By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor
Jack Abramoff, a former top Republican lobbyist and fundraiser who is now under federal investigation for dubious dealings with his Native American clients, hosted fundraisers with two Republican congressmen during the same period the legislators pushed for action benefiting Abramoff’s client, RAW STORY has learned.
Then-Rep. David Vitter (R-LA) attended a $1,000-a-plate dinner hosted by Abramoff for the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee while he was meeting with Abramoff’s attorneys in an eleventh hour maneuver to insert a provision worth tens of millions of dollars to Abramoff’s Native American client.
Attending the same Sept. 9, 2003 function at Abramoff’s restaurant, Signatures, was Deputy Majority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), the highest ranking appointed congressman in the House. Three months earlier, Cantor signed a letter along with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) urging the Department of the Interior to back a move favoring Abramoff’s client, the Louisiana Coushatta tribe.
The dinner was the only Republican Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser Abramoff hosted that year. According to the Washington Post, Abramoff regularly entertained politicians at his pricey Pennsylvania Avenue restaurant Signatures, and billed his tribal clients for hundreds of thousands of dollars in meals.
In a statement to RAW STORY late Monday, Vitter, who is now a Louisiana senator, said Abramoff didn’t attend the dinner. Sen. Vitter maintains that he met Abramoff only once and that he didn’t know Abramoff was behind the drive to aid the Louisiana Coushatta tribe.
Abramoff “was not at the event you’ve asked about–or any other fundraiser of mine to my knowledge,” Vitter said. “I never met with Jack Abramoff on any Indian gambling issue. Never. Furthermore, to my knowledge, I have only met him once briefly in passing, and to this day I couldn’t pick him out of a crowd.”
The listing for the event, however, was “Join Congressman Vitter (LA-01) for a Cocktail Reception and Dinner Hosted by Jack Abramoff with Special Guest Chief Deputy Majority Whip Eric Cantor.”
Phil Singer, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said Vitter’s attendance raised questions of a quid pro quo, literally “this for that.”
“It is vital that no quid pro quo ever take place,” Singer said, “but as we’ve seen in the various things that have gone on with Tom DeLay in recent weeks and now this latest issue, unfortunately it looks like that’s exactly what’s going on here.”
Sen. Vitter told the Post Sunday that his staff drafted language with the help of Abramoff’s legal team urging the Interior Department to prevent a rival tribe from building a casino outside their historic lands. Vitter has tried the previous year to insert a similar provision which was rejected; in 2003 his attempt was successful.
Abramoff’s attorney did not return a call seeking comment.
Vitter says Abramoff’s firm was consulted because they were experts in gambling law.
“My staff did consult the law firm and others as experts in that area of Indian gambling law to verify the technical accuracy of what we were drafting,” the senator said.
In his statement, Vitter emphasized that he had a long history of opposing gambling.
“As I have said in every interview on this subject, I have a long history of fighting gambling since first being elected to the Louisiana legislature in 1991,” Vitter continued. “Throughout my public life, I have continued to explore different avenues to stop gambling, especially the ‘forum shopping’ of Indian tribes.”
Vitter’s position against gambling coincided with the efforts of Ralph Reed, an Abramoff associate whose Committee Against Gambling Expansion quietly received $4 million from Abramoff’s Native American clients.
Many find it hard to believe that Vitter could have been in the dark about the group’s true nature—a group that gave Vitter the edge in his 2004 Senate race, and sent out a mailer supporting him. Reed’s group also allowed Vitter to use its name in a phone bank.
Andrew Koneschusky, a spokesman for the Louisiana Democratic Party, told a New Orleans paper last October that he was skeptical that Vitter would align himself with Reed’s group without knowing its ties to gambling.
“It doesn’t pass the smell test,” Koneschusky said. “It looks like a quid pro quo.”
Vitter states that he has not received any contributions from Abramoff or Abramoff’s former firm.
He did, however, receive $7,838 from the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee – the third most of any senatorial candidate to receive money from the Committee in the 2004 cycle. He also received $282,600 from GOP leadership political action committees.
Vitter’s successfully inserted a provision into the Appropriations Committee 2003 conference report, but the Louisiana Coushattas were dealt a blow in December of that year when the Interior Department ruled in favor of another tribe.
Abramoff raised money for DeLay’s deputy
Deputy Majority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor, the other congressman attending the dinner at Abramoff’s restaurant, has a more transparent financial relationship with the erstwhile lobbyist. Abramoff, his wife, and others at Abramoff’s former firm gave $12,000 to Cantor in the 2004 cycle.
RAW STORY has also learned that Abramoff held a fundraiser at his deli, Stacks, for Cantor in January 2003.
The $500-a-plate fundraiser—at which Abramoff named a sandwich in honor of Cantor—came under scrutiny when a New York Jewish newspaper reported that Cantor had not filed records disclosing that Abramoff had paid for catering expenses, making it an in-kind donation likely violating campaign finance laws.
Cantor’s campaign consultant estimated the catering had cost $2,000 to $3,000, and said they had yet to receive a bill from Abramoff.
A week later, the same publication reported that Cantor had cut a check for $1,732.52 to pay for the catering—some five months after the event.
Over the following two months, Abramoff and his wife, Pamela, personally gave Cantor $8,000 as part of the $12,000 given by Abramoff’s firm, according to the money in politics website OpenSecrets.org.
Three months later, Cantor signed a letter along with Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) issued to the Secretary of the Interior Gail Norton asking her not to allow a tribe other than Abramoff’s client from building a casino outside their historical tribal area.
“We strongly believe that these attempts run counter to Congressional intent and pose a serious threat to the current regulatory scheme that governs Indian gaming,” the letter signed by Cantor stated.
The letter, according the Washington Post, was drafted by Abramoff lobbyist Todd Boulanger and circulated through email by Abramoff. Its original version was sharper, telling Norton “we hold you accountable” to quash “reservation shopping.”
Cantor did not respond to repeated RAW STORY calls for comment.
Jennifer Crider, press secretary for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), said Cantor’s relationship with Abramoff deserves scrutiny.
“It adds fuel to the fire,” Crider said. “It certainly merits being looked at.”
Correction: Sen. Vitter’s attempt to insert language into the Appropriations report in 2003 was successful. Due to a confusion between calendar and fiscal years, Raw Story originally reported that it was not. Sen. Vitter had tried a similar provision which failed in 2002, but was successful in 2003 after the aid of Abramoff’s legal team.
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