This Washington Post article follows up on this earlier post regarding Congressional hearings over Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and public relations consultant Michael Scanlon‘s shenanigans in 2002 involving the Tigua Indian Tribe’s casino in El Paso.
Playing both sides off against the middle, Messrs. Abramoff and Scanlon originally worked with conservative religious activist Ralph Reed to help the State of Texas shut down the Indian tribe’s casino, and then Messrs. Abramoff and Scanlon’s turned around and persuaded the the tribe to pay them $4.2 million to try to get Congress to reopen it. Messrs. Abramoff and Scanlon are now embroiled in Congressional and grand jury investigations over an incredible $82 million in lobbying and public relations fees they collected from six tribes that operate gambling casinos.
By the way, Mr. Scanlon, 34 is a former aide to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, whose name seems to be bandied about in just about every Congressional scandal in Washington or Austin these days.
Charles Kuffner has been all over this story, so check out his blog for more analysis of the situation.