Tribes represented by Abramoff changed their donation patterns

[EarlG]

The media keep pushing the line that Democrats are equally tainted by Abramoff because his clients donated money to Democrats as well as Republicans. Now why would Abramoff encourage his clients to donate to Democrats? This is a guy who once said, "It is not our job to seek peaceful coexistence with the Left. Our job is to remove them from power permanently." (link) Not only does Abramoff hate Democrats, they aren't even in power. Why encourage his clients to give them contributions?

He didn't. Indian tribes have traditionally donated to Democrats. But tribes represented by Abramoff switched their donation patterns after he started working with them. Money to Democrats decreased, money to Republicans increased.

Abramoff's tribal clients continued to give money to Democrats even after he began representing them, although in smaller percentages than in the past.

The Saginaw Chippewas gave $500,500 to Republicans between 2001 and 2004 and $277,210 to Democrats, according to a review of data compiled by Dwight L. Morris & Associates, a Bristow, Virginia-based company that tracks campaign-finance reports. Between 1997 and 2000, the tribe gave just $158,000 to Republicans and $279,000 to Democrats.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=arVHles5cKJc&refer=us#

Not only that, but of the top 10 tribes which made political donations, only the tribes represented by Abramoff gave more money to Republicans than Democrats.

Of the top 10 political donors among Indian tribes in that period, three are former clients of Abramoff and Scanlon: the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians of California. All three gave most of their donations to Republicans -- by margins of 30 percentage points or more -- while the rest favored Democrats.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=arVHles5cKJc&refer=us#

So how are Democrats tainted by tribes which gave them less money after getting involved with Abramoff? It makes no sense.

Thanks to Delilah Boyd for tipping me off to this - it's one of the links in tomorrow's Blog Box, which will be published in the morning.

[BattyDem]

1. Thanks for the info, Earl!

I'm definitely saving this for "reference" when someone hits me with the "Democrats are guilty, too!" line.

[MuseRider]

2. Thanks EarlG

this is good to have documented. Great find.

[mom cat]

3. Nice fetch.K&R

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. Kicketty kick! n/t

[InsultComicDog]

10. k/r

:kick:

[Sydnie]

5. thanks for the news Earl

I was hoping for something good to happen tonight. Seems we have been batting 1000 everyday so far this year. Today was a slow news day for the home team.

[Canuckistanian]

6. Not to mention the K Street Project

Which shut out any kind of Democratic lobbying influence whatsoever.

This scandal is solidly Republican.

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. Sam Seder talked about this on his show tonight, AAR, Majority Report.

He said Abramoff urged the Tribes to NOT stop donating to Dems because it would be too obvious what was going on. The Tribes had ALWAYS donated to the party that actually HELPED them and cared about them, Democrats. Enter Abramoff. He made HUGE promises to the Tribes and knew if they gave ALL of their money to his repuke buddies, it would have blown the lid off what he was doing.

:popcorn: This should be fun to watch. I wonder what the spin will be on this one?

[Elidor]

8. Quick! Someone tell Deborah Howell!

Oh, that's right: she doesn't care.

[InsultComicDog]

12. Yeah, just saw that they turned the comments off

...give me a break, I'm just getting caught up for the day :kick:

[jsamuel]

9. good job!

[mrdmk]

11. Things stopped making sense in the year 2001! eom

[SillyGoose]

13. Very interesting...thanks for this info! nt

[bridgit]

14. oh lord, there's no way in hell abramoff dealt likewise, that's the...

very 1st thing out of any republican spin machine = throw the monkey onto a dem :eyes: abramoff gave upwards of 2:1 republican, and only then to lend a semblance of deniability imo

[Roland99]

15. Good luck getting the M$M whores to even mention this.

[Beetwasher]

16. That Putrid Fetid Smell You Notice

Is the filthy, bloated rotting corpse of the Old Media.

Way to go bud! :thumbsup:

THE OLD MEDIA IS DEAD (lazy fucking traitorous scum)!!! LONG LIVE THE NEW MEDIA AND DU!!!!!!!!!

[Javaman]

17. One would think that after all of this, Native American will start...

donating to the Dems again. One would think.

[Catherine Vincent]

18. Good job!

Olbermann needs to broadcast this every night on his show.

[janetle]

19. This is very very good!

Clear explanation. Those of us living places where tribal issues are big and important need this information to be all over the place.

[Sparkly]

20. Evidently, this is too complicated for the Washington Post to understand.

So Tweety will NEVER get it. :eyes:

[LincolnMcGrath]

21. Nice Work EarlG

[progressoid]

22. I can hear it now..."This just shows that the Dems were bought off by

the Indians for a long time and now they are just mad that Republicans are getting a slice of that pie" (or some such dumb shit statement).

[JohnnyCougar]

23. Someone should tell this to the Wash. Post ombudsman

I think she is dying to hear about this...

[AuntiBush]

24. Kicked

for the turth be known...

[nomatrix]

25. I heard this on C-Span today from a caller who was

a member of a tribe but didn't catch which one. He talked of the land grab of the oil and mines on reservations by Bush. This is one link I could find to the Shoshone tribe.....


http://www.unknownnews.net/040702a-dn.html

"WASHINGTON -- One of the largest ongoing seizures of Indian land in modern times will move forward following President George W. Bush’s signing of the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill on July 7.

Under provisions of the bill, Western Shoshone claims to 24 million acres of land in Nevada, Utah, California and Idaho, based on the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863, are officially subsumed through payment by the U.S. government.

The bill will forcibly distribute approximately $145 million in funds awarded the tribe by the Indian Land Claims Commission. Most of it will go to 6,000 or so eligible tribal members, with a separate revenue stream set aside for educational purposes.

The commission acted on findings that following the Ruby Valley Treaty, which permitted non-Indian miners access to the tribal lands, a "gradual encroachment" took place that supposedly nullified the treaty.

According to the government the "gradual encroachment" theory obviated any need for official cession of land by sovereign Western Shoshone governments, a sticking point to this day with foes of the funds distribution.

The commission based its original $27 million award (enacted by its successor organization, U.S. Court of Federal Claims) on land valuation in effect in 1872 -- 15 cents an acre, with no interest on the loss over time."


This may also explain the donation flux.....

Read the whole article, it's disgusting.