AP: Former Ney Aide Charged in Bribery Case (William Heaton)

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/26/AR2007022600669.html

K&R

:woohoo:

Former Ney aide to plead guilty in scandal
Ex-chief of staff charged in Abramoff lobbying-influence peddling probe
By Joel Seidman
Producer
NBC News
Updated: 12 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - William Heaton, the former chief of staff to convicted Ohio republican congressman Bob Ney was charged today with a single felony count of conspiracy in the ongoing Washington influence peddling probe of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Heaton is expected to plead guilty before U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle.
(snip)

Abramoff Russian connection
Prosecutors wrote that Heaton "enjoyed and coordinated" many of the gifts Ney received. He traveled with the congressman on a golf junket to Scotland; trips Lake George, N.Y.; and New Orleans. Heaton also took thousands of dollars' worth of gambling chips during an trip to London from a foreign businessman.

But one of his largest roles was helping Abramoff's Russian clients.
(snip/...)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17348236/

...

Former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio has already been sentenced for trading official actions to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff for expensive trips, sports tickets, meals and campaign donations.

By Joel Seidman = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17348236/

WASHINGTON - William Heaton ... pleaded guilty ... a single felony count of conspiracy ....

Heaton, who is 28 years old, worked for Ney until July. When asked how we would plead, he told U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle, "guilty your honor."
......
Heaton worked for Ney from September 2001 until July 2006.
......

Cooperation agreement
Heaton has agreed to cooperate in the Abramoff investigation and faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison and at $250,000 fine. Judge Huvelle indicated that under federal sentencing guidelines, he faces 18-24 months and depending on his cooperation agreement he may spend less time in prison.

Ney's Ex-Chief Of Staff Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy, Bribery Charges

Associated Press | LARA JAKES JORDAN | Posted February 26, 2007 05:18 PM

The top aide to convicted former Rep. Bob Ney pleaded guilty Monday to federal conspiracy charges stemming from a congressional bribery scandal that downed his boss.

Smiling nervously at times, William Heaton, 28, acknowledged accepting a golf trip to Scotland, expensive meals, and tickets to sporting events between 2002 and 2004 as payoffs for helping clients of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/02/26/neys-exchief-of-staff-p_n_42157.html

I hope this generates more than a yawn in the MSM...but since it's a relatively minor conviction, and our media suck, I doubt it.

The bright spot for me is he's cooperating. That means bigger fish to come.

Election problems and corruption overlap in Cuyahoga. Coincidence??

This thread collected links to some corruption articles:

Cuyahoga Co. Elections Director Resigns (OH)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2719564

:shrug:

Electronic voting run on "trade secret," proprietary programming code, owned and controlled by Bushite corporations.

When are we going to smarten up?

What happened to Jack Abramoff's? I remember articles speculating about a dozen or more congressmen being involved. I know the wheels of justice turn slowly, but are they turning at all?

Posted on Mon, Feb. 26, 2007
Those caught up in the Jack Abramoff public corruption case
Associated Press - http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/16789124.htm

Lawmakers, lobbyists and Bush administration officials convicted so far in the Jack Abramoff public corruption cases:

_Former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, sentenced in January to 2 1/2 years in prison, ....

_Abramoff is serving six years in prison on a criminal case out of Florida, ... A Texas Indian tribe filed a federal lawsuit in July against Abramoff and several of his colleagues, alleging that they engaged in fraud and racketeering. Abramoff is cooperating in a bribery investigation involving lawmakers, their aides and members of the Bush administration.....

_Tony Rudy, ...aide to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, pleaded guilty ... is cooperating with investigators.

_Safavian, .... sentenced to 18 months in prison in October after he was found guilty of covering up his dealings with Abramoff.....

_Michael Scanlon,... Abramoff business partner and DeLay aide, pleaded guilty in November 2005 to conspiring to bribe ... is cooperating ...

_Neil Volz,..chief of staff to Ney who left government to work for Abramoff, pleaded guilty in May 2006 to conspiring to corrupt Ney and others ...

_Roger Stillwell, ... probation.. after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge for not reporting hundreds of dollars worth of sports and concert tickets he received from Abramoff.

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mrs panstreppon's Blog
Jack Abramoff: Council of Republicans For Environmental Advocacy
http://americaabroad.tpmcafe.com/blog/mrs_panstreppon/2007/feb/25/jack_abramoff_council_of_republicans_for_environmental_advocacy

Remember Italia Federici? She is the president of the Council of Republicans For Environmental Advocacy (CREA) , a faux grassroots organizaton which criticizes environmental groups. In November 2005, Federici testified as a witness about her relationship with Jack Abramoff and soon-to-be-indicted former Deputy Secretary of the Interior J. Steven Griles during John McCain's Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearings.

Someone is trying to keep the lid on information about CREA and its predecessor, the Coalition of Republican Environmental Advocates. The Coalition was founded by Gale Norton with help from Grover Norquist in 1998. A well-publicized kickoff dinner, held in Washington DC, raised $100k and both Senate Majority Leader Tent Lott and House Speaker Newt Gingrich attended. Norton was then attorney general for the state of Colorado. ....

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Liberal lobbying groups target 'power corridor'
By Eric Pfeiffer
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
February 27, 2007 - http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070226-115016-3348r.htm

Liberal lobbying groups are trying to flex their newfound muscle on K Street after a dozen years in exile, promising to avoid the same tactical mistakes that led to the downfall of, and jail sentences for, some Republicans last year.

"Washington has been congested with conservatives abusing their power for far too long," said Toby Chaudhuri of the Campaign for America's Future (CAF), a progressive lobbying organization.
"We're cleaning out the stables on Washington's K Street power corridor, opening the back rooms to the public light," he said. "We have an opportunity to challenge the grip the right has had on our imaginations and our policies over the past quarter-century."

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Sacramento lawyer's ascent takes a turn
The timing of her resignation from the U.S. Justice Department is being linked to the Abramoff corruption scandal.
By David Whitney - Bee Washington Bureau - http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/128659.html

Published 12:00 am PST Sunday, February 25, 2007

Sue Ellen Wooldridge received a hero's send-off from her partners at a Sacramento law firm when she took a job as special assistant to Interior Secretary Gale Norton in 2001.

Six years later, after climbing to a top position at the Justice Department, the lawyer whom the Sacramento County Bar Association journal said in a 2001 headline was on her way "into the stratosphere," instead is facing tough questions about her professional ethics.

Wooldridge has been linked by love, if little more, to a Justice Department target in the still unfolding Jack Abramoff scandal, J. Steven Griles, the former No. 2 person at the Interior Department.

The House Judiciary Committee also is investigating how she came to jointly own a $1 million beach house with Griles and the chief lobbyist for an oil company she let off the hook in a pollution case while serving as the Justice Department's top environmental prosecutor.......

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Judge moves court date for Sanchez, Hills
By Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News - http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070221/NEWS01/702210324/1002

The two men who were charged in connection with the Superior Court of Guam's payments to now-disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff have a rescheduled court appearance date.

Superior Court Judge Michael Bordallo yesterday rescheduled the defendants' appearance to March 29 because one of them, California attorney Howard Hills, needed time to make the trip to Guam, or be represented by an attorney.

Tony Sanchez, former Superior Court administrator, was indicted with Hills in December. When Sanchez left his employment with the court, he moved to Adelup, where he is an assistant to Gov. Felix Camacho.
The case alleges a violation of procurement law when the court used a series of $9,000 checks to pay $324,000 to Abramoff, whose payments were allegedly processed through Hills' office. Sanchez has pleaded not guilty. The March 29 court date also gives Hills the chance to state a not-guilty plea.

A Superior Court of Guam grand jury indicted the pair in December on charges of unlawful influence, conspiracy for unlawful influence, theft of property held in trust, and official misconduct.

........

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February 27, 2007
Sheila Suess Kennedy (Kennedy is associate professor of law and public policy at the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs in Indianapolis.)

Everything's just dandy at Justice Department
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070227/OPINION/702270317/-1/ZONES04

It isn't only FEMA. Everywhere you look, Bush administration officials are doing "a heck of a job."

A recent audit of the Justice Department, conducted by the department's own inspector general, concluded that.....

......

Can we spell "appearance of impropriety"?
The congressional investigation into Woolridge's activities has now been joined by several inquiries into the firings of seven U.S. Attorneys. All were Republicans appointed by Bush, and all but one had received positive job reviews. The Washington Post reports that "most of the prosecutors were overseeing significant public-corruption investigations at the time they were asked to leave." One of them -- Carol Lam of San Diego-- had obtained a guilty plea from Randy "Duke" Cunningham and had just indicted others in connection with that case, among them a high-ranking CIA official.
Gonzales has thus far ignored communications from congressional committees requesting an explanation of these firings.
John Dean, former White House counsel for Richard Nixon, recently summed up the situation at the Justice Department. Calling for Gonzales to resign, Dean's criticism was trenchant. "In the history of U.S. Attorneys General, Alberto Gonzales is constantly reaching for new lows. So dubious is his testimony that he is not afforded the courtesy given most Cabinet officers when appearing on Capitol Hill: Congress insists he testify under oath. Even under oath, Gonzales' purported understanding of the Constitution is historically and legally inaccurate, far beyond the bounds of partisan interpretation."
Heck of a job.

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There's more if you want to search Blogs, "about 450 for 'Jack-Abramoff' " in the last week!!

http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&client=news&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22Jack+Abramoff%22&as_drrb=q&as_qdr=w

Republican criminal roundup.
http://www.reconstitution.us/seren/archives/2005-Republican-criminal-roundup..html

Court papers tell of slush fund kept in congressman’s safe

Former Rep. Bob Ney kept thousands of dollars from a foreign businessman stashed in a safe hidden in his congressional office, and he often made cash withdrawals, according to Ney’s former chief of staff.

The secret fund was made public in an agreement filed in federal court yesterday between federal prosecutors and the former aide, William Heaton. Heaton, 28, pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of conspiracy and faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Ney, who resigned his congressional seat in November, is expected to report Thursday to a federal prison in Morgantown, W.Va., where he will serve 30 months.

...... MORE....