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Politicians with connections to Indian affairs and Greenberg Traurig
U.S. Rep. J.D.Hayworth (R-AZ)
Rep.J.D. Hayworth the largest single recipient of Abramoff related money and co-chairman of the Congressional Native American Caucus, has received more than $150,000 from Indian tribes once represented by Abramoff.
Controversies
Payments to Hayworth's wife
Between 2001 and 2005 inclusive, Hayworth's wife Mary was paid $20,400 per year by TEAM PAC, Hayworth's leadership political action committee. In 2002, a spokesman for Hayworth said that his wife handled bookkeeping and many administrative details for the PAC.[5]
Hayworth's wife had been the only employee of TEAM PAC after December 1999. Through the end of 2004, the fund had paid $107,000 for her salary and payroll taxes, or roughly 26 percent of its $411,000 in revenue. The PAC also paid $70,000 to an outside political consultant and a California bookkeeper, bringing fundraising and administrative expenses 43 percent of the total revenue.[6]
In 2002, the Phoenix New Times questioned whether a variety of TEAM PAC expenditures were in fact for personal use of Hayworth and his wife.[7]
Between January 2001 and February 2006, TEAM PAC took in $538,109. Administrative costs for the period were about $165,000, about 30 percent of contributions during the period, including $102,000 for Hayworth's wife. As of July 31, 2006, TEAM PAC had received $92,000 during the 2006 election cycle (January 1, 2005 – December 31, 2006) and had $15,000 cash on hand.[8] It was paying Mary Hayworth $2,076 every month. It was also reporting about 10 expenditures per month, with half related to her employment.[9]
[edit] Abramoff and Indian tribes
Main article: Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal
In 1997, Hayworth helped stop a proposal to tax Indian casinos, which would have taken $1.9 billion off reservations. In 2002, Hayworth played a key role in preventing a change in the law that allowed Indian tribes to contribute to an unlimited number of federal candidates with an aggregate cap in dollars.[10]
Between 1999 and 2005, Hayworth received $69,000 from lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his clients, primarily from Indian tribes. $62,000 of the money went to TEAM PAC.[11] After Abramoff was convicted of defrauding the tribes, Hayworth decided to keep the donations. His chief of staff, Joe Eule, said to the Arizona Republic, "The tribes have told us, 'We love you. We loved you before we met Jack Abramoff, and we love you after Jack Abramoff, and we think it would be foolish of you to (give back) the money.'"[12] Hayworth was co-chairman of the Native American Caucus in Congress. Hayworth gave $2,250 representing the total of personal campaign donations from Abramoff to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in 2005.
Hayworth had free use of Abramoff's sports skyboxes for five fund-raisers,[13] the first in 1999. In 2004, some months after Abramoff's millions of dollars of lobbying fees from Indian tribes was first reported in the news, Hayworth paid the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana nearly $13,000 for the use of the skyboxes. Eule did not respond to repeated calls asking for documentation why the tribes should be paid (the box was in Abramoff's name) and how it was determined that they should receive equal amounts. Federal lobbying records showed that the Chitimachas were not registered as paying clients of Abramoff when four of the events took place.[14]
[edit] 2006 campaign
See also: United States House elections, 2006
Arizona's Fifth District[15] is comprised mainly of Tempe, Mesa, Scottsdale, western Chandler and Fountain Hills, suburbs of Phoenix.
Hayworth had considered running for the Governor of Arizona in the 2006 elections against incumbent Democrat Janet Napolitano, but in March 2005 he announced that he preferred to stay in Congress. In the spring of 2005, Napolitano was enjoying a 79 percent favorable job rating.[16].
On October 27, 2006, after endorsing Hayworth in previous Congressional races, the Arizona Republic newspaper withdrew its support and instead endorsed Harry Mitchell, his opponent.[17] Harry Mitchell was a former State Democratic Chair, and also a former mayor of Tempe.[18] In explaining its shift of endorsement, the paper cited Mitchell's long record of public service and ability to work collaboratively across partisan divides. The article placed Hayworth "among Capitol Hill's worst offenders" of "extreme partisanship." Calling Hayworth a "bully", it described an example of an "overbearing attempt at intimidation" by Hayworth during an interview with the paper's editorial staff. It finally suggested that his "bombastic rhetoric and obnoxious behavior" in the conduct of his office was a key factor in the paper's withdrawal of their support for him.
Several prominent local Republicans also crossed the aisle to endorse Harry Mitchell in the race, including many former GOP elected office holders.[19]
This defection of Republicans had a significant impact on the result of the general election: CD-5, despite having a 60% Republican active registered voter advantage over Democrats (139,057 vs
86,743 in October 2006)[20], nevertheless voted in favor of the
Democrat Mitchell.
On the evening of November 7, election day, most major news media declared Mitchell the winner of the Congressional race, as the state poll numbers demonstrated a clear victory, but Hayworth refused to concede while the prospects for victory remained with the significant number of absentee and early-voting ballots to be counted. As the ballots were counted and the results were updated each day, Hayworth never demonstrated the significant gains he anticipated and ending up losing the election by more than 8,000 votes or a 3.4 percent margin. Hayworth finally conceded on November 14. His reasons for the delay in conceding contrasted with his actions in his 1996 Congressional election when, leading by only 590 votes on election night, he "brushed aside suggestions the outcome could change".[21] Mitchell did not claim victory until November 22.
During the campaign, Hayworth was dogged by controversial affiliation with Jack Abramoff and over questions of propriety of payments to his wife from Hayworth's PAC (see above).
In a leaked internal email from the National Republican Congressional Committee, G.O.P. spokesman Carl Forti suggested that Hayworth's defeat was caused by the "scandal factor".[22]
References
^ CNN.com - Elections 2006
^ "J. D. Hayworth". Jdhayworth.com. http://www.jdhayworth.com/. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
^ "Celebrating 9 years of a happy marriage, and urging members to help end the marriage tax penalty", remarks in the House of Representatives, February 25, 1998.
^ Rebecca Spence, "Arizona Pol Triggers Flap By Praising Henry Ford", Arizona Republic, August 18, 2006
^ Jon Kamman, "Gaming tribes donate freely to Hayworth", Arizona Republic, October 21, 2002
^ Jon Kamman, "Campaign committee nepotism under fire: Family ties are legal but are they right?", The Arizona Republic, April 10, 2005
^ Amy Silverman, "Money for Nothing: Halloween is still a week away, but are contributors being tricked into paying for J.D.'s treats?, Phoenix New Times, October 24, 2002
^ Summary data on TEAM PAC, Opensecrets.com, accessed September 17, 2006
^ Expenditure data for TEAM PAC, Opensecrets.com accessed September 17, 2006
^ Amanda B. Carpenter, "House Democrat Boasted of Saving Tribal-Contributions Loophole", Human Events Online, March 14, 2006
^ "Jack Abramoff Lobbying and Political Contributions, 1999 - 2006", Center for Responsive Politics
^ Ed Montini, "On the political calendar, every day is Christmas Day", December 27, 2005
^ Jonathan Weisman and Derek Willis, "Democrat on Panel Probing Abramoff to Return Tribal Donations", Washington Post, December 14, 2005
^ Jon Kamman, "Hayworth, 2 others account for skyboxes: New filings omit links to lobbyist", The Arizona Republic, May 10, 2005
^ [1]
^ HORIZON: Eight/KAET Public Affairs Program
^ Mitchell over the bully
^ HarryMitchellforCongress.com
^ [2]
^ 2005 & 2006 Voter Registration Counts
^ Absentee Vote Counts Will Not Affect GOP's Hold on House - The Tech
^ Our Apologies
^ "How Low the Mighty Have Fallen", Ridiculous Infomercial Review, February 2, 2008
[edit] External links
J. D. Hayworth at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Campaign website
Associated Press profile
Voting record maintained by the Washington Post
SourceWatch Congresspedia — J.D. Hayworth profile
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