Aug 12, 2005
The Abramoff Indictment
The indictment of super lobbyist Jack Abramoff and an associate for wire fraud is no accident. It follows from the new kind of lobbying that infested our capital after the Republicans recaptured Congress in 1994.
Rather than selling expertise, the new lobbyists, personified by Jack Abramoff, specialized in orchestrating complex and large flows of money. Money flowed from wealthy clients to the lobbyist and then to conservative groups like the National Center for Public Policy Research that dispensed lavish perks and travel to opinion-makers and politicians. The groups also rebated contributions back to the lobbyist and the lobbyist and his clients filled the campaign coffers of complicit politicians.
For example, Abramoff cultivated a wealthy and generous client base in the government of the Northern Mariana Islands and their allies among the owners of textile factories. These operators could use the “Made in America” label while exempt from American labor laws. They imported foreign workers – mostly Asian women -- paid them miserable wages, housed the workers in inhumane conditions, and employed them for unconscionably long hours under sweat shop conditions. In the 1990’s Abramoff blocked a bipartisan effort in Congress to cover the Marina Islands under U. S. labor laws, drawing on the clout of his friend and associate Texas GOP Representative Tom Delay, the recipient of an expenses paid trip to the Islands that Abramoff arranged.
The politicians who entwined their destiny with Jack Abramoff should have had no illusions about the man they dealt with. In the mid-1980’s Abramoff was fired as Director of Citizens for America for overspending and mismanaging the group’s finances. Abramoff moved on to head the International Freedom Forum, funded by the South African apartheid government to polish its image and denigrate the opposition African National Congress as a Communist front. Although Tom DeLay has called Abramoff "one of my closest and dearest friends” and was fist and glove with the lobbyist’s dealings, you can bet that Delay will now try to distance himself from Abramoff faster than you say “Kenny Boy” Lay.
Rather than selling expertise, the new lobbyists, personified by Jack Abramoff, specialized in orchestrating complex and large flows of money. Money flowed from wealthy clients to the lobbyist and then to conservative groups like the National Center for Public Policy Research that dispensed lavish perks and travel to opinion-makers and politicians. The groups also rebated contributions back to the lobbyist and the lobbyist and his clients filled the campaign coffers of complicit politicians.
For example, Abramoff cultivated a wealthy and generous client base in the government of the Northern Mariana Islands and their allies among the owners of textile factories. These operators could use the “Made in America” label while exempt from American labor laws. They imported foreign workers – mostly Asian women -- paid them miserable wages, housed the workers in inhumane conditions, and employed them for unconscionably long hours under sweat shop conditions. In the 1990’s Abramoff blocked a bipartisan effort in Congress to cover the Marina Islands under U. S. labor laws, drawing on the clout of his friend and associate Texas GOP Representative Tom Delay, the recipient of an expenses paid trip to the Islands that Abramoff arranged.
The politicians who entwined their destiny with Jack Abramoff should have had no illusions about the man they dealt with. In the mid-1980’s Abramoff was fired as Director of Citizens for America for overspending and mismanaging the group’s finances. Abramoff moved on to head the International Freedom Forum, funded by the South African apartheid government to polish its image and denigrate the opposition African National Congress as a Communist front. Although Tom DeLay has called Abramoff "one of my closest and dearest friends” and was fist and glove with the lobbyist’s dealings, you can bet that Delay will now try to distance himself from Abramoff faster than you say “Kenny Boy” Lay.