Indian lobbying mess thickens in Louisiana

Alan Sayre

Monday, Nov. 15, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

NEW ORLEANS -- Under any analysis, $32 million is a lot of money for lobbying, especially when the guy who is getting the money refers to his clients as "morons," "monkeys" and "stupid idiots."

That's apparently what the Coushatta Tribe in southwestern Louisiana got for its money from lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who, along with public relations consultant Michael Scanlon, a former spokesman for U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, was supposed to be advising the tribe on how to scuttle potential gambling competition.

The whole thing is centered around Indian reservation casinos, an invention of Congress that has become a largely unregulated mess. The Coushattas operate one of those casinos at Kinder, just a stone's throw from the Texas border. Industry analysts have estimated that the casino, which does not have to make public reports, likely wins as much as $30 million per month from gamblers.

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee says Abramoff and Scanlon received $66 million from several Indian tribes over three years for lobbying. A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., is looking into the payments.

Both Abramoff and Scanlon have denied wrongdoing, but have said little else. When summoned before the Senate committee in late September, Abramoff took the Fifth Amendment.

Scanlon didn't show up since federal marshals weren't able to find him to serve a subpoena. The lack of testimony didn't keep the committee from quoting e-mails in which Abramoff allegedly used the above-mentioned terms for tribal clients.

In the middle of this is a group known as Committee Against Gambling Expansion, and someone who, at least by his explanation, may have been conned -- U.S. Rep. David Vitter, now on his way to the Senate.

In 2002, when the Jena Choctaws wanted to cut into the Coushattas' gambling turf with a casino at Vinton, Vitter -- then a potential candidate for governor -- squared off against then-Gov. Mike Foster, who signed a compact with the rivals for the gambling hall, which the Coushattas quickly said would cut into their profits.

Vitter, who touts an anti-gambling stand, flailed Foster in public for backing a gambling expansion. The whole deal was shot down when the Interior Department rejected the compact. Vitter decided later not to run for governor.

In his quest to stop the Jenna Choctaw casino, Vitter had help from the Committee Against Gambling Expansion, in the form of its name and a telephone bank. An attorney for the Coushattas said he was told by tribal leaders that the group was formed to stop casino projects that threatened the profits of tribes that already has casinos - in other words, anti-competition rather than anti-gambling.

Vitter said it was his impression that the committee "was a strong anti-gambling organization and run by Louisiana folks with the Christian community." He said he "would have thought twice about them" if he had known the committee was funded by gambling interests.

Vitter was not the only anti-gambler to find himself campaigning for the status quo in the casino business. In August, it was revealed that Ralph Reed, the one-time head of the Christian Coalition, and his firm, Century Strategies, had raised money and support for the Committee Against Gambling Expansion.

Reed said his involvement was designed "to stop casino gambling, pure and simple."

In the case of the Jena Choctaw casino at Vinton, it is not clear what effect the committee had, if any, on the scuttling of the project.

Through a spokesman, Abramoff has denied involvement with the Committee Against Gambling Expansion. Scanlon has had no comment.

The American-Press of Lake Charles reported in April that another casino-scuttling plan by the Coushattas -- this one aimed at the soon-to-be opened Pinnacle Entertainment riverboat resort in Lake Charles -- failed in 2001. That plan, according to a memo obtained by the newspaper, was put together by Scanlon and a copy went to Abramoff.

The Indian Affairs Committee has scheduled another public hearing on Nov. 19. In the meantime, the Coushattas say they are cooperating with investigators and have turned over tapes of meetings between the tribal council and Abramoff and Scanlon.