The price to pay for a job well done

At $500 an hour, Jack Abramoff may be one of the highest-paid lobbyists in Washington but his clients insist that he is worth it.

This is because, in the seven years since the Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives, Abramoff’s close ties to Republican whip Rep. Tom DeLay and other conservatives in the lower chamber has made him one of the most influential lobbyists in the nation’s capital.

As a former lobbyist for the Northern Marianas, Abramoff teamed up with DeLay in defeating a proposed legislation passed by the U.S. Senate that would have stripped the CNMI of its exemption from the U.S. minimum wage and immigration laws.

Abramoff pulled this off by arguing that the CNMI represents low taxes and free enterprise and should be left alone.

In his most recent success, Abramoff lobbied successfully in behalf of the Coushatta Indians in southwest Louisiana to block the construction of a casino that would have competed with the tribe’s own casino and drained off much of the Coushattas’ revenue.

The Coushattas vice chairman, William Worfel, said Abramoff deserved the $1.76-million that the tribe paid to Greenberg Traurig, which employs Abramoff, for his success in fending off the proposed rival casino.

Worfel said he only needs to call Abramoff and he gets results. “You get everything you pay for.”

Philip Martin, chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, which runs a large casino and resort and paid Greenberg Traurig more than $1 million in the last half of 2001, agreed, saying they definitely get their money’s worth, “or we wouldn’t be doing it.”

However, unlike other lobbyists who take almost any client willing to pay their fee, Abramoff says he represents only those who stand for conservative principles. “All of my political work is driven by philosophical interests, not by a desire to gain wealth,” he added.

At the same time, his background and personality represents an atypical picture, when compared to other Washington lobbyists.

He is an Orthodox Jew who says that even more than politics, his religion is a central element of his life. He is also a teetotaler, with a soft voice and a gentle manner who once held a high school weight-lifting record in California. He spent several years in Hollywood producing movies before becoming a lobbyist.

By his own description, he is also a committed ideologue. Abramoff argues that Indian reservations and the Commonwealth are “just what conservatives have always wanted, which is enterprise zones—tax-free, regulation-free zones—where, with the right motivation, great industry could take place and spill into the general communities.”

Abramoff is also considered an important Republican fund-raiser. According to him, he expects to raise as much as $5 million this year for the Republican Party and plans to donate as much as $250,000 personally.

Abramoff was chairman of the College Republican National Committee in the early ‘80’s, where he made important contacts, such as Grover Norquist, a leading conservative strategist in Washington D.C. and president of Americans for Tax Reform, and Ralph Reed, the former director of the Christian Coalition, who is a prominent Republican political consultant.

Abramoff’s interest in raising money for Republicans and conservative causes is the foundation of Abramoff’s relationship with DeLay.

“We are the same politically and philosophically. Tom’s goal is specific—to keep Republicans in power and advance the conservative movement. I have Tom’s goal precisely,” said Abramoff.

Norquist, who is friendly with both men, said of Abramoff, “He walks in to see DeLay and DeLay knows that he is representing clients whose views are in sync with DeLay’s views.”