"Over the course of almost five years of waging this battle, we saved Choctaw's gaming market--which provided them with over $400 million a year in revenue," Abramoff wrote. . . . "It cost the tribe approximately $20 million to wage these battles, but the returns were worth it to them," he said. "Chief Martin called us the 'best slot machine' they had, and he was not exaggerating."
How is that for irony? Republicans are always touting "market solutions" to most any problem. But when the Choctaws were afraid to compete on the open market, GOP slime balls gladly turned to criminal acts in order to undermine possible opponents.
Abramoff devotes only four pages to his activities in Alabama. But Orndorff cuts to the chase about the GOP scheme in the Heart of Dixie:
The heart of the scheme was stealth--funneling money from gambling interests in Mississippi through nonprofits and into anti-gambling groups to help defeat the competition across the state line.
That's where Abramoff used right-leaning Christians as the ultimate political tools:
A 2005 investigation by the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee revealed documentation of the payments that Abramoff routed from the Mississippi Choctaws into Alabama. For example, the Christian Coalition of Alabama accepted $850,000 from the Americans for Tax Reform to help fight video poker legislation in 2000; and another $300,000 went from the anti-tax group to the Citizens Against Legalized Lottery, which was formed in 1999 to defeat Siegelman's lottery plan.
Abramoff wrote that conservative activist Ralph Reed, whom he enlisted to help on the Alabama anti-gambling campaign, didn't want his "co-religionists" to know the operation was financed with gambling money.
"It was obvious to me that the only way to stop Siegelman, MacGregor (sic) and the Poarch Creeks was to organize the Christians," Abramoff wrote. "Ralph could do this in his sleep."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
