself than the rules require," he wrote.

He also noted that authorities could - and likely would - read his mail.

Abramoff told friends he would look for spiritual meaning in prison. As an Orthodox Jew, he did not spell out the word "God" in his e-mail.

"I have learned more lessons in the past three years than I have my whole life, and I am hoping that my family and I can see the good in G-Ds plan for us during these times, and gain strength from it," he wrote.

Federal prisons accommodate religious needs, including prayer services and kosher meals, prison officials said.

Abramoff's e-mail did not address the public corruption investigation, which has also ensnared Ney's former chief of staff and two aides to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. The case cost DeLay his leadership seat before he ultimately resigned, and it contributed to the Election Day defeat of Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. Safavian was sentenced in October to 18 months in prison for lying to investigators about his ties to Abramoff. He is asking a federal judge to postpone his sentence until he can appeal his conviction.

Burns, who received about $150,000 in Abramoff-related donations and whose aides traveled on the lobbyist's jet to the 2001 Super Bowl, has denied any wrongdoing. Though two of DeLay's aides have pleaded guilty, the former majority leader maintains his innocence and has not been charged.

Also under scrutiny are Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., who accepted campaign money from Abramoff and used the lobbyist's luxury sports box for a fundraiser without initially reporting it, and former Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles, who senators and a former colleague said gave preferential treatment to Abramoff and his Indian tribe clients.

The Cumberland prison complex has housed a number of celebrity inmates, including Whitewater figure Webster Hubbell and former heavyweight boxing champion Riddick Bowe. Former Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald is serving three consecutive life sentences in the prison near the camp for murdering his wife and daughters in North Carolina.

[Okwes]

Abramoff Opts for Self-Defense in Latest Suits
Anna Palmer
Legal Times
December 19, 2006

Printer-friendly Email this Article Reprints & Permissions

After paying for a high-priced criminal defense by Chadbourne & Parke's Abbe Lowell in the government's corruption probe, former uber-lobbyist-turned-jailbird Jack Abramoff is taking a different approach in two lawsuits filed against him by Indian tribes.

This time around, Abramoff is representing himself against former client Louisiana Coushatta Tribe and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas.

So far, Abramoff has piggybacked on motions filed by lawyers for former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed and former Abramoff associate Michael Scanlon in the Texas case. Lowell did not return calls.

Abramoff may be using the law library from the minimum-security federal prison in Cumberland, Md., where he is serving almost six years for a fraud conviction separate from the corruption probe.

It's extremely rare for prisoners to defend themselves pro se, according to the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prisoner Project. The logistics could get tricky with Abramoff unable to travel for depositions. But the tactic could get him out of prison chores like kitchen duty or carpentry while he is doing legal research.

"It's Jack Abramoff. What else can you say? The guy believes in himself," says Barbara Van Gelder of Wiley Rein & Fielding, who represented David Safavian, the former White House official convicted in June in connection with Abramoff.

[blackcrowheart]

Officials Convicted in the Abramoff Case
Lawmakers, lobbyists and Bush administration officials convicted so far in the Jack Abramoff public corruption cases:

_Former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, sentenced in January to 2 1/2 years in prison, acknowledged taking bribes from Republican influence peddler Jack Abramoff. Ney was listed as Representative No. 1 in the agreements in which Abramoff and the others pleaded guilty over the past year. Ney was in the traveling party on the golfing trip to Scotland that was at the heart of the case against former Bush administration official David Safavian.

_Abramoff is serving six years in prison on a criminal case out of Florida, where he pleaded guilty in January 2006 to charges of conspiracy, honest services fraud and tax evasion. He has not yet been sentenced on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion stemming from the influence-peddling scandal in Washington. A Texas Indian tribe filed a federal lawsuit in July against Abramoff and several of his colleagues, alleging that they engaged in fraud and racketeering. Abramoff is cooperating in a bribery investigation involving lawmakers, their aides and members of the Bush administration.

_Tony Rudy, lobbyist and onetime aide to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, pleaded guilty in March 2006 to conspiring with Abramoff. He is cooperating with investigators.

_Safavian, a former chief of staff for the General Services Administration, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October after he was found guilty of covering up his dealings with Abramoff. Safavian is appealing his June 2006 conviction.

_Michael Scanlon, a former Abramoff business partner and DeLay aide, pleaded guilty in November 2005 to conspiring to bribe public officials in connection with his lobbying work on behalf of Indian tribes and casino issues. He is cooperating with investigators.

_William Heaton, former chief of staff for Ney, pleaded guilty Monday to a federal conspiracy charge involving a golf trip to Scotland, expensive meals, and tickets to sporting events between 2002 and 2004 as payoffs for helping Abramoff’s clients.

_Neil Volz, a former chief of staff to Ney who left government to work for Abramoff, pleaded guilty in May 2006 to conspiring to corrupt Ney and others with trips and other aid.

_Roger Stillwell, a former Interior Department official, was sentenced to two years on probation in January after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge for not reporting hundreds of dollars worth of sports and concert tickets he received from Abramoff.