“People who have more money should be free to buy more cars, more homes, more vacations, and more gizmos than the rest of us. They should not be able to buy more democracy." -Bill Moyers  
 
   
 
 

For Immediate Release: January 6, 2006
Contact: Ned Wigglesworth

Watchdog Calls For Disclosure of President's Pioneer Fundraising - Abramoff, Noe, Wilkes, and Tobin Show Sufficient Pattern to Warrant Investigation

Watchdog group TheRestofUs.org today called on the White House to release the source of all campaign contributions received through Brent Wilkes, Tom Noe, Jack Abramoff, James Tobin, Nicholas Hurtgen, and any other Pioneer currently under investigation for fraud or corruption.

"Numerous members of the 2004 class of the Bush Pioneer program have proved themselves extremely willing to break the law to gain access, influence, or contracts," said Derek Cressman, director of TheRestofUs.org. "The actions and investigations of Tom Noe, Brent Wilkes, Jack Abramoff, James Tobin and others sufficiently demonstrate the beginnings of a pattern of illegal campaign activity to require President Bush to disclose the names and sources of all the contributions bundled through these men - at a minimum. To really clear the air, he should release all the donations raised by each Pioneer."

The following men raised at least $100,000 for President Bush's campaigns in either 2004:

-Tom Noe, the Northeast Ohio Chairman for the 2004 Bush campaign and a rare coin dealer accused of swindling the state of Ohio's worker compensation funds, is currently under investigation by numerous state and federal agencies, and has been indicted on three counts related to illegally funneling campaign contributions to the Bush/Cheney campaign through intermediaries.

-Defense contractor Brent Wilkes, the California state finance co-chairman for the 2004 Bush campaign, is the unnamed co-conspirator #1 in the indictment against former Congressman Duke Cunningham on corruption and conspiracy charges, to which Cunningham pleaded guilty. Contributions from Wilkes and his employees show a pattern consistent with illegal funneling. (Please see our earlier release for more details on the likelihood that Wilkes illegally funneled cash to the 2004 Bush campaign.)

-Lobbyist Jack Abramoff has pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy to bribe public officials.

-Republican Party leader and Northeast Chairman for the 2004 Bush campaign James Tobin has been convicted of telephone harassment in a scam designed to jam the phones of Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts in New Hampshire during the 2002 elections.

The charges against Mr. Noe raise the possibility that other Pioneers illegally reimbursed people for some of the donations that they raised to help them reach the $100,000 bar set by the Bush campaign. But without knowing which donations came from which Pioneer, there is no way for the public or media to examine Pioneer activity.

"How can we know whether any illegal contributions were made without access to this information?", asked Ned Wigglesworth, analyst for TheRestofUs.org. "We simply can't. The only reason that the Justice Department uncovered the illegal contributions from Mr. Noe was through an investigation of a separate matter. Without this information, the public has been simply left in the dark about whether this pattern of illegality extends beyond those Pioneers we already know about. The President should not fall victim to the Nixonian tendency to keep bad things secret. He owes it to himself and the American people to disclose this information so the public can take a closer look at the Pioneers."

More than fifty lobbyists, including Jack Abramoff, were Bush Pioneers in 2004. Ralph Reed, who accepted money from Abramoff client casinos to pursue an anti-gambling campaign, then lied about it, is also a 2004 Bush Pioneer. Larry Householder, former speaker of the Ohio House, whose program of funneling money through county party committees prompted the Ohio Legislature to crack down on the practice, is also a Bush Pioneer. Ken Lay, the Enron CEO who will soon face trial for financial fraud, used his connections as a Bush Pioneer to gain access to secret meetings of Vice President Cheney's energy task force.

"The Bush campaign held out Pioneer status as a prestigious distinction, something to be pursued and rewarded for," said Cressman. "Having benefited from this program, the President also created a risk that some people would use unscrupulous means to achieve Pioneer status. He cannot now deprive the American public of this information by maintaining a wall of secrecy."

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TheRestofUs.org is a non-partisan watchdog of the role of money in politics.