WP,pg1: Casino Bid Prompted High-Stakes Lobbying (Reed, Dobson involved)

[DeepModem Mom]

Casino Bid Prompted High-Stakes Lobbying
Probe Scrutinizes Efforts Against Tribe

By Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 13, 2005; Page A01


When a ragtag band of Louisiana Indians won their governor's support for a casino three years ago, they never could have fathomed the powerful cast of characters who would collaborate to flatten them.

Jack Abramoff, one of Washington's most prominent Republican lobbyists, tapped into the gambling riches of a rival tribe to orchestrate a far-reaching campaign against the Jena Band of Choctaws -- calling on senior U.S. senators and congressmen, the deputy secretary of the interior and evangelical leaders James Dobson and Ralph Reed.

The story of what Abramoff did for the Louisiana Coushatta tribe provides the most complete picture yet of the role of the lobbyist at the center of a widening federal corruption investigation in Washington. It was reconstructed through interviews with tribal leaders, government officials and former business associates, as well as through Interior Department and other documents and e-mails obtained by The Washington Post.

Abramoff arranged for Dobson and Reed to pressure federal officials to reject the Jenas' bid on anti-gambling grounds. He and his partners drafted anti-Jena letters that were then signed by congressional leaders, some of whom have received thousands of dollars in donations from tribes represented by Abramoff. One ally inserted language opposing the casino into a bill late in the legislative process.

And in an attempt to influence the Interior Department -- which has the final say on a tribe's gambling ambitions -- Abramoff directed his tribal clients to give at least $225,000 to the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, a conservative group that was founded by Gale A. Norton before President Bush chose her to be his interior secretary. Federal officials are investigating the nature of the relationship between the group's president, Italia Federici, and Norton's then-deputy, J. Steven Griles....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30274-2005Mar12.html

[Gman]

1. When it's all said and done

This may well will be the scandal that will ultimately give Congress back to the Democrats.

Gannon/Guckert-gate and all the other distractions don't have the solid foundation that this scandal does. This appears to be as solid as Iran-Contra ever was. It's just as potent as BCCI. It's affect is all over the country in that it touches a lot of R Congresspeople. If the D's play this right, every R will run from any appearance they are connected in any way with this.

This story needs to grow legs. Not now as it's still too soon before the elections next November. This needs to simmer and grow between now and the winter/spring of '05/'06.

[meow2u3]

3. From your keyboard to God's screen

And then ****drum roll****....it's Double Impeachment Time!!!
Bush and Cheney, good riddance...and Nancy Pelosi will be our first female President! (I can dream, can't I?)

[UpInArms]

2. round up the "usual suspects" ........ eom

[acmejack]

4. The definitive story

Lou Dubose broke this one in Feb. See it here

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Thanks for posting the Texas Observer story, acmejack!

[oneighty]

6. Indian Gambling

People are ready to kill to get in on that action.

Thou shalt not covet the Indian's gold you Christian hypocrites.

It is funny funny funny.

180

[priller]

7. Moral outrage for hire

It's interesting how they can get Dobson all worked up about issues whenever they want. He's their Evangelical attack dog.

[leesa]

8. I didn't know Holy Dobson was involved with this scam.

May he get his just rewards in hell.

[truthpusher]

9. (Delay) Money:So Where Did It Go? (internal e-mails obtained by NEWSWEEK)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7169454/site/newsweek/

Money: So Where Did It Go?
------------------------------
Newsweek
------------------------------
March 21 issue - The FBI is trying to trace what happened to $2.5 million in payments to a conservative Washington think tank that were routed to accounts controlled by two lobbyists with close ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, NEWSWEEK has learned. The payments to the National Center for Public Policy Research were meant for a PR campaign promoting Indian gaming, center officials said. But internal e-mails obtained by NEWSWEEK show the lobbyists, Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, DeLay's former press secretary, never documented any work performed or explained what they did with the money despite repeated requests. "We're disappointed and frustrated," said Amy Ridenour, the center's president. The group's records have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury. One focus of the FBI probe, legal sources say, is whether the payments, as well as tens of millions of dollars in other fees collected by the two lobbyists from Indian tribes, were used for political contributions or to pay for trips and gifts to members of Congress.

The widening probe in D.C. may prove more troubling for DeLay than the separate investigation into his fund-raising in Texas. DeLay has had a longstanding relationship with the center; the group, for which he has signed a fund-raising letter, paid for two of his overseas trips—including a $70,000 excursion in 2000 during which he and Abramoff (a member of the center's board) played golf in Scotland. The Washington Post reported last week the trip was mostly paid for by two $25,000 checks from two Abramoff lobbying clients that were sent to the center the day the trip began. In 2002, the center received a $1 million contribution from one of those Abramoff clients, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. The funds were intended to finance "educational" efforts promoting the idea that casinos like the one operated by the Choctaws helped Native Americans, Ridenour said. At Abramoff's urging, the center allotted $500,000 to a public-relations firm owned by Scanlon, and an additional $450,000 was paid to a foundation controlled by Abramoff. The next year, the center received its largest donation, $1.5 million, from another Abramoff client, an Internet gambling group in Gibraltar. This time, Abramoff suggested most of the grant, $1.28 million, be given to a firm called "KayGold LLC." Unbeknownst to Ridenour, KayGold was owned by Abramoff.

Ridenour said she and the center's lawyers became concerned in 2003 about the absence of any work product and began pressing Abramoff for documentation. By March 2004, worried about a possible audit, she sent an e-mail saying it would be "extremely helpful" if he could supply any polls or even "leftover printed materials" in order to "reassure anyone, such as the IRS, who might wonder if the effort really took place." But, she said, nothing was ever turned over; Abramoff later resigned from the center's board. The group is now cooperating with the Feds and may sue Abramoff. Asked about the payments, Abramoff's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said, "No comment." Scanlon's lawyer said suggestions the work was not completed "are totally inaccurate," but declined to elaborate. DeLay, whose spokesman said the congressman knew nothing of the payments, is distancing himself from his former golfing partner. "I go about my job," he told reporters. "Jack Abramoff has his own problems. Any other questions?"

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7169454/site/newsweek/

[Demeter]

10. Self-Immolation Leaves Them Spellbound

so nice to know that the Delay is almost over!

[mhr]

11. Can You Say "Embezzled" Girls And Boys?

eom

[UpInArms]

14. so busy covering his own sorry ass that

he's willing to let his "buddy" be hung out to dry.

DeLay, whose spokesman said the congressman knew nothing of the payments, is distancing himself from his former golfing partner. "I go about my job," he told reporters. "Jack Abramoff has his own problems. Any other questions?"

[ClintonTyree]

12. Drip, drip, drip................

The day that Tom Delay is removed from the halls of Congress will be one of the happiest days of my life.
The day he is incarcerated, I will start drinking again, for one day, to celebrate the total humiliation of this piece of shit that disguises itself as a man. I shall revel in his misfortune. And when he dies, I shall piss upon his grave. A small salute from all of the little people he had pissed on all of his life.

[AuntiBush]

13. Right the Heck on!

:beer::party::beer::party::bounce::bounce::beer::party::beer:

[Moderator]

15. kick to combine

[rainbow4321]

16. Newsweek: (FBI to Delay) Money: So Where Did It Go?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7169454/site/newsweek/


The FBI is trying to trace what happened to $2.5 million in payments to a conservative Washington think tank that were routed to accounts controlled by two lobbyists with close ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, NEWSWEEK has learned. The payments to the National Center for Public Policy Research were meant for a PR campaign promoting Indian gaming, center officials said. But internal e-mails obtained by NEWSWEEK show the lobbyists, Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, DeLay's former press secretary, never documented any work performed or explained what they did with the money despite repeated requests.

"We're disappointed and frustrated," said Amy Ridenour, the center's president. The group's records have been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury. One focus of the FBI probe, legal sources say, is whether the payments, as well as tens of millions of dollars in other fees collected by the two lobbyists from Indian tribes, were used for political contributions or to pay for trips and gifts to members of Congress.

The widening probe in D.C. may prove more troubling for DeLay than the separate investigation into his fund-raising in Texas. DeLay has had a longstanding relationship with the center; the group, for which he has signed a fund-raising letter, paid for two of his overseas trips—including a $70,000 excursion in 2000 during which he and Abramoff (a member of the center's board) played golf in Scotland.

[merwin]

17. So, is this scandal # 259 for the man who can't get in trouble?

[paineinthearse]

18. Yes, but this could be the one that breaks the camel's back

FOLLOW THE MONEY!

[rockedthevoteinMA]

19. Oh please let it be. Now w/Bill Moyers did a special on this last

year and Mother Jones had an article about it.
Here's some of it (it's long)

"Senator John McCain, who holds DeLay in low regard, is now eight months into an inquiry at the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, where he has an investigator working full time on Abramoff and Scanlon. A grand jury in Washington is also looking at evidence related to Abramoff and Scanlon's billing of the Indian tribes and filing subpoenas for the records of businesses and tribes connected to the two lobbyists. Even the moribund House ethics committee has been forced to consider complaints against DeLay, including one that focuses on a $25,000 contribution to TRMPAC from a Kansas utility. Internal company emails indicate that the contribution was made so the utility could "get a seat at the table" in negotiations over the federal energy bill. The committee, 4 of whose 10 members have received contributions from DeLay's PAC, was expected to dismiss that complaint; a more serious problem for DeLay could arise from allegations that a $100,000 bribe was offered to a Republican congressman on the House floor in an attempt to swing his vote on the Medicare bill last November. "That probably didn't happen without the backing of the leadership," says a source familiar with the probe.

Late last year, Washington Times editorial page editor Tony Blankley was reminiscing about the fall of another seemingly invincible congressional figure -- his former boss, Newt Gingrich. Gingrich was ousted as House speaker in 1998 not because of any single issue, Blankley said, but because he had been involved in too many fights and had faced too many allegations large and small, until the Beltway cognoscenti knew his power had been badly undermined.

Facing a broad, bipartisan assault on his political machine, and the risk that the paper trail could lead to his office, DeLay may find himself in a similar position. "These guys always skate too close to the edge," says Fred Wertheimer, a veteran campaign finance reform advocate who has lodged complaints against DeLay with Congress and the IRS regarding allegations that DeLay set up a charity to cultivate political influence. "Ultimately, they all fall."
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/11/10_403.html

[Clark2008]

20. I love the poll.

Live Vote
Should the House Ethics Committee open a probe into Tom Delay's conduct? * 1336 responses
93 percent - Yes
5 percent - No
2 percent- I don't know

[gumby]

21. And Martha Stewart went to prison

because the FBI said she should. Why doesn't the FBI ask DeLay some questions, say he lied and then put him on trial? Martha set the standard, and what's good enough for her certainly is good enough for the no-class DeLay.

[0007]

22. Hmmmm. We talking prison time?

[Kingofalldems]

23. Hey wait a minute

Tom Delay is a great Christian. He would never do anything bad. Rush told me so.

[truthpusher]

24. Moderator...

I posted this story earlier and you moved it to here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1308269&mesg_id=1308619

I think you should leave this thread without moving it, there is a lot of new info in this story.

[bpilgrim]

25. pfft... 2.5 million is CHUMP CHANGE

just ask his buddy HALIBURTON & ENRON

http://images.globalfreepress.com

peace

[seemslikeadream]

26. Korea-US Exchange Council - Delay's trips and the Heritage Foundation

Now the machinery that DeLay and his pastor built threatens to derail DeLay. He was slapped three times last year by the House ethics committee for violations of House rules, and finds himself potentially facing more serious trouble on multiple fronts. Each day seems to bring another embarrassing headline and more lawmakers' being caught up in allegations of impropriety that surround the lobbyists—many, like Buckham, former DeLay staff members—who have traded on their access to him. The Washington Post reported last week that DeLay (as well as six other Representatives from both parties and several congressional aides) had over the past four years accepted trips to South Korea, paid for by a registered foreign agent—a violation of House rules.

As it happens, the foreign agent in question—a group called the Korea- U.S. Exchange Council, funded largely by the Korean holding company Hanwha Group—lists its address as the same waterfront Georgetown office suite as Buckham's lobbying business. Edward Stewart, who not only manages international business for Buckham's Alexander Strategy Group but also is the Korean group's Washington representative, declined to comment on the controversy. Buckham, 46, did not return telephone calls and e-mails seeking an interview. The lawmakers named by the Post, including DeLay, say they were not aware that the group was a foreign agent. Indeed, it didn't register as one until three days before DeLay left for his trip to South Korea in August 2001.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1037627,00.html




Registered foreign agent - look who's on the board or was till yesterday, Henry Kissinger and who set it up Kim Seung Youn.



Hanwha Chairman Faces Charges

By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
...

Prosecutors refused to release details of the interrogation, but said the questioning focused on Kim's role in the group's provision of funds to ruling and opposition parties in 2002. They said it appears certain that Kim violated laws governing the donation of political funds, adding he will soon be charged without detention.

The 52-year-old chairman returned from the United States on Saturday following an eight-month stay that started Jan. 1. He left for the U.S. as investigators were gearing up for a major investigation into the political fund scandal, which resulted in the indictment of a number of political heavyweights and businessmen. The Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office said that during Monday's questioning Kim admitted to offering bonds worth 1 billion won to former Grand National Party (GNP) lawmaker Suh Chung-won in October 2002, two months before the presidential election.

...

Hanwha announced in January that Kim had gone to the U.S. for study and hospital treatment. One day after his departure, the prosecution imposed a belated exit ban on him, drawing suspicions that he knew of the prosecution's intentions in advance. Kim had refused to return to Korea despite a summons from the prosecution, citing unfinished matters in the U.S.

Kim reportedly said he had returned because trials involving him and the GNP's Suh had been concluded and he needed to work for his firm, according to the prosecution. Suh, who took illegal funds from Kim in 2002, was released on Friday after being sentenced to a suspended jail term of three years and 1.2 billion won in fines. Suh took a combined 1.2 billion won in illegal funds from Kim and the Sun & Moon Group during the presidential campaign.
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200408/kt2004081717162112070.htm

Strong ties to the Heritage Foundation

Another Asia-related non-government group made up of influential government and business leaders that shares strong ties to the Heritage Foundation is Korea-US Exchange Council (Korusec), which has a pedigree similar to Usmea. The council was set up in June 2001 by Kim Seung Youn, head of the explosives and chemicals chaebol Hanwha Group. Its purpose is to promote understanding of Korea in the US political community, primarily by exchanging visits with US lawmakers and their aides.

Kim is a close supporter of South Korean president Roh Moo Hyun as well as South Korea's ``sunshine policy'', inaugurated by former president Kim Dae Jung. The policy is based on trading hard cash and business investment for improved relations with North Korea. The initial idea to establish Korusec was reportedly proposed at a function organised by the Heritage Foundation during the presidential inauguration ceremony for GeorgeWBush in January 2001. Kim was attending the ceremony as the guest of Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, whose wife is Elaine Chao.

Korusec's board of directors includes a fair number of US and Korean political heavyweights, including former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, former US ambassador to Korea Richard Walker and former Korean ambassador to the United Nations Park Soo Gil. Heritage president Feulner also sits on the board. Sheffer is an unpaid adviser to Korusec. ASG has close ties to Korusec and has lobbied on its behalf.

Korusec has effectively parlayed its inside connections to reach the highest levels of Washington politics. As part of its inauguration ceremonies in 2001, Korusec flew over then-House floor leader DeLay, his wife and aides. Since then it has played host to a number of senior US politicians, including former president Bill Clinton, who visited Seoul last November. Kim also accompanied Roh on his visit to the US last May, where they met DeLay and Senate Armed Services chairman John Warner. In February last year, Korusec co-sponsored a conference with Heritage and the government-funded Korean Institute for Defence Analyses. Addresses were delivered by US South Korea ambassador Thomas Hubbard, UN and Korea/US combined forces commander General Leon LaPorte, and Edwin Feulner. Last October, Kim was photographed at a Heritage Foundation meeting with US Vice-President Dick Cheney.

more
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/index.html


May 08, 2002 The Korea-U.S. Exchange Council to Host Luncheon
When Wednesday, May 8, 2002
Where B. Smith's Restaurant
Union Station, Washington, DC
Contact Courtney Alexander,
[phone] or [e-mail]
The Korea-U.S. Exchange Council will host a luncheon on May 8th at 12:00 at B. Smith's Restaurant at Union Station. The luncheon will feature three speakers: Balbina Hwang of The Heritage Foundation; Mark Manyin of the Congressional Research Service; former Ambassador to the ROK (under Reagan) Richard "Dixie" Walker.

The conversation will be wide-ranging, from the Korean economy to U.S.-ROK relations to December Presidential elections to the North/South dialogue. Q and A will follow the brief remarks by the speakers.
http://www.kacdc.org/events/archives.html

Encouraging greater bilateral exchanges at the congressional level. Several formal organi­zations already exist within the U.S. Congress to promote bilateral exchanges, including the Korea–U.S. Exchange Council (KORUSEC), the Korea Caucus, and the U.S.–ROK Interpar­liamentary Exchange. They should be encour­aged to expand their activities to include vigorous and more frequent dialogue with their counterparts in the ROK National Assembly, including establishing study groups on specific topics of mutual interest. Furthermore, study groups should be established at the congres­sional staff levels in both countries to target issues of mutual concern and cooperation.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/AsiaandthePacific/bg18...


Kim Seung-youn's Mysterious Departure

Any way you look at it, the sudden departure of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn is a pile of mysteries. Kim is suspected of giving illegal campaign donations during last year's presidential election. To begin with, there's the question of how the prosecution was going about security that he was able to leave for the United States a day before it moved to have him prohibited from leaving the country. If it didn't even know he'd left, discovering the fact as it raided his conglomerate's offices, then that is just pathetic.
There had already been talk circulating of how Kim and his Hanwha Group had given large sums of money to both the ruling and opposition party presidential candidates during the campaign, and there was also giving of "election victory congratulatory money." There was talk also of how this part of the overall investigation might directly affect whether or not we go over the so-called "tenth" threshold. So when Kim calmly makes his way out through Incheon International Airport a day before he would've been prevented from doing so, you naturally wonder how that happened.

How many people would believe they're being told the truth when told the chairman of a chaebol, someone buried in his work, would suddenly leave for a long stint overseas to study the leisurely subject of "U.S.-Korea Relations and the NGO of the Future"? Kim is reputed to be a businessman who is meticulous about the details of everything within his organization.

One also does not believe that Kim would have left simply to temporarily evade investigators. It wouldn't be like a chaebol tycoon, who should know quite well that the government has a whole host of methods to pressure a conglomerate at its disposal. This is why you even hear suggestions Kim made this move because he was advised to do so ahead of time, since getting out of the way would make things less uncomfortable for each party.

If there is to be an avoidance of a situation where such suggestions give birth to suspicions that further endless more suspicions, then authorities must do everything they can to strongly encourage Kim to return and submit to this investigation. Kim, in turn, really should volunteer to return on his own when you consider his importance as someone leading the country's seventh largest conglomerate and the stature of that conglomerate. January 8, 2004
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200401/200401070026.html


Hanwha Chairman Kim Seung-youn to Appear in Court
FEBRUARY 17, 2005 22:50

As the Supreme Public Prosecutor`s Office (head: Park Sang-gil) conducts an investigation into the alleged acquisition scandal of Korea Life Insurance by Hanwha Group, it summoned Hanwha’s Chairman Kim Seung-youn on February 17. At around 1:00 p.m. on the same day, Chairman Kim appeared in the Supreme Public Prosecutors’ Office building and went into an investigation room after some words to reporters. He said, “I apologize for raising a scandal. I will disclose the details in the office.”

Prosecutors conducted an in-depth investigation into the following: whether or not Chairman Kim was involved in settling an “inside contract” with Australia’s Macquarie Life Ltd when he was forming the Hanwha Consortium for the acquisition of Korea Life Insurance; and whether he had prior notice of the operation or whereabouts of 750 million won, presumed to be used for political lobbying based on circumstantial evidence, out of Hanwha’s total slush fund of 8.75 billion won.

Reportedly, as soon as the investigation on whether or not to provoke judicial power is over, the prosecutors’ office is expected to indict Lee Bu-young, the former chairman of the ruling Uri Party, without physical restraint based on his alleged infringement of the Political Finance Law.

Chairman Kim, who was under investigation by prosecutors regarding the election campaign fund last August, was indicted without physical restraint based on the charge of providing an illegal political fund of one billion won to Representative Suh Chung-won of the Grand National Party last year. In November 2004, he was fined 30 million won by the Seoul High Court.
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=20050218...



Korea-United States Exchange Council Supporter of the USO?

http://www.uso.org/related /

Reinforcing friendship, S. Korean firm
to fund renovation at USO headquarters
By B.R. Sargent, Seoul bureau

SEOUL — The United Service Organizations headquarters on Camp Kim will get a huge remodeling job, courtesy of a South Korean company’s $400,000 donation.

“There are moments in life that are never forgotten, both good and bad,” said Kim Seung Youn, chairman of Han Wha Corp. “Sept. 11 is a day that will live for Americans and friends forever. But out of moments of great crisis comes opportunities. … n this case, it gives us the chance to reaffirm a friendship between two peoples who cherish their freedoms.

“Today as a Korean, I take my hat off to the 37,000 American men and women in uniform, who are far from home on the front lines for all that you believe in.”

During a check presentation, Army Gen. Thomas A. Schwartz, U.S. Forces Korea commander, spoke of the alliance between the United States and South Korea.
http://ww2.pstripes.osd.mil/01/oct01/ed103001e.html


US Foreign Agents Registry for the second half of 2002. These registrants worked as foreign agents on the behalf of foreign governments or political parties during the second half of 2002.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=FARA_late_20...


Korea - United States Exchange Council - 7 trips

John Carter - Republican Party
November 28, 2003 - December 3, 2003 (6 days)
Seoul, Korea
Purpose - Familiarization trip to Korea, DMZ
Total Cost - $18,832.00

Ander Crenshaw - Republican Party
August 26, 2001 - August 28, 2001 (3 days)
South Korea
Purpose - Educational / Meet with government officials
Total Cost - $27,640.00

Tom DeLay - Republican Party
August 25, 2001 - August 28, 2001 (4 days)
South Korea
Purpose - Educational / Meet with government officials
Total Cost - $28,000.00

Eni Faleomavaega - Democratic Party
November 29, 2003 - December 2, 2003 (4 days)
Korean DMZ
Purpose - mark 50th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice agreement on the Korean penninsula. Will meet with senior official re Korea/United States relations. Visit American Troops at DMZ
Total Cost - $22,098.84

Michael Honda - Democratic Party
December 2, 2003
Seoul, Korea
Purpose - Familiarization with Korea
Total Cost -

Jim McDermott - Democratic Party
November 29, 2003 - December 2, 2003 (4 days)
Seoul, Korea
Purpose - Familiarization trip to Korea, DMZ
Total Cost - $9,340.60

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen - Republican Party
August 25, 2001 - August 28, 2001 (4 days)
Tel Aviv-Seoul, Republic of Korea and South Korea to Taipei, Taiwan
Purpose - educational and meetings with governmental officials
Total Cost - $27,960.00

http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/cong...


by the way forgein agents can't give money to US officals

[DesEtoiles]

27. oh the stench...this stinks to high HEAVEN