Remember USA Black that was pulled from the Abramoff Investigation?

[maddezmom]

Bush removal ended Guam investigation
US attorney's demotion halted probe of lobbyist
By Walter F. Roche Jr., Los Angeles Times | August 8, 2005

WASHINGTON -- A US grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor, and the probe ended soon after.

The previously undisclosed Guam inquiry is separate from a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia that is investigating allegations that Abramoff bilked Indian tribes out of millions of dollars.

In Guam, a US territory in the Pacific, investigators were looking into Abramoff's secret arrangement with Superior Court officials to lobby against a court reform bill then pending in Congress. The legislation, since approved, gave the Guam Supreme Court authority over the Superior Court.

In 2002, Abramoff was retained by the Superior Court in what was an unusual arrangement for a public agency. The Los Angeles Times reported in May that Abramoff was paid with a series of $9,000 checks funneled through a Laguna Beach, Calif., lawyer to disguise the lobbyist's role working for the Guam court. No separate contract was authorized for Abramoff's work.

more: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/08/bush_removal_ended_guam_investigation/


Report warns Guam, CNMI.....shared with Abramoff?
Post-9/11 report details terror threat


A federal government regional security specialist prepared the report five years ago, but it has resurfaced in light of the federal conspiracy case filed earlier last week against Mark D. Zachares.

Zachares, a former Northern Marianas Cabinet official and ex-congressional staffer, said he used his job while still employed in the U.S. Congress to seek a copy of the report at the request of now disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

~snip~

Meissner report
The 2002 security report strongly recommended tighter scrutiny of foreigners entering the islands, in part by applying U.S. immigration law in the Northern Marianas and positioning federal Customs agents at Guam points of entry for passengers and cargo.
The report is labeled "sensitive -- for limited official use only".

R. G. Meissner, a regional security specialist with the U.S. Attorney's Office East District of Virginia prepared the report on April 25, 2002.

The report was prepared at the request of Frederick Black, then-acting U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the CNMI.

more: http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070430/NEWS01/704300301

Young aide's link to Abramoff sheds new light on Marianas bill

Published: April 29, 2007
The guilty plea last week by a former senior committee aide to Rep. Don Young sheds new light on the circumstances surrounding Young’s success seven years ago in blocking reforms of the sweatshop industry on the Mariana Islands.

But the plea also raises new questions about why Young, R-Alaska, took the actions he did.

Former Alaskan Mark Zachares, a Mariana Islands official when Young blocked the reforms, admitted Tuesday that he later conspired to illegally use his official position on the House Transportation Committee to enrich disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, once the lobbyist for the island commonwealth.

~snip~

Young stopped the bill cold, saying it interfered with the commonwealth’s right to self-rule. He was supported by then Majority Whip Tom DeLay, who described the Marinas as “a perfect petri dish of capitalism.”

“I’m not going to move anything,” Young said at the time. “Why should you move anything that’s really been fueled, very frankly, by hysteria reporting by the media?”

Young’s assertion was false. The measure that found its way to Young’s roadblock was fueled by the eyewitness account of none other than U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska.


more:http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8838800p-8739449c.html

New Prosecutor Scandal Slams Into "Old" Abramoff Scandal
Related to the hotter and hotter scandal over U.S. Attorney firings, NPR's Morning Edition reports that Guam's U.S. attorney Frederick A. Black subpoenaed Jack Abramoff, who then represented the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands garment manufacturers, accused of employing workers in sweatshop conditions." (Guam is the largest island.) The next day, Black was fired.

Adds ThinkProgress:

In 2002, Black launched an investigation into Jack Abramoff’s “secret arrangement with Superior Court officials to lobby against a court reform bill then pending in Congress.” On Nov. 18, 2002, Black issued a grand jury subpoena to the Guam Superior Court to turn over all records involving the lobbying contract with Abramoff. The administration swiftly punished Black.
A 2005 L.A. Times article -- "Inquiry Into Lobbyist Sputters After Demotion: The unusual financial deal between Jack Abramoff and officials in Guam drew scrutiny" -- has much more:

A U.S. grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor and the inquiry ended soon after.
The previously undisclosed Guam inquiry is separate from... allegations that Abramoff bilked Indian tribes out of millions of dollars.


In Guam, an American territory in the Pacific, investigators were looking into Abramoff's secret arrangement with Superior Court officials to lobby against a court revision bill then pending in the U.S. Congress. The legislation, since approved, gave the Guam Supreme Court authority over the Superior Court.
And what about Tom Delay, then-Speaker of the House and then-Abramoff ally who famously golfed with Abramoff in the Marianas? Did he call Karl Rove and the President to demand the firing of U.S. Attorney Black?

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/03/new_prosecutor_.html

Pair-a-dice...Guam's DOJ Gamble, the ante in the U.S. Attorneys firings
Duke Falconer, in collaboration with ePluribus Staff Writers: Cho, AvaHome & Roxy
11 April 2007
Long before the public was familiar with Kyle Sampson and his role in the firing of U.S. Attorneys Ryan, Lam, Charlton, Cummins, Iglesias, McKay, Bogden or Chiara by the Alberto Gonzales' Justice Department, his name surfaces in the shakeup that brewed thousands of miles away in the Territory of Guam. In light of what has surfaced with the recent U.S. Attorney firings, was the Bush administration testing the waters on that tiny island four years ago and pushing the envelope to see just how far it could go injecting politics into the U.S. justice system?

In 2002, President G.W. Bush's Administration abruptly removed the Acting U.S. Attorney in Guam, U.S. Attorney Frederick A. Black from his post. Black had been the Acting U.S. Attorney for Guam since 1991 when he was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, the current President's father.


Black was in the midst of investigating what might have touched on the lobbyist Jack Abramoff's influence peddling with government officials. Evidence exists that suggest that just prior to Black's demotion, Jack Abramoff, who was ultimately convicted of defrauding of American Indian tribes and corruption of public officials, was actively seeking Black's replacement. From The Nation, Attorneygate in Guam:

"I don't care if they appoint bozo the clown, we need to get rid of Fred Black," Abramoff wrote to colleagues in March 2002.

The day after Black announced he was launching an investigation into then-governor Carl Gutierrez and his ties to the now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff himself, Black was informed he would be replaced by Leonardo Rapadas, whose recommendation was apparently made directly to Karl Rove, by Fred Radewagen, a lobbyist under contract to then-governor Gutierrez. The confirmation process for Rapadas was supposedly "well under way" when his nomination was first announced on November 19, 2002 and was completed by the U.S. Senate in May 2003.1

more:http://www.epluribusmedia.org/features/2007/us_attorney_fred_black.html


Abramoff inquiry looks into dealings by ex-Justice lawyer
Criminal division attorney had ties to colleague of lobbyist's
By Susan Schmidt
WASHINGTON POST

Article Launched: 04/28/2007 03:09:25 AM PDT


WASHINGTON -- A federal task force investigating the activities of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff has in recent weeks been looking into whether one of Abramoff's colleagues improperly traded favors with a Justice Department lawyer, sources familiar with the Abramoff investigation said Friday.
The lawyer, Robert Coughlin, resigned April 6 as deputy chief of staff in the Criminal Division, citing personal reasons, a department spokesman said.

"Bob gave a personal reason for his resignation," said spokesman Bryan Sierra.

He stressed that Coughlin "had no involvement" in the department's investigation of Abramoff.

Coughlin had worked in the criminal division since 2005 but was recused from the Abramoff inquiry because of a longtime personal friendship with Kevin Ring, one of Abramoff's lobbying colleagues whose actions are under investigation, a law enforcement source said.

Investigators are looking into dealings between the two in 2001 and 2002, when Coughlin worked in the Justice Department's Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, the sources

more: http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_5773797?source=rss

Ed Buckham In Justice Department's Sights

(The Politico) I wanted to comment on this story in the Houston Chronicle today on Ed Buckham, a former aide to ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and a close ally of imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Let me first quote from the article, written by Michael Hedges: "But prosecutors could decide within weeks whether to bring charges against former DeLay staff chief Edwin Buckham, according to sources close to the investigation who spoke on the condition that they not be identified. The decision should give a clear signal on whether DeLay remains in legal jeopardy, the sources said."

Buckham is a critical piece of the ongoing federal corruption probe into DeLay, and despite what the former Majority Leader says publicly, he is under active investigation by the FBI and Justice Department. As Hedges points out, if Buckham is indicted or pleas out, then the Justice Department will likely go after DeLay.

The FBI has long been looking into Buckham's own activities, including more than $115,000 in payments he made to Christine DeLay, wife of the former congressman. Buckham and the DeLays claimed the work was appropriate and involving charity work, but Democrats, watchdog groups, and the press have repeatedly raised questions over them.

Biuckham also has ties to Brent Wilkes, a California defense contractor who was allegedly involved in the Duke Cunningham bribery case.

more:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/25/politics/politico/thecrypt/main2728070.shtml



just pulling together info for my journal :)

[Richard Steele]

1. Rec #5.

[maddezmom]

3. thanks

just been surfing and trying to pull together some stuff all in one place. I'm sure it's been covered by much more competent DU'ers in the past.

[maddezmom]

2. Corruption Comes Back To Haunt GOP

Corruption Comes Back To Haunt GOP
The New Republic: Bush Administration Finally Tripping Over Its Own Crookedness

~snip~

Of late, the U.S. attorneys purge has proved a particularly rich and deep vein of White House chicanery and resulting embarrassment. If it wasn't gratifying enough to watch our hapless attorney general convince even members of his own party that he is both corrupt and stupid, now comes word that the U.S. Office of Special Counsel is organizing a task force to investigate allegations that a variety of Bushies have, in a variety of ways, violated the Hatch Act, which aims to insulate government workers from precisely the sort of partisan politicking this administration finds so irresistible.

Some allegations directly involve the purge, such as the question of whether former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was canned because he didn't prosecute enough Democrats. Others revolve around the as-yet-unknown number of partisan political briefings that Karl Rove and his winged monkeys gave political appointees in federal agencies. Currently, the best known of these events is a January presentation by Rove deputy J. Scott Jennings, in which he gave several folks at the General Services Administration (GSA) a tutorial on both the Top 20 House Democratic "targets" for '08 and the three dozen Republican seats the White House most wants to protect. Lest anyone miss the underlying point of Jennings's little lecture, GSA administrator Lurita Doan reportedly followed up by asking how agency projects could be used to help the cause. Blatant? Certainly. Illegal? Possibly. Unusual? Hardly. On Wednesday, the White House acknowledged conducting 20 such briefings in at least 15 government agencies since the start of 2006, with many more conducted in past years.

But it gets better! Even as Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch launches his probe, he himself is under investigation by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for allegedly politicizing his agency. (Bloch's sins are said to include exiling or otherwise punishing any underling who disagreed with him and, in his capacity as chief protector of government whistleblowers, tossing out legitimate whistleblower cases in order to claim progress in reducing the office backlog. He also stands accused of trying to intimidate staffers being interviewed in the OPM's probe of Bloch.) In fact, this week, an attorney representing disgruntled Special Counsel employees harrumphed to The New York Times that Bloch is only convening his task force in a desperate ploy to divert attention from his own misdeeds.

If so, how perfect would that be? I can think of few ironies more delicious than if the Bushies packed the government with partisan hacks who behaved so badly that at least one of them, in an effort to cover his own a**, wound up launching a probe of other partisan hacks. So widespread and egregious is the hackery in the Bush White House that it has finally begun to collapse under the weight of its own ineptitude.

more:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/27/opinion/main2735489.shtml

[Joanne98]

4. Tribe settles suit with Abramoff employer

AUSTIN — The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Livingston has settled a lawsuit with the former employer of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff for an undisclosed amount of money.

The lawsuit was settled with the law firm of Greenberg Traurig, whom Abramoff worked for while representing Indian tribes on casino issues before Congress. The settlement ends the case against Abramoff and two other Greenberg Traurig employees.

The tribe dropped its complaint against media consultant Michael Scanlon, who had been the press secretary for former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, before going to work with Abramoff. It also dropped a complaint against Ralph Reed.

"We are satisfied with the settlement, and we are pleased to have the Abramoff matter resolved," said tribal Chairwoman Jo Ann Battise. "We are now focused on restoring our right to game so that we may create employment and business opportunities for us and our neighbors."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4745868.html

[maddezmom]

7. another great link, speaking of Scanlon and Delay

~snip~

Deals for testimony

Several former DeLay associates have been helping federal law enforcement agents as they continue their investigation of Buckham and others. That includes Abramoff himself, as part of a plea deal with the Justice Department in January 2006 in which he admitted to charges of conspiracy and mail fraud.

Also taking deals for testimony were former DeLay staff members Tony Rudy and Michael Scanlon, both of whom had close ties to Abramoff.

Scanlon left DeLay's staff to open a public relations firm, and with Abramoff concocted a scheme to swindle Indian tribes interesting in lobbying Congress for gaming rights out of tens of millions of dollars.

Then, just three days before DeLay bowed out of his House race last year, Rudy pleaded guilty to bribing public officials, including former Ohio GOP Rep. Bob Ney.

Rudy did not implicate DeLay in court documents released in his plea agreement but indicated cooperation to come, noting, "(The plea bargain) does not include all of the facts known to me ... concerning criminal activity in which I or others engaged."

more:http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4746052.html

[jasmeel]

5. More of * disrupting federal investigations. I hope this gets tied in

with the other attorney firing scandals!

[K8-EEE]

6. They're Just SO BUSTED!!

Can't wait to hear the GOP candidates brag about GOP "values" and "integrity" yada yada yada like in 2000 & 2004!!!