VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4, 5 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: Friday, October 13, 04:08:25pm
Author: BJ
Subject: Re: Jack Abramoff, Ney, Norquist, the funniest Citizens Against Government Waste...
In reply to: Ace 's message, "More ethics antics..." on Wednesday, October 11, 06:50:49pm

Ohio congressman to plead guilty in bribe case
POSTED: 9:34 a.m. EDT, October 13, 2006
Adjust font size:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Jack Abramoff influence-peddling investigation claims its first member of Congress on Friday with Rep. Bob Ney set to plead guilty to taking bribes.

Ney, an Ohio Republican in his sixth term, faces up to 10 years in prison in a scandal that has tainted the White House as well as Capitol Hill.

With Republicans reeling from the House page scandal, the Abramoff investigation and growing public discontent over President Bush's handling of the Iraq war, some of Ney's House colleagues are threatening to push for his expulsion if he does not resign.

Ney, scheduled enter his plea Friday, signed papers a month ago admitting to charges of conspiracy and making false statements. He also acknowledged that he had deprived the public of his honest services.

About the same time, Ney checked into an alcohol rehabilitation program. If he enters a residential drug abuse program run by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, he could be eligible for a reduced sentence.

Despite his admission of criminal activity, Ney, 52, is entitled to collect a congressional pension.

In April, the House passed legislation that would have taken away congressional pensions of any lawmaker convicted of the conspiracy charge contained in the court papers that Ney signed. But the Senate-passed bill did not contain the pension provision, and the two chambers never reached a compromise.

During his time in Congress, Ney built up goodwill back home for his responsiveness and visibility in a sprawling, conservative region of mines, farms and Rust Belt towns in eastern Ohio.

The recently filed court papers note that Abramoff, the other lobbyists on his team and their clients had no connection to Ney's congressional district, other than the lawmaker himself. "None of whom were Ohio-based," the court documents note.

Ney's former chief of staff Neil Volz, who left Capitol Hill to work with Abramoff, pleaded guilty in May to charges that he conspired to corrupt his former boss and others.

Two former aides to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, also have pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy. Abramoff also has pleaded guilty. All have been cooperating with federal prosecutors.

Ney's court appearance come two weeks after it was revealed that Abramoff's lobbying team had 485 contacts in three years with White House aides. The tally by a House committee was based on records House investigators obtained from 13 of 24 Abramoff clients.

A week ago, a top aide to White House political adviser Karl Rove resigned amid questions over her links to Abramoff. Susan Ralston left after the House committee reported that she apparently accepted tickets to sporting events from Abramoff without reimbursing him.

In June, former White House official David Safavian, who had been the Bush administration's top procurement official, was convicted of covering up his dealings with Abramoff. He is scheduled for sentencing on October 27.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/13/ney.ap/index.html

Five nonprofit groups, including one of President Bush's biggest supporters, may have broken tax laws and put their tax-exempt status at risk by helping convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a Senate Finance Committee report concludes.

The 600-page report issued Thursday was prepared by the committee's Democratic staff. Majority Republicans, however, had agreed to its release and joined with Democrats in issuing subpoenas for documents and e-mails cited in the report.

Among the groups named as possibly taking money from Abramoff clients and funneling it into his lobbying efforts on their behalf were Americans for Tax Reform, Citizens Against Government Waste and the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy. (Read the Senate Finance Committee's report -- PDF)

Tax-exempt groups are barred by law from being paid to lobby or do public relations.

Americans for Tax Reform is headed by Grover Norquist, a key ally of Bush and a longtime associate of Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser.

The report said Norquist's group accepted $1.5 million from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, one of Abramoff's clients. More than two-thirds of that money was then passed to Christian Coalition founder Ralph Reed as part of Abramoff's lobbying efforts to block a rival tribe's proposed casino in Alabama.

Nell Rogers, a planner for the Choctaws, told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that the arrangement was never intended as a contribution to support ATR's general anti-tax work. She quoted Abramoff as saying Norquist's group had instead agreed to be a conduit for getting money to Reed, provided that ATR got a fee.

Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the Senate Finance Committee's senior Democrat, said his staff turned up evidence showing the groups "may have improved a lobbyist's power and profits" by unlawfully exploiting their tax-exempt status, possibly even lobbying the White House.

Abramoff pleaded guilty in January to tax evasion and wire fraud. While awaiting sentencing, he is cooperating in a federal bribery investigation that has resulted in convictions against a congressman and the administration's top procurement officer.

Norquist's group and a second organization cited in the report denied any wrongdoing. They also questioned the timing of the report's release so close to November 7 elections in which Republicans are trying to retain their control of Congress.

"This is political nonsense put out by the Democrats in an inappropriate attempt to influence the election," said John Kartch, communications director for Americans for Tax Reform.

David Williams, a vice president of Citizens Against Government Waste, said it was "kind of suspicious that three weeks before an election, this comes out." The group named Baucus its monthly "porker" in October 2004 for adding drought relief to a domestic security bill.

"There is no 'there' there," Williams said of the report. "We are very careful about the issues that we pursue."

The report said Citizens Against Government Waste said some donations to it ended up being used to help Abramoff clients with public relations.

"Nonprofits should not function as de facto lobbying firms. Lobbying for a fee, public relations, and disguising sources of money are not charitable or social welfare activities," Baucus said.

He said it is up to the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service, part of the grand jury probes into Abramoff's dealings, to decide whether the groups broke any tax laws.

Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the committee chairman, could have blocked the report's release. Grassley said Thursday he would consider the report but said it should have looked at more nonprofit groups.

"The problems are widespread and won't be resolved just with Mr. Abramoff going to jail," Grassley said.

The report also questioned the tax-exempt status of other groups, based on their association with Abramoff. It found that:


The Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, co-founded by Italia Federici, Norquist and former interior secretary Gale Norton, received at least $250,000 from Abramoff clients to lobby the Interior Department.


The National Center for Public Policy Research used money from Abramoff's clients to sponsor golf trips in 2000 and 2003 to Scotland for members of Congress.


Toward Tradition, a religion-centered group once chaired by Abramoff, took money for help with generating news articles for Abramoff and his clients.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/13/abramoff.nonprofits.ap/index.html

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Post a message:
This forum requires an account to post.
[ Create Account ]
[ Login ]
Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.