[Mb-civic] Lawmakers Under Scrutiny in Probe of Lobbyist - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Lawmakers Under Scrutiny in Probe of Lobbyist
Ney and DeLay Among the Members of Congress Said to Be a Focus of 
Abramoff Investigation

By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, November 26, 2005; A01

The Justice Department's wide-ranging investigation of former lobbyist 
Jack Abramoff has entered a highly active phase as prosecutors are 
beginning to move on evidence pointing to possible corruption in 
Congress and executive branch agencies, lawyers involved in the case said.

Prosecutors have already told one lawmaker, Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), 
and his former chief of staff that they are preparing a possible bribery 
case against them, according to two sources knowledgeable about the 
matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The 35 to 40 investigators and prosecutors on the Abramoff case are 
focused on at least half a dozen members of Congress, lawyers and others 
close to the probe said. The investigators are looking at payments made 
by Abramoff and his colleagues to the wives of some lawmakers and at 
actions taken by senior Capitol Hill aides, some of whom went to work 
for Abramoff at the law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP, lawyers and others 
familiar with the probe said.

Former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R), now facing separate campaign 
finance charges in his home state of Texas, is one of the members under 
scrutiny, the sources said. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), Rep. John T. 
Doolittle (R-Calif.) and other members of Congress involved with Indian 
affairs, one of Abramoff's key areas of interest, are also said to be 
among them.

Prosecutions and plea deals have become more likely, the lawyers said, 
now that Abramoff's former partner -- public relations executive Michael 
Scanlon -- has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy and to testify about 
gifts that he and his K Street colleagues showered on lawmakers, 
allegedly in exchange for official favors.

An attorney for DeLay, whose wife worked for a lobbying firm that 
received client referrals from Abramoff, said there was no connection 
between her work and congressional business. A spokesman for Doolittle, 
whose wife received payments from Abramoff's lobbying firm, also said 
there was no connection with her husband's position. Burns's office has 
said his actions were consistent with his support for improving 
conditions for Indian tribes.

Ney is the congressman whose name has surfaced most prominently in the 
Abramoff investigation. His spokesman and attorney have said for weeks 
that Ney has not been told he is a target of the inquiry, even while 
acknowledging that his office has received a grand jury subpoena and 
that his activities were mentioned in Scanlon's plea agreement.

But the sources said that during the third week of October prosecutors 
told Ney and his former chief of staff, Neil Volz, that they were 
preparing a bribery case based in part on activities that occurred in 
October 2000. Abramoff and another business partner, Adam Kidan, were 
also told that they are targets in that case, the sources said.

The five-year statute of limitations for filing charges based on those 
events expired last month; the prosecutors sought and received a waiver 
of the deadline from all four men while they continue their 
investigation, the sources said. Prosecutors are often able to obtain 
such waivers by giving the targets a choice of being indicted right away 
or granting more time to see if information might surface that 
exonerates them.

Ney's attorney, Mark H. Tuohey, did not return calls seeking comment on 
the waiver. Ney spokesman Brian Walsh said the office had no comment, as 
did a lawyer for Volz.

The attorneys of Abramoff and Kidan did not return calls seeking comment.

The events in 2000 that interest investigators are connected to the 
purchase by Abramoff and Kidan of SunCruz Casinos, owner of a fleet of 
Florida gambling boats. Ney twice placed comments in the Congressional 
Record about SunCruz, first criticizing its former owner when Abramoff 
and Kidan were in difficult purchase negotiations and then, in October, 
praising Kidan's new management. Abramoff and Kidan are facing trial in 
January on charges of defrauding lenders in their purchase of the casino 
boats.

The statute of limitations may also soon run out on a 2001 Super Bowl 
trip sponsored by SunCruz that sources said investigators have reviewed. 
The Washington Post reported earlier this year that aides to Burns and 
DeLay were ferried to Tampa on a SunCruz corporate jet arranged by 
Abramoff. Ney and his sons were invited to the 2001 Super Bowl outing, 
former Abramoff associates said, but did not go.

The Hill aides were treated to the game and a night of gambling on a Sun 
Cruz ship. They were offered $500 in gambling chips, sources 
knowledgeable about the trip said.

The Post has reported that Burns, who received $137,000 in contributions 
from Abramoff lobbyists and their tribal clients, obtained a 
controversial $3 million school construction grant for one of Abramoff's 
wealthy tribal clients after pressuring the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Investigators are also gathering information about Abramoff's hiring of 
several congressional wives, sources said, as well as his referral of 
clients to Alexander Strategy Group, a lobbying and consulting firm run 
by former senior aides to DeLay. Financial disclosure forms show that 
the firm employed DeLay's wife, Christine, from 1998 to 2002.

Former Abramoff lobbying associates have said that Abramoff shared some 
of his high-paying clients with the group, including Malaysian 
interests, the Mississippi Choctaw Indian tribe and online gambling 
firms. Federal investigators have questioned some former Abramoff 
associates about whether those referrals were related to Christine 
DeLay's employment there, sources said.

Alexander Strategy Group is run by former DeLay senior staffers Edwin A. 
Buckham and Tony C. Rudy. Rudy served as DeLay's deputy chief of staff 
until 2001, when he took a job with Abramoff, and later moved on to join 
Buckham.

Investigators are looking into whether Rudy aided Abramoff's lobbying 
clients while he was working on the Hill, the sources said, and are 
reviewing payments from Abramoff clients and associates to Liberty 
Consulting, a political firm founded by Rudy's wife, Lisa. The 
Washington Post reported last month that Rudy, while on DeLay's staff, 
helped scuttle a bill opposed by eLottery Inc., an Abramoff client, and 
that Abramoff had eLottery pay a foundation to hire Liberty Consulting.

Richard Cullen, an attorney for the DeLays, said Christine DeLay was 
hired by Buckham, an old family friend, to determine the favorite 
charity of every member of Congress. She was paid $3,200 to $3,400 a 
month for three years, or about $115,000 total, he said.

"It wasn't like she did this 9 to 5, but it was an ongoing project," 
Cullen said. He said Christine DeLay's work was commensurate with the 
project and had nothing to do with her husband or any official 
congressional business. "This was something that she found to be very 
interesting, very challenging and very worthwhile," Cullen said.

Rudy and Buckham and their attorneys did not return calls seeking comment.

Abramoff's connections to Doolittle are also of interest to 
investigators, sources said. Doolittle's former chief of staff, Kevin A. 
Ring, went to work with Abramoff. Doolittle's wife, Julie, owned a 
consulting firm that was hired by Abramoff and his firm, Greenberg 
Traurig, to do fundraising for a charity he founded. Two sources close 
to the investigation said that Ring, while working for Abramoff, was an 
intermediary in the hiring of Julie Doolittle's firm, Sierra Dominion 
Financial Solutions Inc., which last year received a subpoena from the 
grand jury investigating Abramoff.

Julie Doolittle's attorney, William L. Stauffer Jr., said Sierra 
Dominion Financial was hired by Greenberg Traurig to provide "event 
planning, marketing and related services, as requested by Mr. Abramoff" 
for Abramoff's Capital Athletic Foundation and his Signatures 
restaurant. Sierra Dominion received a monthly retainer from Greenberg 
Traurig from January 2003 until February 2004, at a rate similar to that 
paid by other Sierra Dominion clients, Stauffer said.

Abramoff frequently used the athletic foundation as a pass-through 
organization to run lobbying efforts and to pay for expenses, records 
show. Julie Doolittle was hired to put on a fundraiser for the 
foundation at the International Spy Museum, but the event was canceled 
because it had been scheduled to take place just at the Iraq war was 
commencing, Stauffer said.

"Sierra Dominion primarily performed public relations and other event 
planning services for the Spy Museum event," Stauffer said in an e-mail 
reply to questions. "This included responding to all individuals calling 
the Capital Athletic Foundation concerning the Spy Museum event, 
identifying (and contacting) possible attendees for the event, and 
assisting in fund raising strategy and letters."

Doolittle's office denied any connection between the firm's work and 
official acts.

"In no way did Sierra Dominion's business services work for Greenberg 
Traurig have any relationship to Congressman Doolittle's official duties 
as a member of the House of Representatives," said Doolittle spokeswoman 
Laura Blackmann.

"Congressman Doolittle has never received a subpoena regarding this 
matter, nor has he ever been contacted by the Justice Department to 
provide information or be questioned," she said.

The Justice Department investigation is also looking into Abramoff's 
influence among executive branch officials. Sources said prosecutors are 
continuing to seek information about Abramoff's dealings with 
then-Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles, including a job offer 
from the lobbyist at a time when he was seeking department actions on 
behalf of his tribal clients.

The former top procurement official in the Bush administration, David H. 
Safavian, has already been charged with lying and obstruction of justice 
in connection with the Abramoff investigation. Safavian, who traveled to 
Scotland with Ney on a golf outing arranged by Abramoff, is accused of 
concealing from federal investigators that Abramoff was seeking to do 
business with the General Services Administration at the time of the 
golf trip. Safavian was then GSA chief of staff.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/25/AR2005112501423.html?referrer=email
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