Attorney General John Ashcroft's Ties To Jack Abramoff, Guam, And The CNMI

Rep. George Miller (D-California) recently wrote a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, asking him to:

appoint an outside counsel to investigate two instances of potential political manipulation by Justice Department officials in criminal and immigration matters concerning Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and the indicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

For such an action to be necessary, there would have to be reason to believe that political manipulation could have taken place, and that internal Justice Department officials might have a conflict of interest. 

Could either of those things possibly be true?   Let's take a look and see.

Senator John Ashcroft And His Ties To Jack Abramoff

First, let's examine the ties between super-GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff and John Ashcroft.

Ashcroft's Former Legislative Director Went To Work As A Lobbyist For Abramoff

In August of 1997, John Mashburn left his position as Legislative Director for Senator John Ashcroft and signed on to lobby for Preston Gates, where Jack Abramoff was the Government Affairs Counselor.

As soon as he was legally permitted to do so, Mashburn appeared on the lobbyist registrations for some of Abramoff's biggest clients; Future of Puerto Rico, Inc., Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. 

Ashcroft, Abramoff, and Toward Tradition 

In September of 1997, a then-little known group called Toward Tradition was having a conference in Washington, DC and needed a speaker.  Senator John Ashcroft was only to glad to help out.

Here's how a story from the September 19. 1997 Ethnic NewsWatch explains how this happened: 

How did the group, whose president is Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Mercer Island, Wash., attract such heavy (illegible). The organization relied on its chairman of the board, Jack Abramoff, a former Hollywood movie producer, who, when he's not pushing traditional Jewish values, is lobbying for liquor and gambling interests, not to mention the governments of Pakistan and Zaire.

The executive director of Toward Tradition said at the time that a letter inviting speakers to the conference went out over the names of both Mr. Abramoff and the group's president, Rabbi Daniel Lapin.

Ashcroft was one of three high profile speakers at the event. 

Of course we now know, that in addition to Abramoff's role as Chairman of the Board, he also had plenty of other ties to Toward Tradition.

According to the Seattle Times:

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff funneled money through a Mercer Island religious foundation as he tried to influence a top aide to Republican congressional leader Tom DeLay, according to his guilty plea last week to corruption charges.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin confirmed Sunday it was his foundation, Toward Tradition, that took $50,000 from two Abramoff clients and, at Abramoff's suggestion, used it to hire the aide's wife to organize a conference for the group.

Abramoff's plea agreement characterizes the $50,000 payment to former DeLay aide Tony Rudy's wife as a bribe.

The Seattle Times story also relates how Abramoff used Toward Tradition to help in raise money in order to achieve his Pioneer status for the Bush campaign.

Lapin confirmed he urged supporters of President George W. Bush's re-election to give campaign donations through Abramoff, which helped the lobbyist gain Bush "Pioneer" status among top presidential fundraisers.

In December 1997, Abramoff's client, the government of the CNMI paid for a trip for several GOP aides to visit the Mariana Islands.  Among those staffers was Lori Sharpe, a Legislative Assistant in Senator John Ashcroft's office.

Also making the same trip was Leo Giacometto, then-Chief of Staff to Senator Conrad Burns.  In 2003, Giacometto would return to the Islands as part of a lobbying team headed by former Ashcroft Justice Department official Juan Carlos Benitez.  The team headed by Benitez was awarded a $125,000 per month contract to lobby for the Guam Economic Development and Commerce Authority.

Ashcroft And Abramoff: Hitting The Links At The Tartan Invitational

In September of 1999, Congress Daily reported that Senator John Ashcroft was among a group of six Senators and a few dozen lobbyists who took part in a NRSC sponsored trip to St. Andrews, Scotland.

According to National Journal, Abramoff was among the lobbyists who attended.

Numerous duffer/donors were on the invite list for the trans-Atlantic trek, including Washington lobbyists Jack Abramoff and Steve Hart, National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, and a bevy of corporate and trade group executives, including representatives of AT&T, Bacardi-Martini Inc., Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, BP Amoco, Brown and Williamson, Fannie Mae, the Southern Co., Sprint, United Airlines, and UST Inc. Among the GOP senators joining the lobbyists were Majority Whip Nickles, NRSC Chairman Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Murkowski and Sens. John Ashcroft of Missouri and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire.

The London Times also reports that some aides attended the trip.  It is not known if Ashcroft aides attended.

Ashcroft's Appointment As Attorney General Viewed As Good For Abramoff's Business

In a November 30, 2000 piece in the Washington Post speculating about Abramoff's possible move to Greenberg Traurig, the reporter makes the following observation:

He's a member of the kitchen cabinet of House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and is close to other Republican leaders, as well. Abramoff is also said to be close to Republican Sens. John D. Ashcroft (Mo.) and Spencer Abraham (Mich.), both of whom lost their reelection fights and are considered likely picks for a Bush Cabinet--if Bush is the eventual winner of the presidency.

A January 22, 2001 piece in Roll Call makes a similar observation:

Abramoff is close to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas), as well as Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft and Energy Secretary-designate Spence Abraham. 

Abramoff Was A Major Contributor To Ashcroft's 2000 Campaign

During Ashcroft's failed bid for re-election in 2000, Jack Abramoff was a major contributor.

Even in 2000, there was a great deal of sensitivity regarding the ties between Ashcroft and Abramoff.  During the 2000 campaign, the Carnahan campaign issued a press release criticizing Ashcroft for his ties to Abramoff, and calling particular attention to Abramoff's work for the CNMI and Abramoff's work for a pro-Apartheid group in South Africa.

Within hours of the time the Carnahan campaign issued the press release, the Ashcroft campaign had contacted Abramoff, and Abramoff had directed an attorney within his firm to call and threaten the Carnahan staffer whose name was on the release, unless the press release was rescinded immediately.

Subsequent AP reports indicate that the Team Abramoff lobbyist who made the call to the Carnahan staffer billed the time for the threatening call to the government of the CNMI. 

Key Ashcroft Political Staffer Has Ties To Abramoff

Jack Oliver worked on Senator John Ashcroft's official staff, as well as  his political arm, the Spirit of America PAC, before departing to become National Finance Director for then Governor George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign.

Oliver worked with Abramoff raising money for Bush's 2000 campaign, and again in 2004 when Oliver returned as National Finance Vice-Chairman for Bush-Cheney ’04 and Victory 2004.  During the 2004 campaign, Abramoff raised sufficient funds to achieve the coveted status of Pioneer.

Between stints on Bush's campaigns, Oliver served as Deputy Chairman of the RNC, where he made news when, on behalf of the RNC, he accepted a $100,000 contribution from one of Abramoff's tribal clients, the Agua Caliente.  Oliver currently serves as Finance Chair of Senator Jim Talent's re-election bid.

Speaking of the Agua Caliente...

Former Ashcroft Staffer Kevin Ring Was Part Of Abramoff's Inner Circle

According to Kevin Ring's bio:

In 1998, Mr. Ring was named by then-U.S. Senator John Ashcroft to serve as a counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights Subcommittee that Sen. Ashcroft chaired. Among other duties, he advised Sen. Ashcroft on federal judicial nominations.

And by 2000, Ring was part of the Abramoff lobbying team at Greenberg Traurig.  He eventually registered to lobby on behalf of Abramoff's Indian gaming clients--including the Agua Caliente, his Puerto Rico client, the Guam clients, and the CNMI clients.

Ring is also a former staffer to Rep. John Doolittle and to the Republican Study Committee.  Ed Buckham of the Alexander Strategy Group is also an alum of the RSC. 

In a hearing last summer before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, the constitutional expertise which Ashcroft hired Ring for on the Judiciary Committee was on full display.  In that hearing, Ring asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Abramoff Was Warned Of Impending Report Unfavorable To Abramoff's Client By Ashcroft Chief Of Staff

Sometime in 2001, at the request of the acting U.S. Attorney for Guam and the CNMI, Frederick A. Black, a report analyzing security on the CNMI was prepared inside the Justice Department that found that weaknesses in the enforcement of immigration laws on the islands posed a serious threat to national security.

According to a recent Bloomberg story, Abramoff was warned about the impending report as early as October of 2001:

In an Oct, 1, 2001, e-mail to the Marianas government, Abramoff said he was alerted to the pending immigration report by the Justice Department chief of staff, whom he hosted in his luxury box at a Washington Redskins football game. He said he would pass on to the government any information he receivedfrom the official. At the time, David Ayres was chief of staff.

More Bloomberg:

Abramoff, whose law firm was paid $3.5 million by the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, to lobby between 1998 and 2002, tried to block the report, according to an e-mail released this month by House Democrats.

In January 2002, Ashcroft Dispatched His Special Counsel For Immigration To Guam And The CNMI To The Region

In January 2002, Juan Carlos Benitez, Ashcroft's Special Counsel Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices and Abel Guerra of the White House Office of Public Liaison made a trip to both Guam and the CNMI.

They met with several local politicians in Guam, including then-Sen. Felix Camacho.  Camacho is now the Governor of Guam and was subsequently involved in securing a major contract for Benitez when Benitez left the Justice Department.  According to news reports on Guam, Camacho has had dealings with Abramoff since 1998.

In May 2002, a few months after Benitez visit, Abramoff began lobbying for the for the Superior Court of Guam, but cloaked the identity of his actual client by registering on behalf of a Los Angeles attorney, Howard Hills, and funnelling the money from the Guam client, through Hills' law firm. 

During Benitez's January 2002 visit to Guam, he explained that filling the vacancies relating to the Insular Areas in the Department of Interior was taking lots of time because the Bush administration was taking time to find just the right people.

According to the Pacific Daily News: 

Benitez last week told senators the appointment for insular affairs has taken so long because the administration is trying to find the right person for the job.

The search by the Bush administration continued over the course of the next year until they found someone who Benitez undoubtedly felt fit that bill, his wife.   In February 2003, Ramona Jones was appointed as Special Advisor for Economic Policy for the Insular Areas.

After their stop in Guam in January of 2002, Benitez and Guerra attended the inauguration of the new Governor of the CNMI in Saipan where Jack Abramoff still continued to pull in large fees.

It is unknown at this time if either Benitez or Guerra discussed the impending DOJ report with officials in either Guam or the CNMI. 

The Terrorism Report

According to Bloomberg, the final report on security issues impacting the Insular areas was prepared on May 6, 2002. 

From the October 31, 2005 Bloomberg story:

The 2002 report, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News, warns that continued local control over the Marianas' borders will ``seriously jeopardize the national security'' of the U.S.

Despite the ominous warnings in the report, all indications are that Abramoff was successful in killing the report, as the recommendations contained in it were never implemented, members of Congress with oversight responsibilities were never notified of the report, and the author of the report was demoted.

The Initial Abramoff Investigation Was Killed And U.S. Attorney Black Was Demoted

According to a August 7, 2005 story from the LA Times, on November 18, 2002, Frederick A. Black, the same acting U.S. Attorney who has requested the report that had so threatened Abramoff, issued subpoenas that demanded that Anthony Sanchez, administrative director of the Guam Superior Court, release records involving Abramoff's lobbying contract, including bills and payments.

In a September 27, 2005 story, the NY Times reports that Black had been in contact with the Public Integrity section at the DOJ in November 2002 regarding his plans to investigate Abramoff. 

Within days of Black's subpoenas, a replacement U.S. Attorney for Guam and CNMI was named and Black was demoted.  According to press accounts, the new U.S. Attorney had been recommended to Karl Rove by the Republican Party Chair of Guam.

Black was subsequently forbidden by DOJ officials from pursuing the Abramoff case, and the new U.S. Attorney never pursued the matter.

Did Mr. Ashcroft Act Properly?

Given all that you have just read, do you believe that political manipulation could have taken place?  Do you believe that DOJ officials had a conflict of interest?  I do, and according to his letter, so does Rep. George Miller.

John Ashcroft, his staff, and many officials at the DOJ clearly had a conflict of interest in matters that related to Jack Abramoff.  The moment Abramoff's name came up in the context of an investigation, Ashcroft and all those close to him should have immediately recused themselves.  Why didn't they?

It is not yet known whether it was pressure from Ashcroft, or pressure from the White House that killed the initial investigation.  But we have a right to know.

Do you believe that the Office of the Inspector General is being diligent in their investigation of this matter?

Do you believe that the DOJ is capable of conducting an investigation internally that could potentially implicate Senior White House Officials, and maybe even the Attorney General himself?

Oh, so many questions.....