Shawn Vasell

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Shawn M. Vasell, is a former senior aide to Senator Conrad Burns (R-Montana), who was part of Team Abramoff and worked for Greenberg Traurig LLC both before and after his one year stint with Burns.

Contents

[edit] Profiles

Conrad Burns hired Greenberg Traurig lobbyist Shawn Vasell as his State Director in 2001. After a year-long stint with Burns, Vasell returned to Greenberg Traurig in January 2003. Vasell was listed as a lobbyist for the Saginaw Michigan Tribe in 2003, according to Roll Call March 1, 2005, and the December 18, 2003, Washington Post. Prior to working for Greenberg Traurig, he worked for the lobbying firm of Preston Gates & Ellis. Before that, he was a staffer for then-Congressman Porter Goss (R-Florida) and judiciary subcommittee chair Senator Spencer Abraham (R-Michigan) [1].

[edit] 2000 Florida Recount

"Four of Abramoff’s colleagues—all of whom have left Greenberg in the wake of investigations surrounding Abramoff’s activities—were foot soldiers in the Florida recount. Two of them bragged of their recount work on their official online Greenberg biographies, which have since been removed," John Byrne reported in the May 5, 2005, Raw Story.

"Shawn Vasell noted that he was a 'team leader' in Broward and Duval counties in his bio; Duane Gibson was photographed in the acclaimed Brooks Brothers riot of Republican operatives outside the Miami-Dade County polling headquarters; Todd Boulanger boasted of being on the Broward and Duval recount team in his profile. Also on the ground was former DeLay deputy chief of staff Tony Rudy.

"Boulanger drafted a letter DeLay signed urging the Interior Department to favor Abramoff’s client in June 2003—a letter cosigned by the House Republican leadership, including Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO)," Byrne wrote.

[edit] Fundraising with Abramoff

On June 3, 2003, Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert’s political action committee held "a $1,500-a-plate lunch at [Abramoff's restaurant] Signatures at which Hastert [was] the featured speaker. Abramoff and two other members of his staff may have been in attendance, as Hastert’s PAC records contributions of $6,250 from the lobbyist and six other members of his firm"--Todd A. Boulanger, Duane R. Gibson, Kevin A. Ring, Shawn Vasell, Neil G. Volz and Padgett Wilson--"shortly thereafter–including a $500 contribution from Boulanger," John Byrne reported in The Raw Story, March 29, 2005.

[edit] Abramoff-Reed Indian Gambling Scandal

Main article: Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal

On January 4, 2006, Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty "to conspiracy to corrupt public officials, mail fraud and tax evasion." [2]. Part of the mail fraud included bilking Native American tribes involved in gambling, namely The Mississippi Choctaw, the Louisiana Coushatta, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Sandia Pueblo, the Saginaw Chippewa and the Tigua of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo.

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians paid $15 million to Abramoff and Scanlon's organizations. The bills were heavily padded, and funds were diverted to a number of other projected. [3]

Shawn Vasell's role in this is unknown. It is known that while working for Abramoff, "he served as client manager on the Mississippi Choctaw account, and shuttled between jobs in Burns's Montana office and Abramoff's shop. Vasell was registered as a lobbyist for the Choctaw and Coushatta tribes in 2001, joined Burns's staff in 2002, then rejoined Abramoff's team as a lobbyist for the tribes in 2003." In an interview, he said, "I was not lobbied by Jack's team in 2002. In 2003, I was under a one-year lobbying ban I strictly adhered to." [4]

He was called to testify at the The Oversight Hearing Before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the In Re Tribal Lobbying Matters, Et Al. in June 2005. As the Washington Post reported, "[t]hree former associates of Abramoff and Scanlon who were summoned to testify declined to do so, citing their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. They included former Greenberg lobbyist Kevin Ring, who continues to represent the Choctaw tribe as a lobbyist, and Shawn Vasell, who like Ring was a congressional aide before joining Abramoff's lobbying team." [5]

[edit] Other Trouble

In December of 2005, Vasell pleaded guilty to "one count of hunting without a license and another count of hunting on private property without permission. In his plea agreement, two other charges of violations of big game laws were dropped and he avoided possible jail time." [6]

[edit] External links

[edit] 1998

[edit] 2001

[edit] 2005

[edit] 2006


[edit] GFDL Source

As of this edit, this article uses content from SourceWatch. The original article was at "Shawn Vasell". As with Wikipedia, the text of SourceWatch is available under the GNU Free Documentation License, and all relevant terms must be followed.

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