a case of Abramoff-Lite: Rep. Richard Pombo was doing favors for his friends the Detroit casino syndicators on the same track he was advancing Northern Mariana Islands matters.
Rep. Richard Pombo was doing favors for his friends the Detroit casino syndicators; in turn they were funneling tens of thousands of dollars to Pombo’s committees, causes and friends. Although Pombo is no longer in office, these students of Abramoff and their Indian partners are still at play inside the D.C. Beltway.
While the Ilitch Family and Michael Malik, along with their lawyers and lobbyists, were contributing to Rep. Richard Pombo’s political committees and favorite causes, Pombo took advantage of his role as Chairman of the House Resources Committee and attempted in both the 108th and 109th Congresses to quietly slip through bills that would give favor and advantage to the Shinnecock Indian Nation, a tribe whose legal and public relations pursuits are being bankrolled by Ilitch & Malik.
Both bills had minimal exposure and then late in their respective sessions of Congress were reported in the House and placed on the Union Calendar for future vote of the whole House: H.R. 5134 (on Nov. 19, 2004); H.R. 512 (on Sept. 28, 2006). That’s as far as they got.
Both bills would have demanded the Secretary of Interior immediately review the Shinnecock Indian Nation’s petition for Federal Recognition and give a determination. If the Secretary failed to meet the Pombo deadline or didn’t rule favorably toward Pombo’s friends, both bills gave the Shinnecock the ability to appeal the in-action or negative decision in Federal court – a path that the Shinnecock have previously taken, which had outcomes favorable to the tribe.
The Shinnecock seek federal recognition as a tribe in order to build a Las-Vegas style casino and resort in the Hampton Bays area of Long Island, NY. Ilitch & Malik, under the veil of Gateway Casino Resorts (or Gateway Funding Associates), have been bankrolling legal, lobbying and public relations efforts to support the tribe in exchange for up to 30% of the future casino profits and development rights.
Ilitch & Malik want the matter expedited because each day that goes by without approvals that could lead to a groundbreaking or ribbon cutting for an anticipated Shinnecock casino in the Hampton Bays area of Long Island costs the pair of “investors” more money.
An Associated Press story written by Erica Werner in July 2005 raised questions about the timing of Ilitch/Malik hosted fundraising events to benefit Pombo in Detroit during the MLB 2005 All-Star Game and a hearing scheduled two days later in Washington D.C. that could possibly have had an impact on the Shinnecock pursuits. There are no noted press reports suggestig there was any awareness of Pombos attempts to assist his friends with H.R. 5134 or H.R. 512.
Gratuities to Pombo from the Detroit casino syndicators include:
$16,000 from Mike & Marian Ilitch, and Michael Malik to RICH PAC (earning them #9 and #5 spots respectively on RICH PAC’s “Top Ten” individual donors list for ’04 and ’06; Jack Abramoff was #10);
Total of more than $40,000+ for RICH PAC including contributions from various Ilitch lobbying firms (from $11,500 bundled on May 18, 2004 – $15,500 bundled on December 7, 2005);
$26,600 to the San Joaquin County GOP Committee (Pombo’s home party organization) on October 18, 2004 from Detroit-based Barwest (Ilitch/Malik entity doing business in Barstow, Calif.);
A $5,000 per head fundraiser at the 2005 MLB All-Star Game in Detroit (total proceeds unknown as there are no related contributions noted in Pombo’s campaign committee or RICH PAC disclosures despite aides to Pombo indicating he was the beneficiary of the event);
Various travel arrangements;
$50,000 to the RNC recorded the day after (7/13/05)the All-Star Game fundraiser ($25,000 each from Michae l J. Malik and Christopher Ilitch);
$220,000 lobbying contract signed by Barbara Bonfiglio on behalf of Williams & Jensen to represent Malik’s MJM Enterprises and Development during the period Bonfiglio was also RICH PAC treasurer.
H.R. 5134 - Congressional Actions
- 9/23/2004: Referred to the House Committee on Resources.
9/29/2004: Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
11/19/2004 7:51pm: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Resources. H. Rept. 108-788.
11/19/2004 7:51pm: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 482.
H.R. 512 - Congressional Actions
2/2/2005: Referred to the House Committee on Resources.
2/10/2005: Committee Hearings Held. (1st published hearing of the session; Shinnecock only testimony outside government; 14 of 46 Members noted as present)
6/21/2006: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
6/21/2006: Ordered to be Reported by Voice Vote.
9/28/2006 4:28pm: Reported by the Committee on Resources. H. Rept. 109-694.
9/28/2006 4:33pm: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 419
Pombo introduced H.R. 5134 in the House the same day he introduced H.R. 5135, “To provide for a nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives to represent the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.” Six days later both bills were put before a vote of the Resource Committee, without either having been the subject of a previous hearing. Pombo introduced amendments to the bill he had introduced less than a week earlier in the form of a substitute bill. The committee voted and ordered the matters be reported to the full House. Pombo’s troubles in the Abramoff scandal have been tied to matters of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Although Rep. Pombo was clearly attempting to railroad approval of H.R. 5134 (and H.R. 5135); H.R. 5134 failed to win approval from the whole House in the 108th Congress.
Pombo was not deterred. He reintroduced the bill as H.R. 512 one month into the 109th Congress and his committee promptly “heard” the matter a week later.
The controversy surrounding the Ilitch/Malik hosted All-Star Game fundraising benefit for Pombo broke during Summer 2005 and the activities of Pombo and associates like his PAC Treasurer and former lobbyist Barbara Bonfiglio were increasingly being questioned.
Pombo severed his ties with Bonfiglio in March 2006 approximately six months after disclosure reports indicate her ties with Ilitch/Malik (for which she had been paid $220,000) were severed.
It had been 16-17 months since any formal action on H.R. 512.
Shortly after the June 2006 primary election, the Resources Committee held a routine mark-up session on what the Daily Digest indicated were “miscellaneous matters.” On June 21, 2006 the House Resources Committee reviewed more than two dozen bills including H.R. 512. The committee ordered by voice vote that reports be printed and advanced on certain of the various bills reviewed. H.R. 512 was reported to the Whole House three months later.
On September 28, at a time when the press and most others were focused on the many political campaign stories underway in the Fall elections, the report was presented and slipped into the hopper for a future vote of the whole House. All or part of the report prepared for the full House was part of the report he had ordered printed in 2004 because it appears that on the GPO printed version of Report 109-694, page six, third to the last paragraph of the section "COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII" the report's author failed to replace "H.R. 5134" with "H.R. 512."
Pombo faced defeat at the polls on election day 2006 and there appears to have been no further action on H.R. 512.
Marian Ilitch and her family along with Michael J. Malik, Sr. have not been deterred by the loss of their political steward Richard Pombo. They still aggressively pursue plans to expand their Michigan casino empire through ventures with:
- the Shinnecock Indian Nation, seeking federal recognition and the opportunity to develop a casino complex in the posh Hamptons resort area of Long Island in New York;
- the Bay Mills Indian Community, using questionable land claims as leverage to get approvals to develop a third tribal casino off reservation in Port Huron, Mich.; and
the Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon Rancheria Bands of Indians in California, two tribes Ilitch & company have adopted for the purposes of relocating planned tribal casinos across state to the Mohave Desert community of Barstow, where Ilitch owns more than 100 acres alongside I-15, half-way between the southern California basin and Las Vegas.
politics
originally posted 5.10.07
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