Abramoff lobbying firm indicted is major Hillary donor

[ProSense]

Abramoff GOP Lobbying Firm Indicted, Major HRC Donor

Greenberg Traurig (GT), a major GOP partisan law and lobbying shop, has been indicted on federal charges in the Marianas Islands sweatshop case. The firm employed notorious political fixer Jack Abramoff.

Abramoff’s firm has a long history as a conduit for illegal foreign campaign contributions. GT were Bush's Campaign Lawyers during the 2000 Florida Recount, and is now a major donor to HRC's presidential campaign, according to the lastest FEC data.

Records show that beginning in the mid-1990s, Hillary Clinton developed a donor relationship with the Tan Family, a wealthy Chinese ethnic clan that owns many of the businesses implicated in the Marianas bribery, prostitution, and human trafficking scandal.

Tan money flowed into the HRC campaign coffers as recently as 2005. This raises two questions, what does John McCain and his staff know about Clinton’s ties to the Tan that the public doesn't? Why is the US Attorney recommencing the Fraud and Conspiracy trial now after it was shut down in 2002 in the first of the now notorious US Attorney firings?

Source: ABC News

Jack Abramoff's old lobby firm has been slapped with its first indictment stemming from his misdeeds.

The attorney general for Guam issued an indictment Monday against the Greenberg Traurig firm, Abramoff and a former Guam government official on nine felony counts of theft, conspiracy and misconduct.

From 2001 to 2003, the indictment alleges, Guam Superior Court official Anthony P. Sanchez funneled $324,000 in public funds to Abramoff and Greenberg Traurig in a series of $9,000 checks, disguised as payments to a third party. The court reportedly wanted Abramoff to keep it from becoming subject to rulings by the Guam Supreme Court. Abramoff agreed to represent the court at a meeting at his Washington, D.C. restaurant, Signatures, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The payments, which were publicly reported in U.S. papers in 2005, had formed the basis of a 2002 investigation by the U.S. attorney for the region at the time, Frederick Black.

Read more: http://www.abcnews.go.com/print?id=4445847

<...>

Greenberg Traurig and the Tan Family are also major HRC campaign contributors

You have to wonder why a big GOP law firm and lobbying shop is giving so much money to Hillary.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00000019&cycle=2008


HILLARY CLINTON (D)
Top Contributors
DLA Piper $490,800
Goldman Sachs $426,100
Morgan Stanley $368,670
Citigroup Inc $353,900
EMILY's List $283,142
Lehman Brothers $254,400
JP Morgan Chase & Co $231,220
National Amusements Inc $217,500
Skadden, Arps et al $198,610
Greenberg Traurig LLP $185,400
Kirkland & Ellis $182,550
PricewaterhouseCoopers $173,650
Merrill Lynch $165,750
Time Warner $163,650
University of California $161,318
Microsoft Corp $152,570
Latham & Watkins $148,788
Cablevision Systems $146,013
Bear Stearns $145,090
Patton Boggs $142,550


What Does John McCain Have Up His Sleave About Hillary & the Tan Family?

And, then, there's this item that shows that Hillary Clinton has long been getting big money from the corrupt Chinese-based Tan family, who are at the center of the Abramoff Marianas sweatshop scandal: http://thehill.com/byron-york/hillary-clinton-and-the-sweatshop-tycoon-of-saipan-2006-03-16.html

<...>

UPDATE:

To respond to those comments that questioned the significance of Greenberg Traurig's donation to HRC, may I point out that GT is listed as the #4 donor among 20 top McCain Top Contributors by Open Secrets: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00006424&cycle=2008

GT appears right in the middle of the list of 20 HRC Top Contributors. http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00000019&cycle=2008

But, Greenberg Traurig does NOT appear as a Top Contributor for Barak Obama: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00009638&cycle=2008

Furthermore, GT actually gave $35,000 more to HRC than the $150,000 it donated to McCain. The fact that Abramoff's firm gave MORE to Clinton than to McCain tends to strengthen my argument that Hillary is vulnerable on the campaign donations issue.

That's the overriding point of this diary.

Appears Hillary and McCain do have a lot in common

Hillary's shame: embracing McCain

The Clinton Tax Returns: What's the Holdup?

[Alter Ego]

1. This gets lost in the OMG WRIGHT rush today, sadly.

[ProSense]

3. Maybe the media will do its job. n/t

[elixir]

2. Good way to ration out your posts, ProSense. Now that most folks have blown theirs, you can fill

GD:P with this stuff. Touche.

[golddigger]

4. ProSense, you failed to mention in your post that Obama has

received donations from the same firm. Slight oversight on your part, eh?

$100,000.00 to be exact.

[ProSense]

5. That's a lie! Read the OP again!

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.asp?id=N00009638&cycle=2008

[MonkeyFunk]

6. So?

He got a lot of money from them - they're just not among his biggest.

Here's another source showing contributions from employees:

http://www.campaignmoney.com/finance.asp?type=io&cycle=08&criteria=Greenberg+Traurig+LLP

Looks like they gave to Clinton, Dodd, Biden and Obama. And it appears employees gave far more to Democrats than to Republicans.

[ProSense]

10. Employees and a small amount of money. Are you going to claim Obama and the Tan family are friends?

n/t

[rinsd]

14. ProSense, how do you think Opensecrets compiles their figures?

You had no problem stating Hillary's contributions from that firm as compiled by opensecrets.

Well opensecrets does that compiling by looking at the donors place of employment via FEC records.

You can do that search here.

http://www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/advindsea.shtml

[ProSense]

19. Exactly what are you trying to spin: that the firm's lobbyists aren't major Hillary donors?

That the Tan family and the Clintons aren't friends?

That the firm isn't indicted?

What?

[rinsd]

21. Obama got $100,000 from the same firm.

Glass houses and all that jazz.

[ProSense]

22. Spin! The lobbyist factor, major donor status and the Tan family are Hillary's problem, as is

the fact that she got more from them than McCain.

[rinsd]

24. Obama is the one who says he doesn't take lobbyist money.

In fact if I remember correctly, that is a central part of his campaign.

Here we see he does quite the opposite.

"major donor status"

Why because they cracked Hillary's top 20 but only made Obama's top 30?

[golddigger]

25. Ah, ProSense, if at first you don't suceed, skydiving is not for you.

[ProSense]

27. I can always tell when Hillary supporters are nervous:

"Ah, ProSense"

That's my screen name, don't wear it out!

[golddigger]

28. Not nervous here, But I have a little advice for you...

Stress in addition to being itself and the result of itself, is also the cause of itself.

[ProSense]

38. No, it's your nervousness and uncertainty. Why is Hillary hesitant to release her tax returns? n/t

[ProSense]

12. Another thing

Rezko has nothing to do with Obama!

And another thing: hypocrisy!

Yet another: The Clintons are involved in many shady deals, and it's probable the reason she's refusing to release her tax return.


edited typo

[rinsd]

16. Where did anyone mention Rezko?

:shrug:

But thanks for helping to prove that Obama takes money from lobbying firms.

That would seem quite at odds with his campaign rhetoric.

[ProSense]

20. I feel your pain! n/t

[golddigger]

23. Hehe...

:evilgrin:

[MonkeyFunk]

30. I didn't mention Rezko

you're batshit crazy when it comes to your Clinton-hate.

[ProSense]

31. "you're batshit crazy when it comes to your Clinton-hate." Deal with facts! n/t

[MonkeyFunk]

32. I just stated one

[rinsd]

15. So that would mean Obama is taking money from a lobbying firm would it not?

[FogerRox]

37. $2300 donors to HRC=many, $2300 donors to Obama=1

http://www.campaignmoney.com/finance.asp?type=io&cycle=08&criteria=Greenberg+Traurig+LLP

Unless I missed something, this firm was a bit of a HRC company.

[golddigger]

11. No it is not a lie! Go to rawstory and look up clinton Obama both bank

major donations.

[ProSense]

33. Other some minor sloppy writing, Raw Story lays it out:

But McCain was not alone among the likely presidential candidates in receiving big money from Greenberg Traurig attorneys. According to FEC records, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, along with her earlier senate campaign and political committees, received just under $200,000 in donations from Greenberg Traurig employees. And Barack Obama, who has not been operating a national political campaign as long as Clinton, is halfway there, banking just over $100,000 from the firm's attorneys.

But beyond merely earning donations from the firm's attorneys, Clinton and Obama have both benefited heavily from the firm's registered lobbyists and management.

In all, Senator Clinton received just under $50,000 in donations from Greenberg Traurig's registered lobbyists who represent interests ranging from health insurance company Humana to New Balance Shoes to Dole Food. But Clinton also received about $18,000 in donations from lobbyists who worked directly on accounts with Abramoff himself.

Both Joe Reeder and Alan Slomowitz, who worked alongside Abramoff for various clients, have donated to Clinton's presidential campaign. Reeder worked with Abramoff on an account with Voor Huisen Project Management, which appeared to be a shell corporation and paid Abramoff $2.1 million in fees. Slomowitz was a registered lobbyist for the American International Center, a money laundering front organization established by Abramoff and run by a lifeguard in Delaware, as well as many of his other accounts.

The other two Clinton donors, Ronald Platt and Michael D. Smith, both left Greenberg in the aftermath of the Abramoff controversy, and only made donations to Clinton's pre-presidential political committee "Friends of Hillary." Smith, along with three other former Greenberg employees, was asked to resign from Greenberg after improperly taking payments from a firm run by Michael Scanlon, an Abramoff associate who pled guilty to a conspiracy charge in 2005.

None of these four lobbyists have been charged with breaking any laws.

Obama, on the other hand, appears to have remained mostly true to his frequent pledges to not take money from lobbyists. But recently, one appears to have made it through the firewall.

Richard Edlin, a registered Greenberg Traurig lobbyist with SPI Spirits, gave the senator $1,500 in the 4th Quarter of 2007. While Edlin was not a member of Abramoff's team, he was implicated in one of the convicted lobbyists' money laundering schemes, according to a June 2006 report in The Hill. However, as the article points out, "It is unclear...whether Edlin knew the true purpose," of the phony donation he was asked to process, and Edlin was not charged with any wrongdoing.

link

At least $68,000 willing accepted by Clinton vs. $1,500 slipping through for Obama from the firm's lobbyists.

The direct involvement with Abramoff lobbyists and the Tan connect, these are Hillary's problem.

[Hepburn]

8. Link? n/t

[rinsd]

18. Monkeyfunk posted one

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5078226&mesg_id=5079248

[ClayZ]

7. K and R

[mod mom]

9. The Clintons have a Chinese problem from way back:

White House Had Ended System of Checking Foreign Guests

By TIM WEINER
Published: February 3, 1997

Ten years ago the Reagan White House adopted a rule about foreign businessmen, lobbyists and consultants who wanted to get in to see the President without the blessing of their embassies: they shouldn't.

But President Clinton's aides did not follow that rule. In their eagerness to raise campaign money, they invited friends of the President's fund-raisers -- including China's biggest arms merchant, favor-seeking Indonesian businessmen, a reputed Russian mobster and other dubiously credentialed dealmakers -- to meet with Mr. Clinton. Nor did the White House check the suitability of Americans invited by the Democratic National Committee to meet the President, allowing, among others, a twice-convicted felon to sip coffee with Mr. Clinton.

-snip

And that is why nobody on the White House political team saw fit to ask the National Security Council staff a year ago about a man named Wang Jun, who showed up on a guest list for a White House coffee with the President. The question of exactly how Mr. Wang got into the White House has a simple answer: ''Nobody ever asked anybody,'' a National Security Council official said.

So, at the behest of a tireless political fund-raiser from Arkansas, Charlie Yah Lin Trie, Mr. Clinton wound up sipping coffee with Mr. Wang, who runs the Chinese Government's weapons manufacturing and procuring agency, which is involved in secret arms deals around the world. These coffees for fund-raisers and donors began as a way to raise morale among party loyalists after the Democrats' disastrous showing in the 1994 election. By 1995, they became a way to reward big donors and prospect for new ones, according to Democratic fund-raisers.

-snip

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E2DC103DF930A35751C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all





New York Times, May 17, 1998



How Chinese Won Rights to Launch Satellites for U.S.

(BY JEFF GERTH AND DAVID E. SANGER)
On Oct. 9, 1995, Secretary of State Warren Christopher ended a lengthy debate within the Clinton Administration by initialing a classified order that preserved the State Department's sharp limits on China's ability to launch American-made satellites aboard Chinese rockets.

Both American industry and state-owned Chinese companies had been lobbying for years to get the satellites off what is known as the `munitions list,' the inventory of America's most sensitive military and intelligence-gathering technology. But Mr. Christopher sided with the Defense Department, the intelligence agencies and some of his own advisers, who noted that commercial satellites held technological secrets that could jeopardize `significant military and intelligence interests.'

There was one more reason not to ease the controls, they wrote in a classified memorandum. Doing so would `raise suspicions that we are trying to evade China sanctions' imposed when the country was caught shipping weapons technology abroad--which is what happened in 1991 and 1993 for missile sales to Pakistan.

-snip

Other powerful Chinese state enterprises also had multibillion-dollar stakes in getting access to American satellites. Among them was the China International Trade and Investment Corporation, whose chairman, Wang Jun, gained unwanted attention in the United States last year when it was revealed that he attended one of Mr. Clinton's campaign coffee meetings in the White House. The day of Mr. Wang's visit, Mr. Clinton, in what Mr. Rubin said was a coincidence, signed waivers allowing the Chinese to launch four American satellites--though they were unrelated to the business interests of China International Trade.

-snip

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/china/1998/h980618-prc5.htm

[ProSense]

26. 35 years experience! n/t

[anigbrowl]

13. Kicked for relevance

Indeed, per the OP Obama's campaign has received some funds from people working at this firm; slightly over half what Hillary's did. Somehow I suspect they'll wash their hands of it a lot faster as well.

[ProSense]

29. Agree! n/t

[Scurrilous]

17. K & R

:thumbsup:

[karynnj]

34. A DKos poster wrote of the Tan donations and the

fact that the Tans were involved with the Marianas Islands well over a year ago. He made the plea at that point that they should immediately return that money - the diarist's concern then was that something exactly like this would happen when she was already our candidate. Had the Clintons' SuperTuesday gone as planned, this would have been a problem for us. Here, it's not just the money, it's the Abramoff connection - however limited and the nature of teh Tans' business.

[ProSense]

35. Exactly! n/t

[OhioChick]

36. K&R

:kick:

[ProSense]

39. A pattern: deplorable conditions

Bill Clinton Link in Ethanol Probe

Monday, Mar. 10, 2008 By AP/ALAN CLENDENNING

(SAO PAULO, Brazil) — A team from Brazil's Labor Ministry found "degrading" living conditions for 133 sugarcane workers employed by an ethanol company whose investors include former President Clinton and other high-profile financial players.

At five sites inspected, workers "complained they were suffering from hunger and cold, and all of the locations were overcrowded and with terrible sanitary conditions," according to a statement issued Friday by Jaqueline Carrijo, who led the inspections last month.

The target of the probe, Brazil Renewable Energy Co., known as Brenco, apologized over the weekend and said it is fixing the problems at its rural operations, which turn sugarcane into ethanol.

Clinton's connection is via an investment in Brenco by The Yucaipa Cos., a U.S.-based fund in which Clinton was a senior advisor until last year. His investment in Brenco is valued between $15,001 and $50,000, according to a financial disclosure report submitted last year by his wife, presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

more