`DeLay Inc.' Lobbying Firm Has Links to Three Capital Scandals

[UpInArms]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=arXHk9Sp9kkM&refer=us

Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Representative Tom DeLay's campaign to get Republicans to dominate Washington lobbying may have worked too well for Alexander Strategy Group.

The firm has links to no fewer than three of the scandals convulsing the U.S. capital. One partner, former DeLay aide Tony Rudy, is now a focus of a federal investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The group's founder, former DeLay chief of staff Ed Buckham, set up a South Korea junket for his old boss that violated ethics rules. And the firm represents a company whose owner, prosecutors allege, bribed former Representative Randy Cunningham.

Alexander Strategy's links to lawmakers are an outgrowth of a decade-long effort by DeLay, 58, to force lobbying firms to hire more Republicans, who can direct corporate money to the party. The system, known as ``DeLay Inc.'' or ``the K Street Project,'' has fueled a surge of money in politics, and critics say it has also created the potential for greater corruption.

``Alexander Strategy Group is really part of DeLay Inc. and Abramoff Inc.,'' said Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor who now heads Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an ethics watchdog group. ``There have been some aggressive prosecutors trying to unravel those ties. I am sure that Alexander Strategy is going to have more than Tony Rudy as a problem when this is over.''

...more...

:popcorn:

[MagickMuffin]

1. Cunningham wore wire to snare his buddies!

Hopefully he wore the wire while meeting with BugBoy!


http://www.time.com/time/nation/printout/0,8816,1146700,00.html

Friday, Jan. 06, 2006
Disgraced Congressman 'Wore a Wire'
Sources tell TIME that Duke Cunningham wore a wire after agreeing to cooperate with a graft probe

Washington's power players have always bragged about being well-wired, but for disgraced former congressman Duke Cunningham, "wired" wasn't just a figure of speech. In a week when legislators are focused on the question of who else might be brought down by ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s cooperation with prosecutors as he seeks lenient sentencing over his two federal guilty pleas this week, sources tell TIME that in a separate investigation, ex-Rep. Cunningham wore a wire to help investigators gather evidence against others just before copping his own plea.

Sources familiar with the situation say Cunningham, a California Republican who pleaded guilty Nov. 28 to taking $2.4 million in bribes — including a yacht, a Rolls Royce and a 19th Century Louis-Philippe commode — from a defense contractor, wore a wire at some point during the short interval between the moment he began cooperating with the feds and the announcement of his guilty plea on Nov. 28.

The identity of those with whom the San Diego congressman met while wearing the wire remains unclear, and is the source of furious — and nervous — speculation by congressional Republicans. A Cunningham lawyer, K. Lee Blalack, refused to confirm or deny the story, and wouldn't say whether Cunningham will implicate any other members of Congress. The FBI is believed to be continuing its probe of defense contractors involved in the Cunningham case. An FBI spokesman declined comment. Asked whether Cunningham, an ace Navy fighter pilot decorated for his service in Vietnam, had worn a wire, the spokesman said the response from a higher-up was, "Like I'd tell you."

[UpInArms]

2. OMG! That's is too beautiful!

Let's hope all the rat-bastard crooks are finally shaking in their shoes.

Thanks MagickMuffin! You have definitely ended my week on a brighter note :D

[Toots]

3. I imagine the fear is palpable in Republican circles right about now

Duke Cunningham wore a wire and people are on tape so how many more people are currently wearing a wire? Just who is spilling their guts and exactly what are they saying. There truly is a "Culture of Corruption" in Washington and I would venture a great majority of Republicans are involved in one manner or another. You bet your ass they are scared. They have every right to be scared because they will be doing some hard time in the near future. They better come clean as soon as they can and spill their own guts if they want a lighter sentence. Come Clean and get off light......... Speak Up...... We want Cheney,Rove,Wolfawitz,Bolton,Pearle,Rumsfeld,and Rice.......Speak Up and save yourselves....Let's nail the head of the beast.

[No Exit]

4. Such go-getters, those republicans

It is repeatedly said by talking heads that "the democratic (congressional) establishment which held power for 40 years was corrupt, too."

The repukes have managed to exceed any corruption by the democrats, in only about 10 years.

Let's do the math! That makes the repukes 4 times as corrupt as any democrats.

[Dave Reynolds]

5. So many right-wingers think

that DeLay is innocent. But how could someone be surrounded by so many bad people and not be a bad person themself?

[Straight Shooter]

6. It's possible to be innocent amongst the guilty.

Unfortunately, I cannot come up with any examples right now, LOL.

However, it is not possible to be a leader and arm-twister of the guilty without being guilty, too. Cripes, big strong men were afraid of Tom DeLay, and hate him. As soon as those people realize he's definitely going to do time, we'll be hearing a lot more about what went down when Tom DeLay was in charge.

[VegasWolf]

7. Hey FReepers!!! You can officially piss in your pants now!!!!!

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[flamingyouth]

8. kick

[Pirate Smile]

9. NYT: Officials Focus on a 2nd Firm Tied to DeLay

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 - Having secured a guilty plea from the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, prosecutors are entering a new phase of the corruption investigation in Washington and are focusing on a lobbying firm that has even closer ties to Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader who is under scrutiny in the scandal.


Edwin A. Buckham formed a lobbying firm promoting access to Tom DeLay, his former boss.

The firm, Alexander Strategy Group, is of particular interest to investigators because it was founded by Edwin A. Buckham, a close friend of Mr. DeLay's and his former chief of staff, and has been a lucrative landing spot for several former members of the DeLay staff, people who are directly involved in the case have said.

Although the firm's name has circulated in connection with the case for many months, prosecutors' questions about Mr. Buckham and Alexander Strategy - which did not respond to requests for comment - have intensified recently, participants in the case said.

The firm openly promoted the idea that it could deliver access to Mr. DeLay, who has denied any wrongdoing but abruptly announced Saturday that he would not try to regain his leadership post. Now the very connections with Mr. DeLay that formed the backbone of Alexander Strategy, put together with Mr. Abramoff's help, have put the future of the firm in doubt.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/politics/08alexander.html

[bear425]

10. Good article. Here's more

As a result of Mr. Buckham's ties with Mr. DeLay and Mr. Abramoff, investigators are "keenly interested" in him, especially in connection with deals he may have brokered with Mr. DeLay and other lawmakers after going into the private sector, one participant in the case said.

"He allows the connection to be made to DeLay," another participant said of Mr. Buckham. All participants in the case were granted anonymity in interviews because Justice Department officials do not want people talking about it publicly.

[metisnation]

11. Delayed

Time to exterminate the exterminator.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

12. Ed was the Executive Director of the Republican Study Committee for seven

Ed is former Chief of Staff to then Republican House Majority Whip, and current House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay where he oversaw the Majority Whip’s political and legislative agenda. He was instrumental in helping House Republicans lay the groundwork for their impressive rise to majority status in the House of Representatives.
http://alexanderstrategy.com/buckham.asp

[Pirate Smile]

13. more

"One element prosecutors are trying to understand is what role Mr. DeLay played in sending business to the company. There is evidence, one participant in the case said, that it was "you hire these guys because Tom DeLay tells you to."

-snip-
Alexander Strategy's name has also surfaced in the course of a parallel corruption investigation that implicates the defense lobbyist Brent Wilkes, who is an unnamed co-conspirator in the criminal case against former Representative Cunningham. Mr. Cunningham pleaded guilty in December to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from Mr. Wilkes and others. Mr. Wilkes's firm, Group W, also hired Alexander Strategy to do some of its lobbying work, and Mr. DeLay traveled on a plane partly owned by Mr. Wilkes.

-snip-
Dick Armey, the former Republican House majority leader, who now works for the firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary and who clashed with Mr. DeLay in the House, invoked Charles Dickens, likening Mr. DeLay to Fagin and Mr. Buckham to the Artful Dodger in "Oliver Twist."

"Tom DeLay sent Buckham downtown to set up shop and start a branch office on K Street," Mr. Armey said. "The whole idea was, 'What's in it for us?' That's what I thought at the time, and I've seen nothing in the way they've conducted themselves since then to dissuade me from that point of view."

[UpInArms]

14. Enron launched the "Alexander Strategy Group" in 1998

http://www.tpj.org/page_view.jsp?pageid=721&pubid=483

excerpt:

DeLay, Inc.

Alexander

Former DeLay Chief of Staff Ed Buckham founded Alexander Strategy Group, a lobby firm that represented TRM PAC donors AT&T and Questerra Corp. in 2002. Other Alexander lobbyists include ex-DeLay aides Tony Rudy and Karl Gallant, the former director of TRM’s federal cousin: Americans for a Republican Majority (ARM) PAC. Enron helped launch Alexander in 1998, when it agreed to pay DeLay staffers Buckham and Gallant $750,000 to fund a “grass-roots” campaign for electricity deregulation called “Americans for Affordable Electricity.” The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported in 2002 that DeLay’s personal financial disclosures for Congress reported that Alexander Strategy Group paid DeLay’s wife $40,000 a year. A DeLay spokesperson told the Star-Telegram that Christine DeLay actually was paid for running ARM PAC—an Alexander Group client.

...more...

(I was doing a bit of research on Alexander Strategy Group earlier today - see this thread for lots more:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2023924&mesg_id=2023924 )

[KittyWampus]

16. No kidding? That just figures.

[KittyWampus]

15. OH, Ah, it's a TRIFECTA OF CORRUPTION