Man who blew whistle on Abramoff tells the story of how he did it

Man who blew whistle on Abramoff tells the story of how he did it
By Susan Crabtree - 01/26/10 10:10 AM ET


He was instrumental in shining the light on one of Washington’s biggest scandals. He made Jack Abramoff a household name. But few know who he is.

Tom Rodgers preferred to operate strategically behind the scenes as he played a leading role in taking down the most notorious lobbyist on K Street. But now, in an interview with The Hill, he has decided to go public with his story.

“We watched this all unfold and we remained quiet,” he said. “At that time, we were stereotyped as ignorant and greedy Indians. But we knew different … we knew the time to tell this story wasn’t then.”

For years, speculation about the Abramoff whistleblower has focused on the supposed revenge of a former fiancee of Michael Scanlon, Abramoff’s right-hand man. Others suspected Republican lobbyists jealous of the enormous fees Abramoff collected from Indian tribes.

But some of the very tribes Abramoff deceived and defrauded turned on him and worked to destroy him — with the help of Rodgers, a trusted fellow Native American familiar with the ways of Washington.

For nearly eight years Rodgers has remained cloaked in anonymity as the Justice Department pursued its case. He watched and quietly celebrated with the tribal leaders who helped provide the inside information as the impact of the scandal spiraled.

It landed Abramoff and former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) in prison, helped force then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) from office and played a key role in Democrats taking back the majority in the House and Senate in 2006. In the aftermath, Congress passed the most sweeping new ethics rules since Watergate.

more...

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/77951-man-who-blew-the-whistle-on-abramoff-tells-his-story

Then you get to the scam of the electronic voting machines....still in play. And murder.

investigation that was looking into his role as a bag man for the foreign governments of Pakistan, Turkey, and Malaysia with leading GOP figures, along with related work he did as an agent of influence working with Karl Rove and others in the Bush White House. Abramoff was a total sleaze who also tried to shake down a bunch of Islamic banks tied to al-Qaeda. He was also tied in with the Chinese Tan family in the Marianas Islands, and operated a nice little slavery, prostitution and blackmail operation there.

After 9/11, they shut down that network - its operation was way too open and exposed the Bushies (and some Democrats) to serious peril. The Senate investigation was taken over by John McCain who stashed 95 percent of the documents in the Senate basement, and these still have not seen the light of day.

The fraud against the Indian Tribes was just a convenient hook to charge Abramoff and some of his associates without publicly uncovering the much larger, writhing mass of worms under the bigger rocks.

went out on a limb personally for out country. Even though our country screwed his ancestors at every turn they took.

:thumbsup: