In todays installment of THE MONEY TRAIL, we will focus on the recipients of Abramoff’s largesse in Congress and at the state level.

Not to surprising, at least not for me, is that most of the politicians listed as receiving money and favors from Abramoff’s network are Republicans. I guess in their world view, being paid off for doing the job that they were elected to do, is not immoral or unethical.

To correct America’s troubled direction, we the people should make it a point to send each of the recipients of Abramoff’s generosity packing and replace them with dedicated individuals who will place the good of the nation ahead of personal benefit.

Do such people exist? God, I hope so.

Once again our thanks go to project researcher, Kate McConn, for making this EXCLUSIVE FEATURE possible.

- Denis Donovan

THE HOUSE
Roy Blunt - (R-MO) Republican Whip (replacing DeLay). Also rode on corporate jets supplied by defense contractor Wilkes mentioned in Cunningham indictment. (Plane fair was reimbursed, according to FOXNews.com.) Received at least $8,500 for his PAC and campaign from Abramoff’s firm and clients between 1999 and 2003. Ronnie Earle has subpoenaed the records of his PAC, Rely on Your Beliefs Fund, in the DeLay case.
Henry Bonilla - (R-TX) Got Wilkes money.
Roy Brown - (R-MT) Got Wilkes money.
Ken Calvert - (R-CA) Went to Saudi Arabia on trip with Duke Cunningham.
Rick Clayburgh - (R-ND) Got Wilkes money.
Lincoln Chaffe - (R-RI) His staffer frequently used Abramoff’s skybox.
Duke Cunningham - (R-CA) Appropriations and Intelligence committees. Cunningham recently resigned and is likely headed to prison. Cunningham accepted $2.4 million worth of bribes from two defense contractors, a finance/mortgage company owner, and a real-estate developer. Cunningham also gave money to 60 incumbent Republicans, which some gave back after the indictment. Since 2000, Cunningham has donated over $250,000 from his PAC to fellow Republicans, according to records compiled by PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks campaign donations. People who gave bribes are:
(1) Brent Wilkes = Co-conspirator No. 1. He gave $525,000 to Cunningham on May 13, 2004, to pay off the second mortgage on Cunningham’s home in Rancho Santa Fe. He gave $100,000 to Cunningham on May 1, 2000, which went directly into Cunningham’s personal accounts in San Diego and Washington, D.C. And he paid $11,116.50 to help pay Cunningham’s mortgage on the “Kelly C” yacht.
(2) Mitchell J. Wade = Co-conspirator No. 2. His company is MZM Inc. Wade purchased the Duke-Stir houseboat for $140,000. According to the LA Times, the boat purchase came 2 weeks after getting his first contract.
(3) Tommy Kontogiannis, financial company owner, and a mortgage company president. Bought Cunningham’s boat at double market rates and gave him sweetheart loans.
(4) Ziyad Abduljawad, a San Diego real estate developer, funded trips to Saudi Arabia.
Tom DeLay - (R-TX) PACs = ARMPAC, TRMPAC, Texans for a Republican Majority
Charities = DeLay Foundation for Kids. George Foundation (donated $403,000 in land to DeLay Foundation) (1) In Texas, he’s charged with money laundering and conspiracy to launder money. A charge of conspiracy to violate state election laws was dropped. Co-defendants = Republican fund-raisers John D. Colyandro and James W. Ellis. Prosecutor Ronnie Earle’s current charges center on $190,000 collected from corporate donors in 2002 and routed through Republican PACs to 7 Republicans running for the Texas House. $190,000 went from Texans for a Republican Majority ® Republican National Committee ® $190,000 went from the Republican National Committee ® 7 Texas candidates. Earle has subpoenaed bank records for California defense firms involved in Cunningham scandal, Wilkes companies ADCS and PerfectWave. PerfectWave gave $15,000 to Texans for a Republican Majority in 2002. In addition to subpoenas for DeLay’s ARMPAC records, Earle has also sought records for the PAC Rely on Your Beliefs Fund, Majority Whip Roy Blunt’s PAC. Blunt’s Rely On Your Beliefs Fund PAC paid Jim Ellis’s firm, the J W Ellis Company, $3,000 a month from March 2003 to January 2005, and $4,000 a month from February 2005 to at least July 2005 for political consulting.
Earle also subpoenaed Gov. Matt Blunt’s 2000 campaign records and the records for Missourians for Matt Blunt. Matt Blunt is Roy Blunt’s son. (Source = Fired Up! Missouri.)
(2) In Washington, DeLay’s wife Christine works for Alexander Strategy Group, a lobby company run by former top aide Ed Buckham to which Abramoff regularly referred business. DeLay traveled to Scotland for golf on all-expense-paid trip paid for by Abramoff clients. Traveled to Northern Marianas, where Abramoff clients were. Took trips to England and South Korea financed by Abramoff. In e-mails, Abramoff cited personal pressure from DeLay in trying to persuade Indian tribe clients to send political donations and other money to Washington. (However, Abramoff edited e-mails from others before sending them on to the tribes.)
(3) DeLay got $70,000 from defense contractor Wilkes, mentioned in Cunningham indictment, and his associates, according to FOXNews.com. As mentioned before, Wilkes’ donations to DeLay also included $15,000 from Wilkes-owned PerfectWave to Texans for a Republican Majority. DeLay rode on corporate jets supplied by Wilkes. (Plane fair was reimbursed, according to FOXNews.com.) Wilkes’s firm, Group W Advisors, hired Alexander Strategy Group, run by Ed Buckham, former Chief of Staff to Tom DeLay and employing DeLay’s wife Christine. Wilkes and his wife gave $30,000 to Tom DeLay’s ARMPAC.
Rep. John Doolittle - (R-CA) House Appropriations Committee member.
(1) Abramoff hired Doolittle’s wife Julia to fundraise for a nonprofit organization he founded and frequently used as conduit for the millions of dollars he received in fees from Indian tribes. Documents connected to fundraising Julia did for Abramoff have been subpoenaed. Doolittle used Abramoff’s Washington skybox for a fundraiser without reporting it, and used a restaurant Abramoff used to own. A former Doolittle staffer, Kevin Ring, works at Abramoff’s firm. Doolittle received $140,000 in donations from Abramoff, Ring, et al, plus $127,000 from the tribes to his various PACs.
(2) Got about $46,000 from Wilkes and his associates, according to FOXNews.com and San Jose Mercury-News. George W. Gekas - (R-PA) Got Wilkes money.
Virgil Goode - (R-VA) Also received money from Wilkes and Wade.
Mark Green - (R-WI) Chief of Staff Mark Graul frequently used Abramoff skyboxes.
Maria Guadalupe Garci -a (R-CA) Got Wilkes money.
J.D. Hayworth - (R-AZ) used sports skyboxes without reporting for years. Finally, reimbursed the Choctaw and Chitimacha $12,880 for 5 skybox uses.
Katherine Harris - (R-FL) Received $1000 from Duke Cunningham’s PAC. Also received money from Wilkes and Wade. Said she donated the money to charity.
Dennis Hastert - (R-IL) House Speaker. Flew on Wilkes jets and records don’t show that he paid for the flights. Collected more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from Abramoff’s firm and clients between 2001 and 04.
Pete Hoekstra - (R-MI) House Intelligence Committee Chairman. Also received money from Wilkes and Wade. Said he donated the money to charity.
Duncan Hunter - (R-CA) House Armed Services Committee Chair.
PAC = Peace Through Strength PAC received $245,670 from missile defense contractors.
Received $46,000 from Wilkes, Wade, and their associates, according to FOXnews.com and San Jose Mercury-News. Said he donated the money to charity. Between 1992 and 1997, Rep. Duncan Hunter got $7,250 from Audre Inc. employees and family members. This is where Wilkes worked during that time period. When Wilkes broke with Audre, Hunter continued to support Audre. Hunter pushed the military to buy $2.5 million in Audre software in February 1997. According to Pentagon’s Inspector General, the software wasn’t needed and is still flaky. Cunningham shifted Pentagon money for the unneeded software from Audre to ADCS. The East County Californian reported that Hunter “ranks among the top ten recipients who accepted contributions from MZM and ADCS.”
Hunter also shares ownership in a Virginia cabin with Pete Geren (formerly Rep. D-TX), who was the chief procurement officer for the Air Force (Acting Secretary from August — November). (Hunter is pushing for the Air Force to buy planes from Boeing.) Michael Wynne, the current Secretary of the Air Force, also has been accused of deals favoring Boeing.
Also got money from Titan, independent contractors involved in the Abu Ghraib scandal. He is said to be blocking an investigation of that scandal. They also have a contract for post-Katrina work in Louisiana.
Darrell Issa - (R-CA) Got money from Wilkes.
Samuel Johnson - (R-TX) Got money from Wilkes.
Jerry Lewis - (R-CA) Appropriations Committee Chairman. Received $50,000 from Wilkes, Wade and their associates, according to FOXnews.com. Said he donated the money to charity.
Robert Livingston - (R-LA) chaired the Appropriations Committee and received money from Wilkes.
Thaddeus G. McCotter - (R-MI) Got money from Wilkes.
Alan Mollohan - (D-WV) Ranking member of the House Ethics committee. Received donations from Mitchell Wade’s MZM.
Constance Morella - (R-MD) Got money from Wilkes.
Bob Ney - (R-OH): Chairman of House Administration Committee. Ney has been subpoenaed by the Justice Department to turn over any documents relating to his dealings with Abramoff and has been informed by prosecutors that they are preparing a possible bribery case against him. Ney twice inserted comments into the Congressional Record favorable to a casino company that Abramoff was seeking to buy. Ney received $32,000 from a Texas tribe. Traveled to Scotland on golf trip with Safavian and Reed. Traveled to Northern Marianas.
Devin Nunez - (R-CA) Got money from Wilkes.
Steve Pearce - (R-NM) Got money from Wilkes.
Richard Pombo - (R-CA) Chairman of the House Committee on Resources, with jurisdiction over Indian tribal affairs, Pacific island territories, the environment, and natural resources. Frequently used Abramoff’s skybox. Failed to report the value of two foreign trips paid for by a lobby group, paid family members from political accounts, and accepted campaign contributions from Abramoff and DeLay. Gave money back that he’d received from Duke Cunningham.
George Radanovich - (R-CA) Received $1000 (in 1994) from Duke Cunningham and hasn’t given it back yet.
Dana Rohrabacher - (R-CA) Received a $23,000 option on his screenplay from Hollywood producer Joseph Medawar. Then showed Medawar the inner workings of Homeland Security and introduced him around. Abramoff used Rohrabacher as his character reference for the loan to buy the SunCruz. Rohrabacher received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Abramoff.
Bill Van de Weghe Jr. - (R-CA) Got money from Wilkes.
Jerry Weller - (R-IL) Got money from Wilkes.

THE SENATE
Conrad Burns - (R-MT) Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. According to a Bloomberg analysis, Burns received more donations from Abramoff and his clients than any other member of Congress. Received about $150,000 in donations from Abramoff, his firm, and his clients between 2001 and 2004. He pushed to get $3 million, so that a wealthy Michigan tribe (Saginaw Chippewa) could build a school. His former state director, Will Brooke, was a lobbyist at Abramoff’s firm. Money came directly from Abramoff and garment company client, Tan Holdings. Burns collected $12,000 in donations after the lawmaker took legislative action favorable to Abramoff’s clients in the Northern Mariana Islands. Burns acknowledged that a provision put into an appropriations bill by a committee he chaired benefited several Abramoff clients, but he said without his knowledge. Democrats have already run two television commercials tying Burns, who is up for reelection in 2006, to Abramoff. His spokesman told the AP in a story on 12/13, “There’s nothing to return, the money has been spent.”
Larry Craig - (R-WY) Received money from Wilkes and Wade.
Mike DeWine - (R-OH) Received contributions from Diebold executives. Diebold CEO = Walden O’Dell.
Elizabeth Dole - (R-NC) Received money from Wilkes.
Byron Dorgan - (D-ND) Senior Democrat on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that is now probing Abramoff. Got a $20,000 political donation arranged by Abramoff in 2002 shortly after he urged fellow senators to fund a tribal school program that Abramoff’s clients wanted to use. Used Abramoff’s skybox, but reimbursed that money. Pushed Congress for federal recognition of Mashpee Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts, and collected at least $11,500 in political donations from the Abramoff partner representing them. Got $5000 from Coushatta tribe of Louisiana. Said he is returning $67,000.
John Ensign - (R-NV) signed a letter on behalf of Abramoff’s tribal clients and accepted $16,293.
Bill Frist - (R-TN) Frist is currently under investigation by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department for his sale of stock in a health care company founded by his father and brother. Frist authorized the sale of millions of dollars worth of stock in HCA Inc. shortly before the stock’s value dropped, prompting questions of insider trading. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Lindsay Graham - (R-SC) Got money from Wilkes.
Chuck Grassley - (R-IA) Hawkeye = PAC. Got money from Iowa Meskwaki Indian tribe (Bear faction) and Saginaw Chippewa, Abramoff clients.
Tom Harkin - (D-IA) Got money from Iowa Meskwaki Indian tribe (Bear faction), Abramoff client.
Harry Reid - (D-NV) Indian tribes paid $5000 through Reid’s charity Searchlight Leadership Fund. $66,000 total from Abramoff funds.
Jim Talent - (R-MO) Received money from Abramoff.

GOVERNORS
Rod Blagojevich - (D-IL) Blagojevich has struggled through his first term thanks to a series of allegations regarding wrongdoing in a variety of matters — from his hiring practices to his alleged involvement in a fundraising scheme where businesses rewarded with contracts to handle teacher pensions would make donations that would eventually be funneled back to political campaigns. Blagojevich will be on the ballot next year.
Matt Blunt - (R-MO) Roy Blunt’s son. His campaign and PAC records have been subpoenaed by Ronnie Earle for his prosecution of Tom DeLay.
Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. - (R-MD): Top aide Edward Miller cooperating in investigation of his own creation of Grassroots Interactive group, which received $2 million from Abramoff client Tyco.
Ernie Fletcher - (R-KY) After winning the governor’s office in 2003, a handful of aides to Fletcher allegedly broke state hiring laws that mandate personnel be hired based on their merits not on political connections of any sort. Fletcher pardoned the nine men in late August and then immediately fired them. One of those who was pardoned has suggested Fletcher should resign his office in order to fully rid the state of questions surrounding hiring practices in the administration. A grand jury is still looking into the matter.
Arnold Schwarzenegger - (R-CA) Brent Wilkes (ADCS Inc.) gave $73,000 to Schwarzenegger’s campaign committees, and associate gave another $15,000, and Schwarzenegger appointed Wilkes to the Del Mar board in April 2004 and to the State Race Track Leasing Commission in April 2005. Schwarzenegger has not given the money back, but he did ask Wilkes to resign from the racing board and commission. Wilkes also allowed Schwarzenegger to use ADCS’ headquarters as a local office for his 2004 workers’ compensation initiative campaign.
Bob Taft - (R-OH): Taft plead guilty this year to four misdemeanor charges centered on his acceptance of gifts from lobbyists. Taft is also entangled with the ongoing “Coingate” scandal surrounding the mismanagement of the state’s pension fund by rare coin dealer Tom Noe, a personal friend and campaign contributor to Taft. The governor is not running for reelection next year.

Read Part II