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 Tribes Still Giving, Despite Abramoff Scandal 
By Emily Cadei, CQ Staff 

 
The Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal may have given the Indian tribes he was 
convicted of defrauding plenty of reason to check their participation in the 
political process. But they really haven't. 
  
Aside from a brief pause in campaign contributions during the 2006 election 
cycle, the tribes have continued to flex their muscle by giving millions to 
candidates and are on pace now to possibly break previous contribution levels.
In 2006, the tribes that were one-time clients of Abramoff gave $1.2 million to 
candidates and parties, a drop of $700,000 from their 2004 contributions. They 
had already matched that $1.2 million as of the end of July this year, and could 
possibly reach 2004 levels by the end of the election. Overall, Indian tribes 
have reported more than $8.9 million in contributions so far this election.
Although they were victims of Abramoff's influence peddling schemes, the scandal 
led to intensified scrutiny of Indian tribe money flowing into Washington and 
prompted many lawmakers to return tribe contributions.
But law professor Robert Miller says the scandal has had no lingering effects. 
"I don't think anyone's backed off" of giving overall, said Miller, a member of 
the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma who teaches tribal law at Lewis and Clark 
College in Portland, Ore. 
"Tribes have learned in the last 50 years to exercise muscle" when it comes to 
government, he added. "And it take votes and/or money." 
Still, not all the tribes that were tied up in the Abramoff affair have resumed 
their participation. For example, no donations have been reported this election 
from the Tigua Tribe of Texas, or the Coushatta and Chitimacha tribes of 
Louisiana. 
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