The tribes, republicans and christians: investigations ongoing?

[CornField]

Are any of my fellow DUers keeping tabs on all the various news articles about the links between the republican party, republican lobbists, the Indian Tribes and national Christian organizations?

It would include Tom DeLay, Jack Ambramoff, Michael Scanlon, Ralph Reed, Century Strategies, and other smaller players.

[classof56]

1. I'm not familiar with this issue. Do you have a link?

Would like to learn more. Will google if there's no single link with the info. Thanks!

Class of 56

[CornField]

3. Here are a couple from WaPo

From Sept. 26: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50258-2004Sep25.html

Insiders Worked Both Sides of Gaming Issue: E-mails Suggest Men Tried to Exploit Closure of Casino for Huge Fees From Tribe

Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and public relations consultant Michael Scanlon quietly worked with conservative religious activist Ralph Reed to help the state of Texas shut down an Indian tribe's casino in 2002, then the two quickly persuaded the tribe to pay $4.2 million to try to get Congress to reopen it.
...
Ten days after the Tigua Indians' $60 million-a-year casino was shuttered in February 2002, Abramoff wrote a tribal representative that he would get Republicans in Congress to rectify the "gross indignity perpetuated by the Texas state authorities," assuring him that he had already lined up "a couple of Senators willing to ram this through," according to the e-mails.

What he did not reveal was that he and Scanlon had been paying Reed, an avowed foe of gambling, to encourage public support for Cornyn's effort to close two Indian casinos in Texas. Abramoff, one of Washington's powerhouse Republican lobbyists until his work came under scrutiny by law enforcement agencies this year, has long been close to Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition and now southern regional chairman of President Bush's reelection campaign. Both have political ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), as does Scanlon, who had served as his spokesman.
...
(more)

From Sept. 30: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60780-2004Sep29.html

Ex-Lobbyist Is Assailed at Hearing: Senators Say Pair Influenced Indian Tribes to Bilk Them

Former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and public relations executive Michael Scanlon formed a secret partnership that corruptly influenced Indian tribal elections in order to bilk tribes that operate gambling casinos out of more than $66 million in fees, lawmakers charged yesterday during an unusual Senate committee hearing.

Abramoff, appearing under subpoena before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, endured blistering attacks from senator after senator, turning aside all questions by invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Scanlon dodged U.S. marshals who attempted to serve him with a subpoena compelling him to appear, according to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who with the panel's chairman, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.), has been leading the seven-month investigation into Abramoff's and Scanlon's activities.

Nighthorse Campbell said the documentary trail developed by the committee, including the e-mails released yesterday, tell a story of unbounded greed. He said he believes Abramoff privately showed bigotry and contempt for tribal officials who were awarding him and Scanlon multimillion-dollar contracts, referring to them as "idiots" and "troglodytes."
...
The activities of Abramoff, once a powerful lobbyist with extensive ties to Republican leaders, and Scanlon, a former spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), are also being investigated by a federal grand jury in Washington.

(more)

[CornField]

4. Oh, and this one from the Iconoclast

http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/Columns/Rat/rat01.htm

Question: Did Money From Indian Casinos Fund Redistricting Efforts?

...
Six Indian tribes saw more than $66 million taken from their collective coffers to be spread as grease to improve their chances of being better heard in Washington. There are claims, however, that knowledge of the removal of their savings, or profits, was not well known by some individuals who should have known that funds were being withdrawn.

Several significant federal agencies are looking into the matter.

One question centers around whether certain casino operations were inappropriately shut down as part of a secret deal.

(more)

[politicaholic]

2. I think the expenditures to the Faith Based Initiative is public domain.

Isn't it funny that the Faith Based Initiative has the initials FBI?

I wonder how much money can fall through the cracks on that little fact alone.

[MergeLeft]

5. there was some scuttlebutt about this in the Okla press

in late summer. August maybe? Not a peep since.