Team Abramoff Worked Closely With Bush White House

According to the AP, in President Bush's first 10 months in office, GOP lobbyist Abramoff and/or members of his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the Bush administration.

In President Bush's first 10 months, GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the new administration as they pressed for friendly hires at federal agencies and sought to keep the Northern Mariana Islands exempt from the minimum wage and other laws, records show.

The meetings between Abramoff's lobbying team and the administration ranged from Attorney General John Ashcroft to policy advisers in Vice President Dick Cheney's office, according to his lobbying firm billing records.

Abramoff, a $100,000-plus fundraiser for Bush, is now under criminal investigation for some of his lobbying work. His firm boasted its lobbying team helped revise a section of the Republican Party's 2000 platform to make it favorable to its island client.

There were also close ties with RNC officials.

Abramoff's team didn't neglect party politics either: There were at least two meetings with Republican National Committee officials, including then-finance chief Jack Oliver, as well as attendance at GOP fundraisers.

Oliver served as the top fundraiser in both Bush campaigns. 

According to a May 29, 2003 AP story by Pete Yost, at least one of the meetings with Oliver was related to a $100,000 from Abramoff client, the Agua Caliente tribe.

Unlike the poor Cheyenne-Arapaho tribe, the Agua Caliente band operates two casinos, is increasing its political donations and is replacing its two Washington lobbyists with 14 new ones, including Jack Abramoff, a longtime ally and friend of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The tribe gave the GOP $120,000 last year, four times the amount it gave the Democratic Party.

In spring 2001, Agua Caliente chairman Richard Milanovich, a Republican, expressed an interest in joining Team 100, a roster of donors who contribute at least $100,000 each to the GOP.

Before writing a check, the tribe wanted a meeting.

RNC deputy director Jack Oliver, one of Bush's key fundraisers, agreed to meet after Team 100 handler Dee Dee Lancaster scrutinized the tribe's past political contributions.

"The only donations found for 2000 cycle was $1,000 personal ... to McCain," Lancaster e-mailed Oliver on June 1, 2001, referring to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

"Let's take it," Oliver replied.

Oliver is now the Finance Director for Missouri Senator Jim Talent's re-election bid.