Amy Moritz Ridenour, was president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, a Washington, DC conservative think tank. Ridenour held this post since the organization's founding in 1982 until her death. She wrote a syndicated op-ed column from 1997 and was a frequent radio and television guest.
Ralph Eugene Reed Jr. is an American political consultant and lobbyist, best known as the first executive director of the Christian Coalition during the early 1990s. He sought the Republican nomination for the office of Lieutenant Governor of Georgia but lost the primary election on July 18, 2006, to state Senator Casey Cagle. Reed started the Faith and Freedom Coalition in June 2009. Reed and his wife JoAnne Young were married in 1987 and have four children.
Jack Allan Abramoff is an American lobbyist, businessman, movie producer and writer. He was at the center of an extensive corruption investigation led by Earl Devaney that resulted in his conviction and to 21 people either pleading guilty or being found guilty, including White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine other lobbyists and congressional aides.
Greenberg Traurig is an international law firm founded in Miami, Florida, United States in 1967 by Larry J. Hoffman, Mel Greenberg and Robert H. Traurig.
Michael Scanlon is a former communications director for Rep. Tom DeLay, lobbyist, and public relations executive who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges related to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. He is currently assisting in the investigation of his former partners Abramoff, Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed by separate state and federal grand jury investigations related to the defrauding of American Indian tribes and corruption of public officials.
The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a self-described conservative think tank in the United States. Its founding CEO is Amy Ridenour, who serves as chairwoman. David A. Ridenour, her husband, is president, having served as vice president from 1986-2011. Key staff include Jeff Stier, who runs its Risk Analysis Division, Justin Danhof, who runs its Free Enterprise Project, Horace Cooper and Cherylyn Harley LeBon, who run its Project 21, Senior Fellows David Almasi, R.J. Smith, and Bonner Cohen, Distinguished Fellow Deroy Murdock, Media Director Judy Kent and Digital Media Specialist Jennifer Biddison. Bishop Council Nedd II, Joe R. Hicks, Stacy Washington, Demetrius Minor, Emery McClendon, Niger Innis, Dr. Elaina George, Dr. Day Gardner, Nadra Enzi, Dutch Martin, Kevin Martin and Christopher Arps are among those who frequently speak or publish under the Project 21 and/or National Center banner.
The Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal was a United States political scandal exposed in 2005; it related to fraud perpetrated by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff, Ralph E. Reed Jr., Grover Norquist and Michael Scanlon on Native American tribes who were seeking to develop casino gambling on their reservations. The lobbyists charged the tribes an estimated $85 million in fees. Abramoff and Scanlon grossly overbilled their clients, secretly splitting the multi-million dollar profits. In one case, they secretly orchestrated lobbying against their own clients in order to force them to pay for lobbying services.
Eshkol Academy was an all-boys Orthodox Jewish day school in Columbia, Maryland, that existed from fall 2002 to 2004. Its name comes from Ish Shekol Bo Hebrew for "well-rounded man" and Eshkol Hebrew for cluster of grapes. In 2002 Eshkol Academy opened at a Christian community center facility in Montgomery County; in 2003 it moved to an office park in Columbia, Maryland. Its enrollment of about 100 included both local students and students from Boston, Baltimore, Montreal, and other cities.
The Jack Abramoff Guam investigation involves an alleged plot by lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others to control the functions of the courts in Guam. A federal grand jury investigation was halted in 2002 when the prosecutor was removed from office by the George W. Bush administration.
The monetary influence of Jack Abramoff ran deep in Washington, as Jack Abramoff spent millions of dollars to influence and entertain both Republican and Democratic politicians. Abramoff had a reputation for largesse considered exceptional even by Washington standards. In addition to offering many Republican members of Congress expensive free meals at his restaurant, Signatures, Abramoff maintained four skyboxes at major sports arenas for political entertaining at a cost of over $1 million a year. Abramoff hosted many fundraisers at these skyboxes including events for Republican politicians publicly opposed to gambling, such as John Doolittle. Abramoff gave over $260,000 in personal contributions to Republican candidates, politicians, and organizations, and funded numerous trips for politicians and staffers and gave none to Democrats.
"Team Abramoff" is the team of lobbyists assembled by Jack Abramoff when he worked at Greenberg Traurig, primarily of former aides to prominent Congressional politicians. Their work is embroiled in the Jack Abramoff scandals.
Tony Charles Rudy is an American politician. He served in the office of U. S. Representative Tom DeLay (R-TX) from approximately 1995 to 2001, and rose to be his deputy Chief of Staff.
GrassRoots Interactive (GRI), now defunct, was a small Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, lobbying firm controlled by Jack Abramoff. It was founded "with a $10,000 investment" by the company's sole owner, Republican lawyer Edward B. Miller, in May 2003, "a month after he began work as a senior official in the state Department of Business and Economic Development." Miller, then a lawyer at DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, is a former aide to Governor of Maryland Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. and "was promoted to deputy chief of staff in the governor's office" in early 2004.
Capitol Campaign Strategies was an American public relations firm run by Michael Scanlon, Tom DeLay's former press secretary, which Scanlon used in coordination with Jack Abramoff to redirect about $40 million in lobbying contributions from Indian tribes to Scanlon, Abramoff, and their associates, as well as funding bribes to Republican politicians such as Bob Ney. Scanlon and Abramoff have pleaded guilty for their activities. After Abramoff left Preston Gates and went to Greenberg Traurig in January 2001, Scanlon formed Capitol Campaign Strategies. Its official location was 611 Pennsylvania Avenue SE in Washington D.C., which is a maildrop. Scanlon also formed the dummy organizations American International Center and Atlantic Research Analysis aka Atlantic Research & Analysis, used to receive and distribute CCS money.
Kevin A. Ring is a former American attorney and congressional staffer; he served Republicans in both the House and the Senate, including U.S. Representative John T. Doolittle (R-CA). He also served as a counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee's Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights Subcommittee.
Will Brooke is an American political staffer and a figure in the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal.
The Jack Abramoff CNMI scandal involved the efforts of Jack Abramoff, other lobbyists, and government officials to change or prevent, or both, Congressional action regarding the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and businesses on Saipan, its capital, commercial center, and one of its three principal islands.
Todd Boulanger is an American lobbyist. He was senior vice president of Cassidy & Associates and was a figure in the Jack Abramoff scandal.
James F. Hirni is a lobbyist who was convicted of bribing U.S. Senate staff aides in exchange for favorable amendments to legislation. A former aide to U.S. Senator Tim Hutchinson (R-AR), he joined the lobbying firm Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, and then became a member of "Team Abramoff" at Greenberg Traurig. He went on to become a lobbyist for Wal-Mart from 2004–08, as its Executive Director of Republican outreach. He was fired when charges were filed concerning his activities with Abramoff.
