I made a post recently about how the Abramoff scandal, as far as it’s being reported in the media, is not bi-partisan, and that the facts show that Abramoff focused his activities on influencing Republicans, and that he made all his political contributions to Republicans.

But as the Abramoff story unfolds, we are going to be getting a much deeper picture of the seedy side of politics as practiced by Abramoff, and eventually some Democratic legislators are going to be shown to have been involved with Abramoff, at least tangentially.

I don’t expect Abramoff to have enlisted Democrats in his activities to a substantial degree, though, because Congressional Democrats don’t have much real power anymore.

Here’s a story that involves Abramoff and the Bush Administration and Republican legislators very directly, but might also have some potential to expose a few Democrats to scrutiny —- The BIA Indian Trust Fund problem

SUMMARY of the problem: Over 100 years ago, Congress placed vast amounts of Indian Tribal Land into a trust for development and farming. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) would lease out the land, to oilmen, mining companies, and farming interests. The BIA would hold the lease money in trust. [I don’t know if the Indians were entitled to a royalty based on the profits that the leasees derived from the land].

Indian Tribes sued the BIA some years ago, seems to be about 2001, [Cobell v. Norton - see links below] seeking a full accounting of how the BIA trust fund had been managed. Some estimates suggested that as much as $150 Billion might turn out to have been underpaid to the Indian Tribes.

According to the information I link to below, the Federal Government has resisted providing a full accounting of how the trust was handled. After years of resistance to a full accounting, most of which might have been under the Clinton adminsitration, the tribes sued.

Let’s stop for a minute —– If this trust fund problem were REALLY to be worth $150 Billion, then the entire Federal Government, Democrats and Republicans, might fear that the payments would cause too much financial hardship in tight budget times. I can see how Congress might try to obstruct the accounting for years, and then try to obstruct the lawsuit.

But in addition to the motives of Congress [motives to avoid deficits], oil companies and mining companies and huge farming conglomerates might also want to resist an audit. An audit would probably require that the companies open their books. The companies already know what their books say. I expect the books tend to say that the companies have used creative accounting to somehow justify paying less money to the BIA than perhaps they should have been paying all along.

The plaintiff class will be able to collect from the leasees, and will further be able to hold the BIA accountable if it can’t collect from the leasees, since the BIA was the “Trustee” and failed in its duties as Trustee.

And so, oil and gas interests have an incentive to lobby Congress hard to somehow fix this problem. There are huge problems with fixing the problem, though, because a Court of Law is involved and the Court issues orders that must be followed. Federal officials have already been held in contempt for failing to follow court orders in this case, apparently.

In comes Abramoff, with clients in the energy business AND with Indian Tribal clients.

Pure speculation: Conflict of Interest by Abramoff, perhaps enough of a conflict to make it deceptive and unethical for him to be representing Indian Tribes? Money laundering, in that Abramoff might have used Indian Money to influence Congressmen on behalf of his oil clients in order to hide the lobbying activities of the oil industry? The oil industry would have been watched pretty closely in how they interacted with Congressmen who were dealing with the BIA trust fund issue. So Abramoff might have had an incentive to somehow go under-the-radar and only openly lobby on behalf of his Indian Tribal Casino clients, when part of his real intent might have been to influence the Congressmen to protect oil interests. The oil industry would have had to pay Abramoff for his services, even if Abramoff’s books showed that only Indian money was used in his lobbying efforts. Where did the oil money go?

Ahhh, but that’s all pure speculation. Who knows what the investigation will actually reveal.

Anyway, I offer the info and links in order to expand our appreciation of the depth of Abramoff’s involvement in government affairs. Who knows whether any laws were broken?

The litigation is called Cobell v. Norton. Here are some links:

Homepage for Cobell v Norton info - IndianTrust.com

More background info on cobell v norton - ewebtribe.com

Department of Justice site on Cobell v Norton

The following is a snippet from a DailyKOS diary showing a bit about how Abramoff might have gotten involved in the BIA trust fund problem.

Abramoff and gaming Indians: Just the tip of the iceberg - a DailyKOS diary

[snip]

The courts have ordered a full accounting of the Trust. Problem is, many of the documents were destroyed, including a slew of them under Norton. So the plaintiffs decided a few years back that the only way to get a real accounting is to audit the industries’ books. That’s what makes everyone so nervous, as plaintiff experts, having done some sampling, estimate we’re talking over $150 billion in underpayments and fraud, along with interest, of course. Yes, $150 BILLION. And the pressure would be huge for Congress to force a repayment by the guilty. If not, then it comes out of the taxpayers’ pockets, as the courts have already ordered the accounts be properly audited and brought up to date. Hence, the concern of the oil/gas, mining, ranching, forestry and agriculture interests which use/abuse the land lease process.

So Norton did what she could to subvert the case, but as the heat was turned up, and the Administration losing appeal after appeal, she started pushing for Congressional Republicans to take the case and force a settlement. A settlement for a fraction of the potential amount, but one which would prevent an audit of industry accounts. Who is the chief supporter of a Congressional settlement? None other than the puppet of the oil, gas and mining industry, Richard Pombo. Twice Pombo has written legislation ordering a settlement (both times with no settlement figures, of course), but Delay intervened. Not because he likes Indians, but because he figures that it’s safer to stall than to provide even the smallest chance the industry books will be audited. (Delay and most oilmen Congressmen voted against the original Indian Trust Accountability Act back in 1994 - only 36 Reps did.) So from 2002 to 2005, Delay ordered, despite a court order, that no accounting of the trust fund occur (or at least there’d be no funding for it, which, of course, means it doesn’t happen.)

This is where Abramoff comes in. He was the slush fund operator. Indians thought they were paying Pombo and others on House Resources and Senate Indian Affairs, et al., for help with gaming issues, and Abramoff was in fact padding coffers necessary to protect the industry from auditing.

Think this is all too far-fetched? Just last week, the NYTimes posted an article on three months’ of research into federal land leases (including Indian trust lands) and found rampant fraud and underpayment. In addition, numerous whistleblowers were fired, including Norton and Griles trustee for the BIA, who refused to testify before Congress that the Trust was fine. Accountants and fund managers were fired for doing a good job and finding fraud.

McCain and Pombo are once again pushing for a settlement, and in the increasingly hostile environment for Indians due to success in portraying Abramoff’s tribal clients as villains, not victims, they’ll most likely get it, at rock-bottom prices. And the industry books will remain safely closed.

[snip]