Note: I have been posting about the Abramoff Scandal over at Daily Kos for a long while and following Abramoff since 1998 when he came up as I was researching an article on the sweatshops on Saipan. Susanhu recently suggested that I cross-post these at Booman Times, so here I am…
As the pressure of the Abramoff scandal mounts, more and more players are starting to embrace Abramnesia about their ties with Jack.
Take Rabbi Daniel Lapin: the official Rabbi of the Conservative movement and the vast RWC. Back in the day Lapin and Abramoff were tight. Jack was the Chairman of Towards Tradition, a group founded by Lapin. They shared money, contacts and more.
In fact, they were close enough for Jack to use Towards Tradition as another outlet for his GOP slush fund:
Rabbi Daniel Lapin confirmed Sunday it was his foundation, Toward Tradition, that took $50,000 from two Abramoff clients and, at Abramoff’s suggestion, used it to hire the aide’s wife to organize a conference for the group.
Lapin introduced Jack to Tom. Jack got his brother a $1.2 million no-bid government contract. Their ties go back to South Africa. And now Lapin can’t remember the details…
Jack and the Lapin brothers, Daniel and David go way back. Here’s how a Seattle Weekly article Meet the Lapin Brothers put it:
The spreading scandal puts more pressure on Abramoff’s deal-maker buddy, Texan Tom DeLay, the GOP’s embattled House majority leader. Years ago, Lapin introduced Abramoff to DeLay. “It was just, ‘Jack? Meet Tom’–very informal at a D.C. dinner,” says a Lapin follower. “Just people who see eye to eye.” Abramoff and DeLay went on to form a cozy lobbyist/lawmaker relationship that is now a subject of investigations by the Senate, the House, the Justice Department, and a federal grand jury. [snip]
Abramoff’s Marianas connection, of course, has been in the news for a long while. But recently his involvement there has circled back to Lapin–David Lapin, that is, Daniel’s brother, a Los Angeles businessman. David Lapin had a $1.2 million no-bid Northern Marianas government contract that was arranged by Abramoff during his Preston Gates days, to conduct ethics-in-government programs there. But near as anyone in the Marianas can determine today, David Lapin failed to provide any services, The New York Times reported April 28. [snip]
“I met Mr. Abramoff many years ago,” David Lapin told Seattle Weekly by phone. “He was on a trip to South Africa and was a guest of mine.” (David and his brother were born in South Africa, and both became rabbis and businessmen in the U.S.) David Lapin, now CEO of Strategic Business Ethics, once ran a Jewish academy established by Abramoff in the D.C. area. “Jack and I are good friends and there was nothing improper about this deal,” David Lapin said. [snip]
Though Abramoff introduced him to Marianas officials, says David Lapin, he did not have a contract with Abramoff. “SBE has never, at any time, been involved in any financial transaction or business relationship with Mr. Abramoff,” he says. He adds that he has “no involvement” in his brother’s Mercer Island conservative nonprofit group, Toward Tradition, and doesn’t share his brother’s political views. “I’m apolitical, really,” David Lapin said. “I have very little interest in American politics, and I’ve had no lengthy political discussions with my brother or with Jack Abramoff.” He and Daniel “get along very well, otherwise,” he said.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin’s nonprofit, founded with Abramoff and film critic/radio talker Michael Medved, promotes faith-based conservative politics in tandem with the religious right. Through Abramoff’s considerable GOP connections, Lapin has brokered alliances with congressional and Bush administration officials as well. They include tax-reform guru Grover Norquist and consultant Ralph Reed [snip]
Last year, Newsweek reported, “When fundraising began for Bush’s re-election effort, Rabbi Daniel Lapin . . . urged friends and colleagues to steer campaign checks to Bush via Abramoff.” President Bush recently reappointed Lapin to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, which helps preserve cemeteries, monuments, and historic buildings in Eastern and Central Europe. Donors to his charity, according to IRS tax filings, comprise the cream of the religious right, such as Lenore Broughton, the Carthage Foundation, and the Scaife Family Foundation. They have helped Lapin raise, on average, about $500,000 a year, based on filings from 1997 through 2003.
Now as the scandal boils and Jack has made a deal, all his old friends are denying any and all connections. It seems that everybody didn’t know Jack.
Earlier this week, Rabbi Daniel Lapin sent out a long and rambling email about his ties to Abramoff. It is pretty amazing. Let’s dig in:
Initially my name began appearing in connection with one of the stories circulating about how Jack Abramoff met Tom DeLay. Some articles claimed that I introduced them while others, including one in the Washington Post, have the two meeting at a DeLay fundraiser, introduced by Edwin A. Buckham, then DeLay’s chief of staff. Although I have no clear recollection of having formally introduced them, it is certainly possible. I was at several Republican Party events at which both Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff were present, including one at the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego at which I spoke.
Good misdirect. A number of reports credit Lapin with a pre-1994 introduction, including the above Seattle Weekly piece. Another was Tom DeLay scholar Lou Dubose (who co-wrote DeLay’s biography, The Hammer):
Abramoff had been introduced to DeLay by Rabbi Daniel Lapin, a South African-born Orthodox Jew who, with Abramoff, founded Toward Tradition: a Torah-based group that works to strengthen relations between Jews and Christians. In 1994 Abramoff got behind DeLay’s whip race. When DeLay won–after spending $700,000 on Republican House candidates’ campaigns while Gingrich’s candidate, Bob Walker, spent $1,000–Abramoff was a made man. “He’s someone on our side,” said Ed Buckham, DeLay’s chief of staff at the time. “He has access to DeLay.”
And then there was Slate in April 2005:
Abramoff is an orthodox Jew and DeLay is a committed Christian; their relationship is rooted in their parallel faiths. They were introduced more than a decade ago by Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the South African-born radio talk-show host who established Toward Tradition, a nonprofit coalition of Jews and Christians that aims to advance the agenda of the devout. Since Abramoff’s troubles began, he and DeLay have sought to distance themselves from the other. But DeLay can’t shake Abramoff loose so easily–not after their trips abroad, the major role Abramoff played in DeLay’s well-financed and successful run for whip, the public praise DeLay heaped on Abramoff for helping bring Native Americans into the Republican fold.
And then there is this amazing 2002 profile of Jack from the Washington Business Forward:
The crucial relationship with DeLay began well before 1994. The two were introduced by Rabbi Daniel Lapin, a South African-born Orthodox Jew who founded Toward Tradition, a group that defines itself as a “national coalition of Jews and Christians” and offers the Torah and “authentic” Jewish values to cure societal problems. Abramoff is a former chairman. “He’s a religious Christian, I’m a religious Jew. He’s very actively pro-Israel. I’m rabidly pro-Israel. We had a lot of mutual friends as well,” says Abramoff of DeLay.
“The DeLay thing is played up a lot in terms of our relationship. The fact is when I pitch a client, I never mention Tom DeLay. I never say I know Tom DeLay.” Abramoff says he’s just as close to other Republicans, like Reps. Roy Blunt (MO), Christopher Cox (CA), John Doolittle (CA), Phil Crane (IL) and Dana Rohrabacher (CA).
One would think that Lapin would remember when he hooked up Tom and Jack, but he doesn’t. He also can’t remember how he got hooked up with Jack, or the details of their work together. The Lapin email goes on:
Abramoff was not among the group of twenty two Jews and Christians who originally conceived of and founded Toward Tradition in 1991. However, he became a supporter and joined the board of directors a little later and eventually served a few terms as chairman of the board. He resigned his chairmanship at the end of 2000 and from the board in 2004. In total, on account of his time pressures, Jack Abramoff attended only five board meetings of Toward Tradition. He contributed to the organization at a level typical of the level of other board members. His giving to Toward Tradition was slightly lower than some board members and slightly higher than others. We now know that on one occasion, a contribution came in the form of a check from his Capital Athletic Foundation.
Well, that contradicts the bit from the Seattle Weekly (emphasis added):
Rabbi Daniel Lapin’s nonprofit, fouded with Abramoff and film critic/radio talker Michael Medved, promotes faith-based conservative politics in tandem with the religious right. Through Abramoff’s considerable GOP connections, Lapin has brokered alliances with congressional and Bush administration officials as well.
But Lapin does remember Jack connections to the White House and George W Bush in his email (emphasis added):
During that period, Jack’s access to the White House was being eagerly courted by many organizations both Christian and Jewish, usually in the hope of obtaining the President as a speaker for an upcoming event. I heard one of the leaders of a prominent pro-Israel lobbying organization boast that Jack Abramoff took his phone calls.
In June 2003 I wrote to a number of Toward Tradition supporters saying that if they intended contributing substantially to the Bush Cheney ’04 campaign they may wish to direct their support via Jack Abramoff.
That’s interesting! I guess if Jack had that kind of pull with the White House there must be some old Bush-Jack photos lying around. And it is only a matter of time before some little Congressional fish decide to give up some big Executive fish. Or maybe that’s why Jack is only up for a 11-year stretch.
Lapin email continues to explain his Abramnesia:
On June 25, 2005, The Washington Post ran a profile of me … the writer claimed about my frequent visits to Washington DC, “Usually on these trips Lapin stays with Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist who is an old friend of the Lapin family.” The travel information is not true. Anyone familiar with my travel habits knows that I never impose on households and always much prefer to stay at hotels. However Jack was a long time friend of the Lapin family. He first met my brother, David, while he was shooting Red Scorpion in South Africa during the late 80s. In the early 90s, Jack Abramoff arrived in California with an introduction from David and became friendly with my father and me.
There may be a big lie in the above statement. I have no doubt that Jack met the Lapin brothers on his many travels to South Africa as the lobbyist for the South African Secret Police during Apartheid. Red Scorpion was shot in 1989. I suspect they met earlier. Jack becoming a close friend of the family and their father in the early 1990s is also interesting, as Rabbi HaRav Lapin past away in 1991. His obit gives some Lapin family details:
Jewish Bulletin, November 22, 1991
HaRav Avraham Haim Lapin, the leader of San Jose’s Orthodox Congregation Am Echad, died Tuesday of a heart attack. [snip]
Born in South Africa, Lapin served as rabbi at the United Hebrew Congregation of Johannesburg and as a judge at the rabbinical court of the Federation of Synagogues of South Africa. He also taught Talmud at the Federation of Synagogues of South Africa before emigrating and joining Am Echad in 1977.
HaRav Lapin is survived by his wife Maisie; sons Rabbi Daniel Lapin of Venice, Calif., and wife Susan; Rabbi David Lapin of Johannesburg and wife Sabrina; Rabbi Rafuel of Jerusalem and wife Chani; and a daughter, Judith Aronson of Santa Monica. He is also survived by 21 grandchildren.
I suspect there are more connections between Jack and the Lapin family. As the LA Times reports that by 1970, a young Jack Abramoff decided to embrace the “Orthodox traditions of his grandparents’ generation”. By 1973, Daniel Lapin had emigrated from South Africa (following his father) and started the Pacific Jewish Center, a now legendary Orthodox synagogue in Venice , California. I’m willing to bet that Jack discovered that congregation as he searched for his roots. So was Daniel, Jack’s Rabbi? Did they kmow each other way back then? Not according to Lapin’s email:
I did not serve as Jack’s rabbi or mentor and our friendship revolved around our families, children’s educational challenges and the difficulties of being a political conservative in the larger Jewish community. We shared occasional social and family events. I can recall no discussions about Jack’s business and never heard anything from him that caused me to think he was doing anything unscrupulous.
From here the email goes off into long and tortured explanations of the many, many connections between Jack, Towards Tradition and the Lapin brothers. From that request from Jack for an award with a title like Scholar of Talmudic Studies to the many ways that the Abramoff GOP slush fund moved money through Towards Tradition.
As the email winds down Lapin adds that his staff has been interviewed by the DOJ:
The Plea Agreement is 14 pages long, with another 15 pages of attachments, for a total of 29 pages. On page 13 of the attachments in item 35 out of a total of 41, appears a reference to “a non profit entity”. Although it doesn’t mention any name, the non profit entity alluded to is in fact Toward Tradition.
Toward Tradition staff members were extensively interviewed last August by the Justice Department about the events. Here is what happened.
Toward Tradition ran large conferences in Washington DC in the fall of 1994, 1997, and 2000. For a Seattle-based organization to hold a large national event across the country in Washington DC requires considerable work and someone on the ground in DC to act as a local representative and organizer. [snip].
Sometime before the summer of 2000 Jack Abramoff asked Toward Tradition whether we had already hired the DC-based organizer for that fall’s conference. Upon hearing that we had nobody appointed yet, he offered to provide someone. He mentioned that he knew an individual who had the experience and connections that we were seeking and that she was currently looking for work. This was Lisa Rudy. He added that he might know a donor willing to donate a gift to Toward Tradition to be used to hire a DC based coordinator who would help us with our forthcoming conference.
As a side note some of Towards Tradition’s old Web pages are www.archive.org. And guess who they got to be Keynote Speaker after Lisa Rudy joined the team (emphasis added):
BREAKING NEWS: House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) will be the keynote speaker at Toward Tradition’s TANA AWARDS BANQUET, to be held Monday, September 11 at the Washington Hilton Towers. Mr. DeLay is one of our country’s most principled politicians, as well as a dear friend of Toward Tradition. Throughout his career he has led the fight for traditional, American values; and we are honored to have him as our keynote speaker. It will be a night to remember – don’t miss it!!!
And the email continues with more amazing tidbits:
That supporters and friends of Toward Tradition have been embarrassed by the press linking us to Jack Abramoff disappoints me terribly. However, Toward Tradition and I interact with thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations every year. It is just unrealistic to suppose that none of these relationships are ever going to become problematic. There was no reason for Toward Tradition to spurn Jack Abramoff’s support.
For many years Toward Tradition was admired and envied for having someone like Jack Abramoff on our board of directors. In any typical week I would field several calls from prominent business or political leaders, even from a sprinkling of celebrities, all seeking my help in gaining access to Jack Abramoff. As recently as April 3rd, 2002, The New York Times published a flattering front page profile of Jack Abramoff with nary a word of criticism. He was widely viewed in glowing terms both socially and politically.
The insinuations of wrongdoing on the part of Toward Tradition are untrue and unfair. This is to be expected. As a prominent conservative spokesman heading a conservative organization, we present a juicy target for a left-leaning press. But very few people get a fair shake in the press. The news media are not in the business of “being fair.”
See, it is that evil liberal media that’s the problem. Not the culture of corruption.
Oy.
There is more, and I’m sure that as Lapin tries to defend himself he is letting cats out of bags and giving reporters and investigators many new leads. His email also shows how these guys are cracking under pressure.
By the Fall the only ones left in the Conservative movement who are not testifying to a Grand Jury somewhere will be those who truly didn’t know Jack.
DeLay, Bush, Lapin, Reed, Rove, Norquist and most GOP members of Congress knew Jack. They knew him very well. More details will come out everyday.
It is a bad year them. I hope that will lead to a good year for America, but we’ll have to throw the bums out first. Let’s do it.
