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Abramoff, Rove and Norquist |
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Records show 485 contacts between Abramoff and White House staff, including 10 with Karl Rove directly. Among the contributions to Rove were box seats to NCAA games. Abramoff's lobbying team spent $25,000 on entertainment, food and drinks for White House staff.
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Hundreds of e-mails between lobbyist Jack Abramoff, former White House aide David H. Safavian, and a network of congressional representatives and staffers were released by federal prosecutors 4/14/06.
Within days after becoming chief of staff at the General Services Administration, for example, Safavian began discussions of government property opportunities with Abramoff. In other e-mails, Abramoff suggested that then-GSA Administrator Steve Perry join them on a $130,000 golfing trip to Scotland... Safavian has been charged with obstructing justice by telling investigators that Abramoff had no business dealings with the GSA....
The documents provide a rare and detailed look at the intersection between government officials and lobbyists, where business deals, racquetball, golf and expensive meals are part of daily discussion....
On Jan. 22, 2004, President Bush appointed Safavian chief administrator of the White House Office of Federal Procurement Policy. On Sept. 16, 2005, Safavian resigned; he was arrested three days later. Washington Post
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The disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison today for his role in a fraud scheme involving the purchase of a cruise ship line. He and his partner Adam Kidan were each sentenced to 70 months, the lowest punishment under federal guidelines, by Judge Paul Huck of Federal District Court here. They were also placed on three years' probation and ordered to pay a total of $21.7 million in restitution. Sentencing
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Abramoff returned to Washington, D.C. in 1994 when the Republicans won the House. In half a dozen years he had become THE go-to man; he was a Bush Pioneer, Tom DeLay called him his best friend, he staffed his offices with congressional relatives and in turn, staffed congressional offices, such as that of Karl Rove, with his people. He had a fancy restaurant. He had potentates consulting him. He hired think tank experts to write his client's PR.
How did he climb so high? How did he fall so fast?
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Guilty On January 3, 2006 Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials in a deal that requires him to provide evidence about members of Congress.
Guilty again On January 4, 2006, Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty in federal court in Miami to "conspiracy and wire fraud stemming from his 2000 purchase" (for $147.5 million) of SunCruz Casinos, a fleet of gambling boats in Florida.
In addition to these charges, Abramoff was under investigation by a grand jury in Guam over possibly illegal contract payments and money laundering.
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The Rise of Jack Abramoff and Friends
Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist met recruiting for the GOP on their college campuses and campaigning for Reagan in 1980. In 1982, they were joined by Ralph Reed (The Christian Coalition) in the College Republican National Committee. They were invited to leave for misuse of funds.
Abramoff later joined Citzens for America which helped Oliver North build support for the Nicaraguin Contras. He organized an international gathering of anticommunist rebels in Angola. The gathering produced no results. The founder of the organization found that Abrmoff had misspent the organization budget and fired him.
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Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist were known as supporters of Indian gaming but Ralph Reed, better known as a religious conservative than a lobbyist, took a staunchly antigambling position. Nevertheless, he accepted tribal money from Abramoff to lobby AGAINST gambling. Abramoff also hired Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform to lobby against taxing gambling proceeds. This set off the marvelously lucrative exploitation of the Indians by the three lobbyists. Once a tribe is convinced that the casino in the next state will spoil their casino, that tribe hired Abramoff to get rid of the competition. Abramoff paid Norquist, who funneled the money to Reed to continue lobbying against Abramoffs’clients who then found they must pay him more money to lobby harder. Abramoff also directed his clients’ political donations.
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All three campaigned for Bush. In 2004, on the Rove-established donation scale, Abramoff was a Bush Pioneer, second to the top layer, raising $100,000 for the campaign. Grover Norquist brought in the anti-tax conservatives who supported his Americans for Tax Reform. Reed worked directly for Rove, mananging the campaign in the Southeast and brought the conservative Christians. source
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Following the guilty pleas, many people quickly promised to give many campaign donations to charity. George Bush, Tom DeLay and Hillary Rodham Clinton were among them.
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The Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, the Department of the Interior and the Indians. (CREA), was founded in the 1990s by conservative anti-tax activist Grover Norquist and Gale Norton, departing Secretary of the Interior. Abramoff directed tribes he represented to donate $225,000 to CREA from 2001 to 2003. The money went through Italia Federici, who contacted J. Steven Giles, deputy secretary of the Interior to recommend Abramoff suggested-courses of action.
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Abramoff provided Tom Delay funds for his personal charity, trips to play golf in Scotland, employment for his wife, jobs and travel for his staff.
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Non-Profit Foundations were favorite means of disguising from whom the money came. They also made it unnecessary for Abramoff and his crew to register as lobbyists for some clients if that might prove embarrassing.
International Freedom Foundation
American International Center
The U.S. Family Network
Capital Athletic Foundation
Faith and Family Alliance
GrassRoots Interactive
Aeneas Enterprises
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Abramoff Indictment (701k PDF)
The official details of Abramoff's guilty plea to "Conspiracy, Honest Mail Services Fraud, and Tax Evasion."
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http://zfacts.com/p/214.html | 01/18/12 07:16 GMT
Modified: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 03:41:20 GMT
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