Hearing reveals troubling similar pattern in actions of Greenberg Traurig/Abramoff, Scanlon in dealing with Saginaw Chippewa Tribe

A tight-lipped Michael Scanlon (bottom row center in picture at left), president of Capitol Campaign Strategies, LLC of Washington, DC, plead his "rights under the Fifth Amendment," declining to answer all questions from senators on the panel of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Wednesday, November 17, 2004.

Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R - Colorado), the outgoing chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, had scathing personal comments to Mr. Scanlon before concluding the day's hearing.

Tigua Tribe representatives are seen giving testimony before the Senate committee hearing In Re Tribal Lobbying Matters, on Nov. 17th. Shown above are the Honorable Carlos Hisa (right), Lieutenant Governor, Yselta del Sur Pueblo, El Paso, Texas, and Marc Schwartz (left), president of Marc Schwartz Partners, Inc. of El Paso.

Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Council members attended the November 17 hearings. Shown above are Tribal Sub-Chief Bernard Sprague (back row, right) and Council Member Brent Jackson (seated to left of Sub-Chief Sprague).

Members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in attendance are, from left to right, Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), an un-named participant, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (committee chair, R-Colorado), Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota). Absent from this photo is committee vice-chair Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who was unable to attend the initial portion of the hearing due to other senate demands.

Scanlon appeared before the Senate committee following damning testimony from two Tigua Tribe (Yselta del Sur Pueblo) of Texas representatives.

During opening remarks and tribal testimony, dozens of emails exchanged between Scanlon and Jack Abramoff (Senior Director of Government Affairs for the Greenberg Traurig law and lobbying firm), were displayed. These exhibits revealed what appeared to be an amazing level of contempt for their American Indian clients, as well as what appeared to be plans to bilk those tribal clients of millions of dollars.

In his opening remarks, outgoing committee chair Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell said, so far, the hearings have revealed that, "while they were being paid tens of millions of dollars, Abramoff and Scanlon held their tribal clients in a very low regard — often referring to them as monkeys, troglodytes, morons and worse." He continued by saying, "our investigation has continued to uncover other distasteful and shocking details."

To view the entire hearing (requires RealPlayer software; approximately 1 hour, 55 minutes), click here. Please note that this video stream is provided directly from the U.S. Senate. The video stream has 7 minutes and 10 seconds displaying a message screen at he start of the video. You can advance your player's "clip position" slider control forward about 7 minutes, and the hearing will begin playing within a few moments.

To view the witness list, click here.

To view the opening remarks of Committee Vice-Chair Sen. Daniel Inouye, click here. (Opening statements from the other senators are not currently available from the US Senate Web site.)

To view all of the the individual exhibits (there are 63), click here.