
Laura Quattlebaum Gower
On February 4, 2002, the government alleges that Kevin Ring was baiting public officials with tickets to the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). Among the persons interested in the tickets was Ms. Quattlebaum. Mr. Ring asked Jack Abramoff to authorize DMB tickets for Ms. Quattlebaum, describing her as "a helper on the Saginaw Cost Share School Program" (GX1020). After Mr. Ring received approval and promised delivery of the DMB tickets, Ms. Quattlebaum emailed:
Kevin- you are the best. I really appreciate it. Please let me know if and when anything comes up and ya'll [sic] need Jack's help. Thanks so much, [redacted]
When Ms. Quattlebaum offered "Jack's help", she was referring to her boss, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.).
The prosecution quizzed witness Todd Boulanger about this email chain. Prosecutors wanted to offer this incident as an example of Team Abramoff's strategy of "grooming" Congressional staffers. Defense attorney Andrew Wise objected. Mr. Wise thought that it was inappropriate to have Mr. Boulanger testify about Ms. Quattlebaum's email when the government didn't even plan to call Ms. Quattlebaum to testify. Both attorneys approached the bench. During the bench conference, prosecutor Michael Ferrara seemed to suggest that Ms. Quattlebaum had broken the law:
THE COURT: You are not arguing that she did anything wrong, Quattlebaum?
MR. FERRARA: No, I don't think it is appropriate what she has done here. I think she is linking a ticket with an official act. No, this is not proper.
MR. WISE: But there is no (official) act.
MR. FERRARA: There doesn't need to be, Your Honor ... One of the instructions we proposed is that in exchange for official action on an as-needed basis. Ms. Quattlebaum is offering her Congressman's help on an as-needed basis. It's exactly what we need to prove right here. All I want to ask Mr. Boulanger is how it worked when he did it.
THE COURT: ... I get the point of how they did it. Basically they cast a net to see who's going to take the bait. When they took the bait, then they gave them more bait.
MR. FERRARA: I just want to give the jury examples.
THE COURT: This is in evidence. You can argue all you want. He has given his examples regarding -- You've got it in evidence. Now you can ask him whatever you want to ask him about what he does, if that's what you're interested in. Go ahead. Move on ... Sustained.
[The ACR Blog did edit the transcript for brevity. Click here to see the relevant pages of the actual transcript.]
Mr. Ferrara seems to have described the "retainer theory" of Honest Services Fraud (HSF) as he described Ms. Quattlebaum's actions during this bench conference. It isn't clear to us whether Ms. Quattlebaum actually needed to perform an official act. Mr. Ferrara clearly suggests that no official act is necessary. Regarding the "retainer theory" of HSF, US v. Kincaid-Chauncey says:
It is sufficient, for example, if the evidence establishes that the government official has been put on "retainer" - that is, that the government official has received payments or other items of value with the understanding that when the payor comes calling, the government official will do whatever is asked. Only individuals who can be shown to have had the specific intent to trade official actions for items of value are subject to criminal punishment on this theory of honest services fraud. The retainer theory of quid pro quo eliminates the possibility that an innocent lobbyist or politician will be convicted for depriving the public of honest services.
The Third and First Circuits have both explicitly approved such "retainer" theories of honest services fraud, although they called them by different names.
The Justice Department has not charged Ms. Quattlebaum with any crime.
