JUDICIAL WATCH TO INVESTIGATE INFLUENCE PEDDLING AT BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND INTERIOR DEPARTMENT
Quid Pro Quo Of Campaign Contributions From Indian Gambling Revenues In Exchange For Meetings And Political Favors?
Time Magazine Implicates Number 2 Official At BIA In Influence Peddling Scheme
(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, said today that it will launch an investigation of how the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (“BIA”) manages the Indian Gaming License process. The investigation will include, but not be limited to Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests to all relevant government agencies.
Recent press reports have detailed how political lobbyists, fundraisers and politicians have targeted Indian gaming establishments for contributions, in exchange for meetings and favors that bear directly on licensing matters before government officials. The April 11, 2002 edition of the Wall Street Journal contained a report from Jim Vandehei entitled, “Wealthy Tribes Give More to GOP As Desire for Tax Breaks Increase,” detailing changes in the way tribes “play politics” and target campaign contributions. In the article, Mr. Ivan Makil, president of the Salt River tribe, characterizes the five-fold increase in his tribe’s political contributions as, “If we don’t ante up and play the game, we’ll get left in the dust.”
Time reporter Michael Weisskopf writes in the magazine’s April 22, 2002 edition that Linda Amelia of the Chinook Indian tribe gave Wayne Smith, the No. 2 man at the BIA, her business card at a January 2002 California Republican meeting. Weisskopf reports that two weeks later, Ms. Amelia was contacted by Phil Bersinger, Wayne Smith’s former business partner, who offered to influence decisions at BIA for a fee. Ms. Amelia reportedly believed that Bersingers’ influence peddling was so barefaced that she thought it was an FBI sting operation.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton reportedly met with tribal leaders of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw, and the Coushatta and Chitimacha from Louisiana last fall at a private home in Washington DC’s exclusive Georgetown neighborhood. The tribes are represented by Jack Abramoff, a fundraiser for President Bush. The Wall Street Journal reports that each tribe has agreed to contribute as much as $1 million dollars to Republican 2002 campaigns. Another meeting with President Bush and a small group of tribal leaders was reportedly arranged by Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, a group the Wall Street Journal reported is partly funded by the Indian tribes.
“Judicial Watch will probe possible political influence to insure that campaign contributions are not unduly influencing Secretary Norton and other interior Department officials in the gaming license decision-making process. If this proves to be the case, Judicial Watch will take strong legal action,” stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.
