Abramoff: Well-Connected to the Well-Heeled of the Right Penn Ave. lobbyist’s strong ties to right initiatives Responsive Philanthropy The quarterly journal of the is proof that the strongest ties aren’t the most visible National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy By Rick Cohen 2004, Issue No. 3 The cross fertilization of two-stepping politi- Spring, Md., titled cians and questionable philanthropy is a daily in the name of a 2001 S Street, NW, Ste. 620 phenomenon, but it takes a little digging to fol- company directed Washington, DC 20009 low the relationships. One worth examining is by Abramoff, and Phone 202.387.9177 the nonprofit and philanthropic work of grants of some $4 Fax 202.332.5084 Washington, D.C., lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a million (between E-mail: [email protected] longtime associate of House Majority Leader 2001 and 2003) Web: www.ncrp.org Tom DeLay. to the Eshkol Yearly subscription: $25 Abramoff has long been the epicenter of Academy in (free to members) ISBN: 1065-0008 critical attention for his distinctive ability to Columbia, Md., attract lobbying fees from Indian tribes, where Abramoff amounting to more than $45 million over sent his kids for NCRP Staff three years to Abramoff and his associate, schooling (before Mike Scanlon, another DeLay intimate. Not the school went Rick Cohen Rick Cohen Executive Director surprisingly, the tribes’ hiring of Abramoff bankrupt this past resulted in a huge shift of their political con- spring). The Post cited e-mails from Abramoff tributions to the Republican Party and describing the Eshkol school as a “front group,” Jeff Krehely Deputy Director Republican candidates. Abramoff’s success though it isn’t clear for what. With the CAF and the consequent unhappiness of many trib- donations, Eshkol bought two Zamboni ice- Kevin Ronnie al members garnered the uber-lobbyist a hear- cleaning machines, though the school lacked a Director of Field Operations ing on Sept. 29 in front of Sen. John McCain’s hockey rink. Indian Affairs Committee to face charges that The CAF Web site (http://www.capathletic.org/) Andrea M. DeArment he swindled the tribes and misused their con- lists programs such as the “Spirit of America” Finance Assistant and tributions. awards and the National Sportsmanship Hall of Membership Director What elevates this from simply another sor- Fame and grants to 16 schools and Scout troops, did story of sleazy politics is Abramoff’s role generally recipients of CAF’s typical $500 Naomi Tacuyan with nonprofits. The Washington Post’s front- grants, but not the Eshkol Academy or Kollel Communications Associate page September 28 story revealed that the non- Ohel Tiferet in Israel ($97,500 from CAF in 2002 profit Capital Athletic Foundation, located in the alone) or PTACH, a Jewish children’s services Omolara Fatiregun District of Columbia, had collected almost $6 agency in Brooklyn ($300,000 in 2002). With Research Associate million ostensibly for “needy and deserving” no trace on the website about the conservative sportsmanship programs, but spent only 1 per- Jewish and Israeli grants, it may come as a sur- Yann Doignon Communications Assistant cent of its revenues toward sports-related pro- prise that Abramoff has been a longtime pro- grams for youths. The other 99 percent of CAF Israel lobbyist. expenditures went to items such as a memorial You need Sherlock Holmes to connect all the Daniel Tarica Research Assistant dinner for Angolan rebel Jonas Savimbi and a dots in the Abramoff case. The Christian golf trip to St. Andrews, Scotland, on a private Coalition connection? Abramoff and his part- jet for lobbyists and lawmakers such as the ners got some $4 million from the Tigua tribe in Mira Gupta Research Assistant Christian Coalition’s Ralph Reed and House Texas to keep its casino open while Abramoff Administration Committee Chairman Robert and Scanlon simultaneously worked with for- Cynthia Conner Ney (R-Ohio). mer Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, now Communications Intern The connection? The Capital Athletic a high functionary in the Bush re-election cam- Foundation (CAF) is run by Jack Abramoff and paign, to block the Tigua casino and several © 2004 National Committee is co-located in Abramoff’s office, and its others in the South, paying Reed just about $4 for Responsive Philanthropy expenditures include buying a house in Silver million to do so. 2 Fall 2004 Responsive Philanthropy Abramoff’s perfidy toward his Indian clients is tor of the College Republican National You’ll currently all too clear in an e-mail he sent Reed in 2002: Committee. NCPPR is notable for at least two find Abramoff “I wish those moronic Tiguas were smarter in major initiatives, its Project 21 affiliate promot- their political contributions. I’d love us to get our ing black conservatives and its Envirotruth Web serving as a mitts on that moolah!! Oh well, stupid folks get site attacking the so-called “jihad” of environ- director of the wiped out.” One might have guessed that the mental activists against corporations. NCPPR’s Tiguas would have testified at the Indian Affairs strong support for deregulation and free market National Center Committee hearing. principles matches Abramoff’s lobbying success- for Public Policy Then there’s the connection to NCRP’s es, which include helping—with his friend Tom research on conservative foundations and con- DeLay—the Marianas Islands fight against mini- Research servative think tanks. Abramoff is on the board mum wage and other labor protections for (NCPPR), which is of Toward Tradition, a 501(c)(3) devoted to pro- sweatshop workers. moting “traditional Judeo-Christian values,” The connection to Sen. Bill Frist’s funded by including the “faith-based American principles Republican National Convention fundraiser? the Lynde and of constitutional and limited government, … One of the large donors to Frist’s charitable free markets, a strong military, and a moral pub- endeavor was Pharmaceutical Research and Harry Bradley lic culture.” Toward Tradition’s founder and Manufacturers Association of America Foundation, president, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, got more than (PhRMA), an industry trade association. PhRMA $60,000 as a consultant in 2002 from the has made an “unrestricted educational grant” to the Carthage Capital Athletic Foundation. Abramoff is a the United Seniors Association (USA), a conser- Foundation, director of the National Security Caucus vative grassroots organization for the elderly, Foundation, the educational arm of the and USA has in turn run issue ads on TV sup- the John M. Olin Congressional National Security Caucus, a pro- porting President Bush’s Medicare prescription Foundation, defense nonprofit. drug plan (which would prevent Medicare from Abramoff is also the former executive direc- negotiating with the drug companies to get the Earhart tor of Citizens for America (CFA), a “grassroots deep price discounts on prescription drugs), Foundation, and lobbying organization” founded in 1983 by con- and then aired ads thanking legislators who servative activists such as Lewis Lehrman and voted for the president’s plan—in all, it ran the Sarah Scaife Jack Hume to promote President Reagan’s “pet nearly $10 million in advertising. USA also ran Foundation, projects” such as the “Star Wars” Strategic issue ads in 2001 and 2002 costing over $2 mil- Defense Initiative and support for the “contras” lion that advocated for the Bush administra- among others, all in Nicaragua. One of CFA’s initiatives (as well as tion’s $1.3 trillion tax cut. No surprise, but Jack getting mentions an initiative of the Conservative Caucus, whose Abramoff—a “Pioneer” fundraiser for the 2004 PAC Abramoff also directed at one time) was in Bush-Cheney campaign—is on the board of the in NCRP’s Axis 1986 to give Jonas Savimbi “freedom fighter” United Seniors Association. of Ideology study status to make him eligible for U.S. government aid. Almost two decades later, Abramoff uses his of the public sports philanthropy to memorialize the right Rick Cohen is executive director of the policy wing Angolan rebel. His connection to African National Committee for Responsive Philan- politics goes back to his co-founding of the thropy (NCRP). NCRP is an independent grantmaking International Freedom Foundation, which lob- nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by of conservative bied against Nelson Mandela and in favor of the nonprofit leaders across the nation who rec- apartheid regime. ognized that traditional philanthropy was foundations. You’ll currently find Abramoff serving as a falling short of addressing critical public director of the National Center for Public Policy needs. NCRP’s founders encouraged founda- Research (NCPPR), which is funded by the tions to provide resources and opportunities Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the to help equalize the uneven playing field that Carthage Foundation, the John M. Olin decades of economic equality and pervasive Foundation, the Earhart Foundation, and the discrimination had created. Today NCRP con- Sarah Scaife Foundation, among others, all get- ducts research on and advocates for philan- ting mentions in NCRP’s Axis of Ideology study thropic policies and practices that are respon- of the public policy grantmaking of conservative sive to pubic needs. For more information on foundations. Abramoff and NCPPR’s executive NCRP or to join, please visit www.ncrp.org, director, Amy Moritz Ridenour, go back decades call (202) 387-9177 or use the enclosed to when he was chair and she was deputy direc- membership form. Responsive Philanthropy Fall 2004 3.