Shane Tessimond, March 18, 2000
Gentle readers, you know I have long harbored suspicions that there might be more to the case of Shane Elliot Tessimond than meets the eye. Originally, it was the assignment of Mr. Tessimond's case to Judge Ellen S. Huvelle in US District Court in Washington, DC. As one who carefully monitors the proceedings in her courtroom in order to catch the latest developments in the Abramoff scandal, I wondered: Was it mere coincidence that Mr. Tessimond's case appeared on the docket of the judge hearing the majority of the cases related to Jack Abramoff? Or is there more to the story? To refresh your memory a bit, here's how I summarized the contents of Mr. Tessimond's indictment on January 18, 2009.
Shane Tessimond is a former employee of Sen. John F. Kerry's failed 2004 presidential campaign. Mr. Tessimond worked for the Kerry campaign in 2002 and 2003. According to a federal indictment issued last month, Mr. Tessimond is accused of stealing contribution checks from the Kerry campaign and, with the help of an accomplice, unlawfully converting the campaign contributions into personal funds. Mr. Tessimond is also charged with stealing the identity of one of his co-workers at another job he held.
Mr. Tessimond subsequently pleaded guilty to two felony counts on February 26, 2009, pledged to cooperate with federal prosecutors, and currently awaits sentencing. The few media accounts describing his indictment and plea deal seemed to characterize the caper as one committed by an errant campaign worker, whose theft led to the enrichment of himself and his accomplice - Mark Parisi of Connecticut (The ACR Blog would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows more about Mr Parisi, especially how he and Mr. Tessimond came to be such good "friends" - confidentiality assured.)
In the January 18 post, I wrote that I had "good reason to believe that Mr. Tessimond is personal friends with Todd Boulanger." I based this statement, in part, on a party invitation I discovered on a website, www.bigpappa.com, that seems to cater to Hill gossips, alcoholics, status climbers, and the occasional white-collar criminal. This particular invitation was for one of a series of parties being held around Independence Day
But pity poor Mr. Turner, as Web Archive Strikes Back! Scroll down to Saturday to see the party invitation hosted by Mr. Tessimond et al.
Just as the trail was growing cold and the ACR Blog began losing interest in Mr. Tessimond, Mr. Turner's behavior caused us to change course and want to dig deeper. What was he trying to hide? Who might he be trying to protect? With the help of webarchive (and other anti-corruption intelligence sources), we have unearthed new information regarding Mr. Tessimond that suggests close ties to a number of scandal figures. In fact, click on the thumbnail of the photo featuring Mr. Tessimond below to see him on the Hill in 1999 sandwiched between an admitted criminal (Todd Boulanger) and a person who, insists a friend of the ACR Blog, bears an uncanny resemblance to a PR flack for Tom DeLay:
In fact, remember the picture of Kevin Ring we previously uncovered (also deleted from bigpappa.com by Mr. Turner), where he's sitting on a couch next to an admitted criminal sipping beer?
That picture was taken on the couch in Shane Tessimond and Todd Boulanger's living room (aka "House of the Homies") at 328 F Street NE in Washington DC on July 1,
9 comments:
Wow - this is interesting stuff. I'm always amazed at the connections you make.
I suspect Turner is trying to protect Tessimond and others. Who is this guy and what is the "Big Pappa" all about?
My apologies for making an entirely irrelevant comment, but... why were they roomies? In 2001, Boulanger had been a lobbyist for a year and a half and I would be very disappointed with the Jack Abramoff we all know and love if he did not pay his lobbyists ennough for them to be able to get their own place.
Anon (April 14):
Who knows what Turner's motivations are? He could be trying to remove evidence of his own connections to Tessimond. In other words, for all we know, he may be protecting himself.
In answer to your question about "Big Pappa", "Big Pappa" was Turner's party-boy persona. I'm developing a thesis that many of the players in this scandal never grew up. Into their 30s, these people acted like immature frat boys. "Big Pappa" was essentially the de facto leader of this group.
Anon (April 18):
No need to apologize, Anon. Your question is a fair and one we should consider.
As I mentioned in my last response, the F Street Gang shared a lot of characteristics of a college fraternity. Todd Boulanger was a frat boy from the University of New Hampshire and never really grew out of that. I think he liked the party lifestyle he had on F Street. He lived with girlfriends there and enjoyed drinking beer. Therefore, it is my theory that it wouldn't have mattered if Boulanger made a lot of money as a Team Abramoff lobbyist -- he liked his F Street life. Boulanger didn't want to leave.
Todd Boulanger and Shane Tessimond were fraternity brothers at the University of New Hampshire. The fraternity was Theta Chi. Tessimond was at one time fraternit president, he is older than Boulanger and graduated 2-3 years before him. They go back a long, long way. I disagree that "jailbirds of a feather will flock together"; I see the two crimes are unrelated. They have been friends for a long time.
Forget about them being roomies in DC; its largely irrelevant. They arent looking for plea deals or points off sentencing guidelines by turning state's evidence on eachother. That's absurd.
I am basically certain Boulanger wasnt making dime one off Abramoff. He has utterly no credentials to warrant any sort of pay above that of administrative assistant. Look at their apartment and how they are dressed in various photos, including the Fox video. According to the factual pacer docs, he appears to be nothing more than a glorified travel agent. Indeed, he has truly never left frat boy mode.
As an attorney, I might add that the fact that they are both before the same judge is not noteworthy. The judge very well may sit in a dedicated political corruption part. Even if not, its just coincidental.
Finally, when considering the case of Ms. Boulanger, note the implications of claiming the spousal privilege.
Anon (May 5):
I agree with some of what you have written and disagree with some. A reply with a more substantive discussion of those matters will have to wait.
That said, the ACR Blog is planning another post on Tessimond / Boulanger in the near future. It will likely come out before the weekend.
Anon (May 6):
Please feel free to email me at gregintx22-at-yahoo-dot-com. I'd like to have an off-blog discussion with you.
ACR
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