The Daily Muck
The Jack Abramoff investigation is going strong.
For a window into the investigation, how about this: the Justice Department very quietly subpoenaed the U.S. Family Network last week. And it mentioned all sorts of names.
The U.S. Family Network was an impressive collaboration - set up by former DeLay chief of staff Ed Buckham and pumped full of money by Abramoff's clients, allegedly to influence DeLay. The USFN purchased a townhouse near Capitol Hill where Alexander Strategy Group and DeLay's ARMPAC both had offices - DeLay aides called it the "Safe House."
Travis County DA Ronnie Earle, who's investigating DeLay, already subpoenaed the fund back in January.
Here are the names mentioned in this latest subpoena from the Justice Department:
The subpoena asks for U.S. Family Network documents relating to Abramoff; Tony and Lisa Rudy; DeLay and his wife, Christine; Buckham and his wife, Wendy; and several dozen other individuals and groups that have been linked to Abramoff by investigators and news reports. Others mentioned in the subpoena include Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist, two of Abramoff's longtime friends who played roles in some of his lobbying activities for his Indian casino clients.
Yeah, that's a real party.
Tony Rudy, another former DeLay aide, worked with Abramoff before moving on to Buckham's lobby shop Alexander Strategy Group. He's already been mentioned in Abramoff's plea as "Staffer A." In addition to the $50K that went to his wife (mentioned in the plea), there was another $15,600 that she got for consulting that came from USFN.
ASG closed up shop not long after Abramoff's plea and DeLay's fall from power - so both Rudy and Buckham are out of a job with nothing to do but...cooperate with prosecutors?
Although it's been clear to everyone watching the case that DeLay is in the prosecutors' thoughts, this is the first official confirmation of it that I know of. It's also the first time that Reed's and Norquist's names have come up.
I have no idea why this hasn't been covered more widely.
Jack and Karl
"Three former associates of Jack Abramoff" have told the AP that he "routinely mentioned" Karl Rove when he was talking about his access to the White House. In response, the White House said that the two have been "casual acquaintances" since the two met "at a political event in the 1990s."
One of the associates was in the room when Abramoff took a call from Rove's office:
One said he was present when Abramoff took a call from Rove's office to confirm a White House meeting had been approved between Malaysia's prime minister and Bush in May 2002. Abramoff was being paid by Malaysia for helping it in Washington, according to evidence the Senate has made public.
The White House told the AP that Rove has "no recollection" about the call.
The obvious link to Rove is Abramoff's former assistant Susan Ralston, who now works for Rove. Here is a picture of Abramoff with Ralston in 2003, long after she went to Rove' office.
The AP piece doesn't mention another reported Abramoff-Rove contact: Timothy Flanigan, Tyco's former general counsel, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Abramoff told him "he had contact with Karl Rove" about a Tyco issue - Tyco was an Abramoff client.
Rove was also close to Ralph Reed, who often worked with Abramoff. On one occasion, Italia Federici of CREA wrote in an email that Reed "has been bending the ear of Karl Rove and possibly even the President" about Indian casino issues. Reed also reportedly was the one who got Ralston her spot as Rove's assistant.
In January, the White House refused to answer the question of whether Abramoff met with Rove. No doubt there will be a fresh round of refusals again today.
The Dick Cheney Shooting - The Lobbying Angle
Oh, you knew there was one. Katharine Armstrong, the ranch owner, is a registered lobbyist, who exclusively lobbies the White House.
Tom DeLay, Superdiplomat
Apparently Tom DeLay is happy where he is - with his hands firmly on the purse strings. From U.S. News:
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is signaling to new Majority Leader John Boehner and other House leaders that he won't seek a return to leadership if he is acquitted of Texas money-laundering charges.
Associates said that DeLay instead will use his position on the Appropriations Committee to boost NASA spending, especially for his hometown Johnson Space Center in Houston, and will move back into the unofficial post as head of the Texas House delegation.
"He'll do what he does best," says an adviser. "He's a team player." There had been indications that he would seek a return, but his allies said that he will instead act as a superdiplomat and whip for Boehner and House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
House GOP Lobbying Fiasco Reform
After rushing before the microphones back in January to beat the Democrats to the punch with a slapdash reform package, the House Republicans are now having trouble agreeing on anything. The congressional travel ban, for instance, is quickly falling out of favor. From Roll Call:
A quick fix for lobbying rules is eluding House Republicans, who plan to continue internal discussions on the issue this week.
The talks will pick up where GOP lawmakers left off after a two-hour huddle on the subject last weekend. That conference, held at the end of House Republicans’ annual retreat, apparently produced no new consensus on the shape a reform package should take.
“A number of topics were addressed, and it was a very civil discussion,” said Ron Bonjean, spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).
A noon deadline for the discussion, enforced by an approaching snowstorm, cut debate short, Bonjean said. “You had dozens of Members who wanted to speak,” he said. “A lot of them did, but a lot more wanted to provide input.”
Huh, two hours of debate didn't settle the issue. That's a commitment to reform! More:
[House Majority Leader Boehner (R-OH)] has said he is in no hurry to bring a reform package to a vote. And now, it is unclear whether earlier predictions from House GOP leadership of an early March vote are still realistic.
“We don’t have a firm plan, but we want to move as quickly as possible,” Maney [Rep. Dreier's (R-CA) spokesman] said.
No "firm plan" - or no plan at all?
Well, at least someone is happy with the Republican pace of reform:
“The rules may not be broken,” said Paul Miller, president of the American League of Lobbyists, echoing an argument made by many lawmakers and lobbyists that the unfolding scandal surrounding former lobbyist Jack Abramoff is an isolated incident. “Let’s take our time and figure this thing out.”
P-rk
The Hill reports that there's a certain lack of enthusiasm in the Republican leadership for Sen. McCain's (R-AZ) earmark reform proposal.
Newsflash: Lobbying Works!
According to The Washington Post, due to the return on investment, the lobbying profession is not in trouble.
Meet Richard Pombo
The introduction is courtesy of The LA Times. If you've never had the pleasure, he's a pro-business conservative who hates the Endangered Species Act - he also has an Abramoff problem. Enjoy.
The Pombos' Family Vacation
Back in the Summer of 2003, Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), Chairman of the Resources Committee, packed his family into an RV and drove them around the West. The trip, according to Pombo, was for the purpose of observing the national parks, which his committee oversees, but he's been getting some unwelcome press for paying for a family vacation (about $6,500) with taxpayer money.
This isn't helped by the fact that a number of park officials don't ever remember him visiting.
In Other Muck
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) is not polling well.
First Draft has started a Bush & Indicted Pioneer photo collection. So far - there's George with Jack and Thomas Noe.
Did we miss something? Was there local coverage in your area we should know about? Email us at talk@talkingpointsmemo.com with the Subject line "Daily Muck" and let us know.
Abramoff's casino boats involved two companies - Sun Cruz and JAB America. They operated out of Florida and South Carolina. Who ran the South Carolina operation? Ben Waldman? Was the South Carolina operation up and running before or after Abramoff ownership?
February 14, 2006 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
I admit I haven't kept up the with the latest on the Jack Abramoff scandal but the story about the photo of Abramoff and Rove together reminded me of another Rove gem. I think it was Elisabeth Bumiller in the NYT who wrote about a meeting between Rove and Charlie Gargano on a side street when the president visited the WTC site on Friday afternoon, 9/14/01.
I can't access the NYT's database at the moment but I remember reading that, when asked about federal aid to NYC, Rover replied something to the effect that "How high are the stars?" I'm from Long Island and I have known that Charlie Gargano is a crook going back twenty five years to the $2 billion Suffolk County Southwest Sewer District scandal.
What most people don't realize is that there was very little reason to pour massive amounts of federal fuding into NYC then. The buildings were covered, for the most part, by insurance. Look up Larry Silverstein's case, for example. Silverstein had only entered into the WTC lease with the NY-NJ Port Authority in the spring of 2001.
Not for nothing but the NYC financial community was not hurt one bit by 9/11. I've always wanted to go back and look at trading patterns after the stock market re-opened the follwoing week. I've written a lot here and elsewhere about how Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch and the other crooks on Wall Street swindled shareholders during the '90s. Do you think these lowlifes got honest just because 3,000 of their compatriots were lying dead under a pile of rubble?
I watched a lot of tv on and after 9/11. I have always been curious about the Wall Street commodities traders. I'm not sure which day it was, maybe Monday, 9/17/01, but the commodities traders went back to work in their emergency headquarters in Long Island City. I guess what I was most curious about was why they had set up an emergency relocation site and no one else on Wall Street had one.
The traders were a grim-looking bunch that day, standing on line as they entered the building. I've only known one trader in my life, Jack Kilgallen from Northport, Long Island but I don't know if he's retired. I'd ask him about that day if I ran into him. I'm curious about how the worldwide commodities market shook out after 9/11, too.
Getting back to Charlie Gargano - I spent more than two years on the internet trying to expose Gargano, mostly in the now-defunct NYT Abuzz and Cooperative Research Center forums. Lots of politicians are crooks so why pick on Charlie? Well, here's a little story about Charlie that everyone from NYC and Long Island would understand.
Charlie was an executive and part owner of J. D. Posillico, one of the largest contractors in the sewer scandal. He, and a lot of the other thieves busy ripping off Suffolk County taxpayers, frequented Orlando's Ristorante in Huntington where I worked as a busgirl in 1979.
After one week on the job, my parents were killed by a drunk driver while on vacation in the Florida Keys. Everyone I worked with at Orlando's including the owner, Mike LoTurco, made me feel very comfortable and at home after my loss. A number of the customers knew about my parents because the accident was reported in Newsday.
Maybe a year later, Charlie asked Mike to put his sister, Connie , on as a hostess at lunchtime. Orlando's didn't need a hostess at lunch but Connie's teenage son had just been killed by a drunk driver and she was bereft. Without being told, I knew that Charlie's idea was to have me help Connie understand that other people have suffered similar tragic losses and that life, eventually, goes on.
All of us at the restaurant went out of our way to comfort Connie and I know I was happy to do it. But Charlie never said "Thank you" to me, let alone hand me a few bucks at Christmas or any other time. I would never expect to be paid for looking after Connie but I knew that everyone else at Orlando's always had their hand out. In Charlie's world, that's how it works. Well, I got stiffed and I never forgot it.
A number of months after 9/11, I read an interview with Charlie by Joan Jedell who publishes the online Hampton Sheet. I can't find the interview in the HS archives now but I referenced it in Abuzz. Charlie told Joan that he got a phone call about the first plane at about 9 a.m. on 9/11 as he left his apartment which, I think, is (was) on east 35th Street.
Charlie then went to his office at 633 Third Ave and waited for Governor George Pataki to arrive, which was around 10:30 a.m. Maybe there is a very good reason that Charles A. Gargano, Vice-Chairman of the New York-New Jersey Port Authority, sat in his office rather than rush downtown with police escorts to see how he could help his employees. I don't know. But I do know that Charlie has no regard for Leona's "little people".
February 14, 2006 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
mac, I don't remember when SC operation started but I've noticed that little attention has been paid to Kidan's Atlantic Casino operation in Massachusetts. I checked the Mass Sec. of State records so I know it is registered.
Try searching Teoma for SunCruz info. There's another really good search engine that begins with "A" (not allinone) but I can't remember it off the top of my head. I found it searching "search engines" on Google a couple of weeks ago. I was looking for "Kontogiannis", Duke Cunningham's buddy and came across a Georgina Kontogiannis who may or may not be his wife.
I'm not sure but I think JAB America, registered on sunbiz.org, is a sub of a South African gambling outfit. Sun City comes to mind. I just checked sunbiz and JAB filed from 2000 to 2005. It apparently went Chapter 11 - the bankruptcy trustee is Jeffrey H. Beck, Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton, FLA. Check the PACER website for more info if you are really interested. (PACER takes credit cards.)
February 14, 2006 1:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just another question to air. If Sam Hook, who has since went bye-byes, merely acted as a babysitter for Abramoff's Grassroots Interactive, then why did he have to give Miller $10,000 for it in Sept of 2003?
February 15, 2006 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink