Ed Buckham - DeLay's chief of staff WHILE organizing US Family Network

salin

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Sun Jan-01-06 12:50 PM
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Ed Buckham - DeLay's chief of staff WHILE organizing US Family Network

When I read the WaPo article yesterday, per the shady funding and functioning per US Family Network and ties to DeLay - I was bothered by the timing of a) the founding of the organization; b) the departure of Buckham from DeLay's office. Note the italicized font indicates my commentary/thoughts interspersed with clips from the article.

link to main article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/30/AR2005123001480_pf.html

Key snips:
The U.S. Family Network, a public advocacy group that operated in the 1990s with close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and claimed to be a nationwide grass-roots organization, was funded almost entirely by corporations linked to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to tax records and former associates of the group

During its five-year existence, the U.S. Family Network raised $2.5 million but kept its donor list secret.

Two former associates of Edwin A. Buckham, the congressman's former chief of staff and the organizer of the U.S. Family Network, said Buckham told them the funds came from Russian oil and gas executives.

So far we see that the organization had a five year life span, and that it was organized (that is: founded) by Buckham, and that sources within (as the article details later) suggest that $ was taken (solicited, it would be suggested) from shady Russian oil and gas execs. Go back into that time frame, and I believe there was a great deal of press suggesting that the Russian mob was very involved in emerging, de-nationalized, oil and gas industries in Russia. Back to the timing per Buckham:

---
After the group was formed in 1996, its director told the Internal Revenue Service that its goal was to advocate policies favorable for "economic growth and prosperity, social improvement, moral fitness, and the general well-being of the United States."

Now watch the timing of the trips and money and results per Russia oil interests - and what can be gathered per the timing of when Buckham was still Chief of Staff to DeLay, vs. when he was a "lobbyist" (that is, when he officially left to start Alexander Strategy Group.)

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Nine months before the June 25, 1998, payment of $1 million by the London law firm James & Sarch Co., as recorded in the tax forms, Buckham and DeLay were the dinner guests in Moscow of Marina Nevskaya and Alexander Koulakovsky of the oil firm Naftasib, which in promotional literature counted as its principal clients the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior.

------------snip---- (later in the article)

Buckham's trip with DeLay was his second to Moscow that year for meetings with Nevskaya and Koulakovsky; on the earlier one, the DeLay aide attracted media attention by returning through Paris aboard the Concorde, a $5,500 flight.

From this we see that at least on the first trip Buckham was still the Chief of Staff. Earlier in the article DeLay's folks claim that the trip by DeLay was about religious interests. Hardly worth multiple trips - and a huge check for the young U.S. Family network were that the truth. Let's keep watching/reading:

-----snip--- (later in the article)

During the DeLays' visit on Aug. 5 to 11, 1997, the congressman met with Nevskaya and was escorted around Moscow by Koulakovsky, Naftasib's general manager. DeLay told the House clerk that the trip's sponsor was the National Center for Public Policy Research, but multiple sources told The Post that his expenses were indirectly reimbursed by the Russian-connected Bahamian company.

----snip--- (later in the article)

Two former Buckham associates said that he told them years ago not only that the $1 million donation was solicited from Russian oil and gas executives, but also that the initial plan was for the donation to be made via a delivery of cash to be picked up at a Washington area airport.

One of the former associates, a Frederick, Md., pastor named Christopher Geeslin who served as the U.S. Family Network's director or president from 1998 to 2001, said Buckham further told him in 1999 that the payment was meant to influence DeLay's vote in 1998 on legislation that helped make it possible for the IMF to bail out the faltering Russian economy and the wealthy investors there.

Side note - go read the part in the article per the complexities of the IMF vote - and DeLays vote on behalf of the Russian companies interests - too long to clip here - and not directly related to timeline... but a fascinating demonstration of what one can "pay to play" for per DeLay.

The article then goes into the dealings in Mississippi - it is here that a hint of transition for Buckham from top aide to DeLay, to private lobbyist (and DeLay slush fund manager??) in terms of a timeline:

----Snip--- from later in the article:

Buckham and Tony Rudy were the first DeLay staff members to visit the Choctaw Reservation near Meridian, Miss., where the tribe built a 500-room hotel and a 90,000-square-foot gambling casino. Their trip from March 25 to 27, 1997, cost the Choctaws $3,000, according to statements filed with the House clerk.

DeLay, his wife and Susan Hirschman -- Buckham's successor in 1998 as chief of staff -- were the next to go. Their trip from July 31 to Aug. 2, 1998, was described on House disclosure forms as a "site review and reservation tour for charitable event," and the forms said it cost the Choctaws $6,935.

So sometime in 1998, before July 31, Buckham leaves DeLay's office. But the work with the Choctaw's at least begins in early 1997, while Buckham is chief of staff for DeLay.

Buckham, who was then a lobbyist, arranged DeLay's trip, which included a visit to the tribe's golf course to assess it as a possible location for the lawmaker's annual charity tournament, according to a tribal source. Abramoff told the tribe he could not accompany DeLay because of a prior commitment, the source said.

One day after the DeLays departed for Washington, the U.S. Family Network registered an initial $150,000 payment made by the Choctaws, according to its tax return. The tribe made additional payments to the group totaling $100,000 on "various" dates the following year, the returns state.

So did Buckham only start soliciting funds on the second trip? How did the Choctaw's get the idea that donating to U.S. Family Network, would curry favor with DeLay (as is stated in the article per the motive of the donations)? If it were just solicitations for Buckham, now a private lobbyist, wouldn't the $ have gone directly to his new firm, Alexander Strategies? Interesting... eh.

What we can see: while Chief of Staff to DeLay, in 1996 Buckham organizes/founds a little nonprofit with a bogus mission statement as a grassroots organization interested in supporting social/conservative issues. While Chief of Staff to DeLay in 1997 Buckham makes early visits (pre DeLay's visits) to Russian oil/gas interests and the Choctaw's in Mississippi. In the Russian case Buckham is still chief of staff when he goes with DeLay and company to Russia; in the latter case the DeLay visit occurs after Buckham has left DeLays official employ. In both cases LARGE donations to the US Family Network (Buckham's organization) and in both cases DeLay acts in official ways that benefit the donors. Buckham's new lobbying co. gets a big draw of cash from his non-profit US Family Network.

It would appear that Buckham was doing some $ solicitation (or at least the beginning stages) while still working on staff for DeLay. It would be very interesting to look at the timing for ALL donations to US Family Network - esp those that occured before Buckham resigns from DeLays office. Then look at the travel records for Buckham and DeLay during that same time line. This is where CLEAR and documentable events of creating a political slush fund - can be found. This is where the old question of PAC money = access (the eighties question) moved THROUGH the question of Pay-to-Play (the K Street model) and straight to SLUSH FUND (and dare we say Bribery) politics.

Still not clear for me is the exact timing of when Buckham leaves as Chief of Staff to DeLay (can anyone find that?) This is clearly as interesting... NO, it is MORE interesting than Abramoff's unfolding drama (though they clearly overlap) - because Abramoff can be (and is being painted by some reporters like Schmitt) portrayed as a rogue who got too egotistical - and drew others into his greedy schemes. THIS is direct solicitation - and redistribution of CASH (esp irksome to the true believers would be the foreign sources of some of this cash) - THROUGH THE KEY GOP HOUSE MEMBER SINCE 1998 (after Newt Resigned.)

For example... another area to dig into per time-lines - is referred to in the article:

In addition to the million-dollar payment involving the London law firm, for example, half a million dollars was donated to the U.S. Family Network by the owners of textile companies in the Mariana Islands in the Pacific, according to the tax records. The textile owners -- with Abramoff's help -- solicited and received DeLay's public commitment to block legislation that would boost their labor costs, according to Abramoff associates, one of the owners and a DeLay speech in 1997.

Anyone want to dig in more to the Buckham/DeLay edges of this story? When does Buckham resign? What do we know about the timing of the Mariana Islands visits and Buckham's involvement (timing) related to Buckham's employment per DeLay?