Pombo Accepted Money from Tribe Employing Abramoff

By Nick Juliano
The Lodi News Sentinel
Monday 05 December 2005

As the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian tribe fought with the federal government, tribal leaders reached out to a powerful Washington lobbying firm and later to an influential congressman who could help their cause.

One of the tribe's lobbyists, Jack Abramoff, tried to help the tribe by talking with officials within the U.S. Department of the Interior. He, another lobbyist for the Mashpee, and the tribal members have together contributed at least $40,000 since 2003 to Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy.

Pombo chairs the Committee on Resources that oversees the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Pombo last year ushered a bill through his committee that would have helped the Mashpee and several other tribes fighting for federal recognition, which would allow the tribes to receive special benefits.

The Tracy Republican has never been linked to any alleged wrongdoing by Jack Abramoff - who is under investigation for allegedly defrauding several American Indian tribes and giving gifts to lawmakers in exchange for official favors. A spokesman said Pombo did nothing wrong, and Mashpee officials have said their tribe was not defrauded.

Pombo was not influenced to act by the political contributions, and Abramoff never personally lobbied the congressman, said Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for the Resources Committee. Furthermore, Kennedy said, Pombo is not a target in any ongoing investigations of Abramoff.

"No one has contacted him in any way regarding these issues," he said.

At least half a dozen lawmakers could be caught up in the Abramoff investigation, including members of Congress involved in American Indian affairs, one of Abramoff's key areas of interest, according to unnamed sources close to the case quoted by The Washington Post.

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee has had several hearings to examine Abramoff's lobbying activities and the reach of his influence.

Pombo's committee has the jurisdiction to hold similar hearings, and House Democrats have requested that he do so. But Kennedy said such hearings would be redundant because of the number of other agencies looking into the lobbyist.

Kennedy denied that Pombo has avoided hearings to protect Abramoff or any other lawmakers who allegedly received improper gifts from the lobbyist.

Members of the tribe, the Mashpee Wampanoag Indians, have donated at least $20,000 to Pombo's political group since he was named Committee on Resources Chairman on Jan. 8, 2003. Tribe members gave an additional $12,000 to his re-election campaign earlier this year.

The first Mashpee donation - $12,000 from six members of the tribe to Pombo's leadership political action committee, Rich PAC - came Sept. 29, 2003. That same day, Abramoff gave $5,000 to the fund. Abramoff also gave $2,000 to Pombo's re-election campaign days after he was named resources committee chairman.

In mid-2002, Abramoff instructed the Louisiana Coushatta Indians to give $5,000 to Sen. Byron Dorgan's political group, weeks after the North Dakota Democrat solicited support for a school funding program the tribe wanted to use, a lawyer for the tribe told The Associated Press. Dorgan has said he supported the program before he received the donation.

A spokesman for the Mashpee said neither Abramoff nor his associates coerced tribal members to give money, though the tribe and its lobbyists had been in contact with Pombo's staff in the weeks leading up to the contributions.

"Any donations were given freely by the tribal members in consultation with the strategy put together by their advisers," said Scott Ferson, a spokesman for the tribe.

Pombo and his staff also had several meetings in early 2004 with Glenn Marshall, a high-ranking Mashpee official, and other tribal officials and lobbyists, as he shepherded through his committee a bill that aimed to speed the tribe's recognition process. Marshall was called as a witness in a March 31, 2004, hearing before Pombo's committee.

Federal recognition gives a tribe certain sovereign rights and makes it eligible for social programs designed to benefit American Indians. Recognition also allows a tribe to open a casino - an option Mashpee tribal leaders have said they would consider but are not seriously pursuing.

Pombo's spokesman denied any connection between Pombo's legislation and the tribal donations.

"Likeminded individuals and organizations contribute to Chairman Pombo because they believe in him and support his agenda," Kennedy said. "And his agenda is dictated by (him) alone, long before contributions arrive in the mail at his campaign office."

The Mashpee, whose ancestors participated in the first Thanksgiving, had been unable to obtain federal recognition and had petitioned the government since 1976. Beginning as early as 2001, the Mashpee sought out the help of professional lobbyists Michael Smith and Kevin Ring, from the Washington firm Greenberg Traurig LLP, where Abramoff also worked. Ring contributed $1,000 to Pombo after he was named resources chairman.

It was the tribe's rich history and compelling story that spurred Pombo to help the group, Kennedy said, not tribe members' contributions.

"One could call this tribe the poster tribe for the massive problems and bureaucracy associated with the recognition process," he said.

The Resources Committee passed a bill in September 2004 that would have forced the Bureau of Indian Affairs to speed its consideration of recognition petitions that had been filed prior to 1988. The bill, which would have affected as many as 10 tribes, never made it to the full House for a vote, and the Mashpee won a court decision earlier this year that had the same effect that Pombo's bill would have had.

Before the committee's action, Abramoff himself sought help from former Department of the Interior official Steven Griles through a mutual friend, Itallia Federici, who worked for a Republican environmental group founded by Secretary of the Interior

Gail Norton, according to e-mails from the Senate's investigation. Abramoff is also accused of funneling money from his tribal clients to Federici's group, the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy.

Smith, the Mashpee's lobbyist from Greenberg Traurig, wrote Abramoff about the Mashpee in late 2002, explaining the tribe's history and its problems with gaining federal recognition.

"For three years, the Mashpee have been on the 'ready to go active' list at Interior, though they have been skipped over for consideration several times .... The tribe believes that a bureaucrat in the Solicitor General's office has unfairly held them up," Smith wrote to Abramoff on Dec. 6, 2002.

That prompted Abramoff to forward the request to Federici, seeking her access to high-ranking Department of the Interior officials.

"Is there any way you might be able to discreetly find out whether this recognition is being held by one of our guys or one of the bureaucrats?" Abramoff asked Federici in a Jan. 6, 2003, e-mail. "They want me to help, but I don't want to get into something which might cause any problems for Steve (Griles) or the Secretary."

Records Show Burns' Abramoff Meetings

The Associated Press
Wednesday 07 December 2005

Washington - Sen. Conrad Burns and his staff met Jack Abramoff's lobbying team on at least eight occasions and collected $12,000 in donations around the time that the lawmaker took legislative action favorable to Abramoff's clients in the Northern Mariana Islands, records show.

The 2001 donations to Burns, a Montana Republican, included money directly from Abramoff and a key garment company executive in the Pacific islands who was part of the coalition paying Abramoff's firm to fend off stronger U.S. regulations on the islands.

In addition, two Burns staffers had accepted a trip arranged by Abramoff to attend the Super Bowl in Florida earlier that year.

At the time, Burns served on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that was considering legislation the Marianas opposed. He also ran a Senate appropriations subcommittee that controlled spending for the Interior Department, which regulates U.S. territories including the islands.

On May 23, 2001, Burns voted against a bill in the Senate Energy Committee that would have phased out a nonresident contract worker program benefiting the Marianas' garment industry. The committee approved the bill, but it never saw action on the Senate floor. In 1999, it had moved through the same committee by unanimous consent without objections from Burns or any other member.

Burns' office told The Associated Press this week that he could not recall why he didn't object to the bill in 1999 but that his opposition in 2001 was prompted by a report indicating changes to immigration laws could hurt the islands' economy. He said it wasn't influenced by Abramoff or any donations.

Abramoff's billing records, which AP obtained from the U.S. territorial islands under an open records request, show that in the three months before the vote, the lobbyist's team met twice with Burns and several more times with his Senate aides to discuss Marianas issues.

One of those meetings, between Burns' staff and Abramoff associate Todd A. Boulanger, occurred just six days before the vote.

Abramoff donated $5,000 to Burns' political action committee in February, just before the meetings started. His firm, Greenberg Traurig, donated $2,000 to Burns in March and Eloy Inos of Saipan donated $5,000 in April.

The Inos donation was first reported by The Billings Gazette on Dec. 3. Inos listed his employer as Tan Holdings, a member of the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association, another Abramoff client.

The Justice Department is investigating whether Abramoff, already charged with fraud in a Florida case, won any undue influence through donations and favors.

Burns defended the meetings, saying they are part of the democratic process.

"Advocates, paid and unpaid, exercising their right to petition their government provide information on many issues but you always know that they are representing a particular position based upon their client or issue preference," he said Dec. 5.

In all, AP stories over the last few months have documented how more than four dozen lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, took actions favorable to Abramoff clients around the time that they received large donations from the lobbyist and his clients.

Burns, who is up for re-election to a fourth term in 2006, received about $150,000 in donations from Abramoff, his firm and his clients between 2001 and 2004.

In addition to the Marianas, Burns wrote a letter backing an Indian school building program sought by Abramoff's tribal clients and helped arrange for Congress to provide money for it.

Burns said he hasn't been contacted by federal investigators in the Abramoff probe nor received any subpoenas. On Nov. 28, Burns wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, urging that his conduct be reviewed so he could be cleared of wrongdoing.

"I welcome your thorough and expeditious review of this matter so that it may be disposed of officially once and for all and these outrageous and wrongful allegations may be put to rest before we get into the 2006 re-election cycle," Burns wrote.

The billing records detail several meetings regarding the Marianas.

For instance, Abramoff associates met at least five times with Burns' staff as well as members of the Interior appropriations subcommittee staff he oversaw in spring 2001. At least some of the meetings, the billing records say, involved a federal matching funds program that helped the island with local construction projects.

The Marianas wanted relief from a requirement that the islands match some of the federal money it received.

In June, Burns' Senate subcommittee approved a committee version of the legislation including a provision that urged the Interior Department to re-evaluate the requirement, citing hard economic times in the islands.

Burns spokesman James Pendleton said he doesn't know whether Burns inserted the provision, but he did support it.