http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/08/jack-abramoff-says-the-system-on-capitol-hill-is-toxic/
http://www.transgallaxys.com/~emerald/gopforsale.html
Amway & The Republican Party...Partners In Crime? | |||
As a life long conservative voter, I am deeply disappointed about what I discovered and documented next in my research. The one question that has haunted me as I spent literally thousands of hours investigating and documenting this, is “How could this have possibly gone on for so long?” There certainly is an apparent “credibility by magnitude”. However, what sets this apart from Enron, Adelphia, Tyco and Worldcom is the use of high level Republicans politicians, some of whom became distributors and others who actively promoted Amway. I met Newt Gingrich when he came in and was paid to speak for thousands of Amway distributors in the Harteis organization. In his speech he advised that, “Nothing would do more to help the people that used to live in what was called the Soviet empire to achieve prosperity, to achieve freedom, to achieve opportunity than to have sixty or seventy thousand Amway folks go over there and start recruiting” After All We Are Americans audiotape Newt Gingrich CE-50
USA Today ran an interesting article on Mr. Gingrich, stating that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives raked in a windfall fee of “$50,000 a speech.” (USA Today Feb 09, 2000 p 21A “Gingrich Out of office, but hardly out of ideas” William M. Welch.) Could those large amounts of money actually be considered an investment for Amway or its motivational organizations? The answer to that question would soon be evident. One report discussed a “$283 million payoff” for Amway’s campaign contributions. It described a new budget package that was amended by an apparent friend of Amway. “The payoff for Amway was not in the original House or Senate version of the tax bill. House Speaker Newt Gingrich intervened at the last minute to help get the special tax break inserted in the bill.” (San Antonio Express-News August 12,1997) “Amway Has Voice in Congress” Molly Ivans.) You can see the entire article here: |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italia_Federici
Excerpt:
Italia Federici
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Italia Federici (born August 12, 1969), the former president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA). Federici was also a political aide to Secretary of the Interior and CREA co-founder Gale Norton.[1] She pleaded guilty in June 2007 to tax evasion and obstructing the United States Senate investigation into the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal and was sentenced to four years probation.[2][3][4]
Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy
Federici founded CREA with Norton and Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist, a college friend of Abramoff, in 1997 with money Federici inherited;[5] The organization was also funded by, and supported the goals of, mining and other industries.
Abramoff involvement
Federici introduced Jack Abramoff to Deputy Secretary of the Interior J. Steven Griles in March 2001, just before Griles started at the Department of the Interior.[5] Abramoff donated more than $400,000 to CREA, after which time she allegedly began using her connections with Griles to influence him to make decisions beneficial to Abramoff's tribal benefactors.[6]
http://www.nationalcorruptionindex.org/pages/profile.php?profile_id=21
Excerpt:
In March 2005, an interagency criminal task force investigating Abramoff subpoenaed the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, an organization Grover Norquist helped Gale Norton launch. (From 2001 to 2006, Norton led an outrageously corrupt Interior Department—even by Washington standards as noted by the department’s inspector general. Abramoff funneled $500,000 in donations from his tribal clients to CREA, and president Italia Federici pushed those clients’ issues with Interior officials, such as J. Steven Griles, who eventually resigned. Detailing the appalling ethical lapses under Norton, Interior Inspector General Earl E. Devaney said, “Simply stated, short of a crime, anything goes at the highest levels of the Department of the Interior.”)
Norquist isn’t directly tied to the “Golden Chain,” a document found in Bosnia in 1992 that has been introduced in American courts as a list of Osama Bin Laden’s top twenty financiers, but his friend Abramoff did lobby for someone on that list: Saleh Kamel. There is a noteworthy list, however, of Norquist associates' ties to terror-funding.
Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy
Federici founded CREA with Norton and Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist, a college friend of Abramoff, in 1997 with money Federici inherited;[5] The organization was also funded by, and supported the goals of, mining and other industries.
Abramoff involvement
Federici introduced Jack Abramoff to Deputy Secretary of the Interior J. Steven Griles in March 2001, just before Griles started at the Department of the Interior.[5] Abramoff donated more than $400,000 to CREA, after which time she allegedly began using her connections with Griles to influence him to make decisions beneficial to Abramoff's tribal benefactors.[6]
http://www.nationalcorruptionindex.org/pages/profile.php?profile_id=21
Excerpt:
In March 2005, an interagency criminal task force investigating Abramoff subpoenaed the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, an organization Grover Norquist helped Gale Norton launch. (From 2001 to 2006, Norton led an outrageously corrupt Interior Department—even by Washington standards as noted by the department’s inspector general. Abramoff funneled $500,000 in donations from his tribal clients to CREA, and president Italia Federici pushed those clients’ issues with Interior officials, such as J. Steven Griles, who eventually resigned. Detailing the appalling ethical lapses under Norton, Interior Inspector General Earl E. Devaney said, “Simply stated, short of a crime, anything goes at the highest levels of the Department of the Interior.”)
Norquist isn’t directly tied to the “Golden Chain,” a document found in Bosnia in 1992 that has been introduced in American courts as a list of Osama Bin Laden’s top twenty financiers, but his friend Abramoff did lobby for someone on that list: Saleh Kamel. There is a noteworthy list, however, of Norquist associates' ties to terror-funding.
http://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/78-78/6092-down-by-the-old-rumor-mill-stream-part-whatever
Excerpt:
-- The Story Behind the Story: Yup, Newt Gingrich had a suspicious interest-free revolving charge account at Tiffany’s for two years that racked up $500 grand in billings, but that’s not all. Ignoring for the moment that regular customers pay 21 percent interest on their charges, Newtie’s current wife Callista, when she was a lobbyist, had ties to the silver mining industry from which Tiffany’s fabricates its overpriced doodads, and Gingrich himself, while in the House, interceded to get the jewelry company a very sweet deal on use of public lands for mining. The Newtster may soon have more to worry about than his doomed SNL-skit presidential campaign -- the feds are taking notice of his involvement with the Tiff, and whether he actually paid down that half-mil himself or if some or all of it was written off by the grateful company as a lobbying fee. Whichever way it goes, Newt is going to end up in a courtroom somewhere, trying to stay out of the hoosegow, and probably still running for president in his fevered little brain. No wonder Newtie was reluctant to answer any questions about his $500K shopping spree at Tiffany’s -- it’s looking like a quid pro quo bribe.
http://spytalkblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/gingrich-aide-was-tiffany-lobbyist.html
Excerpt:
Gingrich aide was Tiffany Lobbyist
Christy Evans, a floor assistant to Republican Whip Rep. Newt Gingrich and now a lobbyist at Cassidy & Associates, has represented Tiffany's on mining issues since 2000, according to papers uncovered by The Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney.
Gingrich was the Republican Whip from 1989 to 1995 and Speaker of the House from 1995 to 1999, a time when his current and third wife, Callista, was chief clerk of the House Agriculture Committee, which was heavily lobbied by Tiffany & Co. on mining issues.
As SpyTalk exclusively reported Tuesday, at the same time Tiffany & Co. was extending Callista (Bisek) Gingrich a virtual interest-free loan of tens of thousands of dollars, the diamond and silverware firm was spending big bucks to influence mining policy in Congress and in agencies over which the House Agriculture Committee--where she worked--had jurisdiction, official records show.
Filings by Tiffany’s lobbyist, Cassidy & Co., and other government records show that the firm’s spending on “mining law and mine permitting-related issues” in Congress, as well as the Forest Service, the Interior Department, and Interior’s Bureau of Land Management shot up sharply between during the period when Callista Gingrich was chief clerk at the House Agriculture Committee.
Tiffany's annual lobbying expenditures rose from about $100,000 to $360,000 between 2005 and 2009, according to records assembled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan government watchdog organization.
The Forest Service, which comes under the committee’s jurisdiction, oversees mining, including silver mining, in federal forests. Silver, of course, is a big part of Tiffany & Co.’s business.
“In the mid-1990s, Gingrich began an affair with House of Representatives staffer Callista Bisek, who is 23 years his junior,” according to his WikiPedia entry.
“They continued their affair during the Lewinsky scandal, when Gingrich became a leader of the Republican investigation of President Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with his alleged affairs. In 2000, Gingrich married Bisek shortly after his divorce from second wife Marianne Ginther.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/25/tiffanys-spent-big-bucks-lobbying-callista-gingrichs-committee/
Excerpt:
The Washington Post‘s Glenn Kessler notes that it’s anything but “standard” for Tiffany’s not to charge interest on loans.
“[W]e looked at the current installment credit application form posted by Tiffany on its Web site,” Kessler wrote. “That form shows an annual interest rate of 21 percent for the state of Virginia, where Gingrich and his wife live.”
“That would be a hefty interest charge in a year—about $50,000 on a $250,000 loan,” he added.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/18/newt-gingrich-tiffanys-bill_n_863558.html
Excerpt:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/25/tiffanys-spent-big-bucks-lobbying-callista-gingrichs-committee/
Excerpt:
The Washington Post‘s Glenn Kessler notes that it’s anything but “standard” for Tiffany’s not to charge interest on loans.
“[W]e looked at the current installment credit application form posted by Tiffany on its Web site,” Kessler wrote. “That form shows an annual interest rate of 21 percent for the state of Virginia, where Gingrich and his wife live.”
“That would be a hefty interest charge in a year—about $50,000 on a $250,000 loan,” he added.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/18/newt-gingrich-tiffanys-bill_n_863558.html
Excerpt:
Newt Gingrich Refuses To Answer Question On Tiffany's Bill (VIDEO)
Posted: 05/18/11 11:14 AM ET
Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich declined to offer an explanation when asked about a questionable Tiffany & Co. bill during an appearance on Fox News' "On the Record" on Tuesday night.
"My answer to you is, I'm not commenting on stuff like that," said the former House Speaker when the issue was raised by network host Greta Van Susteren. "I'm perfectly happy to talk about what we need to do for America and what we need to do help Americans. But I frankly don't want to play the gotcha games in Washington and I'm just not going to participate."
After being pressed on his reluctance to address the issue, Gingrich said, "Part of running for president is that everything you ever did, every person you ever knew, name it -- sooner or later somebody somewhere is going to run across it. You know, and it will show up. I just decided, if it doesn't relate to a better future for America, if it doesn't relate to helping the American people, if it doesn't relate to solving our problems, from here on out, my answer is going to be I'm not commenting on it and then people can decide if you want to play Trivial Pursuit -- that's fine. But I'm going to play trivial pursuit. I'm going to try to help this country get back on track."
The AP relays background on the controversy:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jack_Abramoff
Excerpt:
As a Republican Party lobbyist, Abramoff was Senior Director of Government Affairs for the Greenberg Traurig law and lobbying firm from January 2001 to March 2004, when he was fired and became a consultant at the Cassidy & Associates lobbying shop. Abramoff was "brought into Cassidy" by Gregg Hartley, a former top aide to House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Missouri)," according to Roll Call's Brody Mullins. [2][3]
Abramoff cut his ties with Cassidy & Associates on or around July 8, 2004, "to form his own company, Middle Gate Ventures," to do "such business opportunities as energy projects, real estate development and motion picture production -- no lobbying," according to the Washington Post's Judy Sarasohn. In March 2004, Abramoff had "signed an exclusive contract with Cassidy for him to steer lobbying business to the company."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Boulanger
Excerpt:
In 1999 Boulanger followed Jack Abramoff to work for Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, and then in 2001 to Greenberg Traurig as a member of "Team Abramoff", and finally in 2004 to Cassidy & Associates.
In 2000 Boulanger served on the Bush recount team for Broward and Duval counties during the Florida election recount. His Greenberg Traurig online profile heralded his involvement; fellow Team Abramoff members Shawn Vasell, Tony Rudy, and Duane Gibson also participated.[1]
Boulanger was also a legislative aide to Senator Bob Smith.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Todd_A._Boulanger
Excerpt:
Todd A. Boulanger "handles as many as eight client accounts" at Cassidy & Associates Inc., including Jack Abramoff's "former client, the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana," James V. Grimaldi wrote in the June 26, 2005, Washington Post.
Boulanger was a member of "Team Abramoff", the "more than a dozen lobbyists who were members of ... the tight-knit group who worked under Abramoff when he was at the lobbying helm of the Washington office of Greenberg Traurig LLP and, before that, Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP," Grimaldi said.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cassidy_%26_Associates
Excerpt:
Cassidy & Associates is a Washington D.C headquartered lobbying and public relations company that was formed in 1975.
Brennan is not listed on the company's website as a current employee. (Accessed November 23, 2003).
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 347-0773
Fax: (202) 347-0785
Email: info AT cassidy.com
Web: http://www.cassidy.com/
"My answer to you is, I'm not commenting on stuff like that," said the former House Speaker when the issue was raised by network host Greta Van Susteren. "I'm perfectly happy to talk about what we need to do for America and what we need to do help Americans. But I frankly don't want to play the gotcha games in Washington and I'm just not going to participate."
After being pressed on his reluctance to address the issue, Gingrich said, "Part of running for president is that everything you ever did, every person you ever knew, name it -- sooner or later somebody somewhere is going to run across it. You know, and it will show up. I just decided, if it doesn't relate to a better future for America, if it doesn't relate to helping the American people, if it doesn't relate to solving our problems, from here on out, my answer is going to be I'm not commenting on it and then people can decide if you want to play Trivial Pursuit -- that's fine. But I'm going to play trivial pursuit. I'm going to try to help this country get back on track."
The AP relays background on the controversy:
Callista Gingrich filed ethics disclosures in 2006 and 2007 that indicated she or her husband owed anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000 to Tiffany & Co. House ethics rules require disclosures of debt more than $10,000 and allow aides to report the figures in broad ranges. The ethics form also indicated she or her husband owed between $15,000 and $50,000 to American Express.
A spokesman to Gingrich, a former House speaker who left office in 1999, did not immediately respond to a message seeking details about the debt, which was first reported by Politico.
Callista Gingrich was a clerk with the House Agriculture Committee until 2007. The most recent report on file says the couple had between $1 million and $2.5 million in assets during 2006.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jack_Abramoff
Excerpt:
As a Republican Party lobbyist, Abramoff was Senior Director of Government Affairs for the Greenberg Traurig law and lobbying firm from January 2001 to March 2004, when he was fired and became a consultant at the Cassidy & Associates lobbying shop. Abramoff was "brought into Cassidy" by Gregg Hartley, a former top aide to House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Missouri)," according to Roll Call's Brody Mullins. [2][3]
Abramoff cut his ties with Cassidy & Associates on or around July 8, 2004, "to form his own company, Middle Gate Ventures," to do "such business opportunities as energy projects, real estate development and motion picture production -- no lobbying," according to the Washington Post's Judy Sarasohn. In March 2004, Abramoff had "signed an exclusive contract with Cassidy for him to steer lobbying business to the company."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Boulanger
Excerpt:
In 1999 Boulanger followed Jack Abramoff to work for Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, and then in 2001 to Greenberg Traurig as a member of "Team Abramoff", and finally in 2004 to Cassidy & Associates.
In 2000 Boulanger served on the Bush recount team for Broward and Duval counties during the Florida election recount. His Greenberg Traurig online profile heralded his involvement; fellow Team Abramoff members Shawn Vasell, Tony Rudy, and Duane Gibson also participated.[1]
Boulanger was also a legislative aide to Senator Bob Smith.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Todd_A._Boulanger
Excerpt:
Todd A. Boulanger "handles as many as eight client accounts" at Cassidy & Associates Inc., including Jack Abramoff's "former client, the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana," James V. Grimaldi wrote in the June 26, 2005, Washington Post.
Boulanger was a member of "Team Abramoff", the "more than a dozen lobbyists who were members of ... the tight-knit group who worked under Abramoff when he was at the lobbying helm of the Washington office of Greenberg Traurig LLP and, before that, Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP," Grimaldi said.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cassidy_%26_Associates
Excerpt:
Cassidy & Associates is a Washington D.C headquartered lobbying and public relations company that was formed in 1975.
Cassidy EU Employees jump ship, organize first EU law & lobby firm
Cassidy's European work took a hit in April, 2007 when it was reported that six top lawyers had left the firm to set up a new company, Alber & Geiger. "Former Advocate General of the European Court of Justice Siegbert Alber and former CEO of Cassidy in Brussels Andreas Geiger set up Alber & Geiger, a specialist government lobbying law firm in the Belgian capital last month. Founding partner Geiger said: 'We're the first lobbying-focused law firm in Europe and we're following the lobbying law model from Washington [DC]. It wasn't possible for us to have this set-up under the umbrella of Interpublic, which owns Cassidy & Associates."[1]Working for Philip Morris
A 1993 internal budget review document for the Philip Morris group of companies had Cassidy and Associates with a preliminary budget allocation of $78,000. Describing the consultants, the documents states, "Jack Brennan is a former Massachusetts state Senator who has excellent ties with members of the Massachusetts legislature. He is especially close to the Senate President Bolger, who maintains significant influence over the activities of the legislature. Mr Brennan is an experienced lobbyist who is familiar with KGF's solid waste issues, and has been retained to defeat MassPIRG's continued efforts to boycott KGF's products. Mr Brennan is also charged with representing KGF in the upcoming MassPIRG ballot initiative on expanded bottle bill legislation".[2] (KGF is the acronym for Philip Morris subsidiary, Kraft General Foods.)Brennan is not listed on the company's website as a current employee. (Accessed November 23, 2003).
Polishing a blood-soaked dictator's image
According to a May, 2007 article in MotherJones, Cassidy and Associates has worked hard to improve the image of Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang:- "Since 2004, according to Department of Justice reports, Equatorial Guinea has paid Cassidy and Associates at least $120,000 per month to overhaul the country's image. At times, Cassidy almost functions as a shadow foreign ministry for Equatorial Guinea. One longtime Africa observer says that at a recent D.C. event, he saw Cassidy staffers flanking the Equatoguinean ambassador passing her notes throughout her speech. "She was literally in the hands of her handlers," he says. Cassidy has also helped set up a social development fund to channel the country's oil money into welfare projects: "Obiang is intent on improving the country," says Juan Carlos Benitez, who is responsible for Cassidy's Equatorial Guinea account."[3]
- "Equatorial Guinea has one of the world's highest incomes per capita, but in one of the 10 most corrupt nations on earth, little of that money trickles down. Obiang rules the country with an iron fist: According to State Department reports, suspects have been tortured to death and prisoners raped by police. Still, Cassidy has delivered results for Obiang in D.C. 'A few years ago, at least U.S. officials wouldn't talk about the relationship with Equatorial Guinea, or they would admit all the problems and horrible human rights abuses,' says Frank Ruddy, the former U.S. ambassador to Equatorial Guinea. Now, he adds, 'you would have thought this is Mother Teresa's brother running Equatorial Guinea.'"[3]
From President Obiang to Presidential hopeful Dodd
Until recently, the lead lobbyist for the account was Amos Hochstein.[4] He left Cassidy and Associates in January 2007 to join Senator Christopher Dodd's campaign for the U.S. Presidency.[5] In an April 2006 interview with the Washington Post, Hochstein was effusive about Obiang's regime:- "I don't know where The Post got those numbers [about malnutrition in Equatorial Guinea]. I've seen them on the opposition's Web site, but never anywhere else... [Obiang has] convinced me of his deep care for his people. And I've seen the changes. I know that he sent 120 Equato-Guinean nurses to Israel for training. I've seen the kids going to new schools in their blue pants and white shirts."[6]
Contact information
700 Thirteenth Street, NWSuite 400
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 347-0773
Fax: (202) 347-0785
Email: info AT cassidy.com
Web: http://www.cassidy.com/
