Poacher used to work for Abramoff, Conrad Burns, FL Recount riot team

Poacher used to work for Abramoff

Originally published December 23, 2005


HELENA — A former employee of Montana Sen. Conrad Burns and indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has pleaded guilty to poaching and trespassing in Stillwater County.

Shawn Vasell, 33, of Arlington, Va., pleaded guilty to hunting without a license and hunting on private property without landowner consent. A plea agreement allowed him to avoid jail time.

But Vasell cannot hunt, fish or trap in Montana for two years. He also was fined $670 and had to pay $500 restitution for the value of the mule deer buck he shot.

The charges date back to Nov. 26, 2004, when Vasell poached a buck on private land without permission.

Vasell worked with Abramoff at the Washington, D.C., lobbying firm of Greenberg Traurig until 2002, when he quit to be Burns' statewide director in Billings. After a year with Burns, Vasell went back to lobbying with Abramoff.

He now lobbies for Hewlett Packard in Washington, U.S. Senate documents show.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051223/NEWS01/512230317/1002

2000 Florida Recount

"Four of Abramoff’s colleagues—all of whom have left Greenberg in the wake of investigations surrounding Abramoff’s activities—were foot soldiers in the Florida recount. Two of them bragged of their recount work on their official online Greenberg biographies, which have since been removed," John Byrne reported (http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne/abramoff_florida_recount_bush_505.htm) in the May 5, 2005, Raw Story.

"Shawn Vasell noted that he was a 'team leader' in Broward and Duval counties in his bio; Duane Gibson was photographed in the acclaimed Brooks Brothers riot of Republican operatives outside the Miami-Dade County polling headquarters; Todd Boulanger boasted of being on the Broward and Duval recount team in his profile. Also on the ground was former DeLay deputy chief of staff Tony Rudy.

"Boulanger drafted a letter DeLay signed urging the Interior Department to favor Abramoff’s client in June 2003—a letter cosigned by the House Republican leadership, including Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO)," Byrne wrote.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Shawn_Vasell

On June 3, 2003, Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert’s political action committee held "a $1,500-a-plate lunch at Signatures at which Hastert the featured speaker. Abramoff and two other members of his staff may have been in attendance, as Hastert’s PAC records contributions of $6,250 from the lobbyist and six other members of his firm"--Todd A. Boulanger, Duane R. Gibson, Kevin A. Ring, Shawn Vasell, Neil G. Volz and Padgett Wilson--"shortly thereafter–including a $500 contribution from Boulanger," John Byrne reported (http://www.bewareofthis.info/pagecache/page602/) in The Raw Story, March 29, 2005.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Shawn_Vasell

Duane R. Gibson, "a solo lobbyist and veteran of the Greenberg Traurig lobby operation," Judy Sarasohn wrote (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2004/09/16/AR2005032304587_pf.html) in the September 15, 2004, Washington Post, was "affiliating" with The Livingston Group as a consultant.

snip

Earlier, Gibson was a senior staffer for Represenatative Don Young (R-Alaska), who chaired the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Gibson also worked for Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). <1>
"Duane Gibson, a former counsel to the House Resources Committee when Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) was chairman, named his firm GovBizAdvantage because as he navigates the 'maze of government,' he said, he tries to keep always in mind the specific business needs of his clients," Jim Snyder wrote (https://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/050405.html) May 4, 2005, in The Hill.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Duane_R._Gibson