Boxer’s Sweetheart Deal With Reinstated Indian Tribe
HotAir.com
posted at 7:15 pm on October 30, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
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In 2006, Democrats successfully won back control of Congress by highlighting corruption scandals involving Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist specializing in Indian tribes. But does one Democrat in particular have a problem of her own with her interventions on behalf of a California tribe that now operates a casino just outside of San Francisco? Barbara Boxer pushed a bill reinstating a tribe designated as “defunct” by the BIA 40 years earlier through legislation that she also amended to remove a prohibition on gaming on any land the tribe owned. Rick Manning at The Hill says the deal — and what ensued — would have “made Jack Abramoff blush”:
Shortly after passage, the newly minted Indian tribe declared that after much soul-searching, the only thing it could do was open a casino on the outskirts of San Francisco in the town of Rohnert Park.
The tribe turned its fortunes over to two firms to make its dreams of wealth come true — Platinum Advisers, a political consulting/lobbying firm, and Kenwood Investments 2. Amazingly, and I’m certain quite coincidentally, Barbara Boxer’s son, Doug, was a partner in each firm.
To avoid immediate citizen concern about a casino popping up in their posh neighborhood, Doug Boxer’s Kenwood Investments 2 kindly fronted for the casino interests in purchasing a tract of land in Rohnert Park, as well as helpfully taking options on adjoining parcels of land for themselves to sweeten the pot. (Can I say pot and Sonoma County, Calif., in the same breath?)
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