High-stakes players who gambled at the table with Casino Jack
By Josephine Hearn
In the fall of 2003, a butterfly in Louisiana flapped its wings. The American Press in Lake Charles reported that members of the gambling-rich Louisiana Coushatta Indian tribe were questioning lavish fees their leaders had paid to two Washington political insiders, lobbyist Jack Abramoff and public relations consultant Michael Scanlon.
Since then, the scandal surrounding Abramoff has metastasized into one of Washington?s most widespread corruption investigations, spreading to members of Congress, administration officials, lobbyists and activists. One longtime congressional observer has said the imbroglio ?has the potential to be the biggest scandal in Congress in over a century.??
Federal investigators signaled recently that their probe could implicate as many as six members of Congress and upwards of a dozen former congressional aides and lobbyists.
Four people have already been charged ? Abramoff, Scanlon, his Florida business associate Adam Kidan and David Safavian, the former top procurement official for the Bush administration ? and one member of the House, Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), has been subpoenaed and dubbed ?Representative #1? in court documents describing his alleged misdeeds. Rumors abound that Abramoff is close to making a plea deal with prosecutors, a development that could speed future indictments.
Democrats hope the thickening miasma of corruption hanging over Republican-controlled Washington will translate to Democratic gains in the 2006 midterm elections, as long as none of their own becomes ensnared.
Republicans are bracing for the worst. Prosecutors in the Department of Justice?s Public Integrity Division are working their way up the political food chain, first extracting a plea from Scanlon two weeks ago, now focusing on Abramoff, the unabashed leader of the operation.
Here The Hill takes a look at the major figures in the Abramoff scandal and the names that may well be on the lips of the politiscenti in 2006.
Jack Abramoff
Known as ?Casino Jack? to his lobbying rivals, Abramoff arrived in Washington in the mid-1990s after a brief stint as a B movie producer in Hollywood. By 2003, he was arguably the greatest rainmaker on K Street, parlaying his contacts with conservative Republicans into a client roster heavy with rich and politically naive Indian gambling tribes.
Abramoff?s alleged modus operandi was to convince tribal clients to hire Scanlon for public relations work at an exorbitant rate, then take a cut to support his personal causes, such as an all-boys Jewish school in the Maryland suburbs and, famously, a ?sniper school? for kibbutz residents in Israel. He allegedly directed tribal clients to make millions of dollars of political contributions and donations to conservative think tanks and nonprofits, some legitimate and some merely vehicles for the duo?s personal funds.
All told, he and Scanlon allegedly fleeced the tribes of more than $80 million. The vast sums solidified Abramoff?s position atop Washington?s lobbying corps. He wined and dined public officials and their family members, treating them to expensive trips abroad, offering them use of a private jet and tickets to sporting events, lavishing them with campaign contributions ? all while seeking their support for his clients? legislative goals.
Abramoff and a partner were indicted in August in Florida on charges they misled lenders in a $147.5 million deal to buy a casino boat chain, Sun Cruz, in 2000. Abramoff has pled not guilty. That trial begins Jan. 9.
Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas)
DeLay was introduced to Abramoff in the mid-1990s by South African Rabbi Daniel Lapin, founder of Toward Tradition, a coalition of Jews and evangelical Christians. DeLay toasted Abramoff as ?one of my closest and dearest friends? during a 1997 trip they took to the Northern Marianas Islands, where Abramoff represented the government trying to prevent U.S. minimum-wage laws from being imposed on the territory.
DeLay and Abramoff also traveled on a golfing excursion to St. Andrews, Scotland. The 10-day $70,000 trip was paid for largely by two of Abramoff?s tribes, although DeLay?s official disclosure report listed the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank on whose board Abramoff served, as the sponsor. Then DeLay aides Susan Hirschmann and Tony Rudy accompanied DeLay and Abramoff on the trip.
Michael Scanlon, Abramoff?s principal business partner
Unlike Abramoff, who was the son of a Diners Club executive and attended high school in Beverly Hills, Scanlon came from lesser means. He was still paying off college loans when he left DeLay?s office in 1999 after serving two years as a press aide.
He landed at Preston Gates, where he and Abramoff began their lucrative partnership, and in a few short years he had bought several multimillion-dollar properties on the Delaware shoreline and was renting a $17,000-a-month apartment at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington.
At a hearing two weeks ago to finalize his plea agreement, the tanned Scanlon laughed and joked with reporters even as he was agreeing to pay nearly $20 million in restitution. He will aid the government?s investigation.
Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio)
Ney says he has not been told he is the target of any investigation, but Scanlon?s plea agreement asserted that the six-term lawmaker accepted meals and trips from Abramoff ?in exchange for a series of official acts and influence.?
In 2000, when Abramoff was seeking to buy SunCruz, Ney inserted comments in the Congressional Record that were ??calculated to pressure the then-owner to sell on terms favorable?? to Abramoff and a partner, the agreement says.
In 2002, Abramoff?s tribes paid for a golf outing to Scotland during the time when Ney was seeking to add a provision benefiting an Abramoff client to an election reform bill that fell under his committee?s jurisdiction. Ney has maintained that he was ?duped? by Abramoff.
Grover Norquist president, Americans for Tax Reform
Norquist was the campaign manager for Abramoff?s successful 1981 bid to become chairman of the College Republicans. After the two reunited in D.C., Norquist served as a pass-through for over $1 million in funds, some of which were destined to support Ralph Reed?s grassroots organizing for Abramoff. Norquist brokered a meeting with President Bush for the chief of one of Abramoff?s tribes.
Tony Rudy
Abramoff hired this former deputy chief of staff to DeLay right from the Hill in 2001. Prosecutors are reportedly focusing on these job negotiations between Rudy and Abramoff and whether Rudy may have been offered employment in return for an official act. A firm run by Rudy?s wife, Lisa, received funds from Abramoff through Toward Tradition while Rudy was in DeLay?s office.
Rudy has joined Alexander Strategy Group, a firm headed by former DeLay Chief of Staff Ed Buckham. Rudy accompanied Abramoff on a number of junkets, including a 2000 trip to Pebble Beach to watch the U.S. Open golf tournament and the 2000 Scotland trip.
Neil Volz
Volz, Ney?s former chief of staff, left the Hill in 2002 to join Abramoff?s operation at Greenberg Traurig. His job negotiations with Abramoff are of interest to prosecutors, recent press reports have said.
Adam Kidan
Kidan is a unique figure in the unfolding scandal. A New York native and former Dial-A-Mattress franchisee, Kidan had done business with people who had done business with the Gambino crime family. His mother was killed in 1993 in a mob robbery gone awry.
He and Abramoff gained control of SunCruz, after which the company paid nearly $250,000 to companies controlled by two men with mob ties, Anthony ?Big Tony? Moscatiello and Anthony ?Little Tony? Ferrari. Soon after, SunCruz?s former owner, Gus Boulis, was ambushed and killed on a Fort Lauderdale street on his way home from work. Moscatiello, Ferrari and another are charged with the murder.
David Safavian
Safavian was chief of staff at the General Services Administration until he was arrested in August and charged with lying to investigators about Abramoff?s interest in leasing the historic Old Post Office Building in D.C. and another federal property. Safavian, a former chief of staff to Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah), accompanied Ney and Abramoff on the 2002 Scotland trip at the same time he and Abramoff were discussing the properties. Safavian helped start Janus-Merritt Strategies, a consulting firm, with Norquist. He later worked at Preston Gates, helping Abramoff represent the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Italia Federici
Tony Rudy and another DeLay aide put Abramoff in touch with Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), shortly after Gale Norton was named interior secretary in 2001. Federici had worked on Norton?s 1996 Senate bid in Colorado and calls her a mentor. As head of CREA, a group Norton had founded in Colorado, Federici rapidly became Abramoff?s envoy to Interior, using her access to Deputy Secretary Steve Griles to press issues of importance to Abramoff?s tribes. Abramoff directed his clients to donate to CREA, ultimately funnelling nearly $500,000 to it, Federici testified at a recent Senate hearing.
Steve Griles
Griles, former deputy interior secretary, carried water for an Abramoff?s tribe on issues at Interior, according to e-mails and testimony before a Senate panel, although it is unclear how much influence he had on final decisions. He denies having helped the tribes. Abramoff offered Griles a job at Greenberg Traurig but Griles rejected it.
Ralph Reed
The former Christian Coalition head was contracted by Abramoff and Scanlon on a number of occasions to stir up evangelical opposition to new casinos that could threaten the existing business of Abramoff?s clients. Reed, who is running for Lt. Governor in Georgia received over $5 million from the duo and has said he did not know he was being paid by gambling interests, but e-mails released later suggest he did.
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.)
As chairman of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Burns supported provisions that benefited Abramoff?s clients. His staff enjoyed expensive trips paid for by Abramoff. And his chief of staff, Will Brooke, and state director, Shawn Vasell, went to work for Abramoff.
Burns backed a provision that provided an Abramoff tribal client with $3 million to build a school even though the tribe already enjoyed significant income from gambling. Brooke and another Burns staffer flew on a SunCruz jet to the 2001 Super Bowl, where they each received $500 in casino chips to use on a SunCruz boat. Then DeLay staffer Tim Berry also came along, as did Rudy.
Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.)
Doolittle?s wife, Julie, did fundraising work for Abramoff in 2002 and 2003. Her company?s records have been subpoenaed by the grand jury investigating Abramoff. Doolittle was one of many lawmakers who signed a letter opposing plans to build a casino in Louisiana that could threaten gambling operations run by an Abramoff tribe. A former Doolittle staffer, Kevin Ring, went to work for Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig.
Ed Buckham
Abramoff helped Buckham, a Christian minister and former DeLay chief of staff, set up his lobbying firm, the Alexander Strategy Group, in 1997 by referring clients. Buckham and Scanlon worked to elect an influential legislator in the Marianas Islands who later directed lobbying contracts to Abramoff. Buckham?s firm employed DeLay?s wife, Christine, in a non-lobbying role.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.)
The nine-term congressman was frequently treated to meals at Abramoff?s upscale Pennsylvania Avenue restaurant, Signatures, where he claimed he dined with Abramoff as a friend, not a lobbyist. Rohrabacher served as a reference for Abramoff when he applied to lenders for $60 million to buy SunCruz. Rohrabacher said this spring that he did not remember being listed as a reference but would have been happy to have been. ?He?s a very honest man,? he told The Washington Post.
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.)
Vitter inserted language into the fiscal 2004 interior appropriations bill that benefited a tribal client of Abramoff?s by preventing a rival tribe from establishing gambling operations. Vitter also worked closely with an anti-gaming group, the Campaign Against Gaming Expansion, that was funded by Abramoff?s client, although Vitter says he did not know the group?s source of funding. Vitter has said he has never met Abramoff nor has he received campaign donations from the lobbyist.
