Abramoff investigation news: This is getting good

See this from TalkingPointsMemo for today:

The Post's Chris Cillizza has a post on a topic I've wanted to know more about for a while: Grassroots Interactive, one of the many paper companies Jack Abramoff apparently had on hand to steer money to. From there, well, who knows what happened to the money once it went through the GRI rinse? The outfit was founded in May 2003 and its registered agent in Maryland was Edward B. Miller.

Miller subsequently became Deputy Chief of Staff to Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R). Apparently he's been cooperating with the DOJ investigation for more than a year.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

Oh boy, this guy is cooperating too? This is getting really, really interesting. If we can unravel this, then wow! just wow!

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Washington Post article that TPM is referring to:

Posted at 08:05 AM ET, 01/ 5/2006
Abramoff Scandal's Many Tentacles
With disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff claiming that he has information that could implicate as many as 60 members of Congress and staff in his pay-to-play scams, Capitol Hill is rife with rumors about who might be the next name to surface in connection with the growing scandal.

The vast majority of the attention about Abramoff's dealing have -- to date -- dealt with federal, not state, politicians. But given the extent of the scandal, will plenty of state-level politicians have to answer for their Abramoff ties?

Take Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) for example.

Ehrlich announced Wednesday that he would return $16,000 in contributions from Abramoff and his wife -- $8,000 for the governor's 2002 campaign and another $8,000 for his 2006 reelection fight.

Ehrlich's ties to Abramoff (albeit in a secondhand manner) run deeper than just financial contributions. His deputy chief of staff -- Edward B. Miller -- was the founder of one of a series of companies Abramoff set up to funnel excess dollars received from his clients to his personal bankroll. As reported here and here by Washington Post reporter Matthew Mosk, Miller was the registered agent of Grassroots Interactive, which was founded in May 2003. By September of that year, Miller had sold his stake in the company to associates of Abramoff.

http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/thefix/

For anyone who's been watching Hardball and was PO'd by Matthews' dismissiveness about the Abramoff scandal:

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



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55283-2004Sep27.html?nav=rss_nation

Honestly, what a hypocrite. No wonder he got the Media MAtters 'Misinformer of the Year' award.

I think a bunch of people (bloggers??) were taken aback by his on-air attitude and went out hunting. It's only sort of hitting the news right now. Pretty sketchy, though. Certainly takes a bite out of his cred, doesn't it?

He seems to spend every second of his life (on air) trying to decide whether or not to s*** or get off the pot. I really think he's conflicted; either that or he has no morals. That crack about Mt. Rushmore was over the top.

Abramoff Probe Again Brushes Ehrlich Aide
Lobbyist Sought to Direct $9 Million to Miller's Former Company, Papers Show

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 11, 2005; B03



The Silver Spring company once owned by a top aide to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has surfaced again in disclosures about the federal investigation into Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Documents recently released by a U.S. Senate committee investigating Abramoff offered evidence that Abramoff attempted to direct millions of dollars in fees to Grassroots Interactive, a firm founded in May 2003 by Edward B. Miller, who later became deputy chief of staff to the Republican governor.

The documents, as reported yesterday in the New York Times, showed that on Aug. 7, 2003, Abramoff drew up a draft contract with the African nation of Gabon that called for $9 million in fees to be paid to Grassroots Interactive. The contract was never signed.

This disclosure comes after the September testimony of a former Tyco International Ltd. official, who revealed that Abramoff asked client Tyco to send Grassroots Interactive a $2 million payment, purportedly for lobbying work.

A federal grand jury issued a subpoena this summer to Miller, who stepped down as the company's resident agent in September 2003 after taking a job with the Ehrlich administration.

Miller was traveling in Israel with Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele yesterday and could not be reached. His attorney, Aron U. Raskas, responded to questions with a brief statement by e-mail.

"Mr. Miller was not connected in any way to, nor did he have any knowledge whatsoever of, any proposal or project relating to Gabon," Raskas wrote.

A spokesman for Ehrlich said the governor would not expand on a statement his office released in September. It said Ehrlich "is aware that Ed has been extremely helpful to the investigation" and remains "a valued member of our team."

The spokesman would not say whether the governor had personal knowledge of Miller's activities with Grassroots Interactive.

Democrats in Annapolis said Ehrlich should be more forthcoming. "I think the governor should be on top of this and ask Ed Miller to come clean or ask him to resign," Terry Lierman, chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party, said. "There's a lot of smoke. I haven't seen any fire yet, but that's why he needs to explain it."

Abramoff and his wife, who live in Maryland, donated $16,000 to Ehrlich's 2002 campaign and $7,750 to the Maryland Republican Party, according to state records. Abramoff also was a guest at the governor's December 2003 Hanukkah party at the executive mansion.

Abramoff, under indictment on wire fraud and conspiracy charges in Florida, remains the focus of a lengthy investigation by a task force led by prosecutors at the Justice Department that also includes investigators at the Internal Revenue Service and the Interior Department.

The probe has focused on whether Abramoff bilked Native American tribes that paid him tens of millions of dollars in lobbying and other fees, as well as other matters.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/10/AR2005111001903_pf.html