Reznet

Is the Ghost of Abramoff at Work Here?

By Kevin Abourezk

The top three Democratic candidates for United States president neglected a rare opportunity in August to present their views on Native American issues.

It's not altogether surprising that Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards all failed to show up for the Prez on the Rez forum held Aug. 23 on the Morongo Band of Mission Indians' reservation in California. The event was intended to draw Democratic presidential candidates to answer questions from Native American people about Native American issues.

Non-Indian politicians certainly have a checkered history of paying mind to tribes.

But with the success in recent years of organizations like the National Congress of American Indians in bringing presidential candidates to talk to Native Americans about their Native American issue platforms, it sure looked like that history of neglect was starting to turn around.

And so I have to ask: Is the ghost of Jack Abramoff at work here?

A chill just went down my spine at the mere mention of that name. Is that ghostly scandal still haunting well-meaning Native American causes and institutions years after its demise?

For those of you who don't know: Abramoff was a high-paid Washington lobbyist who was convicted in January 2006 of three felony charges related to acts of fraud and deceit he and his partner, Michael Scanlon, committed to strip tribal clients of millions of dollars.

Of course, I only pose a question, and I can't imagine one issue dictating the actions of these three esteemed politicians.

But, for argument's sake, let me lay out my case. Let me start with a quote:

"What it's done is created a sort of backlash in Congress, where now a lot of our members are running pell-mell away from Indian tribes, which denies them the right that everybody else has, which is to have a voice in their own future through the political process," former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell told Democracy Now last year a day after Abramoff was convicted.

Some in Indian Country feared the scandal - which they worried politicians would see as yet another example of tribes' inability to protect themselves - would prompt Congress to return to its historically paternalistic relationship with tribes.

So is it possible that the Big Three, fearing political backlash from appearing favorable toward Indian causes, shied away from Prez on the Rez?

Not necessarily so, said Mark Trahant, moderator for the forum and editorial page editor for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"I actually think the reason the three didn't attend is complex. Partly it was schedule. Partly it was the first time an event like this was on their radar. Partly it was concern about the image of Native Americans (this was especially true for Sens. Clinton and Obama)," Trahant said in an e-mail recently. "During the negotiations (I wasn't involved) they both wanted something like non-casino-resort locations such as the Palm Springs Convention Center (which was offered)."

Hmm. That last bit sounds suspiciously like the ghost of Abramoff at work.

Then again, Trahant said, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean - who did show up for the forum along with Democratic presidential candidates Gov. Bill Richardson, Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Senator Mike Gravel - expressed concern about the forum's location being too remote.

Trahant also said Dean felt "it was really difficult to be everywhere a candidate had to be."

That said, Trahant is hopeful Prez on the Rez will someday become an event political candidates will be hard-pressed to avoid.

"I think by 2012 this will be a must attend event," he said.

The ghost of Abramoff be damned.

Kevin Abourezk, Oglala Lakota, is a reporter and editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. He is a reznet assignment editor and teaches reporting at the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute.

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