New ties link House GOP leadership with lobbyist Abramoff

[lala_rawraw]

By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor

When Republican power lobbyist Jack Abramoff decided to open a kosher deli in downtown Washington, he announced he’d be naming a sandwich after Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), the freshly-minted Chief Deputy Majority Whip.

The decision to tap Cantor for the highest appointed position in the House after just two years in Congress caught many by surprise. But most saw Cantor’s selection by Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) as sage; Cantor was the only Jewish Republican in the incoming House and represented a valuable asset in terms of fundraising and in reaching out to Jewish conservatives.

In welcoming Cantor to the House leadership team, Abramoff held a $500-a-plate fundraiser at his deli, Stacks.

Long an advocate of reaching out to conservative Jewish voters, Cantor’s selection likely put him in good spirits. And as a popular tribal lobbyist, he had also won on another front: crushing an attempt by another Native American tribe to open a casino that would have cost his client tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue. Abramoff had momentum.

Using a 2000 Federal Elections Commission ruling that essentially allowed tribes to contribute without limits to political campaigns, Abramoff garnered clients from the $18.5 billion-a-year tribal gaming industry and increased his allies in Congress by directing hundreds of thousands of tribal dollars to Republican members, who in turn favored his clients.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=226

Great timeline put together by the way!

[Trillo]

1. I wonder if the name of the sandwich represents a campaign

contribution, and if so, was each sale appropriately accounted for?

[SpiralHawk]

2. Hey, what's in the Cantor sandwich?

I think baloney is a safe bet.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Is baloney kosher?

[bertha katzenengel]

9. It was tuna. Cantor asked them to change it to roast beef on challah.

See link in the rawstory article.

[CornField]

3. Interesting, but I think it misses the point of Abramoff & the tribes

Abramoff may have passed on some of the monies he gathered from the tribes to members of the GOP... matter-of-fact, I would be shocked if he didn't. He is well known as a GOP supporter.

The scam was run by Abramoff, public relations consultant Michael Scanlon, and Southern Regional Chairman of the Bush-Cheney Campaign Ralph Reed. Here's a glimpse:

Abramoff and Scanlon hired Reed and his consulting company, Century Strategies, at the tune of $4.2 million dollars to form a coalition with his Christian contacts to sway public opinion in relation to a casinos. When casinos were shut down, key tribal members would then be approached by Abramoff and Scanlon. Opposition would be smeared so that those same key tribal members could win council seats and, in turn, hire both Abramoff and Scanlon in multi-million dollar contracts to try and re-open the closed casinos.

While all of this was going on, according to the Washington Post, the group was trading e-mail which discussed tribal members and leaders in very derogatory terms ("idiots" and "troglodytes").

Scanlon is a former spokesperson for Delay and Abramoff has been in Washington for a long time as a GOP shrill. This whole mess was under investigation by grand jury prior to the election. (Abramoff was being questioned by Sen. McCain and Campbell -- Scanlon was dodging.) I haven't heard a peep about this since then.

[bertha katzenengel]

10. I've heard a LOT about it since the election.

Staying very closely attuned to this story where I work. Plenty of articles in the Washington Post about Abramoff, Scanlon, DeLay, etc., and all their fithly dealings on Capitol Hill.

[lala_rawraw]

5. Hmmm

Have you read the entire thing or just the Sandwich part?

The Deli, all of them I think, were closed for "money" funneling issues. So the sandwich lead in, and I like it, is representng simply how corrupt and how tight this bunch is. The big news, even bigger in this than Abrmaoff, is Hastert.

[Robbien]

6. You fell into the DU LBN trap

When posting a story in DU, you have to consider only one in five readers will click thru so you need to pick which paragraphs you chose to post. The sandwich story is fine when reading the whole article, but it is going to be the focal point if those are the paragraphs chosen when the story is exerpted here.

[lala_rawraw]

7. Ah

Thanks much letting me know. I always click though, I must be one in five. I feel so borg:)

[salin]

8. Caught that ... letter demonstrating support from Hastert

and within six days the cashing of more than 6,000 by Hastert. Great timeline in the article.

[Robbien]

11. I see Ralph Reed is another member of the Abramoff gang

and he is cashing in his chips for a run at politics

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/03/27/MNGMTBUDAN1.DTL

If this casino mess ever got its day in court it could bring down some very major players in the far right coalition.

[quaoar]

12. Abramoff is the key

to bringing down the entire Republican empire.

Pile enough charges on this asshole and he'll be ready to sing like a canary.

[lala_rawraw]

13. My guess

Is they are still backing delay because he may be saying "i am not going down alone" type of thing. If he goes, then you realize the implications and how many of the House would have to be investigated? Texas, as much as I like the state, has produced an ugly political coup, so ugly, it will probably take down this country... trying once previously under Nixon.