Abramoff Scandal Engulfs Bond-Talent

In 2001 and 2002, Senator Kit Bond’s top legislative priority was the passage of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and his top political priority was trying to get Jim Talent elected to the United States Senate.

In the spring of 2002, Kit Bond used a shadowy fundraising committee, called the Missouri Millennium Fund, to pursue both goals simultaneously.

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the Justice Department is looking into the activities of Congressman Robert Ney (R-Ohio).  Ney was the lead sponsor of HAVA in the House and Bond was the lead Republican in the Senate.

According to the WaPo story, in the spring of 2002, Ney began working to insert language into HAVA to benefit the Indian gaming clients of GOP super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Soon after, in March 2002, Ney agreed to sponsor legislation that would benefit the Tigua tribe of El Paso, an Abramoff and Scanlon client. They wanted Ney's help to reopen the Tiguas's casino, which the state of Texas had shut down.

"Just met with Ney!!! We're f'ing gold!!!! He's going to do Tigua," Abramoff told Scanlon in a March 20, 2002, e-mail.

Six days later, Abramoff directed tribal officials to make three contributions totaling $32,000 to Ney's campaign and political action committees.

You will note that the price for Ney’s efforts to modify HAVA to benefit Abramoff was a little over $30,000.

The MMF was described in the Columbia Daily Tribune by one board member as “a political action committee created by Bond to raise money for GOP candidates in Missouri.”  In 2002, the Missouri Republican Party was spending its time and money trying to get Jim Talent elected to the United States Senate.

In the spring and summer of 2002, Bond, via MMF, raised $30,000 from Indian gaming clients of Jack Abramoff, just as Abramoff was lobbying to get provisions benefiting his client in the legislation that Bond has stated repeatedly was his single biggest priority.

Here are the contributions:

2nd Quarter 2002 MMF

• Coushatta Tribe of LA          $5000
  

• Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo          $10,000
  

• Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe     $5000
  

Falll 2002 MMF

• Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians     $10,000

During each of the reporting periods listed, the amounts contributed by Bond, via MMF, to the MO Republican Party was at least as much as the amounts received from Abramoff clients.

It looks to me like Senators Bond and Talent have some explaining to do, and they might very well get the chance, in front of a grand jury.