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Gambling Interests Funded Delay Trip Later in 2000, Lawmaker’S Vote Helped Defeat Regulatory Measure

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Gambling Interests Funded Delay Trip Later in 2000, Lawmaker’S Vote Helped Defeat Regulatory Measure ABCDE Democracy Dies in Darkness SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2005 Gambling Interests Funded DeLay Trip Later in 2000, Lawmaker’s Vote Helped Defeat Regulatory Measure By James V. Grimaldi reviewed by The Washington Post. The and R. Jeffrey Smith Choctaw and eLottery each sent a check Washington Post Staff Writers for $25,000, according to the documents. An Indian tribe and a gambling ser- They now say that they were unaware the vices company made donations to a Wash- money was being used to finance DeLay’s ington public policy group that covered travels. most of the cost of a $70,000 trip to Brit- But Amy Ridenour, president of the ain by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay National Center, said that, when the trip (R-Tex.), his wife, two aides and two lob- was arranged, Abramoff promised he byists in mid-2000, two months before would secure financial backing. She said DeLay helped kill legislation opposed by that even without Abramoff’s efforts, the the tribe and the company. National Center would have borne the cost The sponsor of the week-long trip of the trip, which was intended to allow the listed in DeLay’s financial disclosures was group to network with conservative British the nonprofit National Center for Public politicians and included an outing to the Policy Research, but a person involved in famous St. Andrews golf course in Scot- arranging DeLay’s travel said that lobbyist land. Jack Abramoff suggested the trip and then “We paid for the trip,” Ridenour said. arranged for checks to be sent by two of his “This trip was going to be paid for by the clients, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw National Center, regardless of whether we Indians and eLottery Inc. got the donations from the Choctaw or The dates on the checks coincided eLottery.” with the day DeLay left on the trip, May House ethics rules allow lawmakers 25, 2000, according to grants documents and their staffs to have travel expenses paid SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2005 KLMNO PAGE 2 Indian Tribe, Gambling Firm congressional office has said included a stop in London and Linked to DeLay Trip in 2000 a visit with Margaret Thatcher, along with the golf outing at St. Andrews, where colleagues say only for officially connected travel and only Abramoff has a membership. by organizations directly connected to the DeLay, an avid golfer, listed the pur- trips. The rules also require that lawmak- pose of the trip on a report filed with the ers accurately report the people or organi- House clerk as “educational.” He was zations that pay for the trips. They prohibit majority whip at the time and brought his payments by registered lobbyists for law- wife, Christine, and two top staff members makers’ travel. — Tony Rudy from the whip’s office and DeLay’s spokesman, Dan Allen, said: chief of staff Susan Hirschmann, as well as “The trip was sponsored, organized and her husband, David Hirschmann, accord- paid for by the National Center for Public ing to filings with the House clerk that Policy Research, as our travel disclosures indicated the total cost of transportation, accurately reflect and what the National lodging and meals was $70,265. Center has publicly said.” Abramoff’s attorney, Abbe David Internet Gambling Bill Killed Lowell, declined to comment. Abramoff, Two months later, in July 2000, DeLay the National Center and the flow of money and 43 other Republicans joined 114 Dem- between them are now being investigated ocrats in killing the Internet Gambling by a federal task force and by the Sen- Prohibition Act, which would have made it ate Committee on Indian Affairs; DeLay a federal crime to place certain bets over was admonished three times last year for the Internet and was opposed by eLottery infringements of House ethics rules. and the Choctaws. The bill was supported To prove an ethics violation, inves- by 165 Republicans and 79 Democrats but tigators would have to show that DeLay fell about 25 votes short of passage; because and his staff knew the gambling interests of a parliamentary maneuver, it required a were funding the trip, said Jan W. Baran, two-thirds majority vote. a Wiley Rein & Fielding LLP ethics law- DeLay spokesman Allen said that yer who often represents Republicans. “If DeLay voted against the bill because it had somebody is doing some backdoor financ- exemptions for jai alai and horse and dog ing, how would the member know?” racing. Rudy later that year went to work Abramoff, a member of the National for Abramoff as a lobbyist. Center’s board, joined the DeLays on the The Choctaw Indians run a highly May 25 to June 3, 2000, trip, which DeLay’s profitable casino near Philadelphia, Miss., SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2005 KLMNO PAGE 3 An Educational Trip In 2000, an Indian tribe and a gambling services company sent $50,000 in checks to a Washington organization, the National Center for Public Policy Research, covering most of the cost of an educational trip to Britain taken by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), according to a person involved in arranging DeLay’s travel. Two months later, DeLay voted against a bill opposed by gambling interests. Lobbyist Jack Abramoff arranged for the donations to the tax-exempt conservative group and went along on the journey, according to the source. Tribe and eLottery Abramoff, who served on the National paid Abramoff to Center’s board, arranged for his Indian Abramoff joined lobby against the and gambling clients to donate the DeLay during the Internet gambling bill. money, according to the source. trip to Britain. Abramoff Tribe wrote a $25,000 In July 2000, DeLay voted check on May 25, 2000, against the gambling bill.* to nonprofit think tank. CHOCTAW National DeLay Trip Internet Center for to Britain, Gambling Public Policy May 25- Prohibition Research June 3, Act ELOTTERY Group 2000 sponsored Gambling company wrote a DeLay’s $25,000 check on May 25, $70,000 trip 2000, to nonprofit group. to Britain. ELottery lobbied against * DeLay’s spokesman said he opposed the bill because the gambling legislation. it had exemptions for horse and dog racing and jai alai. THE WASHINGTON POST that bankrolls their community activities Choctaw story,” she said. On its Web site, and has subsidized an extensive lobbying the center attributes the following state- effort in Washington. The tribe donated ment to DeLay: “The National Center is a total of $65,000 to Ridenour’s group in The Center for conservative communica- 2000 and $1.07 million in 2002. tions.” The Choctaw money was intended to Asked about the DeLay trip to Britain, help the center create a program to build tribal lawyer Bryant Rogers said: “The tribe support for the idea that Indian casinos did not authorize the use of any money for could drive prosperity for poor tribes, this purpose. If it occurred, it occurred Ridenour said. “We were trying to tell the without the tribe’s knowledge.” SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2005 KLMNO PAGE 4 ELottery is a Connecticut company should not be taxed. that provides Internet services to state lot- Three and a half weeks after DeLay’s teries. One version of the gambling legisla- Jan. 3, 2001, speech saluting Martin “for tion contained a provision that would have all he has done to further the cause of free- severely restricted state lottery sales over dom,” at least one of DeLay’s aides went the Internet. Edwin J. McGuinn, president on a trip via private jet to the Super Bowl of eLot Inc., the parent of eLottery, said the in Tampa arranged and financed by one provision would have killed his company. of Abramoff’s companies. Sources famil- “We wouldn’t have been able to operate,” iar with the trip said the guests were also he said. taken out to an Abramoff-owned gambling McGuinn said he was unaware that ship that was anchored near Tampa. eLottery’s $25,000 check was meant to No one on DeLay’s staff filed a report pay for DeLay’s trip. Of the donation to the disclosing the trip, a task required by House National Center, he said: “It certainly was rules for “the receipt of travel expenses our impression that any and all moneys from private sources” but not for govern- were being positioned to get the attention ment-funded or political travel. and focus of our cause.” DeLay spokesman Allen said: “The DeLay today describes himself as a staffer went down to participate in a longtime opponent of any expansion of National Republican Congressional Com- gambling. But in a House floor speech six mittee party, so it was considered political months after his trip to Britain, he praised travel. The staffer never saw Abramoff dur- the head of the Mississippi Band of Choc- ing the trip.” taw Indians as a “champion of peace and The Internet gambling legislation was prosperity” and placed in the Congressio- the only issue Abramoff and his employer nal Record an editorial praising chief Phil- at the time, Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas lip Martin for enriching the tribe through Meeds LLP, mentioned in lobbying disclo- the “construction of a casino.” sure records when they reported earning The editorial, from the magazine $440,000 in fees from eLottery in 2000. Indian Country Today, noted that Mar- The Internet gambling bill was one of sev- tin had also wisely positioned his tribe “to eral legislative issues listed in a separate solidify friendships with Republican pow- lobbying disclosure for the firm’s efforts on erhouses.” It said — in an apparent refer- behalf of the Choctaw, which paid Preston ence to Abramoff — that the tribe and its Gates $880,000 in 2000.
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