OPINION
The Jack Abramoff scandal (2005-2007) exposed how deeply corruption had infiltrated Washington,D.C.
Lobbyists secured special privileges for their clients at the expense of others.
Despite reforms, these underhanded tactics persist 20 years later.
Exploiting Native American tribes was central to Abramoff‘s corrupt empire.
Now, it seems that one tribe, the Poarch Band of Creek Indigenous Nation, learned the wrong lessons and is moving from victim to perpetrator using Jack’s old playbook.
Abramoff infamously blocked the Jena Band of Choctaw from opening a casino in 2003 to protect his client's interests, which led to several imprisonments within the George W. Bush administration's Department of the Interior.
Abramoff also secured a $3 million earmark for a wealthy Michigan tribe to build a Native American school, leaving poorer tribes without resources and forcing their children into substandard schools.
At the time, Sen. Conrad Burns of, R-Montana, bypassed his state’s impoverished tribes to secure this earmark for the affluent Saginaw Chippewa.
Similarly, Abramoff diverted crucial Bureau of Indian Affairs funds to a wealthy tribe for a tribal history museum, away from those in need.
The public outcry following these revelations was immense.
It was a significant setback for tribal lobbying efforts and exposed the depth of corruption in Washington. However, Abramoff's actions pale compared to those of the Poarch Band today.
As an economist and longtime analyst of the regulatory state and cronyism in Washington,
I’ve seen a lot, but the Poarch Band's current actions stand out for their brazen immorality.
The Poarch Band purchased land on another tribe's sacred site.
It did so with taxpayer money, which it received by promising to preserve and never excavate the holy burial site.
In violation of that promise, the Poarch Band dug up 57 human remains, many of which have never been reburied, to build a casino.
The Poarch Band has built quite a gambling empire off the desecration of a site listed on the Registry of Historic Places, making it one of the wealthiest tribes in the country.
It has spent about $13.5 million on political donations and lobbying, roughly equal to $5,528 for each of its 2,430 members.
Now, the Poarch Band is using its cash and political connections to push legislation, HR 6180, that would end a federal lawsuit to hold them accountable for those acts, a blatant and intentional interference with due process and the judicial system, as it removes justice from the hands of independent judges, and places it in the hands of a Congress that is all too responsive to lobbyists.
Beyond preventing a court from rendering justice for its heinous acts of desecration, HR 6180 rewards the tribe by empowering it to pre-empt state laws and expand its gambling empire further across Alabama and other states.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, 555 U.S. 379 (2009) has restricted tribes that received federal recognition from the United States after 1934 from creating new tribal land for gambling purposes.
Even though there was no such thing as the Poarch Band in 1934, HR 6180 will effectively backdate its existence to 1934 (instead of 1984).
This falsification would pave the way for any land they own or acquire in the Southeast to become a casino, and under federal law, the states would be powerless to stop them.
While the ghost of Jack Abramoff still haunts Congress, it doesn’t have to define the present if members of Congress would heed the warnings the Abramoff corruption scandal provided about the dangers of unchecked corruption.
Here’s hoping they do what’s right.
Nikolai Wenzel, a professor of economics, is a Senior Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. His research interests include cronyism, constitutional political economy, institutional economics, and economic freedom.
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