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The Abramoff Connection: Guam bought more than lobbying
As the Government of Guam struggles to pay its bills and ensure payroll this Friday the local Judiciary continues its efforts to recover nearly a half-million dollars it believes was inappropriately spent for lobbying services. The Superior Court of Guam paid former powerhouse lobbyist Jack Abramoff $479,000 - for the last few years all we've known is that the money was allegedly used to oppose a congressional measure to unify the local judiciary. But as we began to follow the paper trail, it's obvious local taxpayers paid for much more than lobbying efforts for the court.
The Greenberg Traurig law firm began billing the local government for work it began in November 2001, long before the Superior Court entered into an agreement with California-based attorney Howard Hills and Abramoff in May 2002. According to the firm's documents, provided to Hills' attorney, Carol Elder Bruce, the lobbyist firm continued its government representation until December 30, 2002. Expenses billed to the Superior Court of Guam include much more than lobbying against House Resolution 521, otherwise known as The Judicial Empowerment Act.
In fact, more than a grand on limousine services; $4,300 for transportation of Mark Charfauros in February 2002; $85 for Bruce Springsteen tickets (and another $300 for encore tickets); $1,200 for rounds of golf at the Sea Island Resort in Georgia (the top-ranked golf resort in America); Lowes Island Club in Potamac Falls, Virginia; another round in the nation's capitol and even a round of golf at Pacific Dunes in Australia. And in addition to these, a $768 tab for golf and refreshments for White House staffers. The firm's senior director of government affairs, Michael Williams, even billed $100 for his dues at the links at Lowes Island. Billings also included the expenses for the 10th annual Congressional Award Golf Tournament.
When the firm wasn't billing the government for time on the links, they were billing for phone calls, cab fares, along with all their wining and dining.
The phone bills totaled $644, while the food & drink tab exceeded $21,000 at lavish restaurants in the nation's capitol, including Abramoff's restaurant that has since closed it doors, Signatures. (In that case, the bill cost Guam's taxpayers nearly $4,000.)
When Greenberg Traurig wasn't billing for travel expenses, food, or miscellaneous items, taxpayers were forking out $300/hour for efforts to kill the Judicial Empowerment Act. Thousands of dollars were billed for dozens of hours the firm's employees allegedly reviewed publications on the issue and pursued efforts with other congressional leaders to oppose the house resolution at the time by then-congressman Robert Underwood. What's more, the court was billed more than $6,600 for the firm's work on Open Skies research and discussions they had with Charfauros, then a senator in the Guam Legislature.
Charfauros, however, claims he never received a free trip from Abramoff and likewise denied ever trying to get a Guam contract for the former lobbyist who he refers to as his "close friend". But according to KUAM News Archives, in November 2001 Charfauros met with Abramoff to discuss things like declaring Open Skies for Guam. Charfauros in a press release said he planned to meet with Abramoff and the Greenberg firm to see if the firm could work on Guam's behalf. It wasn't much later before Abramoff listed the Guam International Airport Authority as his client for lobbying services.
But in August 2002, Abramoff officially withdrew the registration of the airport, effective December 13, 2001. According to Greenberg Traurig's billing, the firm continued work on the issue and continued billing the court thousands of dollars. $510 was billed for the firm to review press reports related to Underwood's race for governor and debate over the Guam Judicial Empowerment Act, and another $1,300 was racked up to meet with House leadership staff to thank them for their assistance in defeating the Underwood bill. An additional grand went towards meeting with Senate leadership staff regarding the 108th Congress's strategy, and thousands were put aside for lunch and dinner meetings with Republican activists.
So the $479,000 question is why was the court billed for research on Open Skies along with all the miscellaneous items? Court policy, planning and communications director Dan Tydingco hopes he'll get an answer sooner than later, telling KUAM News, "Those are quite a revelation to us. Again we're unearthing all this stuff as we're trying to recover these monies and it just goes to show that there was really no accountable, no benchmarks put in place to ensure whatever services were supposed to be contracted and rendered, resources were expended from the Government of Guam in the pursuit of getting those services, they were really not properly accounted for."
Tydingco confirms Abramoff's lobbying contract and his dealings with the previous court administration are currently under scrutiny by both local and federal authorities. "They've requested the same information that you have. Everything that we've received and unearthed in connection with our pursuit to recover the monies, these entities have the same information," he stated.
Also of note is that Tony Sanchez, the senior advisor to Guam governor Felix Camacho, has yet to return our calls for comment on the matter.
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