Texas tribe sues Abramoff, former Christian Coalition leader

[acmejack]

An East Texas tribe sued disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed on Wednesday, claiming they illegally lobbied Texas officials to shutter the tribe's casino operations.

The federal lawsuit, filed in Austin on behalf of the Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Texas, tells a tale of deceit and double-dealing. The tribe says the Washington figures conspired in 2001 to hide millions of dollars spent by a competing Louisiana tribe against a bill legalizing casino gambling for Texas tribes, including the Alabama-Coushattas.

The lawsuit says the Abramoff team used sham groups and Reed's contacts in the religious community to make lawmakers believe they faced a groundswell of opposition from moral conservatives. Instead, the Louisiana Coushatta tribe was underwriting the gambling opposition to thwart competition with its own casino.

Finally, after the Abramoff team had worked secretly to derail the state legislation for the Louisiana tribe, Abramoff enticed rival Texas tribes to pay him money to lobby Congress to get their casinos legalized. The federal fix that Abramoff promised to the Texas tribes never materialized.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/07/13lawsuit.html

[Love Bug]

1. Hopefully, the first of many lawsuits

:popcorn: