Chad Smith and...Jack Abramoff?

Wampum shows that Chief Smith did more than just talk economic development with Abramoff's shop. How many Cherokee voters will hear about this between now and the 23rd?

Chad Smith and...Abramoff?!?!

This guy keeps showing up like a bad penny. OKG News is reporting that Abramoff donated $1,500 to Chad Smith's 2002 re-election campaign. Then, in 2003, CNE (Cherokee Nation Enterprises) paid Abramoff $120,000, though the article doesn't say what the payments were for. Jon Velie, an attorney for the Freedmen, is claiming this as proof that Abramoff was involved in the March 3 election that kicked the Freedmen out of the tribe, though that seems like a bit of a stretch to me. Frankly, it's bad enough that Smith would accept money from Abramoff (and I noticed he doesn't say he donated the money to charity after Abramoff was convicted) or that CNE would fall for this huckster's routine.
Also blogged at Wampum.

ATTENTION VALUES VOTERS!!

The Republic Party supports slave labor and forced abortions. Does this bother you in any way whatsoever?

Uh, Thanks, But No Thanks

Today, jailed Indian-casino lobbyist Jack Abramoff discovered that he is not, in fact, Jewish. “Actually, I’m Native American,” Abramoff reported. “You know, a member of the tribe.”

From the Jewish Press (with tongue planted firmly in cheek). H/T to Indianz.com.

John Cornyn: Stooge, Goon or Flunky?

From the Somervell County Salon. When Senator John Cornyn (who was then Attorney General) shut down casinos operated by the Alabama-Coushatta and Tigua Tribes, was he doing so as a political stooge of Jack Abramoff, a goon for the Bush Campaign angry at the tribes for supporting Garry Mauro in 1998, or as a flunky of out-of-state gambling interests (thus betraying his own state)?

Meanwhile, Back At the Lincoln Bedroom...

...then-Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad paid Jack Abramoff $1.2 million for some face-time with President Bush in the Oval Office in May of 2002. This would be the same Mahathir Mohamad who used the "war on terror" as an excuse to jail his political opponents, and blamed the Asian Financial Crisis of the late 90's and his own political downfall on a "Jewish cabal" including George Soros who "ruled the world."
Lovely company we're keeping in the "Coalition of the Willing," huh?

Abramoff vs. Indian County, Part II

From the Left Coaster, some charming e-mails from Tom DeLay's "dear friend" Abramoff referring to some of the tribal clients he was swindling as "monkeys." I reiterate my suggestion that upon conviction, Abramoff be turned over to tribal governments for punishment.

Abramoff vs. Indian Country

Republicans (and their trained monkeys in the media and blogosphere) have been furiously trying to spin Abramoff-gate as a "bi-partisan" scandal, repeating over and over and over again the flat-out falsehood that he gave money to Democrats, too. The meat of this spin has been the fact that some of the tribes Abramoff's firm represented gave money to Democrats, apparently an attempt to insinuate that all money from Indian Country is somehow tainted. Now, an extensive analysis of campaign donations by The American Prospect shows that Abramoff's tribal clients actually REVERSED their historic pattern of donating to Democrats and started giving more money to Republicans once his firm was hired. Now this is not, repeat NOT, to suggest that all tribal leaders are completely blameless. If nothing else, some of them have at the very least been too free with their tribe's money, too secretive in their dealings with lobbyists, and duplicitous about it, on top of that. But we shouldn't let this excuse Right Wing attempts to smear all Native Americans in a desperate attempt to cover their own asses.

Wohlgemuth-Abramoff Connection?

In this recent story from The Texas Observer, notice that Arlene's name is mentioned in a 2001 email from evangelist/ninja Ralph Reed to uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff as someone to contact in their efforts to kill HB514, an Indian casino gambling bill opposed by Abramoff's clients, the Louisiana Coushatta Tribe, who didn't want competition from Texas tribes. Someone with more time on their hands than me should check Wohlgemuth's campaign filings and see if she received any Abramoff money...