Bob Ney Watch

Rep. Bob Ney Will Not Seek Reelection

2006-08-07T11:54:00.000-04:00

Washington Post, August 7, 2006:

Rep. Robert W. Ney, the six-term Republican congressman from central Ohio implicated in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, announced this morning that that he will not seek re-election.

"After much consideration and thought I have decided today to no longer seek re-election in Ohio's 18th Congressional District," Ney said in a statement posted on his campaign Website. "I am extremely proud of my 25 years serving the people of Ohio. We've accomplished many things to make this state better and I will always be grateful for the trust my constituents put in me.

"Ultimately," he said, "this decision came down to my family. I must think of them first, and I can no longer put them through this ordeal."

Ney has been identified as the accused but so far unindicted "Congressman A" in Abramoff's plea agreement. He has denied wrongdoing.

Ney has been under investigation by federal authorities in Florida and the District for actions that helped Abramoff and two partners buy a Fort Lauderdale-based casino cruise line. The deal that Ney promoted in the Congressional Record hinged on the Abramoff group's creation of a counterfeit $23 million wire transfer.

A Ney senior aide, who left Congress to join Jack Abramoff's lobbying team, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to corruptly influence Ney's official actions by showering him with gifts and trips.

Neil G. Volz, 35, a Ney confidant who spent seven years on the congressman's staff, joined Abramoff and three of his other former associates in agreeing to cooperate with the government and testify against Ney in the unfolding public corruption scandal on Capitol Hill.

Ney, one of half a dozen lawmakers under scrutiny because of ties to Abramoff, has been forced to give up his chairmanship of the House Administration Committee. He handily won the GOP primary in Ohio but Democrats were targeting him for defeat in November.

Senior aide to Rep. Ney subpoenaed

2006-06-30T10:58:00.000-04:00

Columbus Dispatch, June 30, 2006:

Three top aides to embattled Rep. Bob Ney are leaving his office, and a federal grand jury has subpoenaed another senior staff member in an investigation of the Heath Republican’s ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Matt Parker, who has served as district director for Ney’s office in Ohio as well as an adviser to the re-election campaign, was ordered to turn over documents to federal prosecutors and testify before a grand jury in Washington.

Parker’s subpoena was made public yesterday in an announcement on the House floor, as required when lawmakers or staff members receive subpoenas. Parker could not be reached for comment.

Also announced yesterday were the departures of Brian Walsh, a longtime Ney spokesman; Will Heaton, Ney’s chief of staff; and Chris Otillio, a senior legislative aide.

Heaton was with Ney on a lavish 2002 golf trip to Scotland arranged by Abramoff. That trip is part of what federal prosecutors are examining in an investigation of Ney’s ties to Abramoff.

The once-powerful lobbyist and three of his former associates, including former Ney chief of staff Neil Volz, have pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges and said that they bestowed gifts on Ney in return for legislative favors.

Source

Ney posed in photo with tribe he didn't remember

2006-06-27T10:46:00.000-04:00

Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 26, 2006:

Ohio Rep. Bob Ney, center, poses with Tigua Tribe Lt. Governor Carlos Hisa, right, and Raul Gutierrez, then a member of the tribes governing council in a hearing room after a meeting with Ney on Capitol Hill in August 2002.

Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney didn't recall meeting with members of the Tigua tribe of Texas when Senate investigators questioned him during a probe of rogue lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

But leaders of the El Paso tribe who lost $4.2 million to Abramoff remember small details of their get-together in Ney's Capitol Hill office and even took pictures with Ney.

The meeting with Ney occurred on August 14, 2002, a few days after the congressman and two of his aides returned from a golf trip in Scotland with Abramoff, former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, a pair of lobbyists at Abramoff's firm, and former White House official David Safavian, who was convicted last week of lying to investigators about the trip.

"He was red like a lobster from that Scotland trip and had a terrible sunburn," recalled Tigua Lt. Governor Carlos Hisa, who said his tribe was asked to pay $50,000 for the trip. When it balked, two other tribal clients of Abramoff's paid $100,000 to cover their expenses.

In an interview on Monday, Hisa said he found it "strange" that Ney told Senate investigators that didn't remember meeting with the tribe and wasn't familiar with the Tigua.

Ney accepted $32,000 in political donations from the tribe and had agreed to put legislative language in bill to reopen a closed casino they owned. The measure never became law because it lacked Senate support.

E-mails disclosed last week by the Senate committee show that Abramoff and Ney knew in July 2002 that the Tigua's provision was dead in the Senate, but didn't tell the Tigua until that October.

"He seemed like a swell guy at the time, and never mentioned any problems with the legislative language," said Hisa. "He is a smart politician, I'll give him that much."

Election records show that Ney refunded $2,000 to the tribe in December 2004. Ney spokesman Brian Walsh said the congressman donated the rest of its contributions to the Ohio Republican Party and charities including a boy scout troop and women's shelter.

Walsh said that the tribe called itself the "Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo" when it contributed to Ney, and that could be why Ney told investigators he was unfamiliar with the "Tigua." He said Ney "made a good faith effort to be responsive" to the committee's inquires.

Hisa said his 1,300-member tribe got a confidential monetary settlement from Abramoff's old law firm, Greenberg Traurig, but is still out a significant amount of money. He said it hopes to recover more when Abramoff and other lobbyists who pleaded guilty in the case are ordered to pay restitution to victims.

"I don't want them to walk away with a slap on the hand," said Hisa.

His tribe has turned its casino, which once employed 1,000 people and made $60 million yearly, into a concert venue that employs 70 people and barely makes money. The revenue losses mean it has had to cut basic housing, health care and education programs for its members.

Hisa said he'd like to sit down with Ney someday to discuss what happened with Abramoff, but doesn't think he'll ever get the chance.

"Right now, with the scandal going on, I don't think that anyone in Washington wants to talk to me," Hisa said. "Once you mention Abramoff, people start walking away."

Source

"Gimme Five" - Investigation of Tribal Lobbying Matters

2006-06-23T09:38:00.000-04:00

Final Report Before the Committee on Indian Affairs, U.S. Congress, June 22, 2006:

Page 175

At the Committee’s November 17, 2004, hearing, [Tigua representative Marc] Schwartz testified, “As the election reform measure languished throughout the summer, Abramoff and Scanlon continued to report on substantial progress and a virtual guarantee of success. During that time, I requested a meeting between tribal representatives and Congressman Ney.” Abramoff set up the meeting for early August 2002.

According to Schwartz, Abramoff claimed that “Congressman Ney did not want his trip to Scotland brought up, as he would show his appreciation for the Tribe later.” On August 14, 2002, representatives of the Tigua and Alabama-Coushatta met with Congressman Ney in Washington, D.C. Both Schwartz and [Tigua Lt. Governor Carlos] Hisa recalled that the meeting lasted approximately one-and-a-half hours. In testimony before the Committee, Schwartz described Congressman Ney as “extremely animated about Mr. Abramoff and his ability as a representative lobbyist in the city.” According to Schwartz, Congressman Ney spoke about his district, the Tigua’s plight, the political ramifications for Republicans of the Tigua casino closing, and the federal legislative process, especially the process by which committee reports are done.

Schwartz also told the Committee that Congressman Ney gave them assurances that he was working to help the Tigua. Thereafter, Schwartz recalled Congressman Ney giving Lt. Governor Hisa and another tribal council member a tour of his hearing room. According to Lt. Governor Hisa, at that meeting (which was attended by not only Hisa but also Schwartz, Tribal Council Member Raul Gutierrez, Abramoff and Congressman Ney) Congressman Ney said that “everyone who needs to be involved, is on board.” Congressman Ney said that he and Senator Dodd were committed to getting the language in the bill and that he did not foresee any problem with the Tigua-related provision, Hisa recalled. Hisa also remembered that, about Abramoff, Congressman Ney said that he was a “good friend”; “you’re working with the right guy;” and “this is the man to work with for changes in Washington.”

According to Schwartz, Congressman Ney’s chief of staff gave Abramoff a huge bear hug. Schwartz recalled that Congressman Ney went out of his way to say he would take care of the Tigua’s problems and kept calling the Tigua “deserving.”

During his interview with Committee staff, Congressman Ney said he was not familiar with the Tigua. He could not recall ever meeting with any member of the Tigua. When asked about a possible two-hour meeting, Congressman Ney said he “wouldn’t even meet with the President for two hours.” After the interview, counsel to Congressman Ney, who was present during the interview, indicated that, according to an internal email describing Congressman Ney’s calendar for the relevant period, a meeting was scheduled in Congressman Ney’s office with the “Taqua,” from 11:00 - 11:30 a.m.

Source

Senators' Report On Abramoff Case Disputes Rep. Ney

2006-06-23T09:34:00.000-04:00

Washington Post, June 23, 2006:

In the fall of 2004, Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) told Senate investigators that he was unfamiliar with a Texas Indian tribe represented by lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Days later, evidence emerged that the congressman had held numerous discussions with Abramoff and the Indians about getting Congress to reopen their shuttered casino.

Ney's statements to staff members of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee were included in the panel's 357-page report on tribal lobbying, released yesterday after two years of hearings and investigation. Accompanied by more than 1,000 pages of e-mails and financial ledgers, the report catalogues the now mostly familiar story of how Abramoff and his lobbying team of former congressional aides bilked half a dozen tribes out of more than $80 million.

The report includes new details about some of Abramoff's activities, including his collaboration with former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed and conservative strategist Grover Norquist. The Senate report recommended that the Senate Finance Committee investigate the use of tax-exempt organizations "as extensions of for-profit lobbying operations."

Ney's comments to the panel could add to his problems with the Justice Department. Federal prosecutors have secured guilty pleas from Abramoff and three former associates implicating Ney in a string of official acts allegedly performed in exchange for favors such as a golf trip to Scotland and campaign contributions.

A spokesman for Ney said yesterday that in his interview with the Senate committee, the congressman did not initially recognize the name of the tribe.

Ney's Nov. 12, 2004, interview with committee staffers took place amid a flurry of front-page newspaper articles about how Abramoff and his associate Michael Scanlon had flimflammed the Tigua tribe. The two first worked secretly with anti-gambling forces to close the casino and then convinced the tribe that for $4.2 million, they could get Congress to come to its rescue.

In his interview with the committee staff, "Congressman Ney said he was not at all familiar with the Tigua" and could not recall meeting with members of the tribe, the report said.

Six days after the interview, Tigua representatives testified at a committee hearing that Abramoff had set up a lengthy meeting with Ney in his office in August 2002 as well as a conference call, and that the congressman had assured them he was working to insert language that would reopen their casino into an unrelated election reform bill. Team Abramoff and the tribe that year became Ney's biggest donors, contributing $47,500 to his campaign committees.

Ney said Abramoff had pushed for legislative language in the election reform bill. Ney asserted that Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) "wanted to insert a provision into the Election Reform Bill that would benefit a tribe in Connecticut," the report said. "Congressman Ney said there was never any mention of any tribe in El Paso, Texas and no reference to any Tigua Indian tribe."

Ney's statements to the committee have been contradicted by others as well, including his former longtime chief of staff, Neil G. Volz, in admissions he made this year as part of his guilty plea to corruptly seeking to influence Ney on the Tigua issue. "Congressman Ney said that, aside from Abramoff, no one -- including Volz -- approached him about the provision that Abramoff had brought to his attention," the report said.

Brian Walsh, a spokesman for Ney, said yesterday that the congressman's meeting with the committee "was a voluntary meeting -- it was not conducted under oath."

The committee report said that those witnesses who were not placed under oath were reminded of "the applicability of the false statements act" and of statutes dealing with obstruction of a congressional investigation.

Walsh said the committee report relied on e-mails written by "convicted felons," Volz among them. He said that Ney had not recognized the name of the tribe when questioned about it by committee staffers, and that the report notes that sometime after the interview, his attorney found a calendar reference indicating he had had a meeting with the "Taqua."

Abramoff asked the Tigua to pay for a golf trip to Scotland for Ney in the summer of 2002, but Ney told the committee he never asked that the tribe finance the trip. He said he thought the costs were covered by a private foundation. The report said: "Congressman Ney said the purpose of the trip was to raise money for underprivileged kids in Scotland and Washington, D.C. The itinerary consisted of golfing, meeting two parliamentarians, and watching the Marine Band."

Source

Ex-Bush official found guilty of lying about lobbyist Abramoff

2006-06-20T16:42:00.000-04:00

Columbus Dispatch, June 20, 2006:

The first trial stemming from the misdeeds of now disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- which included testimony accusing Rep. Bob Ney of wrongdoing -- has resulted in a guilty verdict for former Bush administration official David Safavian.

Safavian, a former chief of staff at the U.S. General Services Administration, was convicted this morning on four of five felony counts of lying and obstruction on the fifth day of jury deliberation.

Safavian's offenses include covering up help he gave to Abramoff involving government-owned property and a lavish August 2002 golfing trip to Scotland organized by Abramoff whose participants included Ney and two of the Heath Republican's aides. The weeklong jaunt featured travel by private jet, $100 rounds of drinks, expensive meals and hotels and $400 rounds of golf.

Also on the trip was Neil Volz, a former Ney chief of staff who went to work for Abramoff in early 2002 and who like Abramoff has pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges. Volz testified that Ney was a "champion" on Capitol Hill for Abramoff and his clients in much the same way Safavian aided Abramoff from the GSA, which is in charge of managing federal buildings and properties.

Amid the spiraling scandal, Safavian resigned from another Bush administration job last year as the federal government's chief procurement officer. Ney is under federal investigation for his ties to Abramoff, and has been cited in plea bargains reached by Volz, Abramoff and others.

Ney proclaims he is innocent and was duped in several instances by Abramoff.

What Safavian, who awaits sentencing, was convicted on does not involve the direct allegations Volz and others have made about their dealings with Ney.But the Safavian conviction, and the role Volz played in the trial, is not good news for Ney if the federal government pursues a case against the lawmaker, said a prominent criminal defense attorney in Washington.

Stanley Brand, a prominent criminal defense attorney, said shortly after the jury's decision that the verdict bolsters Volz's credibility "to the extent that Volz becomes a witness against Bob Ney."

Brand added that the verdict is yet another blow against Ney.

"How many strikes can he get before the (Justice) Department pulls the trigger? This isn't a directly related case except it involves the trip and now the trip has been testified to and a jury convicted Safavian for lying about it. It's another building block. They already have a foundation."

The jury found Safavian guilty of obstructing the work of the General Services Administration inspector general and of lying to a GSA ethics official. It also convicted him of lying to the inspector general's office and making a false statement to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. He was acquitted of a charge of obstructing the committee's investigation.

"The reality is that this case had absolutely nothing to do with Congressman Ney," said Brian Walsh, Ney's spokesman, in a statement after the verdict was released. "The congressman has said consistently from day one that he has never, at any point, engaged in any improper, unethical or illegal activity.

"He remains absolutely confident that the lies and deception of Jack Abramoff will continue to be revealed and that his name will be cleared fully at the end of the day."

During the Safavian trial, prosecutors asked Volz to name whom he admitted conspiring with to commit so-called honest services fraud, including the giving of gifts to Ney such as free meals and the Scotland trip in exchange for legislative favors for Abramoff and his clients.

Volz listed Ney, Abramoff and two other lobbyists who worked for Abramoff and who also have pleaded guilty to federal charges.

Volz is awaiting sentencing. He could get up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but hopes by cooperating to get a much more lenient sentence, possibly to escape jail time by receiving probation.

Abramoff did not testify at the Safavian trial, but Abramoff too has named Ney in his plea bargain. Abramoff is expected to play a prominent role if prosecutors indict any members of Congress or lawmakers' staff.

But Ney spokesman Walsh said Volz and Abramoff lack credibility and are trying to lessen penalties they face.

"Like Jack Abramoff, Neil Volz is clearly under a great deal of pressure from prosecutors to justify his plea agreement and to limit the amount of time he has to spend in jail, but the problem with his characterization of the congressman is that it is at complete odds with the actual facts," said Walsh, at the time.

During the Safavian trial, prosecutors said that Safavian tried to help Abramoff obtain federal land known as White Oak in a Washington suburb for a school Abramoff had started. Safavian denied wrongdoing. His attorney tried to show that Volz didn't have personal knowledge that Safavian received improper gifts on the Scotland trip, noting that her client had reimbursed Abramoff $3,100 for the trip.

Prosecutors said Safavian also gave Abramoff inside information about a project to redevelop the Old Post Office in downtown Washington.

Safavian took the stand for two days in his own defense. He acknowledged some misjudgments and forwarding Abramoff some insider information, such as the position of other government officials on the GSA properties, but attributed these errors to his inexperience. Basically he maintained he simply gave generally available information to an old friend who was inquiring about government property that the GSA had not even decided what to do with yet.

Source

Ney lied about trip, says Republican's former aide

2006-05-31T20:16:00.000-04:00

Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 31, 2006:

Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney never met with Scottish members of parliament during a golf trip to Scotland, even though he subsequently signed travel disclosure forms that claimed such a meeting occurred, Ney's former chief of staff told a jury Tuesday.

Neil Volz went to work for lobbyist Jack Abramoff in February 2002 after leaving Ney's office and accompanied them both to Scotland in August 2002. His testimony took place in the trial of another golfer on the trip: former General Services Administration chief of staff David Safavian. Safavian is accused of falsely claiming that Abramoff had no business ties with the GSA when Savafian got permission to visit Scotland with the group.

Volz said much of the trip consisted of golfing, drinking and smoking cigars. The group, which included two Ney aides and former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed, stayed in hotels that cost as much as $500 nightly. Golf and caddy fees at the elite courses they visited came to $400 per person per game. A single round of drinks cost $100. On the private jet that ferried them to Scotland, they dined on sushi from Abramoff's restaurant.

Ney was originally scheduled to eat dinner with Scottish parliamentarians early in the trip, but the appointment fell through. Ney later scrambled to arrange a meeting in a London parliamentary building so he could claim the trip was for official business, Volz testified.

Afterward, Volz said he filled out a sample travel disclosure form for Ney that listed the trip's cost at $3,200, a low amount that Volz believed wouldn't cause media scrutiny. Volz suggested that Ney cite visits with the Scottish parliamentarians, attending the Edinburgh Military Tattoo with Queen Elizabeth II, and visiting British parliamentarians as the trip's official purpose. The forms that Ney filed with the House of Representatives used Volz' wording, minus the royal reference.

Source

Former Ney Aide Details How Abramoff Treated 'Champions'

2006-05-31T20:11:00.000-04:00

Washington Post, May 31, 2006:

In the first public testimony by a member of Jack Abramoff's inner circle, a former congressional aide told a federal jury yesterday how the disgraced lobbyist identified his "champions" in government and then showered them with favors to get inside information and help for his clients.

Neil G. Volz, who was chief of staff to Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) before joining Abramoff's lobbying firm, testified that among those he and his colleagues considered allies were Ney and former General Services Administration official David H. Safavian, the first person brought to trial in connection with the Abramoff scandal.

In the first public testimony by a member of Jack Abramoff's inner circle, a former congressional aide told a federal jury yesterday how the disgraced lobbyist identified his "champions" in government and then showered them with favors to get inside information and help for his clients.

Neil G. Volz, who was chief of staff to Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) before joining Abramoff's lobbying firm, testified that among those he and his colleagues considered allies were Ney and former General Services Administration official David H. Safavian, the first person brought to trial in connection with the Abramoff scandal.

Safavian's lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder, tried to chip away at Volz's credibility, eliciting admissions from him that he helped Ney and two staff members provide false information about the cost and the purpose of the Scotland trip to the clerk of the House. Volz admitted that he unsuccessfully floated the idea of embellishing Ney's contacts by suggesting he attended an event that included Queen Elizabeth II.

[...]

On advice from Safavian, Volz said, the lobbyists first tried to insert language in an election reform bill. "We had a champion in the Congress who had already agreed to attach another provision," Volz testified, identifying the lawmaker as "Congressman Ney." Ney had agreed to try to add language to the same bill that would have aided a Texas Indian tribe represented by Abramoff.

Source

How to Do Nothing, Washington-Style

2006-05-30T20:09:00.000-04:00

Washington Post, May 30, 2006:

The Gulfstream II had everything a congressman getting a free golf trip to Scotland could want. "State of the art entertainment center," boasted a description of the jet's elegant appointments. "Complete bar service. . . . Rich mahogany woodwork . " For the $91,465 charter, lobbyist Jack Abramoff got his money's worth -- or, as was his style, other people's money's worth: in this case, two Indian tribes and a Russian vodka distributor.

The charter details were part of the evidence introduced last week during the trial of David Safavian at the federal courthouse in Washington. A former General Services Administration official, Safavian is accused of lying to investigators about whether Abramoff had business before the agency when he invited Safavian along for the ride. Also on board, and shown to the jury in a photograph that captured him reading the newspaper in a plush captain's chair, was Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio).

Source

Ney got flight on plush, private jet

2006-05-27T20:06:00.000-04:00

Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 27, 2006:

The luxurious private jet that ferried Ohio GOP Rep. Bob Ney and several aides on a golf trip to Scotland with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff came equipped with mahogany woodwork, plush seats, computers and a bar stocked with two bottles of red wine and a case and a half of "lite" beer, according to records released at a trial on Friday.

Ney stayed in $500 per night hotel rooms while visiting London and golfing at the world's most renowned golf courses, according to evidence presented in the case of another golfer on the trip, former General Services Administration Chief of Staff David Safavian.

Safavian is charged with lying to ethics officers and federal investigators about Abramoff's business before his agency when he got permission to go on the trip.

Prosecutors said Ney returned to the United States on a $758 commercial flight that was charged to Abramoff's personal American Express card, which violates congressional rules that ban lobbyists from paying legislators' expenses.

[...]

Prosecutors say the August 2002 trip cost about $140,000 for nine people, and the charter bill for the private Gulfstream jet alone came to more than $91,000.

A snapshot admitted into evidence showed Ney reading a newspaper aboard the plane. The trip's itinerary didn't list any official business.

Others on the trip were Abramoff's 10-year-old son, former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed, and a pair of lobbyists who worked with Abramoff, Michael E. Williams and Neil Volz, a former aide to Ney.

Earlier this month, Volz pleaded guilty to criminal charges and admitted acting as a go-between when Abramoff plied Ney with trips, free meals and gifts. Volz is scheduled to testify at Safavian's trial.

Source

Ethics probe to include Rep. Ney

2006-05-19T11:03:00.000-04:00

Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 18, 2006:

The House Ethics Committee on Wednesday agreed to launch its own probes of several lawmakers who are under federal investigation, including Ohio's Bob Ney.

Rogue lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Ney's former chief of staff, Neil Volz, have pleaded guilty to criminal charges that stemmed from plying Ney with meals, sports tickets and a trip to Scotland that they said were meant to influence Ney's official actions. Ney denies wrong doing and says he welcomes the ethics investigation.

[...]

One of those statements said the committee will investigate accusations that Ney accepted "gifts, travel benefits, campaign contributions . . . or other items of value" from Abramoff and his associates, and "the relationship if any" between those gifts and "Ney's status or actions as a member of Congress."

The ethics panel established a four-member investigative subcommittee to probe Ney's actions. Its members are: Texans Lamar Smith, a Republican, and Gene Green, a Democrat, along with Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn and California Democrat Xavier Becerra.

"The investigative subcommittee shall have jurisdiction to determine whether Rep. Ney violated the Code of Official Conduct or any law, rule, regulation or other standard of conduct applicable to his duties or the discharge of his responsibilities," the statement said.

Source

Funds link Martinez, Abramoff

2006-05-19T11:00:00.000-04:00

Miami Herald, May 18, 2006:

...Court papers filed last week by federal prosecutors in Washington said Abramoff enlisted U.S. Rep. Robert Ney, an Ohio Republican, in a January 2003 effort ''to influence the decisions and actions'' of then-HUD Secretary Martinez. At the time, Ney was the incoming chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees HUD.

The statement made no allegation that Martinez did anything improper. Ney has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged.

Still, Ney is among a number of lawmakers under scrutiny in the Abramoff scandal.

Ney's notoriety peaked in January with Abramoff's admission to crimes that included allegedly bribing Ney with gifts and cash. The outcry prompted Martinez to give the $2,500 he received from Ney's political action committee in 2004 to charity.

''The senator wants to make it crystal clear to his constituents that he is not interested in any campaign donations that have even a hint of impropriety in this matter,'' Martinez spokeswoman Kerry Feehery told The Miami Herald on Jan. 13.

Ney, Martinez and Abramoff were linked publicly again on May 9 when Ney's former chief of staff, Neil Volz, pleaded guilty to corruption conspiracy.

Like Abramoff, Volz also implicated Ney in corruption.

Volz, who quit Ney's staff in February 2002 to join Abramoff's lobbying team, said in a statement filed with the court that Ney met with Martinez in early 2003. Ney's purpose was ''to assist Abramoff's clients'' by telling Martinez that Ney's upcoming priorities would include ''housing for Native Americans,'' it read.

How the Ney-Martinez meeting was intended to help any of Abramoff's Indian clients was not made clear. But Senate records show that only one tribe -- the Saginaw Chippewas -- retained Abramoff to lobby HUD.

Source

Former Aide to Rep. Ney Pleads Guilty

2006-05-08T11:53:00.000-04:00

Washington Post, May 8, 2006:

A former congressional aide and business associate of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty Monday to charges in connection with the investigation of influence-peddling and public corruption.

Neil Volz, who served as chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, including wire fraud and violating House rules, charges stemming from his work on Capitol Hill and the lobbying practice he joined after leaving Ney's office.

He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The penalties could vary, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said, depending how helpful Volz is in the government's ongoing investigation of influence-peddling involving lawmakers, their aides and members of the Bush administration.

"The purpose of the conspiracy was for defendant Volz and his co-conspirators to unjustly enrich themselves by corruptly receiving, while public officials, and providing, while lobbyists, a stream of things of value with the intent to influence and reward official acts and attempting to influence members of Congress in violation of the law," according to a criminal information filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington.

Two former aides to Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, the former House Majority Leader, already have pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy that was centered on the work of Abramoff, once a powerful Republican lobbyist.

Ney has not been charged, but his lawyer has acknowledged that he is Representative 1, described in court papers as the recipient of gifts and travel from Abramoff.

Shortly after leaving Ney's office, Volz joined Abramoff's firm and did lobbying work less than a year after leaving government employment. Federal law requires congressional staff members to wait a year before they do private work involving the previous government employer.

Among the projects on which Volz worked was securing a lucrative contract for Foxcom Wireless, an Israeli communications company, to improve cell phone reception in House office buildings.

Also during that period, Volz pressed Ney to support projects by the firm's Indian tribe clients.

Source

Read the plea agreement.

Analysts say Ney's primary performance shows weakness

2006-05-04T19:45:00.000-04:00

From the Times-Reporter, May 4, 2006:

Rep. Bob Ney’s tepid victory over a relatively unknown opponent in Ohio’s Republican primary Tuesday highlights his vulnerability heading into the fall election, political analysts say.

Ney, R-Heath, who is under investigation in a federal probe of corruption and bribery in Congress, won 68 percent of the vote against James Brodbelt Harris, a political novice who got 32 percent of the vote.

“It’s not disastrous, but it certainly isn’t all that encouraging either,” said Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “There’s only one reason why they’re voting for somebody else when the opponent is little known – it’s because they’ve gotten turned off to Bob Ney.”

Although Harris, a financial analyst, conducted a spirited campaign over the Internet, he put little if any money into the race. Harris fell short of the $5,000 fundraising threshold required to file federal campaign finance reports.

Sabato said incumbents who get less than 70 percent in a primary are usually in trouble in the general election.

“Many of those Republicans who didn’t vote for him ... may well vote against him again in November,” he said.

Ney, who is seeking a seventh term, faces Democratic challenger Zack Space of Dover in the Nov. 7 election. Democrats have targeted the race as among their most promising opportunities to retake control of the House.

[...]

Several analysts agreed with Sabato that Ney’s margin of victory was weak.

“If you start seeing his (Ney’s) opponent getting 25, 30, 35 percent of the vote, that’s not a good sign,” said Herb Asher, a political science professor at Ohio State University. “If his opponent gets a decent share that might suggest some dissatisfaction among rank-and-file Republicans.”

Stuart Rothenberg, editor of The Rothenberg Political Report, said the results confirmed his view that Ney is one of the weakest incumbents in the nation.

Analysts pointed out that Ney did not do much better than Rep. Tom DeLay, the former Republican majority leader who dropped his bid for re-election in Texas. DeLay, who is under indictment on campaign finance charges in Texas, won 62 percent of the vote against three opponents in a March primary.

Elsewhere around the state, veteran Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Bethlehem Township, surprised observers by collecting just 58 percent of the vote against his primary challenger, Ashland County Commissioner Matt Miller.

Analysts said Regula is in less peril than Ney because he is not implicated in a scandal and faces a political novice in the general election.

In Ney’s GOP-leaning district, almost as many Democrats came out to vote as Republicans – raising another concern for Ney.

Turnout for the four-way Democratic primary totaled 46,682, a few thousand votes short of the 49,940 Republicans who voted.

“It suggests to me that Republican turnout in Ney’s district was depressed,” Rothenberg said. “That suggests that Republicans weren’t enthusiastic.”

Source

Prosecutors Opt for Wide Probe of Rep. Ney

2006-04-29T20:32:00.000-04:00

Washington Post, April 29, 2006:

Federal prosecutors signaled this week that they have decided to pursue a wide range of allegations about dealings between Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) and lobbyist Jack Abramoff, rather than bringing a narrowly focused bribery case against the congressman.

[...]

Court papers filed in recent months show that prosecutors have lined up at least four cooperating witnesses against the Ohio congressman: Abramoff, former congressional aides Michael Scanlon and Tony C. Rudy, and businessman Adam Kidan. All have pleaded guilty to various conspiracy, fraud or public corruption charges.

The court filings that accompanied the plea agreements of Abramoff, Scanlon and Rudy accused Ney of accepting "a stream of things of value" in exchange for official actions.

Prosecutors signaled their intentions with Ney by identifying him as "Representative #1" in pleadings filed with the court. In October, Ney was formally notified that he was under criminal investigation, and at the prosecutors' request he agreed to extend the five-year statute of limitations for six months while they investigated possible bribery charges.

Ney's actions involving the cruise line could still expose him to criminal liability if the government brings a conspiracy case against him, legal analysts said. In that instance, the statute of limitations is pegged to the date of the last alleged criminal act in a chain, not the first.

Ney's involvement with the cruise line took place in 2000, when Abramoff and partners Kidan and Ben Waldman were in difficult negotiations to buy SunCruz Casinos from Fort Lauderdale businessman Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis. Ney placed comments in the Congressional Record that year that first put pressure on Boulis to sell to the Abramoff group, and later praised the new owners as Boulis was complaining he had been cheated in the sale.

Boulis was killed in a gangland-style hit in early 2001. Three men with ties to Kidan and to the Gambino crime family face murder charges in the slaying.

Ney was also involved with Abramoff and his lobbying team on other issues under federal investigation. In 2002, Ney sponsored legislation at the team's request to reopen a casino for a Texas Indian tribe that Abramoff represented, and approved a 2002 license for an Abramoff client to wire the House of Representatives for mobile phone service.

At the same time, Ney accepted many favors from Abramoff, among them campaign contributions, dinners at the lobbyist's downtown restaurant, skybox fundraisers -- including one at his then-MCI Center box the month after Boulis's murder -- and a lavish golf junket to Scotland in August 2002.

Ney was directly implicated by three of the four who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and bribery charges: Abramoff, Scanlon and Rudy. Kidan's attorney said his client also would testify against Ney if asked.

The allegations against Ney have taken a toll on his political career and his prospects for reelection.

Read entire article

Source

Court filing in case of indicted Bush official suggests Ohio congressman provided false report to Congress

2006-04-21T20:09:00.000-04:00

Raw Story, April 21, 2006:

A pre-trial motion filed by federal prosecutors in the case of indicted former Bush Administration official David Safavian contends that his share of the costs in a trip to play golf in Scotland and England arranged by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff should have been nearly five times more than what he paid, RAW STORY has found.

Perhaps more significantly, however, it also provides the first formal evidence that powerful Ohio Republican Bob Ney – then chairman of the House Administration Committee – provided false figures for the cost of his own trip to Scotland. Ney has been under fire for his role in allegedly helping Abramoff aid his clients in violation of House ethics rules and possibly federal laws.

[...]

In addition to likely misreporting its true cost, Ney also listed the sponsor of the trip as the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative thinktank. It later emerged that the trip was paid for by Abramoff’s Capital Athletic Foundation. Members of Congress are prohibited from taking trips paid for by lobbyists.

Ney also appears to have lied about the purpose of the trip. "In April, 2002, I was approached by Mr. Abramoff, who I believed to be a respected member of the community, and asked to go on a trip to Scotland which Mr. Abramoff said would help support a charitable organization, that he founded, through meetings he organized with Scottish Parliament officials," Ney said in a statement last November.

In his financial disclosure report to Congress, Ney listed "speech to Scottish Parliamentarians" as a purpose of the trip. Newsweek's Michael Isikoff later revealed that there was no record of Ney’s speech and that the Scottish parliament was away on recess during the time of the junket.

On September 9, 2002, a month after returning from the trip, Ney filed a form with the Clerk of the House of the Representatives which indicated that his share of the trip was $3200. He reported $1,500 for travel, $1,200 for lodging and $500 for meal expenses.

According to the prosecutors’ estimate, Ney likely should have reported the trip at $15,000. Ney's office did not respond to a call placed for comment Friday.

more

Source

House candidates report campaign cash

2006-04-21T20:08:00.000-04:00

Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 21, 2006:

GOP Rep. Bob Ney raised campaign cash at a Colorado ski lodge and spent most of it on legal bills.

[...]

More than two-thirds of the $142,418 that Licking County GOP Rep. Bob Ney raised for his re-election this year was paid to the lawyer defending him in a Justice Department corruption probe. Ney had more than $474,000 in the bank after paying his attorney $96,500.

Source

Ex-DeLay Aide Pleads Guilty in Lobby Case

2006-04-03T10:07:00.000-04:00

Washington Post, April 1, 2006:

Tony C. Rudy, a former deputy chief of staff to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that he conspired with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to corrupt public officials and defraud his clients, as a burgeoning corruption probe took one step closer to members of Congress.

Rudy admitted taking favors including money, meals, trips and tickets to sporting events from Abramoff in exchange for official acts that included influencing legislation to help the lobbyist's clients.

Rudy's plea follows guilty pleas from DeLay's former press secretary, Michael Scanlon, and from Abramoff himself. But, for the first time, an actor in the scandal has admitted to committing illegal acts while working in the Republican leadership suites of the House.

[...]

Like Abramoff's plea, Rudy's statement to the court levels some of its toughest charges on a "Representative #1," identified elsewhere as Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio). Abramoff and Rudy lavished golf trips, tickets to sporting events and concerts, and food and drink on Ney. In turn, Ney "agreed to take favorable official action and render other assistance on behalf of the clients of Abramoff and Rudy," court papers say. Ney has denied wrongdoing.

Source

Abramoff free, despite sentence

2006-03-30T11:58:00.000-05:00

The Age, March 31, 2006:

FORSAKING his trademark fedora for a baseball cap, lobbyist extraordinaire Jack Abramoff walked out of a Florida courtroom, despite having just been sentenced to five years' jail for conspiracy and fraud.

Wearing a double-breasted suit and the cap, with his wife on his arm, the one-time King of K Street — Washington's lobbying centre — was allowed to stay free for the next few months because of his co-operation with an investigation into the buying of congressmen.

[...]

Abramoff faces up to 11 years in jail on a separate charge in Washington of fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials. His sentence could be reduced — and served concurrently with the Miami sentence — for his continuing co-operation in the bribery probe.

Although no politicians have been charged, Republican Robert Ney of Ohio, the former chairman of the House Administration Committee, has been identified as the congressman referred to in court documents as receiving bribes from Abramoff. Mr Ney denies any wrongdoing.

Abramoff has also been closely identified with Tom DeLay, the former majority leader of the House of Representatives, who once described Abramoff as "one of my closest and dearest friends".

A former press secretary to Mr DeLay, Michael Scanlon, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe public officials, and is co-operating in the Abramoff case.

Hours after the sentencing, the Senate voted to ban themselves from accepting meals or gifts from lobbyists, increase exposure of contacts with lobbyists, and double the time before former politicians could become lobbyists.

But critics charged the measure as half-hearted. It did not ban them accepting privately funded travel, nor establish an independent office to investigate ethical breaches.

Source

Washington's Invisible Man

2006-03-08T16:30:00.000-05:00

An advance copy of this article appearing in the April 2006 issue of Vanity Fair can be read here.

Excerpts:

The other shoe seems poised to drop in Washington, implicating perhaps a handful of senators and congressmen, as well as their staffs, relatives, and other public officials. The most obvious target is Ney. In their heyday, he and Abramoff played golf together, traveled together, philosophized together. Ney was one of the few elected officials Abramoff invited to the BarMitzvah of one of his three sons. Now Ney says that Abramoff “duped” and “misled” him. But, according to the plea agreement, Ney threw a lucrative contract to an Abramoff client, intervened with agencies and offices to seek favors for other Abramoff interests, helped a relative of one of Abramoff’s Russian clients obtain an American visa, agreed to introduce legislation that would help reopen the Tigua casino, and, to assist Abramoff in buying the SunCruz line, read two statements into the Congressional Record, one in which he described Abramoff’s main partner in that deal, Adam Kidan—a man who’d
been disbarred, declared bankruptcy, and had Mob ties—as a man of the utmost
integrity.

For such services, Ney, according to the plea agreement, got “a stream of things of value” from Abramoff and those he represented: a “lavish” golf trip to St. Andrews, seats in Abramoff’s sports boxes, freebie dinners at Signatures (Ney was a "sushiholic," one eyewitness recalls), and at least $37,500 in donations to various political-action committees on his behalf. Rather than go for Ney immediately, prosecutors appear to be encircling him, possibly striking plea deals with frightened staffers, themselves desperate to stay out of jail.

Lobbyist's Credit Card Bill Outs DeLay Trip

2006-03-02T20:29:00.000-05:00

ABC News, March 2, 2006:

The paper trail seems so obvious it makes you wonder whether anyone ever worried about getting caught. When Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and his wife flew from Houston to a golf resort in Scotland in June 2000, the first-class airfare cost $14,001, a big-ticket item for a public servant. But someone else paid.

The American Express bills of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges in January, show he footed the bill for the tickets, in an apparent violation of House ethics rules.

"The source of the travel expenses may not be ... a registered lobbyist," according to the House rules. Abramoff was a registered lobbyist at the time.

DeLay's attorney told The Washington Post last year that DeLay was unaware of the "logistics" of bill payments and did not believe Abramoff paid for the tickets.

"This is a classic example of why the ethics rules have to be reformed," said Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21, a nonprofit watchdog group. "The Scotland trip was a trip to play golf, pure and simple, and private interests should not be allowed to finance those kinds of trips and gain influence with members in return."

Abramoff pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy, honest-services mail fraud and tax evasion. Officials said Abramoff had brought corruption to a new level at the Capitol.

"The corruption scheme with Mr. Abramoff was very extensive, and the investigation continues," said Alice Fisher, the head of the Department of Justice's criminal division.

One aspect of Abramoff's corruption scheme was the free trips he provided to politicians to the Super Bowl, a golf resort in Scotland and to the northern Mariana Islands in the South Pacific.

An ABC News hidden camera recorded Abramoff greeting and hugging DeLay as he arrived in the northern Marianas.

DeLay, the former House majority leader, was only one congressman out of dozens who accepted the lobbyist's trips and campaign contributions.

"There are many members of Congress who will not sleep well tonight," said Wertheimer at the time of the investigation. "This is a blockbuster of an investigation that will reach deep inside the power structure."

Federal authorities told ABC News that Abramoff began providing details of his dealings with DeLay and pinpointing a long list of senators and representatives more than a year ago.

At least nine have since returned Abramoff's campaign contributions, and all, including DeLay, have denied any wrongdoing.

Officials told ABC News that the first congressman to be indicted for bribery is expected to be Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio.

Source

Ney campaign gives out golf tees?!

2006-03-02T20:25:00.000-05:00

Buckeye State Blog, March 1, 2006:

Are Local Congressmen Spending Taxpayer Money On Themselves?

2006-02-23T15:28:00.000-05:00

WTOV.com, February 22, 2006:

Each Ohio member of the U.S. House of Representatives represents about the same number of constituents.

Each gets about the same amount of taxpayer money to run the office and pay the bills.

But, as we discovered, each has a much different idea about how to spend that money.

Article I, Section 7, of the Constitution says the U.S. House is in charge of raising taxpayer money.

NEWS9 found out they're pretty good at spending it, too - especially the over $1 million they're each given to run their own offices and pay their bills.

[...]

In Ohio, Rep. Bob Ney charges taxpayers $1,078 each month to lease a 2005 Lincoln. He also spent more than $1,000 in the last year on taxi fare, even though he works in a city with a top-notch mass transit system.

[...]

However, Ney did spend $11,400 for a service to obtain all of his constituents e-mail addresses.

This prompts critics to wonder if lawmakers could spend less for the sake of a nation deeply in debt. But, all local members of Congress we spoke to said that these expenses - including cab rides, food and beverages, and direct mail - are necessary to serve constituents.

Source

Ney faces unexpected challenge in GOP primary

2006-02-16T20:52:00.000-05:00

The Hill, February 16, 2006:

James Brodbelt Harris, a financial analyst from Zanesville, Ohio, stepped forward Thursday to challenge legally embattled Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) in the Republican primary.

"I think this is an unusual opportunity for someone like me to get into the race," said the 36-year-old political neophyte. "I believe any good Republican could hold this Republican gerrymandered district and the only way a Democrat could win this district is in the midst of a scandal."

Meanwhile, top Ohio Republicans worried about a scenario in which Ney could be indicted because of his connections to disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who admitted last month to bribing public officials. Ney is referred to as "Representative #1" in the Abramoff plea agreement.

Fearing that an unknown candidate could defeat an indicted incumbent and certainly lose to a well-funded Democratic in November, Ohio GOP Party Chairman Bob Bennett made a slew of phone calls to Ohio GOP lawmakers, the White House, and Ohio legislators to consider whether an established candidate, such as GOP State Sens. Jay Hottinger or John Carey, should enter the primary.

"There were numerous back up plans and back up plans to the back up plans," said an Ohio Republican. "Scrambling is an understatement."

Despite Ney's vulnerability, nobody else jumped into the race. The primary will be held on May 2.

Carey said he filed papers to run for reelection to the state senate and Hottinger, who has reached his two-term limit in the senate, told The Hill he would run for the Ohio state legislature.

"We've always maintained that the ball was in court of Congressman Ney," Hottinger said. "We are not going to file, we will not be filing. It's our hope that the congressman gets cleared."

And the GOP political establishment has lined up behind Ney.

"Bob Ney is our guy," said Ohio Republican Party spokesman John McClelland.

Ney told The Hill that he was confident he would win the primary and did not expect to be indicted, and seemed irritated by Bennett's phone calls.

"No matter what phone calls Bob Bennett made, no one considered running," Ney said. "Bob Bennett gets phone call dialing fever, but he did not call me."

Harris indicated he plans to make ethics an issue for Ney.

"If this bad news is in the papers for the next six to seven months, Republicans could lose 30 to 40 seats nationally."

Ney has said he will continue to seek reelection if he is indicted.

Four Democrats have lined up to seek Ney's seat.

Source

Disclosure

2006-02-16T11:39:00.000-05:00

Bob Ney's most recent FEC report.