Lobbyist Helped Paying Tribes Meet Bush

But the White House has no record of the meeting??
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http://search.isp.netscape.com/nsisp/boomframe.jsp?query=Bush+and+Mississippi+Choctaw+tribe&page=1&offset=1&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3Da5f1443e18a47282%26clickedItemRank%3D8%26userQuery%3DBush%2Band%2BMississippi%2BChoctaw%2Btribe%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.sfgate.com%252Fcgi-bin%252Farticle.cgi%253Ff%253D%252Fn%252Fa%252F2005%252F06%252F07%252Fnational%252Fw142024D23.DTL%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSISPResultsT%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfgate.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Farticle.cgi%253Ff%253D%2Fn%2Fa%2F2005%2F06%2F07%2Fnational%2Fw142024D23.DTL

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At the behest of a lobbyist now under criminal investigation, two Indian tribes paid $25,000 each to a conservative tax-exempt group to underwrite an event that scored tribal leaders a private meeting with President Bush.


The arrangement in 2001 between the tribes, lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the Americans for Tax Reform group, led by Bush supporter Grover Norquist, was confirmed by tribal lawyers and documents showing the solicitation of money and promise of a meeting.


"The exposure would be incredible and would be very helpful," Abramoff wrote to one of the tribe's attorneys in asking for the donation. "One of the things we need to do is get the leaders of the tribe (ideally the chief) in front of the president as much as possible."

<snip>
Norquist's group has been fighting a subpoena from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee demanding documents showing its relationship with Abramoff and the tribes. It confirmed some tribal leaders along with state legislators attended the 2001 event and got a brief meeting with Bush

<snip>
The White House has no record of the Coushattas or Abramoff at the May 9, 2001, meeting, spokeswoman Erin Healy said. Records show representatives from the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas and the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana met with Bush, along with 21 state legislators, Healy said.

It might be old news to some - but it was new news to me.

The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana paid Washington lobbyists $525,000 to spy on rival tribes, tribal members the owner of a racetrack, The Lake Charles American Press reported.

The tribe gave the money to public relations consultant Michael Scanlon. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee has been investigating Scanlon and lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

According to The American Press, Scanlon's Capitol Campaign Strategies was paid to conduct background checks, site visits, physical surveillance from Louisiana to Washington, D.C., picture taking and videotaping of rivals. The paper said that Scanlon received $150,000 to monitor other Coushattas, $250,000 to monitor the Jena Band of Choctaws of Louisiana and $100,000 to monitor the Alabama Coushatta Tribe of Texas and $25,000 to monitor former Delta Downs Racetrack owner Shawn Scott.

In total, the Coushatta Tribe paid Scanlon between $18 million to $21 million over three years. Tribal officials defended their spending.

http://www.indianz.com/News/2004/004177.asp

tribal members - someone's got pictures at the WH..