Excellent summary on Christian Coalition's attempt to smear trial lawyers

[NVMojo]

for stuff related to the Abramoff scandal! I stumbled on this quite by accident!

snip...

Abramoff reached out to his old friends Grover Norquist, leader of Americans for Tax Reform, and Ralph Reed, former leader of the Christian Coalition, to help rile up support among religious right leaders. Norquist and Reed funneled money to the Christian Coalition of Alabama (CCA), and CCA retained Reed as a lobbyist. In February and March of 2000, Norquist directed $850,000 from the Choctaws to CCA. The CCA's anti-gambling campaign solved the Choctaw's problem with its rival Indian tribe.

But now CCA has an image problem. The Boston Globe revealed in an interview with Norquist that the money which fueled CCA's anti-gambling campaign in Alabama originated from one of Abramoff's gambling industry clients. The Abramoff scandal has resulted in Abramoff's conviction for conspiracy, wire fraud, and mail fraud. Abramoff has been sentenced to 70 months in prison. The scandal has also embroiled Norquist, Reed, and a number of religious right groups and leaders, including CCA.

Yet instead of returning the cash from the tribe with a casino and issuing an apology, the CCA is now engaged in self-righteous finger-pointing. Their target? The CCA is blaming trial lawyers for exercising their freedom of speech by making political campaign contributions. Now why would the CCA say a thing like that?

In a high-profile campaign headlined on its homepage, the CCA claims, "Trial lawyer political donations are undermining traditional family values." And in a flyer prepared for direct mail distribution, the CCA asserts, "Trial lawyers are attacking our Christian values." "Trial lawyers are behind the forces undermining our rights and beliefs." What rights and beliefs do they mean? CCA complains that trial lawyers -- through their perfectly legal, fully disclosed campaign contributions -- are funding legislators and judges who support reproductive freedom, marriage equality, and the teaching of science (and not religious dogma) in public school science classes. God bless trial lawyers who do contribute to all that; many Christians support those same freedoms and values.

But the remedy, according to CCA, is for Christians to tell judicial candidates not to accept campaign donations from trial lawyers "because of their anti-Christian agenda."

However, the CCA knows that trial lawyers do not have an anti-Christian agenda, and that in fact, Alabama trial lawyers contributed nearly a million dollars to three conservative Christian candidates for the Alabama Supreme Court in 2004. These three candidates campaigned on the fact that they share the same judicial philosophy as former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Judge Roy S Moore, the "Ten Commandments" judge. In November 2003, Moore was booted out of office by the unanimous decision of an ethics committee for refusing to remove a granite monument of the Ten Commandments from the statehouse rotunda. Moore's opponents contended that the former Alabama Chief Justice's actions undermined President Thomas Jefferson's wall of separation between church and state.

more...

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/4/14/21537/1823

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EDIT: COPYRIGHT: PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR 5 PARAGRAPHS
FROM THE COPYRIGHTED NEWS SOURCE PER DU RULES.

[wishlist]

1. Bush in 2004 campaign blamed lawyers for layoffs/high health care costs

Trial lawyers were Bush's favorite whipping boy on the campaign stump in 2004 when in every speech he found a way to blame them for the failures of his Administration.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. K&R and thanks for the publicity

I live in Alabama and I'll name three people who should face charges for their crimes against Native Americans and the citizens of the US.

Senator Richard C. Shelby (R- AL)
Senator Jeff Sessions (R- AL)
Governor Bob Riley (R- AL)

[underpants]

3. K&P

Kicked and Printing for later read

[Jeffersons Ghost]

4. It's a little long but well worth the read and your votes DU

Here's an out-of date piece I wrote for our local Dem website a while back.

CORRUPTION CAFÉ: a trendy place for Republican feasting,
an editorial by Patrick Lancaster, 17 January 2006

Perhaps the ever-unraveling Jack Abramoff scandal will scare or disgust Congress so badly that elected leaders will clamor for complete openness and finally report all sources of campaign funding. The sordid story unfolds like a dirty napkin, as freewheeling lobbyists spread tainted Abramoff money around Washington DC thicker than bar-b-que sauce on a pork sandwich from a greasy-spoon diner.

Like hungry restaurant customers, Republicans at all levels of government never even bothered to consider if taking funds extracted using threats and other intimidation tactics was ethical or just. They just bellied up to the bar and put on feedbags under a “No Refunds” sign. According to CNN online, the most recent customer to leave the feeding-trough in shame is Bob Ney who gave up his prime chair position on the House Administration Committee on Sunday January 15, 2006. Like other Republican leaders, Ney gave the cash to “charity” instead of returning it to defrauded tribes.

Even Republican Governor Riley, while claiming to have never actually met Abramoff, will donate his share of the loot to a favorite charity instead of returning the funds to original contributors but you can bet the southern meat truck does not stop with him. US Senator Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) also admits to a contribution that began with Abramoff in 2003. Tracing a rump-roast from hog parlor to lunch counter is easier than following the hidden political money trails slithering through pork-barrel politics, unless you catch them with napkins in place ready to munch.

Is it the fault of Congress? In many cases representatives may not want to know where funds come from, which brings the phrase ignorance is bliss to new depths. Certainly, when elected officials have plenty to hide, it is necessary to keep the public from knowing sources of dirty money: but can we blame Republicans who deliberately remain ignorant?

It is certainly not fair to blame tribes, since primarily non-Native casino investors or developers made most of the original donations. These same investors have been gambling mainstays in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Biloxi for a very long time and do not represent the views of tribal councils. In many cases, these gambling cohorts were the very culprits that threatened or otherwise coerced their Native partners in the first place.

Gov. Bob Riley claims he was in the dark about the exact manner in which lobbyists, under the cover of U.S. Family Network received gambling money to finance him and others in elections. It is now important to be as fair to him and other Republicans as they are to Native Americans.

As a congressional representative in the late 1990s, Gov. Bob Riley signed a fund-raising letter for a nonprofit group closely tied to clients of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to a recent report in The Washington Post. The letter, written on behalf of the U.S. Family Network, announces a petition to block the Atmore Poarch Band of Creeks from building a casino in Alabama.

In all fairness to the governor, no one will call Riley totally ignorant of Native needs, after he wrote a letter that also hints at near local connection to the Choctaw Band of Abramoff victims. Is it fair for non-Native Casino partners to threaten tribes in Mississippi and Louisiana with big economic losses, while promising their participation will reduce competition and keep Alabama money flowing into their casinos?

With some contributions as small as $1,000, it seems unfair that Alabama Republicans got such slim slices of pork from the Mississippi Choctaw gambling partners, since the casino gave $250,000 to the U.S. Family Network. Instead of tricking him into taking a piece of poisonous pie, this network should thank Bob Riley for his kind letter and welcome him into the “family.”

It also seems unfair to keep the governor ignorant about this bitter buffet of bribery and extortion because Michael Scanlon was press secretary for Riley during his first term in Congress. Old friends should be more considerate and give the guy some warning before feeding him tainted cash. After leaving the Riley post, Scanlon moved on to the meat market of recently resigned House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and then finally joined the lobbying operation of Jack Abramoff. Headwaiter Scanlon of this fast-cash café also recently pled guilty to bribing public officials (including congressional representatives) and defrauding tribes under the guise of lobbying.

The southern take-out counter is indeed small potatoes, compared to the all-you-can grab buffet Native gambling concerns served up under duress across America. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee reports that in 2004, Mr. Abramoff and Michael Scanlon charged 6 tribes at least $66 million. There are, however, no refunds at the Republican buffet, as most officials opt, like Riley to give these ill-gotten gains to their favorite charities. Do political campaigns of other Republicans represent “charities?”

[underpants]

6. EXCELLENT

:thumbsup:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. thanks... I need to update it with Cunningham

Maybe use a Health Dept. analogy for his recent illness.

[Norquist Nemesis]

5. Ever notice how "family" values is their banner for everything?

Absolutely everything!

I watched the Godfather this past weekend. Everything was for "The Family". Not the mob. Not business. Not (fill in the blank). But, The Family.

The RR are the mob using religious fear and intimidation to forward their agenda of Dominionism.