Bush terminated 3 tribes - Abramoff "lobbied" for the same 3 tribes

[Solly Mack]

Bush terminated 3 tribes in April of 2001 - Abramoff "lobbied" for the same 3 tribes

Bush held a grudge against these 3 tribes during his time as Governor of Texas. Once he was President, Bush went after them.

Abramoff took their money and lied to them.

Maybe I'm just cynical - but a GOP fundraising wonder boy just happens to defraud these particular tribes?


Bush Terminates Testy Texas Tribes
SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 2001


"With this order, I'm batting these tribes out of the country," said President Bush as BIA Head Richard Blumenthal watches. Photo © Reuters.

WASHINGTON, DC -- Bypassing Congress and ignoring the outcries of tribal leaders throughout Indian Country, President George W. Bush on Friday signed an executive order terminating three Texas tribes who have been his legal and political foes since his days as the state's Governor.

With controversial Bureau of Indian Affairs Chief Richard Blumenthal at his side, Bush officially ended his six-year battle with the Ysleta del Sur Tigua Tribe, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe, and the Kickapoo Tribe. It was the first time since the 1960s that a federally recognized tribe was terminated by the government.

"These unlawful tribes have refused to abide by federal court orders requiring them to shut down their illegal gaming facilities," said Bush. "Termination was the only way to make them pay."

http://www.indianz.com/ict/showarchive.asp?id=bush1



Tigua are denied new trial on Speaking Rock Casino
November 09, 2001

EL PASO, Texas ﾖ U.S. District Judge Garnet Thomas Eisele has denied the Tigua tribe's request for a new trial.

Eisele also refused to amend a judgment which orders the Speaking Rock Casino to close by Nov. 30, ruling he "finds no reason to change or modify the terms of the injunction."

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=2797



- Bush's record and statements on Indian gaming have caused concern from tribal leaders. During the fall campaign, he declared that "state law reigns supreme when it comes to the Indians, whether it be gambling or any other issue."

In Texas, Bush has battled two tribes over gaming. Attorney Tom Diamond, who represents the Tigua Pueblo tribe of Ysleta del Sur and the Kickapoo tribe, told Native America magazine in September that Bush has tried to persuade state legal officials to close the Tigua's casino near El Paso and has refused to negotiate a gaming compact with the Kickapoos. -

http://www.gamblingmagazine.com/articles/14/14-1162.htm

Bush and the Tigua Pueblo tribe of Ysleta del Sur
http://www.bushfiles.com/bushfiles/KingBushandtheTigua.html

Abramoff and the Tigua Pueblo tribe of Ysleta del Sur
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/04/1524250

Abramoff and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas
http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/011458.asp

Abramoff and the Kickapoo Tribe
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/06/07/national/w142024D23.DTL

The Tigua Pueblo tribe of Ysleta del Sur, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe and the Kickapoo Tribe meet with Governor Rick Perry's chief of staff, arranged by Mike Toomey

Perry's staff reviews options with tribes in private meeting": The AP reports here that "Gov. Rick Perry's chief of staff has privately reviewed gambling options with Indian leaders in what a governor's official said was a meeting to explore ways to help fund Texas public schools. A Perry spokeswoman said representatives of the Kickapoo, Alabama-Coushatta and Tigua tribes attended the gathering in Austin last week that was organized by Mike Toomey, but no commitments were made. Limited 'Indian gaming can and should be a part of the solution to the Texas public school finance crisis,' Kevin Battise, vice chairman of the Alabama-Coushatta tribe, told the San Antonio Express-News in Friday's editions."
http://texaslaw.blogspot.com/2003_12_01_texaslaw_archive.html

Mike Toomey and Tom Delay
http://www.mollyivins.com/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1837
http://www.dccc.org/stakeholder/archives/001860.html
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/09/Trmpac_edit.html

[G_j]

1. holy crap!

"terminated"

"Manifest Destiny" is alive and very well with Yellow Hair Bush, both abroad and at home.

true colors!!!

[Solly Mack]

2. I agree. Sounds like extortion to me

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

8. "Bypassing Congress" are the first two words in this article

And April 2001 means this was one of the first things he did upon assuming the Presidency. And then Abramhoff picks up these same tribes as clients? And intercedes on their behalf with Bush?

One question that I have asked over and over - is why did these tribes pay the outrageous and exhorbitant fees that they did - far beyond any normal "lobbying" fees. What if the answer is - they KNEW they weren't paying normal lobbying fees but were, in essence being shaken down? It's almost like a protection racket.

How come Bush had to "bypass Congress" about this anyway?

[G_j]

11. a protection racket

it does sound like that

[Solly Mack]

14. It is protection - extorting money for protection

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

18. Protection racket - staple of most organized crime families

Why should the Bush family be any different?

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. "Terminate all the brutes..."

Mistah Kurtz...he President.

:eyes:

[Straight Shooter]

3. That spiteful little sh*t.

"Termination was the only way to make them pay."

Spiteful, spiteful, spiteful. What a petty little man.

[Solly Mack]

4. And then he sends Abramoff after them

Just conjecture - but we are talking Bush.

[pitohui]

5. i was sorry to hear speaking rock shut down

didn't know there were two others screwed over like this

that son of a bitch

that son of a bitch!

they took bribes and still shut down the tribes, the forked tongue lives!

but a GOP fundraising wonder boy just happens to defraud these particular tribes?


it isn't something that "just happened," at least not in louisiana it wasn't so i'm going to guess there was similar in texas

gaming was supported and brought here by democrats, such as edwin edwards, therefore the tribes traditionally donated to democrats who supported them

abramoff's "deal" was to say that he could swing the republicans to be supportive of gaming issues also, he just lied, he fucking lied and took millions of dollars

i hope he rots and bushco with him

they prey upon peoples who, in some cases, were almost extinct, and could only grow in population with the help of income from the casino, who is going to keep bringing children into the world they can't support when they see no hope for the future? the coushattas of louisiana were losing population for years until they got their casino -- which abramoff robbed of $32 million promising all sorts of stuff he didn't even try to deliver

[Solly Mack]

9. Of course it didn't "just happen"

Blackmail. Extortion.

Terminate them as tribes and then make them pay through the nose....

[blm]

16. The whole Bush team is run like a crime syndicate with nuclear access.

.

[Solly Mack]

17. Damn sure is

well put

[Canuckistanian]

6. What does that mean?

When he "terminated" those tribes, do they have to move? Do they lose all their rights?

[Solly Mack]

7. One tribe moved to Mexico - or was supposed to

But I'm not sure about the others since they are still in Texas...

[pitohui]

13. yes they lose their independence as nations

the tribe that owned speaking rock lost their status as an independent nation and thus the rights guaranteed to them under treaty as independent nations

i'm guessing the same is true for the other two nations mentioned in the piece

[Stephanie]

19. How is that possible?

He can do that? That is the most outrageous thing he has done yet, IMO.

[Solly Mack]

22. I remember when he did it. I literally sputtered

Then I went looking recently - had a hunch the same tribes were involved.

Then Bush makes that speech about what "sovereign" means. Remember that?

But how can you be "sovereign" if the US can just "terminate" you?

[mom cat]

26. Your hunch was right on target. This leaves me sputtering too!

[Solly Mack]

30. Making the tribes pay "tribute" after terminating them

Pay to deal. Pay to exist.

[Stephanie]

38. It was an April Fools joke

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x93253

[Solly Mack]

39. Yeah..I saw that. I asked for this thread to be locked

but I KNOW I read about Bush terminating tribes on DU (in LBN) a few years ago.

[Emit]

34. How does that then affect their rights as tribes under FEC regs

I wonder?

Check out this article, posted the other day by NVmojo:

The Case of Jack Abramoff and Friends: Federal Government Facilitates Political Corruption
By Elaine D. Willman, MPA, 1/6/2006 8:23:18 PM

Before the public becomes overwrought in righteous anger over the shenanigans by the politically corrupted Washington D.C. Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, we must understand that a federal stage was intentionally built upon which many people like Abramoff -- including Indian tribes and elected recipients -- still exist.

At least two presidential administrations helped to engineer and maintain the political climate in Washington D.C. where people like Abramoff and his partners thrived. He didn't operate in a vacuum, nor was all of his activity illegal. In fact, most of his political fundraising and money distribution to elected officials in hopes of gaining political influence for himself and his clients was quite legal.

The timeline below illustrates the federal construction of legislation and regulations that legitimized the money-moving scheme:

May 19, 1998: Executive Order 13084, signed by President Clinton established a Tribal Office in over 25 federal agencies to expedite all tribal requests.
June 1, 2000: Abramoff purchases (albeit fraudulently) the Sun Cruz ("Cruises to Nowhere") offshore Florida floating casinos.
Jan. 28, 2000: Federal Election Commission (FEC) Advisory Opinion No. 1999-32 declares that a tribe acting as a federal (utilities) contractor, may (unlike any other federal contractors) make political contributions as "a person."
September 2000: Abramoff achieves top political power.
May 2001: The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana and other tribes hire Abramoff, who collects approximately $82 million by 2004.
May 15, 2000: (FEC) Advisory Opinion No. 2000-05 declared that tribal governments are not governments for purpose of election contributions. This was just in time to amply fund Bush/Gore Presidential election needs.
March 27, 2002: President Bush signs the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act, that intentionally excluded "Indian Tribes."
February 2002: The poverty-riddled Tigua Tribe in El Paso, Texas, provide $4.2 million in fees to Abramoff to help re-open its casino that Abramoff had helped close.
March 6, 2002: A single tribe, the Coushattas of Louisiana (one of 561 federally recognized tribes) cuts over 60 large checks to Congressional elected officials.
March 14, 2005: FEC Advisory Opinion No. 2005-01 declares that tribal governments, even while acting as federal contractors or associated with federal contractors may continue to make political and election contributions. (To his credit, FEC Commissioner Michael Toner vigorously dissented.) The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) of 1988 has facilitated an escalating tribal gaming revenue industry exceeding 18.6 billion in 2004 alone. The oversight agency, National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) allows campaign contributions and payment to lobbyists as tribal "economic development."
August 2002: Abramoff orchestrated the infamous Scotland "Golf Trip" enjoyed by Congressmen Tom DeLay and Bob Ney, and Christian Coalition leader, Ralph Reed.
March 14, 2005: Thanks to the FEC, Indian tribes are governments when in need of federal funds or special preferences, but for the American election process, they are not governments nor federal contractors, so revenue from tribal government general funds and casinos are available for unreported, unaccountable, and unlimited influence in local, state and federal elections.
It is interesting to note that a mere advisory commission, the Federal Election Commission, appointed by the President's Executive Branch, could publish advisory opinions having the force of the rule of law across the country.

Three FEC Opinions opened wide the financial faucets that converted tribal governments into persons for purpose of unlimited campaign contributions, even as many tribal governments also serve as federal contractors.

No other government (state, county, municipality) nor federal contractor (i.e. public utilities) may financially contribute to America's election processes. The FEC intentionally created a special preference for Indian tribes that lured, if not openly invited, entrepreneurs such as Abramoff to jump into action to facilitate large, continuous, and secret election contributions from Indian tribes. Since tribal governments are not subject to federal or state campaign finance reporting requirements, huge tribal political contributions are even the more desired and empowered.

cont'd:
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?e56d2ebf-4fe5-4745-8340-dffb54f69038

[chat_noir]

12. sent email nominating * for a Worst Person in the World award

[email protected]





edit to crossreference this 2nd DU thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x92955

[morgan2]

15. wait wait wait?

theres a tribe called the Kick-a-poos?

thats great.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

20. Old Little Abner comic strip featured Kickapoo Joy Juice

A variety of white lightening.

Never realized they were a real tribe.

[Tsiyu]

21. Well now I've figured out Abramoff's Mafia name

Jack "Second Coming of Custer" Abramoff

[Solly Mack]

23. Good one!

[Tsiyu]

24. Thanks!

I've been scratching my head over that one for days }(

[Solly Mack]

25. Got one for Shrub?

:)

Georgie Shrubrano?

[Tsiyu]

35. Georgie "The Codpiece" Bushiano?

:P

George "Shit for Brains" Busholini?

Giorgio "Baby Scarface" Pretzellini?

[Solly Mack]

37. LOL! Those work

lol

[Pirate Smile]

27. Washington Post has a "Name the Scandal" contest going on:

"It's a Scandal -- and This T-Shirt Proves It

By Al Kamen

Monday, January 9, 2006; Page A17

Loop Fans started submitting entries last week to the In the Loop Name the Abramoff Scandal Contest, confidently assuming there would have to be such a contest.

Actually, we'd thought about having one but decided not to. After all, there was a "Name that Scandal" contest last year, focusing on former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and superlobbyist Jack Abramoff .

And yet, the new entries were pretty good and the scandal seems to have broadened since then -- along with Jack's waistline. Abramoff's frontal assault on sartorial decency at his court appearance Tuesday was the last straw.

So . . . okay. The Name the Abramoff Scandal Contest will kick off 2006! Names ending in -gate, while not automatically rejected, are frowned upon.


By popular demand, In the Loop launches the Name the Abramoff Scandal Contest, offering this valuable prize. (By Julia Ewan -- The Washington Post)

Send your entry -- and rationale -- via e-mail to [email protected] or mail to In the Loop, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071. Deadline is midnight Jan. 18. Top 10 winners get a still-rare, highly coveted In the Loop T-shirt. (Shown here for those who doubted their existence.) Entries on background are welcome, but everyone must include telephone numbers to be eligible.

Don't delay.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/08/AR2006010800868.html

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

29. Isn't a "name the scandal" contest a way to get us all to accept

that scandals are a way of life and it's really fun to name the scandal and then move along to the next one? I think this is a way to trivialize some things of import. I expect blogs to do stuff like this - but I don't expect mainstream media to do stuff like this. I could be wrong (or then again I could be right).

[Solly Mack]

31. Bread and Circuses

I think you're right. :)

[spanone]

28. Kick & Recommend

Bush* the Crook.

[robbedvoter]

32. Same tecnique as with Harken - bankrupt it, become "trustee"

use the knowledge of the future dropping in the share price to sell to some scmuck, therefore fleecing the shareholders even more.

[toymachines]

33. WTF

It seems like I read two or three new disgusting acts that connect to the shrubs administration every day. And it is almost always in the past, what are these fuckers doing right now! Screwing someone over.

[rumpel]

36. How can * unilaterally strip a tribe of it's tribe recognition? Thanks for

bringing this to light. This is incredible.

on edit

another count of abuse of power

[Lex]

40. Locked.

At the request of the poster who started the thread.

Lex
DU Moderator