The Abramoff Net

In case you were wondering who Todd Boulanger was, Unheard No More explains and includes this curious statement --

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Boulanger is linked with Kevin Ring former legislative director for former Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA). Ring was indicted in September 2008.
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Some names keep popping up in reference to the Mashpee Wampanoag pursuit of Tribal recognition and casino gold, like Jack Abramoff .

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Glenn Marshall’s Bad Plan predated Marshall's guilty plea --
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....Kevin Ring and Michael Smith, still work with the Mashpee. On the hectic morning of [investor] Len Wolman’s visit,.....
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Len Wolman is part owner of Twin River, a Rhode Island slot parlor and dog track that has filed for bankruptcy to rid itself of dog racing, increase operating hours to 24/7 over the strong opposition of the host community and reduce the percentage of slot revenue paid to the state. A plausible argument might be made that his participation in the Mashpee Wampanoag deal was intended to prevent competition since it was previously done in Rhode Island to prevent Harrah's from conducting gambling, as well as England.

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The Mashpee have also benefited from the largesse of Michigan real estate developer Herb Strather, who bankrolled the $1.76 million purchase of the 125-acre spread in Middleborough where the casino will be built.
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...in the mid-1990s Strather...led the push to bring casino gambling to Detroit in the form of the MotorCity Casino, only to suddenly back away from the project shortly before it opened in 1999 after state gaming regulators noted concerns about his past real estate dealings. (The Michigan Gaming Control Board never made public any findings on Strather, but apparently raised enough worry to convince him he wouldn’t qualify for the gaming license he would need to stay on as an investor in the venture.)
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Massachusetts Attorney General Coakley argued for the need to create the appropriate legal framework before consideration is given to expanded gambling.

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Remember, this is the state in which Dianne Wilkerson stuffed a cash bribe in her bra to spend at Foxwoods Casino.

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The article concludes with the following statement --
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Would you expect anything less with casinos involved?


Other articles --
The Abramoff Net

The Gambling Man

Campaign Contributions

An Invitation to Corruption?

Sitting Back and Watching .....

Sometimes, when events swirling around make no sense, it makes sense to sit back and watch and they'll make sense when the matter stops swirling.

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And sometimes, those events clearly seem to have pieces missing or pieces deliberately tossed into the mix that make even less sense.

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It all gets too confusing to untangle.

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Such is the case with the recent "Let's negotiate a state Compact" swirl.

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The media was preoccupied with the draft, the exclusion of the host community and the Guv's thanks, but no thanks response.

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And everyone was in a tizzy of the law, the pending Supreme Court Case, new IGRA regs, the reasons the mega casino will never come to pass, to a dizzying effect.

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Fellow bloggers, linked on the right of this site have blogged about the surrounding issues.

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One can only speculate that since indictments are known prior to the surrounding publicity and the indictment and pleading of Kevin Ring was published on Monday, September 8, 2008 (handed down September 5), there could be a connection.

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Anyone who has followed this pathetic soap opera of corruption, knew who was being investigated. And anyone who followed, knew Kevin Ring's phone was about to ring.

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Purely hypothetical telephone call from Scott Ferson to Shawn Hendricks:

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Scott: Shawn, Kevin Ring is about to be indicted and this MR person keeps raising the connection between Abramoff and you guys. And people are actually reading that stuff. We need to end the connection, deny everything. And we've decided that you need to distract the media by hand-delivering a letter to Deval asking to negotiate a Compact with your guys. I'll FAX a draft that will exclude Middleboro, give Adam the heads up to protest and raise a little cane with hurt feelings. Got it?

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Shawn: Got it.

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Scott: Now, Shawn, I'll send you what I want you to say to the media when they call, first about the letter to Deval, and then I'll tell you what you need to say when this Ring indictment comes down. Got it?

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Shawn: Got it.

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And so, when the story broke in SacramentoBee , Boston Herald, FindLaw, Washinton Post, Cape Cod Times and other outlets, the missing pieces fell into place.

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It wasn't about a Compact at all. It was about distracting from the corruption created by Abramoff that swirls around the Mashpee Wampanoag and swirls ever closer to the Tribe and its leadership.

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Where's the media coverage now as the corruption cloud moves closer? Good move, Scott!

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And maybe it was about the shunning of members who asked about Tribal finances because they smelled something rotten.

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The Indictment: 1 2

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Previous Abramoff blogs