Lobbying (also lobby) is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by many different types of people and organized groups, including individuals in the private sector, corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or advocacy groups (interest groups). Lobbyists may be among a legislator's constituents, meaning a voter or bloc of voters within his or her electoral district, or not; they may engage in lobbying as a business, or not. Professional lobbyists are people whose business is trying to influence legislation on behalf of a group or individual who hires them. Individuals and nonprofit organizations can also lobby as an act of volunteering or as a small part of their normal job (for instance, a CEO meeting with a representative about a project important to his/her company, or an activist meeting with his/her legislator in an unpaid capacity). Governments often define and regulate organized group lobbying that has become influential.

The ethics and morality of lobbying are dual-edged. Lobbying is often spoken of with contempt, when the implication is that people with inordinate socioeconomic power are corrupting the law (twisting it away from fairness) in order to serve their own conflict of interest. But another side of lobbying is making sure that others' interests are duly defended against others' corruption, or even simply making sure that minority interests are fairly defended against mere tyranny of the majority. For example, a medical association, or a trade association of health insurance companies, may lobby a legislature in order to counteract the influence of tobacco companies, in which case the lobbying would be viewed by most people as justified (duly defending against others' corruption). The difficulty in drawing objective lines between which lobbyists are "good lobbyists" and which ones are "bad ones" is compounded by the cleverness with which lobbyists or their clients can speciously argue that their own lobbying is of the "good" kind. At heart, the effort to influence legislation is a power struggle. As in other forms of power struggle, such as war or law enforcement, motives range from predation to self-defense to fighting for justice, and the dividing line between predation and justice is subject to rationalization.

Etymology[link]

The BBC holds that "lobbying" comes from the gathering of Members of Parliament and peers in the hallways (or lobbies) of Houses of Parliament before and after parliamentary debates.^[1] One story states that the term originated at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC, where it was used by Ulysses S. Grant to describe the political wheelers and dealers who frequented the hotel's lobby to access Grant—who was often there to enjoy a cigar and brandy.^[2] Others have made the claim that this story of the word's origin is erroneous ^[2]

The term "lobbying" appeared in print as early as 1820:.^[3]

Other letters from Washington affirm, that members of the Senate, when the compromise question was to be taken in the House, were not only "lobbying about the Representatives' Chamber" but also active in endeavoring to intimidate certain weak representatives by insulting threats to dissolve the Union.

—April 1, 1820

Dictionary definitions:

• 'Lobbying' (also 'Lobby') is a form of advocacy with the intention of influencing decisions made by the government by individuals or more usually by Lobby groups; it includes all attempts to influence legislators and officials, whether by other legislators, constituents, or organized groups.^[4][5]
• A 'lobbyist' is a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest or a member of a lobby.^[6]

Overview[link]

Governments often define and regulate organized group lobbying.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Lobby groups may concentrate their efforts on the legislatures, where laws are created, but may also use the judicial branch to advance their causes. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, for example, filed suits in state and federal courts in the 1950s to challenge segregation laws. Their efforts resulted in the Supreme Court declaring such laws unconstitutional.

They may use a legal device known as amicus curiae, literally "friend of the court," briefs to try to influence court cases. Briefs are written documents filed with a court, typically by parties to a lawsuit. Amines curiae briefs are briefs filed by people or groups who are not parties to a suit. These briefs are entered into the court records, and give additional background on the matter being decided upon. Advocacy groups use these briefs both to share their expertise and to promote their positions.

Lobbying by country[link]

United Kingdom[link]

The House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee argued that while there are shortcomings in the regulation of the lobbying industry in the United Kingdom, "The practice of lobbying in order to influence political decisions is a legitimate and necessary part of the democratic process. Individuals and organizations reasonably want to influence decisions that may affect them, those around them, and their environment. Government in turn needs access to the knowledge and views that lobbying can bring."^[11]

Many recent MPs and in particular Ministers are recruited by lobby firms and lobbyists have been recruited by ministers as 'special advisors' using what is termed the Revolving door of influence. In 2009 the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee recommended that a statutory register of lobbying activity and lobbyists would improve transparency to the dealings between Whitehall decision makers and outside interests.^[12]

Parliament controversially responded to this recommendation by saying that self-regulation was more practical.^[13] The Conservative leader, David Cameron, predicted that it was "the next big scandal waiting to happen" and was one that had "tainted our politics for too long, an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money".^[14]

United States[link]

The ability of individuals, groups, and corporations to lobby the government is protected by the right to petition^[15] in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Lobbyists use time spent with legislators and executive branch officials to explain the goals of the organizations they represent, and to present those organizations' points of view. Another important function of lobbyists is to serve as a conduit for information flowing the other way, from officials to the people employing the lobbyists; they can serve as legislative tacticians, determining the best way for an organization to fulfill its goals.

Lobbying activities are also performed at the state level, and lobbyists try to influence legislation in the state legislatures in each of the 50 states. At the municipal level, some lobbying activities occur with city council members and county commissioners, especially in the larger cities and more populous counties.

Since 1998, 43 percent of the 198 members of Congress who left government to join the private sector have registered to lobby using the 'revolving door of influence'. The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 and Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 increased regulation and transparency. In 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama signed two executive orders and three presidential memoranda on his first day in office governing how former lobbyists can be employed in the government, and restrictions on lobbying once leaving the government.^[16]

In the United States, the Internal Revenue Service makes a clear distinction for nonprofit organizations between lobbying and advocacy, limiting the former to "asking policymakers to take a specific position on a specific piece of legislation, or that ask others to ask the same"; in common language, the definition of lobbying is normally broader. Other activities that seek to influence policies, possibly including public demonstrations and the filing of "friend of the court briefs", are termed as "advocacy".^[17]

European Union[link]

The more political influence the European Union gains on a global level, and the more policy areas it covers, the more interesting it becomes for lobbyists. With its enlargement in 2004 this development has taken a further step, bringing in not only a lot more players and stakeholders but also a wide range of different political cultures and traditions.

Currently around 15,000 Brussels-based lobbyists (consultants, lawyers, associations, corporations, NGOs etc.) seek to influence the EU’s legislative process. Some 2,600 special interest groups have a permanent office in Brussels. Their distribution is roughly as follows: European trade federations (32%), consultants (20%), companies (13%), NGOs (11%), national associations (10%), regional representations (6%), international organizations (5%) and think tanks (1%), (Lehmann, 2003, pp iii).^[18]

The fragmented nature of EU institutional structure provides multiple channels through which organized interests may seek to influence policy-making. Lobbying takes place at the European level itself and within the existing national states. The most important institutional targets are the Commission, the Council, and the European Parliament.^[19] The Commission has a monopoly on the initiative in Community decision-making. Since it has the power to draft initiatives, it makes it ideally suited as an arena for interest representation.

There are three main channels of indirect lobbying of the Council. First, lobbying groups routinely lobby the national delegations in Brussels. The second indirect means of lobbying the Council is for interest groups to lobby members of the many Council-working groups. The third means of influencing the Council is directly via national governments. As a consequence of the co-decision procedures, the European Parliament attracts attention from lobbyists who target the rapporteur and the chairman of the committee. The rapporteurs are MEPs appointed by Committees to prepare the parliament’s response to the Commission’s proposal and to those measures taken by the Parliament itself.

Lobbying in Brussels was born only in the late 1970s. Up to that time, "diplomatic lobbying" at the highest levels remained the rule. There were few lobbyists involved in the system and except for some business associations, representative offices were rarely used. The event that sparked the explosion of lobbying was the first direct election of the European Parliament in 1979. Up until then the Parliament consisted of a complex, and companies increasingly felt the need of an expert local presence to find out what was going on in Brussels. The foundation of lobbying was therefore the need to provide information. From that developed the need to influence the process actively and effectively. The next important step in lobbying development was the Single European Act of 1986, which both created the qualified majority vote for taking decisions in the Council and enhanced the role of the Parliament, again making EU legislation more complex and lobbying further more important and attractive for stakeholders.

In the wake of the Abramoff scandal in Washington and the massive impact that this had on the lobbying scene in the United States, the rules for lobbying in the EU—which until now consist of only a non-binding code of conduct-—may also be tightened.^[20]

France[link]

In France, the political system does not integrate the lobbying practice. Much French republican thought has been suspicious of the claims of "particular interests," which are often contrasted with the "general interest" of the nation. This is one interpretation of Rousseau's Social Contract, for example. So while lobbying has always been practiced in France, organized lobbying made a significant appearance in France only in the early 1980s. Since then, it has steadily grown; many interest groups routinely seek to influence the French institutions as the Government and the French Parliament (“National Assembly” and “Senate”). To make up the lost time, more and more French enterprises try to organize their own lobbies by creating their own public affairs department. In recent years, growing numbers of grassroots and grasstop lobbies have been organized by citizen groups, representing interests such as genetically modified organisms and software piracy.

But there is currently no regulation at all for lobbying activities in France and, as a consequence, this practice suffers from a lack of transparency. There is no regulated access to the French institutions and no register specific to France, but there is one for the European Union^[21] where French lobbyists can register themselves.^[22] For example, the internal rule of the National Assembly (art. 23 and 79) forbid to members of Parliament to be linked with a particular interest. However, MPs don’t have to declare their interest and the list of MPs' assistants is not public. At last, there is no rule at all for consultation of interest groups by the Parliament and the Government. Nevertheless, a recent parliamentary initiative (motion for a resolution)^[23] has been launched by several MPs so as to establish a register for representatives of interest groups and lobbyists who intend to lobby the MPs. The purpose of this initiative is to introduce standards of conduct and access to the National Assembly. Through the use of a register, these standards of conduct and access will enable the Assembly to identify and maintain a list of the representatives of interest groups who follow legislative activity and to supervise fully the access of those representatives to the National Assembly. This motion has not been adopted yet.

Australia[link]

Over the past twenty years lobbying in Australia has grown from a small industry of a few hundred employees to a multi billion dollar a year industry. Lobbying has become a political fact of life and is now endemic in local, state and federal government. It is not just the local councillors, state and federal politicians being lobbied. What was once the preserve of big multi-national companies and at a more local level, property developers, has morphed into an industry that would employ more than 10,000 people and represent every facet of human endeavour. Lobbyists must organise a pass to get access to the federal parliament. However, this is not necessary as some are simply signed in as guests of Senators or Members on the day of their visit. When lobbyists visit most federal government departments they must also sign a register. The Parliamentary Pass must be signed by two parliamentarians. It is administered by the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) and has the enforcement of the Criminal Code Act 1995. The Pass is valid for 2 years.There are some advocacy groups in Australia that can lobby without passes. For example in 1995, following the lobbying done by The Affiliated Residential Park Residents Association Incorporated (ARPRA) and other interested tenant organizations, the Government created new legislation to provide residential park residents with improved protection. The Residential Parks Act of 1996 became the operating tool for the conduct of residents and park owners alike. In 1998, following further lobbying for the legislative review and revision of the 1996 Act, the Residential Parks Act of 1998 became law.

Other countries[link]

Only countries where lobbying is regulated in parliament bills include:

• Georgia (1998)^[24]
• Hungary (2006).^[24]
• Lithuania (2001)^[24]
• Poland (2005)^[24]
• Israel (1994)^[25]
• Italy (Regional Level, 2002 - cfr. P.L. Petrillo, "I gruppi di pressione nella Regione Toscana", in www.amministrazioneincammino.luiss.it)
• Canada ^[26]

See also[link]

• Activism
• Advocacy
• Advocacy group
• Advocacy Evaluation
• Bribery
• Client politics
• Energy lobby
• European Women's Lobby
• * Issue versus express advocacy
• Money loop
• Outline of public affairs
• Pharmaceutical lobby

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Joos, Klemens: Lobbying in the new Europe. Successful representation of interests after the Treaty of Lisbon, 244 pages, ISBN 978-3-527-50597-5, Wiley VCH 2011
• Geiger, Andreas: EU Lobbying handbook, A guide to modern participation in Brussels, 244 pages, ISBN 3-9811316-0-6, Helios Media GmbH, 2006
• GLOSSARY - Alphabetical list of terms associated with the Lobbying industry
• The Bulletin, 16 March 2006, p. 14, Lobbying Europe: facts and fiction
• The European Lawyer, December 2005/January 2006, p. 9, The lobbyists have landed
• Financial Times, 3 October 2005, p. 8, Brussels braces for a U.S. lobbying invasion
• Public Affairs News, November 2004, p. 34, Judgement Call
• The European Lawyer, December 2004/January 2005, p. 26, Lifting the lid on lobbying
• Pier Luigi Petrillo, Democracies under Pressures. Lobbies and Parliaments in a comparative public law, Giuffrè 2011 (www.giuffre.it)
• Pietro Semeraro, I delitti di millantato credito e traffico di influenza,ed. Giuffre, Milano,2000.
• Pietro Semeraro, Trading in Influence and Lobbying in the Spanish Criminal Code, [2]
• Wiszowaty, Marcin: Legal Regulation of Lobbying in New Members States of the European Union, Arbeitspapiere und Materialien - Forschungsstelle Osteuropa an der Universitat Bremen, No. 74: Heiko Pleines (ed.): Participation of Civil Society in New Modes of Governance. The Case of the New Member States. Part 2: Questions of Accountability. February 2006 (PDF)
• Heiko Kretschmer/ Hans-Jörg Schmedes: Enhancing Transparency in EU Lobbying? How the European Commission's Lack of Courage and Determination Impedes Substantial Progress, Internationale Politik und Gesellschaft 1/ 2010, S. 112-122
• "Lobbying" (Web). BBC News: Politics (London: BBC). 22 December 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/82529.stm. Retrieved 2007-01-30. 
• "Police loans inquiry is widenened" (Web). BBC News: Politics (London: BBC). 30 March 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4861136.stm. Retrieved 2007-01-30. 

External links[link]

Look up Lobby in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

United States[link]

• Lobbyists.info - The largest, comprehensive database of 22,000 registered lobbyists. Contains searchable profiles of lobbyists and government relations professionals, their clients and issues.
• Top 25 Lobbying Groups - Fortune lists the top 25 lobbying groups as of 1999.
• LobbyWatch - a project of the Center for Public Integrity with reports on lobbyists and lobbying efforts as well as a searchable database.
• OpenSecrets.org
• NoLobby.com - Capitalism Magazine mini-site. Opposes lobbying restrictions on free speech grounds.
• The Citizen's Guide to the U.S. Government - an online tutorial containing information for individuals who wish to address issues with their elected officials.
• Free Speech National Right to Life page containing documents opposing excessive regulation of "lobbying" as infringement on "right to petition" guaranteed by the First Amendment.
• Public Affairs Links
• First Street Research Group powered by http://firststreet.cqpress.com - reports and analysis on the lobbying industry

Europe[link]

• PubAffairs - the public affairs network
• Public Affairs World
• LobbyPlanet website
• Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU)
• Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
• EuroBrussels, the European Affairs Jobsite
• Spinwatch
• Alliance for Lobbying Transparency - UK based campaign
• OECD: Special Session on Lobbying: Enhancing Transparency and Accountability 7–8 June 2007

Jack A. Abramoff
Abramoff testifying before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, September 29, 2004
Born	(1959-02-28) February 28, 1959 (age 53) Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.
Conviction(s)	Fraud, conspiracy, tax evasion
Penalty	5 years and 10 months imprisonment
Status	Released December 3, 2010
Occupation	Businessman and lobbyist
Spouse	Pam Alexander Abramoff

Jack Abramoff (pronounced /ˈeɪbrəmɒf/; born February 28, 1959) is an American former lobbyist, businessman, movie producer and writer.^[1][2] He was at the heart of an extensive corruption investigation that led to his conviction and to 21 persons either pleading guilty or being found guilty,^[3] including White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine other lobbyists and Congressional aides.

Abramoff was College Republican National Committee National Chairman from 1981 to 1985, a founding member of the International Freedom Foundation, allegedly financed by apartheid South Africa,^[4][5] and served on the board of directors of the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank. From 1994 to 2001 he was a top lobbyist for the firm of Preston Gates & Ellis, and then for Greenberg Traurig until March 2004.

After a guilty plea in the Indian lobbying scandal and his dealings with SunCruz Casinos in January 2006, he was sentenced to six years in federal prison for mail fraud, conspiracy to bribe public officials, and tax evasion. He served four years before being released on December 3, 2010.^[6] After his release from prison, he wrote the book Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Corruption From America's Most Notorious Lobbyist which was published in November 2011.

Abramoff's lobbying and the surrounding scandals and investigation are the subject of two 2010 films: the documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money, released in May 2010,^[7] and the feature film Casino Jack, released on December 17, 2010, starring Kevin Spacey as Abramoff.^[8][9]

Early life[link]

Jack Abramoff was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey into a Jewish family.^[10] His father, Franklin Abramoff, was president of the Franchises unit of Diners Club credit card company.^[5]

In 1968, when Abramoff was 10, his family moved to Beverly Hills, California, where he attended Beverly Hills High School.^[11] In high school he played football and became a weight-lifting champion.^[10] At the age of 12, after seeing the film version of Fiddler on the Roof, Abramoff decided to become an Orthodox Jew.^[12]

College and law school years[link]

As an undergraduate at Brandeis University,^[11] Abramoff served as Chairman of the Massachusetts Alliance of College Republicans, which organized student volunteers for Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign. He graduated with a B.A. in English in 1981, taking six years to finish his degree, and earned his Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1986.

According to Nina Easton, Abramoff gained much of his credibility in the conservative movement through his father, Franklin Abramoff. As president of Diners Club International, Abramoff's father worked closely with Alfred S. Bloomingdale, a personal friend of Ronald Reagan.^[13]

College Republican National Chairman[link]

After graduating from Brandeis, Abramoff ran for election as chairman of the College Republican National Committee (CRNC). After a campaign which cost over $10,000 and was managed by Grover Norquist, Abramoff won the election after the chief competitor, Amy Moritz (who later, as Amy Ridenour, became a founding director of the National Center for Public Policy Research, and was involved in several trips funded by Jack Abramoff), was persuaded to drop out. Abramoff "changed the direction of the committee and made it more activist and conservative than ever before," notes the CRNC. "It is not our job to seek peaceful coexistence with the Left", Abramoff was quoted as saying in the group's 1983 annual report. "Our job is to remove them from power permanently."^[14]

Norquist served as executive director of the committee under Abramoff. He later recruited Ralph Reed, a former president of the University of Georgia College Republicans chapter, as an unpaid intern. According to Reed's book Active Faith, Reed also introduced Abramoff to his future wife, Pam Alexander.

Long-standing college political alliances[link]

At the CRNC, Abramoff developed political alliances with College Republican chapter presidents across the nation, many who would later hold key roles in state and national politics and business, and some who would later interact with Abramoff as a lobbyist. Some of those relationships were at the core of the federal investigation.

At the CRNC, Abramoff, Norquist and Reed formed what was known as the "Abramoff-Norquist-Reed triumvirate". After Abramoff's election, the trio purged "dissidents" and re-wrote the CRNC's bylaws to consolidate their control over the organization. According to Easton's Gang of Five, Reed was the "hatchet man" and "carried out Abramoff-Norquist orders with ruthless efficiency, not bothering to hide his fingerprints".^[13]

In 1983, the CRNC passed a resolution condemning "deliberate planted propaganda by the KGB and Soviet proxy forces" against the government of South Africa, at a time when that country's government was under worldwide criticism for the apartheid regime.^[15]

In 1984, Abramoff and other College Republicans formed the "USA Foundation", a non-partisan tax-exempt organization which held two days of rallies on college campuses around the United States celebrating the first anniversary of the invasion of Grenada. In a letter to campus Republican leaders, Abramoff claimed:

Citizens for America[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2012)

In 1985, Abramoff joined Citizens for America, a pro-Reagan group that helped Oliver North build support for the Nicaraguan Contras. Citizens for America staged an unprecedented meeting of anti-Communist rebel leaders known as the Democratic International in Jamba, Angola. This conference included leaders of the Mujahedeen from Afghanistan, UNITA from Angola, the Contras, and opposition groups from Laos. Out of this largely ceremonial conference came the International Freedom Foundation. Abramoff helped to organize, and also attended the conference.

Abramoff's membership ended on a sour note when Citizens for America's sponsor Lewis Lehrman, a former New York gubernatorial candidate, concluded that Abramoff had spent his money carelessly.^[17]

In 1986, Reagan appointed Abramoff as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.^[18]

Work in film production, and South Africa connections[link]

Abramoff spent 10 years in Hollywood. He wrote and produced, with his brother Robert, the 1989 film Red Scorpion. The film had a $16 million budget and starred Dolph Lundgren playing the Spetznaz-like Soviet commando Nikolai, sent by the USSR to assassinate an African revolutionary in a country similar to Angola. Nikolai sees the evil of the Soviets and changes sides, becoming a freedom fighter for the African side.^[19][20][21]

The South African government financed the film via the International Freedom Foundation, a front-group chaired by Abramoff, as part of its efforts to undermine international sympathy for the African National Congress.^[22] The filming location was in South-West Africa (now Namibia).^[23][24]

On April 27, 1998, Abramoff wrote a letter to the editor of The Seattle Times rebutting an article critical of him and his alleged role as effectively a Public Relations puppet of the then-apartheid South African military. Abramoff rebutted: "The IFF was a conservative group which I headed. It was vigorously anti-Communist, but it was also actively anti-apartheid. In 1987, it was one of the first conservative groups to call for the release of Nelson Mandela, a position for which it was roundly criticized by other conservatives at the time. While I headed the IFF, we accepted funding only from private individuals and corporations and would have absolutely rejected any offer of South African military funding, or any other kind of funding from any government — good or evil."^[25]

During this period in South Africa, Abramoff first met South African–born rabbi David Lapin, who would become his religious advisor, and Lapin's brother and fellow rabbi Daniel Lapin, who allegedly introduced Abramoff to Congressman Tom DeLay (R-TX) at a Washington, DC dinner shortly after the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994.^[26] Lapin later claimed that he did not recall the introduction.

Seattle-based lobbying[link]

In December 1994, Abramoff was hired as a lobbyist at Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP, the lobbying arm of the law firm Preston Gates & Ellis LLP based in Seattle, Washington. According to The Seattle Times, following the Republican takeover of Congress in 1995, partner Emanuel Rouvelas determined that the firm "didn't have a conservative, Christian Coalition Republican with strong ties to the new Republican leadership".^[27] The traditionally Democratic-leaning firm hired Abramoff for the specific purpose of attaining these wanted ties. Abramoff was described in a press release as having close ties to Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey.

According to The Seattle Times, Abramoff used Preston Gates & Ellis to access a higher pedigree of clientele.^[28]

Choctaw Gambling[link]

In 1995, Abramoff began representing Indian tribes with gambling interests. He became involved with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. One of Abramoff's first acts as a tribal gaming lobbyist was to defeat a Congressional bill to tax Indian casinos, sponsored by Bill Archer (R-TX) and Ernest Istook (R-OK). According to Washington Business Forward, a lobbying trade magazine, "Tom DeLay was a major factor in those victories, and the fight helped cement the alliance between the two men".^[29] DeLay has called Abramoff "one of (his) closest and dearest friends".

The Washington Post, on December 29, 2005, reported: "Jack Abramoff liked to slip into dialogue from The Godfather as he led his lobbying colleagues in planning their next conquest on Capitol Hill. In a favorite bit, he would mimic an ice-cold Michael Corleone facing down a crooked politician's demand for a cut of Mafia gambling profits: 'Senator, you can have my answer now if you like. My offer is this: nothing.'"^[30]

Salon.com political writer Thomas Frank considers Abramoff to have acted as a con man.^[31][32] In an appearance with former U.S. Representative Bob Ney and former Greenberg Traurig lobbyist Neil Volz on Kojo Nnamdi's National Public Radio affiliate WAMU-FM radio show, Alex Gibney, director and writer of the 2010 film Casino Jack and the United States of Money elaborated on Abramoff's criminal modus operandi. Gibney remarked, "one of his (Abramoff's) great gifts was being able to tell people what they wanted to hear, and this was how he was able to sell things and get them into trouble."

Saipan and Northern Mariana Islands[link]

Abramoff and his law firm were paid at least $6.7 million by the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) from 1995 to 2001, which made manufacture goods with the "Made in the USA" label but is not subject to U.S. labor and minimum wage laws. After Abramoff paid for DeLay and his staffers to go on trips to the CNMI, they crafted policy that extended exemptions from federal immigration and labor laws to the islands' industries. Abramoff also negotiated for a $1.2 million no-bid contract from the Marianas for "promoting ethics in government" to be awarded to David Lapin, brother of Daniel Lapin. Abramoff also secretly funded a trip for James E. Clyburn (D-SC) and Bennie Thompson (D-MS). In 1999 Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) went on an Abramoff-funded trip to the Marshall Islands with John Doolittle (R-CA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), delegates of Guam, American Samoa, Virgin Islands and eight staffers.^[33]

Documentation also indicates that Abramoff's lobbying team helped prepare Rep. Ralph Hall's (R-TX) statements on the House floor in which he attacked the credibility of escaped teenaged sex worker "Katrina," in an attempt to discredit her testimony regarding the state of the sex slave industry on the island.^[34] Ms. magazine also explored Abramoff's dealings in the CNMI and the plight of garment workers like Katrina in their spring 2006 article.^[35]

Later lobbying efforts involved mailings from a Ralph Reed marketing company to Christian conservative voters and bribery of Roger Stillwell, a Department of the Interior official who in 2006 pleaded guilty to accepting gifts from Abramoff.

Naftasib[link]

Executives of Naftasib, a Russian energy company, funneled almost $3.4 million to Abramoff and DeLay advisor Ed Buckham between 1997 and 2005. About $60,000 was spent on a trip to Russia in 1997 for Tom DeLay, Buckham, and Abramoff. In 1998, $1 million was sent to Buckham via his organization U.S. Family Network to "influence DeLay's vote in 1998 on legislation that helped make it possible for the International Monetary Fund to bail out the faltering Russian economy." DeLay voted for the legislation. The money was funneled through the Dutch company Voor Huisen, the Bahamas company Chelsea Enterprises, and the London law firm James & Sarch Co.^[36][37]

The executives involved, who met DeLay during the 1997 trip, were Marina Nevskaya and Alexander Koulakovsky. Nevskaya was also involved in Abramoff's support of an Israeli military academy, as indicated by an email sent to Abramoff.^[38]

eLottery, Inc.[link]

In 1999, eLottery hired Abramoff to block the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act, which he did by enlisting Reed, Norquist, and Tom DeLay's former chief of staff, Tony Rudy.^[39]

Emails from 2000 show that Susan Ralston helped Abramoff pass checks from eLottery to Lou Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) and also to Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), in route to Reed's company, Century Strategies.^[40][41]

Abramoff joins Greenberg Traurig[link]

On January 8, 2001, Abramoff left Preston Gates to join the Government Relations division of the Washington, D.C. law firm Greenberg Traurig, which once described him as "directly involved in the Republican party and conservative movement leadership structures" and "one of the leading fund raisers for the party and its congressional candidates".^[42] With the move to Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff took as much as $6 million worth of client business from his old firm, including the Marianas Islands account. At Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff recruited a team of lobbyists known familiarly as "Team Abramoff". The team included many of his former employees from Preston Gates and former senior staffers of members of Congress.

Tribal lobbying[link]

Around the time he joined Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff's choice of lobbying clients changed to focus much more on Native American tribes. While Abramoff was a registered lobbyist for 51 clients while working at Preston Gates, with only four being tribes, Abramoff would eventually represent 24 clients for whom he was registered lobbyist at Greenberg Traurig, of which seven were tribes.

Tyco International Ltd.[link]

Former White House Deputy Counsel Timothy Flanigan left his job in December 2002 to work as General Counsel for Corporate and International Law at Tyco International. He immediately hired Abramoff to lobby Congress and the White House on matters relating to Tyco's Bermuda tax-exempt status.^[43] Flanigan stated to the Senate Judiciary Committee that Abramoff "bragged" that he could help Tyco avoid tax liability aimed at offshore companies because he "had good relationships with members of Congress".^[44]

Tyco Inc. claimed in August 2005 that Abramoff had been paid $1.7 million for "astroturfing", or the creation of a fake "grassroots" campaign to oppose proposals to penalize US corporations registered abroad for tax reasons. The work allegedly was never performed, and most of the fee Tyco paid Abramoff to lobby against the legislation was "diverted to entities controlled by Mr. Abramoff".^[44]

Lobbying for national governments[link]

Abramoff's team represented the government of Malaysia, and worked toward improving Malaysian relations with the United States, particularly with trade relations.^[45]

Abramoff also met with the government of Sudan, offering a plan to deflect criticism from American Christian groups over the regime's alleged role in the Darfur conflict. Abramoff promised to enlist Reed to assist, as well as starting a grassroots campaign to improve the image of Sudan in America.^[46]

Channel One News[link]

Abramoff was a lobbyist for the school TV news service Channel One News. From 1999 to 2003, Channel One retained him to ensure Congress did not block funds to their service. Not only did Channel One face frequent campaigns by political groups to persuade Congress to limit its presence in schools, but it also derived much of its advertising revenue from U.S. government sources, including the Office of National Drug Control Policy and military recruitment. Since Abramoff and Channel One parted ways, Channel One's advertising revenues have dropped substantially, but a cause-and-effect relationship would be difficult to establish.^[47]

Telecommunications firm[link]

On October 18, 2005, The Washington Post reported that Bob Ney, as chair of the House Administration Committee, approved a 2002 license for an Israeli telecommunications company to install antennas for the House or Representatives. The company, then Foxcom Wireless, an Israeli start-up telecommunications firm, (which has since moved headquarters from Jerusalem to Vienna, Virginia, and been renamed MobileAccess Networks) later paid Abramoff $280,000 for lobbying. It also donated $50,000 to the Capital Athletic Foundation charity that Abramoff sometimes used to secretly pay for some of his lobbying activities.^[48] In Michael Scanlon's plea agreement, this activity was described as public corruption.^[49]

Skyboxes, "Signatures", and Scotland[link]

Jack Abramoff's now-closed Signatures restaurant, in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Abramoff maintained four skyboxes at major sports arenas for political entertaining at a cost of over $1 million a year. Abramoff hosted many fundraisers at these skyboxes including events for politicians publicly opposed to gambling, such as John Doolittle.^[50]

Then Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member and current Chairman Max Baucus returned $18,892 in contributions that his office found to be connected to Abramoff. Included in the returned donations was an estimated $1,892 that was never reported for Baucus' use of Abramoff's skybox at a professional sports arena and concert venue in downtown Washington in 2001.^[51]

Abramoff also was co-owner of Signatures Restaurant, a high-end Washington establishment which he used to reward friends and associates. His fellow lobbyist Kevin A. Ring treated Justice Department official Robert E. Coughlin to free tickets to the skyboxes and took him out to Signatures multiple times in exchange for favors.^[52] The restaurant, once thriving, was closed once investigations closed in on Abramoff.

DeLay, Ney and Florida Republican Representative Tom Feeney have each gone on golf trips to Scotland that were apparently arranged or funded by Abramoff. These trips took place in 2000, 2002 and 2003. Ney and Feeney each claimed that their trips were paid for by the National Center for Public Policy Research, but the group denied this. Spokespeople for Ney and Feeney blamed others for filing errors. Ney later pleaded guilty to knowing that Abramoff had paid for the trip.

A former top procurement official in the Bush administration, David H. Safavian, has been convicted of lying and obstruction of justice in connection with the Abramoff investigation. Safavian, who traveled to Scotland with Reed and Ney on a golf outing arranged by Abramoff, was accused of concealing from federal investigators information about Abramoff's plans to do business with the General Services Administration at the time of the golf trip — in particular, seeking help finding property for his private religious school, Eshkol Academy, and for one of his tribal clients. Safavian was then GSA chief of staff.^[53]

Access to the Bush administration[link]

Jack Abramoff was a highly influential figure as lobbyist and activist in the Bush administration.^[54] In 2001, Abramoff was a member of the Bush administration's 2001 Transition Advisory Team assigned to the Department of the Interior.^[55] Abramoff befriended the incoming Deputy Secretary of the Interior J. Steven Griles.

The draft report of the House Government Reform Committee said the documents — largely Abramoff's billing records and e-mails — listed 485 lobbying contacts with White House officials over three years, including 10 with top Bush aide Karl Rove. The report said that of the 485 contacts listed, 345 were described as meetings or other in-person contacts; 71 were described as phone conversations and 69 were e-mail exchanges.^[56]

In the first ten months of 2001, the Abramoff lobbying team logged almost 200 contacts with the Bush administration.^[55] He may have used these senior level contacts to assist in his lobbying for Indian tribes concerning tribal gaming. The Department of the Interior has Federal regulatory authority over tribal affairs such as tribal recognition and gaming. From 2000 to 2003, six Indian tribes paid Abramoff over $80 million in lobbying fees.^[5]

The Department of the Interior Office of Insular Affairs has authority over policy and grants to US territories such as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).^[57] This may have assisted Abramoff in lobbying for textile interests in the islands. U.S. Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) and DeLay also heavily lobbied the CNMI for opposing the minimum wage.^[58][59]

Abramoff asked for $9 million in 2003 from the president of Gabon, Omar Bongo, to arrange a meeting with Bush and directed his fees to an Abramoff-controlled lobbying firm, GrassRoots Interactive.^[60] Bongo did meet with Bush in the Oval Office on May 26, 2004.^[60] There has been no evidence in the public record that Abramoff had any role in organizing the meeting, or that he received any money or had a signed contract with Gabon.^[60]

White House and State Department officials described Bush's meeting with Bongo, whose government is regularly accused by the United States of human rights abuses, as routine.^[60] The officials said they knew of no involvement by Abramoff in the arrangements. Officials at Gabon's embassy in Washington did not respond to written questions.^[60]

Susan Ralston, Rove's assistant since 2001, previously worked as an administrative assistant for both Abramoff and Reed.^[5][61]

According to former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to arrange a meeting between Mahathir and Bush, allegedly at the direction of the Heritage Foundation. Mahathir insisted that someone unknown to him had paid for the meeting.^[62]

On May 9, 2001, Chief Raul Garza of the Kickapoo tribe of Texas met with Bush, with Abramoff and Norquist in attendance. Abramoff was identified in the background of a photo taken at the meeting.^[63] Days before the meeting, the tribe paid $25,000 to Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform at Abramoff's direction. According to the organization's communications director, John Kartch, the meeting was one of several gatherings with Bush sponsored by ATR. On the same day, the chief of the Louisiana Coushattas also attended an ATR-sponsored gathering with Bush. The Coushattas also gave $25,000 to ATR soon before the event.

The details of the Kickapoo meeting and a letter dated May 10, 2001, from ATR thanking the Kickapoos for their contribution were revealed to the New York Times in 2006 by former council elder Isidro Garza, who with Raul Garza (no relation), is under indictment in Texas for embezzling tribal money. According to Isidro Garza, Abramoff did not say the donation was required to meet Bush; the White House denied any knowledge of the transaction.^[64]

Other photos have surfaced of Abramoff and Bush meeting at the White House and Oval Office on either December 22 or 23, 2002. The photos were found on a site that published many pictures of governmental events, ReflectionsOrders.com. The owner of the site removed the photos almost immediately when the presence of Abramoff and Bush together was discovered. Some Internet users located the photos and preserved copies of some of them.^[65] The owner of the site gave thousands of dollars to the Bush campaign and Republican National Committee, according to public FEC contribution records.^[66]

An NPR news report from March 2006 stated that: "...Abramoff recently granted a rare press interview to Vanity Fair magazine, where he asserts President Bush and other prominent figures in Washington know him very well. He called them liars for denying contact with him".^[67]

In June 2006, Abramoff began secretly granting exclusive interviews to former Boston Globe investigative reporter Gary S. Chafetz, without the knowledge of Abramoff's attorneys or the federal prosecutors with whom Abramoff had been cooperating. These interviews — conducted before and during Abramoff's imprisonment — continued until May 2008. In September 2008, Chafetz's book, The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff was rushed into print prior to the 2008 presidential election. In his book, Chafetz asserted that Abramoff, though guilty of some of the charges, was the victim of misleading and sensational reporting by the Washington Post, vengeance and mendacity on the part of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and strong-arm tactics of the Justice Department who forced Abramoff into confessing to crimes he did not believe he was guilty of. Chafetz also accused federal prosecutors of abusive — and possibly illegal — tactics in their reliance on private and public honest services fraud, which he characterized as vague and controversial.^[68][69]

Abramoff organizations[link]

Abramoff has founded or run several non-profit organizations, including Capital Athletic Foundation and Eshkol Academy; as well as lobbying firms and political think tanks such as American International Center, GrassRoots Interactive, and the National Center for Public Policy Research. While these organizations had varying degrees of legitimate activities, it has come to light that Abramoff used these organizations to channel millions of dollars to recipients not related to the organizations.

Capital Athletic Foundation and Eshkol Academy[link]

Main articles: Capital Athletic Foundation, Eshkol Academy

Although Federal tax records show that various Indian tribes donated more than $6 million to the Capital Athletic Foundation, less than 1% of the money went to athletic programs, the stated purpose of the foundation. The majority of the funds went to the Eshkol Academy in Maryland, an Orthodox Jewish school founded by Abramoff in 2002. Hundreds of thousands of dollars from CAF were also spent on golf trips to Scotland for Abramoff, Ney, Reed, and Safavian, as well as purchases of camping equipment sent to a high school friend. Abramoff solicited Safavian's help in looking for property deals for Eshkol Academy and tribal clients, leading to Safavian's conviction.^[70]

GrassRoots Interactive and Kay Gold[link]

GrassRoots Interactive, now defunct, was a small Silver Spring, Maryland, lobbying firm controlled by Abramoff. Millions of dollars flowed into GrassRoots Interactive in 2003, the year it was created, and then flowed out again to unusual places. At least $2.3 million went to a California consulting firm that used the same address as the law office of Abramoff's brother, Robert. A separate check for $400,000, from GrassRoots, was made out to Kay Gold LLC, another Abramoff family company.^[71]

Maldon Institute[link]

Abramoff was a board member and secretary/treasurer of the Maldon Institute for at least five years (1999–2003). He was one of only four board members, including John Rees.^[72]

Scandal and criminal investigations[link]

In late 2004, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee began to investigate Abramoff's lobbying on behalf of American Indian tribes and casinos. In September he was called before the Committee to answer questions about that work, but pleaded the fifth.^[73]

SunCruz Casinos fraud conviction[link]

On August 11, 2005, Abramoff and Adam Kidan were indicted by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on fraud charges arising from a 2000 deal to buy SunCruz Casinos from Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis. Abramoff and Kidan are accused of using a fake wire transfer to make lenders believe that they had made a $23 million down payment, in order to qualify for a $60 million loan.^[74] Kidan received the same sentence as Abramoff — 5 years, 10 months — which he began serving at Fort Dix Federal Penetentiary, in Fort Dix, New Jersey, on October 23, 2006. Ney also was implicated in helping to consummate the deal.

After the partners purchased SunCruz in September 2000, the business relationship with Boulis deteriorated, culminating in a fistfight between Kidan and Boulis in December 2000. In February 2001 Boulis was murdered in his car in a Mafia-style attack. The murder investigation, which presently includes three mobsters who had received payments from Kidan, is ongoing. Two of the suspects face the death penalty. SunCruz is now owned and operated by Oceans Casinos Cruises.

On January 4, 2006, Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud in Miami, related to the SunCruz deal. The plea agreement called for a maximum sentence of over seven years and would run simultaneously with the sentence in the Washington corruption case, but could be reduced if Abramoff cooperates fully. The remaining four counts in the Florida indictment were dismissed.^[75]

On March 29, 2006, Abramoff and Kidan were both sentenced in the SunCruz case to the minimum amount, 70 months, and to pay US$21.7 million in restitution. According to the "memorandum in aid of sentencing", the sentencing judge, U.S. District Judge Paul C. Huck, received over 260 pleas for leniency from various people, including "rabbis, military officers and even a professional hockey referee."^[76] The defendants are still cooperating with federal investigators and will be sentenced later in the Indian lobbying case.

Guam grand jury investigation[link]

In 2002 Abramoff was retained under a secret contract by the Guam Superior Court to lobby against a bill proposing to put the Superior Court under the authority of the Guam Supreme Court. On November 18, 2002, a grand jury issued a subpoena demanding that the administrator of the Guam Superior Court release all records relating to the contract. On November 19, 2002, U.S. Attorney Frederick A. Black, the chief prosecutor for Guam and the instigator of the indictment, was unexpectedly demoted and removed from the office he had held since 1991. The federal grand jury investigation was quickly wound down and took no further action. In 2005 Public Auditor Doris Flores Brooks initiated a new investigation of the Abramoff contract, which is continuing.

In 2006 California attorney and Marshall Islands lobbyist Howard Hills, and Tony Sanchez, a former administrator of the Guam Superior Court, were indicted for unlawful influence, conspiracy for unlawful influence, theft of property held in trust, and official misconduct for allegedly authorizing 36 payments of $9,000 vis a vis a pre-existing contract between Hills and the Guam Superior Court, each written out to Hills, but funneled to Abramoff. Hills, trusting Sanchez as a court official at face value, assumed that this was a temporary circumstance and agreed to help facilitate transition for what he thought was a standard government contract between Abramoff and the court. For this Hills received no compensation. Before indictments or investigations were initiated, Hills halted his temporary contract with Abramoff and reported what he thought was potentially suspicious behavior to public officials when it occurred to him that something may be wrong. In 2007, superseding indictments were issued against Hills and Sanchez, and in 2008 further related indictments were handed down against Abramoff and Abramoff's firm at the time, Greenberg Traurig. The charges against both attorney Howard Hills and Greenberg Traurig have since been dismissed.

Indian tribes grand jury investigations[link]

Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon (a former Tom DeLay aide) conspired to bilk Indian casino gambling interests out of an estimated $85 million in fees. The lobbyists also orchestrated lobbying against their own clients in order to force them to pay for lobbying services. These practices were the subject both of long-running criminal prosecution and hearings by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. On November 21, 2005, Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a member of Congress and other public officials.

On January 3, 2006, Abramoff pleaded guilty to three felony counts—conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion—involving charges stemming principally from his lobbying activities in Washington on behalf of Native American tribes. In addition, Abramoff and other defendants must make restitution of at least $25 million that was defrauded from clients, primarily the Native American tribes. Further, Abramoff owes the Internal Revenue Service $1.7 million as a result of his guilty plea to the tax evasion charge. In the agreement, Abramoff admits to bribing public officials, including Ney.^[77] Also included: the hiring of congressional staffers and conspiring with them to lobby their former employers -— including members of Congress -— in violation of a one-year federal ban on such lobbying.^[78]

On January 3, 2006, Abramoff pleaded guilty to three criminal felony counts related to the defrauding of American Indian tribes and corruption of public officials, in a Washington, D.C., federal court.^[79] The four tribes Abramoff and his associates had been involved with included Michigan's Saginaw Chippewas, California's Agua Caliente, the Mississippi Choctaws, and the Louisiana Coushattas. Abramoff was accused of defrauding the tribes of tens of millions of dollars on issues associated with Indian gaming.^[80]

Later in 2006 Abramoff lobbyists Neil Volz and Tony Rudy pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges; in September 2006 Ney himself pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements.

On September 4, 2008, a Washington court found him guilty of trading expensive gifts, meals and sports trips in exchange for political favors, and U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle sentenced him to a four-year term in prison, to be served concurrently with his previous sentences. Abramoff cooperated in a bribery investigation involving lawmakers, their aides, and members of the Bush administration.^[81][82][83]

People convicted in Abramoff probe[link]

• Adam Kidan (a former Abramoff business partner), was sentenced in Florida in March 2006 to nearly six years in prison for conspiracy and fraud in the 2000 purchase of the Fort Lauderdale-based SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet.
• Susan B. Ralston (R) Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to Karl Rove, resigned October 6, 2006 after it became known that she accepted gifts and passed information to her former boss Jack Abramoff.^[84]
• Roger Stillwell (R) Staff in the Department of the Interior under George W. Bush. Pleaded guilty and received two years suspended sentence^[85] for not reporting hundreds of dollars worth of sports and concert tickets he received from Abramoff.
• Steven Griles, (R) (former Deputy Interior Secretary) the highest-ranking Bush administration official convicted in the scandal, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice. He admitted lying to a Senate committee about his relationship with Abramoff, who repeatedly sought Griles' intervention at Interior on behalf of Indian tribal clients.
• David Safavian, (R) (former White House official), the Bush administration's former top procurement official, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October 2006^[86] after he was found guilty of covering up his dealings with Abramoff.^[87][88]
• Bob Ney, then U. S. Representative, (R-Ohio), pleaded guilty September 2006, sentenced in January 2007 to 2½ years in prison, acknowledged taking bribes from Abramoff. Ney was in the traveling party on an Abramoff-sponsored golf trip to Scotland at the heart of the case against Safavian.

1. Neil Volz, (R) a former chief of staff to Ney who left government to work for Abramoff, pleaded guilty in May 2006 to conspiring to corrupt Ney and others with trips and other aid
2. William Heaton, (R) former chief of staff for Ney, pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge involving a golf trip to Scotland, expensive meals, and tickets to sporting events between 2002 and 2004 as payoffs for helping Abramoff's clients.
3. Thomas Hart (R), former chief of staff for Ney, pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge involving a golf trip to Scotland, expensive meals, and tickets to sporting events between 2002 and 2004 as payoffs for helping Abramoff's clients.

• Italia Federici, (R) co-founder of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstruction of a Senate investigation into Abramoff's relationship with officials at the Department of Interior.
• Mark Zachares, former aide to U. S. Representative Don Young, (R-Alaska), pleaded guilty to conspiracy. He acknowledged accepting tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts and a golf trip to Scotland from Abramoff's team in exchange for official acts on the lobbyist's behalf.
• Kevin A. Ring former staff to John Doolittle (R-CA) was convicted of five charges of corruption.^[89][90] He was sentenced to 20 months in prison in October 2011.^[3]
• James Hirni, former staff to Tim Hutchinson (R-AR) was charged with wire fraud for giving a staffer for Don Young (R) of Alaska a bribe in exchange for amendments to the Federal Highway Bill. (2008)^[91]
• Tom DeLay (R-TX) The House Majority Leader was reprimanded twice by the House Ethics Committee and his aides indicted (2004–2005); eventually DeLay himself was investigated in October 2005 in connection with the Abramoff scandal, but not indicted. DeLay resigned from the House 9 June 2006.^[92] Delay was found to have illegally channeled funds from Americans for a Republican Majority to Republican state legislator campaigns. He was convicted of two counts of money laundering and conspiracy in 2010.^[93]

1. Michael Scanlon (R) former staff to Tom DeLay: working for Abramoff, pled guilty to bribery.^[82][83]
2. Tony Rudy (R) former staff to Tom DeLay, pleaded guilty to conspiracy.^[83]
3. James W. Ellis (R) executive director of Tom DeLay's political action committee, Americans for a Republican Majority (ARMPAC), was indicted by Texas for money laundering.^[94]
4. John Colyandro executive director of Tom DeLay's political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), was indicted by Texas for money laundering^[94]

• John Albaugh former chief of staff to Ernest Istook (R-OK) pled guilty to accepting bribes connected to the Federal Highway Bill. Istook was not charged. (2008)^[95]
• Jared Carpenter (R) Vice-President of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, was discovered during the Abramoff investigation and pled guilty to income tax evasion. He got 45 days, plus 4 years probation.^[96]
• Robert E. Coughlin (R) Deputy Chief of Staff, Criminal Division of the Justice Department pleaded guilty to conflict of interest after accepting bribes from Jack Abramoff. (2008)^[52]
• Horace Cooper former labor department official with the Bush administration and aide to Rep. Dick Armey plead guilty to falsifying a document when he did not report receiving gifts from Abramoff.^[97]

Incarceration[link]

Abramoff served four years of a six year sentence. On November 15, 2006, he began serving his term in the minimum security prison camp of Federal Correctional Institution, Cumberland, Maryland, as inmate number 27593-112. The Justice Department had requested that he serve his sentence there so as to be accessible to agents in Washington for cooperation as the investigations related to his associates intensified.^[98] Abramoff worked as a clerk in the prison chaplain’s office for 12 cents an hour. He was also teaching courses in public speaking and screenwriting to his fellow inmates and instituted a popular movie night.^[99]

On June 8, 2010, he was released from federal prison and was transferred to a halfway house in Baltimore, Maryland until the end of his six year sentence.^[100] In late June he started working at the kosher pizzeria Tov Pizza, working about 40 hours a week from 10:30 a.m. till 5:30 p.m., earning between $7.50 and $10.00 per hour.^[101][102] He finished working at Tov Pizza when he was released from the halfway house on December 3, 2010.^[6][103]

Criticism of lobbying industry[link]

In November 2011 the book Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Corruption From America's Most Notorious Lobbyist Abramoff wrote after he was released from prison was published. The 300-page memoir is an account of his life in Washington as a lobbyist.^[104] In its last chapter, titled “Path to Reform”, Abramoff portrays himself as someone who supports genuine reform and lists a number of proposals to eliminate bribery of government officials, such as barring members of Congress and their aides for life from becoming lobbyists.^[105]

Abramoff has become a critic of the lobbying industry and has appeared on radio and television, “trying ... to redeem and rebrand himself”. He has a Facebook page and game app called “Congressional Jack”, and a feature film in the works about the lobbying milieu. He plans to charge for giving talks about corruption in Washington, and has briefed F.B.I. agents on the nature of corruption.^[99] He has joined the Republic anti-corruption nonprofit organization united republic anti-corruption nonprofit organization,^[106] and has started in February 2012 as one of the lead bloggers at United Republic′s newly launched Republic Report, described as “an anti-corruption blog focusing on how self-interested dollars are warping the public-interest responsibilities of America's democratic institutions” by the Huffington Post.^[107]

See also[link]

• Category:Jack Abramoff scandals
• Jack Abramoff timeline
• List of trips funded by Jack Abramoff
• Lobbying in the United States
• Norman Hsu
• List of federal political scandals in the United States

Footnotes[link]

Cited notes and references[link]

Uncited references[link]

• Roche, Walter F. (August 8, 2005). "Bush removal ended Guam investigation". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/08/bush_removal_ended_guam_investigation/. 
• Byrne, John. Abramoff, lobbyists linked to troubled multibillion-dollar Homeland Security contract, rawstory.com. Accessed February 3, 2006.
• How many conservative columnists did Jack Abramoff rent for his clients?, Media Matters for America. Accessed February 3, 2006.
• Kurtz, Howard and Babcock, Charles R. "Two 'Nonpolitical' Foundations Push Grenada Rallies", The Washington Post, October 4, 1984.
• Taibbi, Matt, "Meet Mr. Republican: Jack Abramoff, Rolling Stone, March 24, 2006
• A Jackpot From Indian Gaming Tribes, Washington Post, February 22, 2004.
• Abramoff may strike deal with prosecutors; Plea could mean lobbyist would implicate members of Congress, MSNBC, December 21, 2005
• www.jackinthehouse.org
• "A Lobbyist in Full" New York Times, May 1, 2005.
• Transcript of PBS Now episode with snippets of Senate Indian case testimony
• Abramoff's associations with various organizations
• Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell's statement on Abramoff
• Committee on Indian Affairs hearing transcript
• A Look at Jack Abramoff's Ties to the South Pacific Island of Saipan... from Democracy Now
• "Committee Asks Justice Dept. To Broaden Inquiry of Lobbyist" New York Times.
• "Democrats Also Got Tribal Donations" Washington Post
• "Lobbyist, rabbi talk of tricking the Cosmos"
• "Abramoff in Court on Charges of Fraud", Financial Times, August 12, 2005.
• Abramoff's Federal Campaign Contributions, NewsMeat.com
• Statement of Sen. Byron Dorgan
• Abramoff, Scanlon and the Influence of Money -- on Fresh Air/NPR with Terry Gross
• Op-Eds for Sale, Business Week
• Abramoff and al-Arian: Lobbyist's "Charity" a Front for Terrorism Informed Comment
• The Jack Abramoff Story collected news and analysis from the Washington Post
• Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 15, 2006, "What you should know about Abramoff case" Excellent, simplified, summary. Good intro to the situation.
• Levenson, Michael (January 15, 2006). "Roots of a lobbyist". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/01/15/roots_of_a_lobbyist/. 
• Birnbaum, Jeffrey H.; Balz, Dan (January 4, 2006). "Case Bringing New Scrutiny To a System and a Profession". Washington Post. p. A01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/03/AR2006010301536.html. Retrieved May 5, 2010. 
• 'Dear Judge': Religion-tinged Letters Praise Good Deeds of Felon Lobbyist, Forward April 7, 2006

External links[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Abramoff Senate Indian Affairs Documents

• Jack Abramoff at the Internet Movie Database
• Posts by Jack Abramoff at Republic Report
• Who wrote Red Scorpion? - Wolfram|Alpha
• Jack Abramoff - Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America's Most Notorious Lobbyist - Amazon.com

Research/media[link]

• "Abramoff Gets Shuffled Out of the Way?". Susan Bradford, Agonist, October 24, 2006.
• Lynched! The Shocking Story of How the Political Establishment Manufactured a Scandal to Have Republican Super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff Removed from Power. Susan Bradford.
• A Swashbuckling Spectacle of Corruption - Bill Moyers Investigates Abramoff Lobbying Scandal streaming video, mp3, transcript
• "Abramoff Pleads Guilty to Three Counts: Lobbyist to Testify About Lawmakers in Corruption Probe, The Washington Post, January 4, 2006, page A1.
• Capitol Crimes. Abramoff, Inc. Bill Moyers PBS documentary series Moyers on America
• Department of the Interior: Communications Between DOI and Jack Abramoff (2005)- Extensive collection of materials obtained by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington under the Freedom of Information Act.
• Barry Yeoman, Fall of a True Believer, Mother Jones
• Jack Abramoff--MSNBC Interactive connections
• "Jack Abramoff's CV". Archived from the original on 2003-06-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20030612020908/http://gtlaw.com/bios/govadmin/abramoffj.htm.  "Jack is directly involved in the Republican party and conservative movement leadership structures"
• Ms. Magazine Spring 2006 article "Paradise Lost: Greed, Sex Slavery, Forced Abortions and Right-Wing Moralists"
• "The Fast Rise and Steep Fall of Jack Abramoff: How a Well-Connected Lobbyist Became the Center of a Far-Reaching Corruption Scandal", The Washington Post, December 29, 2005, page A1.
• ThePerfectVillain.com, The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, published September 2008.
• "Casino Jack and the United States of Money–A Look at Corporate Money and Politics", Democracy Now!, January 27, 2010
• "The man who blew the whistle on Jack Abramoff tells the story of how he did it", The Hill (newspaper), January 26, 2010
• Kevin Spacey stars in the upcoming film Casino Jack (2010)
• Casino Jack official web site
• Jack Abramoff on The George Jarkesy Show (2012)

John McCain
United States Senator from Arizona
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1987 Serving with Jon Kyl
Preceded by	Barry Goldwater
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st district
In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1987
Preceded by	John Jacob Rhodes Jr.
Succeeded by	John Jacob Rhodes III
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
In office January 3, 1995 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	Daniel Inouye
Succeeded by	Ben Nighthorse Campbell
In office January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Succeeded by	Byron Dorgan
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2001
Preceded by	Larry Pressler
Succeeded by	Ernest Hollings
In office January 20, 2001 – June 3, 2001
Preceded by	Ernest Hollings
Succeeded by	Ernest Hollings
In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Ernest Hollings
Succeeded by	Ted Stevens
Personal details
Born	John Sidney McCain III (1936-08-29) August 29, 1936 (age 75) Coco Solo Naval Air Station, Panama Canal Zone
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Carol Shepp (m. 1965, div. 1980) Cindy Lou Hensley (m. 1980 - present)
Relations	John S. McCain, Jr. (father, deceased) Roberta McCain (mother)
Children	Douglas (b. 1959, adopted 1966) Andrew (b. 1962, adopted 1966) Sidney (b. 1966) Meghan (b. 1984) John Sidney IV "Jack" (b. 1986) James "Jimmy" (b. 1988) Bridget (b. 1991, adopted 1993)
Residence	Phoenix, Arizona
Alma mater	U.S. Naval Academy (B.S.)
Profession	Naval Aviator, politician
Religion	Baptist congregant (Brought up Episcopalian)[1]
Signature
Website	www.mccain.senate.gov
Military service
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1958–1981
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	Vietnam War
This article is part of a series about The life of John McCain Early life and military career House and Senate career, until 2000 2000 presidential campaign Senate career, 2001–present 2008 presidential campaign Cultural and political image Political positions

In 1951 at left, with mother Roberta, brother Joe, and father John S. McCain, Jr.
In 1951 at left, with mother Roberta, brother Joe, and father John S. McCain, Jr.		In 1954 at the Naval Academy

John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican presidential nominee in the 2008 United States election.

McCain followed his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals, into the United States Navy, graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. He became a naval aviator, flying ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he was almost killed in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. In October 1967, while on a bombing mission over Hanoi, he was shot down, seriously injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. He was a prisoner of war until 1973. McCain experienced episodes of torture, and refused an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer. His war wounds left him with lifelong physical limitations.

He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and moved to Arizona, where he entered politics. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, he served two terms, and was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, winning re-election easily four times, most recently in 2010. While generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain at times has had a media reputation as a "maverick" for his willingness to disagree with his party on certain issues. After being investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as a member of the Keating Five, he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually led to the passage of the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002. He is also known for his work towards restoring diplomatic relations with Vietnam in the 1990s, and for his belief that the war in Iraq should be fought to a successful conclusion. McCain has chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, opposed spending that he considered to be pork barrel, and played a key role in alleviating a crisis over judicial nominations.

McCain ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000 but lost a heated primary season contest to George W. Bush. He secured the nomination in 2008 after coming back from early reversals, but lost to Democratic candidate Barack Obama in the general election. He subsequently adopted more orthodox conservative stances and attitudes and largely opposed actions of the Obama administration.

Early life and military career, 1936–1981[link]

Formative years and education[link]

John McCain was born on August 29, 1936, at Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone, to naval officer John S. McCain, Jr. (1911–1981) and Roberta (Wright) McCain (b. 1912).^[2] At that time, the Panama Canal was under U.S. control.^[3]

McCain's family tree includes Scots-Irish and English ancestors.^[4] His father and his paternal grandfather, John S. McCain, Sr., both became four-star United States Navy admirals.^[5] His family, including his older sister Sandy and younger brother Joe,^[2] followed his father to various naval postings in the United States and the Pacific.^[6] Altogether, he attended about 20 schools.^[7]

In 1951, the family settled in Northern Virginia, and McCain attended Episcopal High School, a private preparatory boarding school in Alexandria.^[8] He excelled at wrestling and graduated in 1954.^[9]

Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, McCain entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. There, he was a friend and informal leader for many of his classmates,^[10] and sometimes stood up for targets of bullying.^[5] He also became a lightweight boxer.^[11] McCain came into conflict with higher-ranking personnel, and he did not always obey the rules, which contributed to a low class rank (894 of 899), despite a high IQ.^[10][12] He did well in academic subjects that interested him, such as literature and history, but studied only enough to pass subjects he struggled with, such as mathematics.^[5][13] McCain graduated in 1958.^[10]

Naval training, first marriage, and Vietnam assignment[link]

John McCain's early military career began when he was commissioned an ensign and started two and a half years of training at Pensacola to become a naval aviator.^[14] While there, he earned a reputation as a partying man.^[7] He completed flight school in 1960, and became a naval pilot of ground-attack aircraft, assigned to A-1 Skyraider squadrons^[15] aboard the aircraft carriers USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise^[16] in the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas.^[17] McCain began as a sub-par flier^[17] who was at times careless and reckless;^[18] during the early-to-mid 1960s, the planes he was flying crashed twice and once collided with power lines, but he received no major injuries.^[18] His aviation skills improved over time,^[17] and he was seen as a good pilot, albeit one who tended to "push the envelope" in his flying.^[18]

On July 3, 1965, McCain married Carol Shepp, a model originally from Philadelphia.^[19] McCain adopted her two young children Douglas and Andrew.^[16][20] He and Carol then had a daughter named Sidney.^[21][22]

McCain requested a combat assignment,^[23] and was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal flying A-4 Skyhawks.^[24] His combat duty began when he was 30 years old, in mid-1967, when Forrestal was assigned to a bombing campaign, Operation Rolling Thunder, during the Vietnam War.^[19][25] McCain and his fellow pilots became frustrated by micromanagement from Washington, and he would later write that "In all candor, we thought our civilian commanders were complete idiots who didn't have the least notion of what it took to win the war."^[25][26]

On July 29, 1967, McCain, by then a lieutenant commander, was near the center of the Forrestal fire. He escaped from his burning jet and was trying to help another pilot escape when a bomb exploded;^[27] McCain was struck in the legs and chest by fragments.^[28] The ensuing fire killed 134 sailors and took 24 hours to control.^[29][30] With the Forrestal out of commission, McCain volunteered for assignment with the USS Oriskany, another aircraft carrier employed in Operation Rolling Thunder.^[31] Once there, he would be awarded the Navy Commendation Medal and the Bronze Star for missions flown over North Vietnam.^[32]

Prisoner of war[link]

John McCain's capture and subsequent imprisonment began on October 26, 1967. He was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile over Hanoi.^[33][34] McCain fractured both arms and a leg ejecting from the aircraft,^[35] and nearly drowned when he parachuted into Truc Bach Lake.^[33] Some North Vietnamese pulled him ashore, then others crushed his shoulder with a rifle butt and bayoneted him.^[33] McCain was then transported to Hanoi's main Hoa Lo Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton".^[34]

Although McCain was badly wounded, his captors refused to treat his injuries, beating and interrogating him to get information; he was given medical care only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral.^[36] His status as a prisoner of war (POW) made the front pages of major newspapers.^[37][38]

McCain spent six weeks in the hospital while receiving marginal care.^[33] By then having lost 50 pounds (23 kg), in a chest cast, and with his hair turned white,^[33] McCain was sent to a different camp on the outskirts of Hanoi^[39] in December 1967, into a cell with two other Americans who did not expect him to live a week.^[40] In March 1968, McCain was put into solitary confinement, where he would remain for two years.^[41]

In mid-1968, John S. McCain, Jr. was named commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater, and the North Vietnamese offered McCain early release^[43] because they wanted to appear merciful for propaganda purposes,^[44] and also to show other POWs that elite prisoners were willing to be treated preferentially.^[43] McCain turned down the offer; he would only accept repatriation if every man taken in before him was released as well. Such early release was prohibited by the POW's interpretation of the military Code of Conduct: To prevent the enemy from using prisoners for propaganda, officers were to agree to be released in the order in which they were captured.^[33]

In August 1968, a program of severe torture began on McCain.^[45] He was subjected to rope bindings and repeated beatings every two hours, at the same time as he was suffering from dysentery.^[33][45] Further injuries led to the beginning of a suicide attempt, stopped by guards.^[33] Eventually, McCain made an anti-American propaganda "confession".^[33] He has always felt that his statement was dishonorable, but as he later wrote, "I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine."^[46][47] Many American POWs were tortured and maltreated in order to extract "confessions" and propaganda statements;^[48] virtually all of them eventually yielded something to their captors.^[49] McCain subsequently received two to three beatings weekly because of his continued refusal to sign additional statements.^[50]