csua.org/u/cgt -> news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050622/ap_on_go_co/delay_tribal_donations;_ylt=Ar7.kZ3MsDCE6YPMF2TGFokb.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-
Other invoices such as this one from Michael Scanlon, a business partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, carry similar commands for large sums. Before it was all over the tribe had spent $32 million of its casino profits o n a lobbying effort that many now question as exorbitant, and tribal mem bers had ousted their leadership.
DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority and Americans for a Republican M ajority never reported receiving any checks from the Louisiana tribe to federal or state regulators, their reports show. The donations, however, are recorded in memos and ledgers kept by the tribe. "Enclosed please find a check for $10,000 to the Texans for a Republican Majority. This check needs to be reissued to America 21," Abramoff, now under criminal investigation, wrote the Coushattas in a May 2002 letter obtained by The Associated Press. Months earlier, the tribe was asked to cancel a $25,000 check to American s for a Republican Majority and send that money instead to a group calle d Sixty Plus that helped Republicans in their two-year effort to get a M edicare prescription drug benefit through Congress. People familiar with Abramoff's transactions with the Coushattas, who spo ke only on condition of anonymity because of ongoing grand jury and Sena te probes, said Abramoff redirected the checks at the request of one of DeLay's assistants. The aide asked Abramoff to get the checks changed, expressing concern tha t donations from tribal casinos shouldn't appear on the rolls of DeLay's conservative political groups, the sources told the AP. Don McGahn, a lawyer who represents one of DeLay's groups, said he had no immediate comment Tuesday. Andrew Blum, a spokesman for Abramoff, decli ned to comment. Abramoff is under investigation by the Senate and a federal grand jury ov er allegations he and a colleague overcharged Indian tribes for their lo bbying.
President Bush and DeLay are also under scrutiny, denies wrongdoing. Kent Cooper, a former federal election regulator, said the transactions s how how powerful leaders and special interests can hide money from a sys tem that relies on public disclosure as its ethical safeguard. "This shows how easy it is for interest groups, lobbyists or politicians to manipulate or redirect money into whatever avenue is dark and free of roadblocks, and the average person never sees any of it," Cooper said. Tribal leaders who provided $32 million for Abramoff's lobbying efforts n ow question why money they intended to benefit DeLay causes was often di sguised or routed elsewhere. "There's a pattern of trying to keep high profile entities out of the pic ture," Coushatta council member David Sickey said. "To me it tells me th ere's some effort at concealment." The Coushatta tribe had hired Abramoff, a well-connected Republican lobby ist and fundraiser for Bush, to lobby in Washington on various pieces of legislation affecting their casinos such as the Indian Gaming Act, labo r provisions and efforts to make it tougher to approve new gambling faci lities, according to lobbying reports filed on Capitol Hill. The tribe was flush with cash at the time from its booming casino. Internal memos show Abramoff specifically advised the tribes when to send political donations and to whom. Invoices show that among the charges was a $185,000 payment for use of a Washington arena skybox Abramoff leased. The AP reported earlier this ye ar that DeLay treated some of his donors to a May 2000 performance of th e Three Tenors opera singers in Abramoff's skybox. A few weeks later, DeLay took a trip to Europe arranged by Abramoff. The House leader reported that the trip was paid for by an interest group, w hen in fact it was underwritten in part by Indian tribes. DeLay has said he was never told that tribes bankrolled his trip. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee chaired by Republican John McCain of Arizona was set to examine the relationships between Abramoff and the tr ibes at a hearing Wednesday in Washington. In August 2001, more than a year after the skybox and European trip, the Coushatta tribe was told that a $25,000 check to DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority should be "voided and reissued" to Sixty Plus, the tribal memos show. Later, one of Abramoff's assistants would ask the tribe to void and reiss ue a second check to ARMPAC, this time for $20,000. "Jack Abramoff asked me to forward these checks to you that have been ret urned from the various groups because they need to be reissued with eith er different addresses or names," the assistant wrote in April 2002. A month later, the request came in to reroute the $10,000 donation from T exans for a Republican Majority to America 21, the Christian organizatio n that works on voter turnout. A ledger titled "Coushatta Requests" shows thousands of dollars next to t he names of dozens of congressmen and political action committees, Democ rat and Republican alike though mostly Republicans. A tribal official said the "requests" were actually demands made by Abramoff. The men who signed the invoices for Abramoff and his colleague Michael Sc anlon have been thrown out of office in tribal elections over the last s everal weeks. "We still haven't gotten to the bottom of it," said Verlis Williams, on h is first day on the job at the tribal council office.
Tom DeLay, R-Texas, takes his seat as he attends the 2005 President's Dinner at the Washington Convention Center, Tuesda y, June 14, 2005 in Washington. The evening event caps off a day of majo r fund-raising for Republicans in the House, Senate and officials from t he National Republican Party.
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