Yesterday, Mr. Stone penned a piece on the Abramoff scandal entitled Abramoff Scandal Lives On that appears in National Journal. Since it is behind a subscriber wall at National Journal, the ACR Blog was pleased to find that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has reprinted the article at their own website.
Most of what appears in the article has been covered on the ACR Blog. One notable difference in opinion is that Mr. Stone quotes an anonymous former prosecutor (it isn't clear if this person worked in the Public Integrity Section) who says, "[William] Welch was not just a distant supervisor on the Abramoff case but has been actively involved in parts of it." The ACR Blog takes the position that "Mr. Welch isn't really active in the Abramoff-related cases at all." Gentle reader, it is up to you to sort this out. The ACR Blog will stay with its position until it finds evidence that Mr. Welch was actively involved in the Abramoff-related cases. Until that time, we remain unconvinced that Mr. Welch was anything but a "distant supervisor on the Abramoff case." Regardless, the prosecutors actually doing the work on the Abramoff cases (Peter Sprung, M. Kendall Day, Nathaniel Edmonds, Michael Ferrara, and Michael Leotta) are certainly among the most competent and professional attorneys in America. Besides, even if Mr. Welch was an ineffective manager overseeing the Abramoff cases, that distraction will be removed as Mr. Welch is removed from the cases.
The ACR Blog agrees with CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan's assessment of the Abramoff investigation:
Sloan notes that attorneys for Doolittle and other former lawmakers still under scrutiny have been aggressively invoking the Constitution's "speech or debate clause," which protects members of Congress from prosecution for official actions.
Still, Sloan says, Justice "has done a really good job on the Abramoff case, but so far some of the really big fish remain uncharged." She cites Doolittle; former lobbyist Ed Buckham, who was chief of staff to then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas; and DeLay himself, who was one of Abramoff's key allies on Capitol Hill.
Doolittle, Buckham and DeLay. Can't argue that those aren't big fish, in fact they're probably the three biggest fish left. I'd also like to name a couple other big fish: former Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) and former Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.). Smaller fish include certain staff members for former Reps. DeLay and Doolittle as well as some former staffers at the Justice Department's Office of Judicial Programs, the group Team Abramoff turned to secure full funding for a jail for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Ed Buckham (L) and Tom DeLay (R)
Even though chronicling the events that lead up to criminal charges of the "big fish" is the reason for the ACR Blog's existence, we here at the ACR Blog have no expectations regarding the timing of any potential criminal charges. A couple of anonymous sources for Mr. Stone have some expectations, though:
According to two sources familiar with the investigation, another plea or indictment is expected later this spring or in early summer. The word is that it will represent a "bigger fish."
Sources predict that the next Abramoff ally to be charged could be Buckham or DeLay, both of whom have been under scrutiny by prosecutors for a long time. Buckham and DeLay were allies for Abramoff in seeking legislative help for his biggest clients, such as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Indian tribes with casino operations. Abramoff, Buckham, and DeLay took three costly trips, which Abramoff clients paid for, to the Northern Marianas, Russia, and Scotland, where they golfed at the famed St. Andrews links.
Oh my! Those are big fish indeed! The ACR Blog has consistently taken the position that Mr. Buckham needs to be held responsible before former Rep. DeLay can be. Ideally, Mr. Buckham will provide evidence against Mr. DeLay. So given these two possibilities given by National Journal's Mr. Stone, the ACR Blog is giving shorter odds that Mr. Buckham will be indicted by early summer. Please, ACR Blog readers, keep your fingers crossed.
Ultimately, the Justice Department will proceed in this case as fast as circumstances and facts will allow them to. Remember that over two years ago, the Houston Chronicle said that the Justice Department could decide whether or not to charge Mr. Buckham "within weeks".
0 comments:
Post a Comment