Michael Scanlon
Encyclopedia
Michael Scanlon, AKA "Sean Scanlon", is a former communications director for Rep. Tom DeLay
, lobbyist, and public relations
executive who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges related to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. He is currently assisting in the investigation of his former partners Abramoff, Grover Norquist
and Ralph Reed
by separate state and federal grand jury
investigations related to the defrauding of American Indian tribes and corruption of public officials. In addition to the allegation of dishonest dealing arising from the consulting contracts themselves, Abramoff and Scanlon are accused of illegally giving favors to senior Republicans Tom DeLay
, Conrad Burns
, John Doolittle
and Bob Ney
. In 2005 Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a member of Congress and other public officials. On February 11, 2011, he was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison and 300 hours of community service.
. Pierpont failed to gain the party's nomination.
Scanlon later acted as a press secretary to Michael Patrick Flanagan
(R-IL
), who was elected to the former congressional seat of Dan Rostenkowski
in 1994, Fred Heineman
(R-NC
) in 1996, and then Bob Riley
(R-AL
), who later became Governor of Alabama.
He later became an aide to congressman Tom DeLay
(R-TX
), and rose in the ranks to become the Majority Whip's communication director.
. Shortly thereafter, Scanlon was hired by the Washington law firm of Preston Gates Ellis and Rouvelas Meeds, and joined Abramoff's lobbying team.
, a Florida
-based cruise line which ran "cruises to nowhere" into international waters, where gambling was allowed onboard. Scanlon was not a partner in the deal but assisted in the purchase, by contacting Neil G. Volz, an old friend from his time on Capitol Hill and Chief of Staff to Rep. Bob Ney
(R-OH
). Volz aided Scanlon in getting Ney to place comments in the Congressional Record
to aid Abramoff in purchasing the business. Abramoff was accused and later pleaded guilty in 2005 to charges of wire fraud
, stemming from a forged wire transfer showing a non-existent down payment used to obtain financing for the purchase.
(along with the dummy organizations American International Center
, Atlantic Research Analysis, and Scanlon Gould Public Affairs). Abramoff and Scanlon used the firm to bilk tribal clients for millions of dollars in fees. Abramoff directed clients to use Scanlon's firm for political campaign services, without disclosing his own relationship with Scanlon. Scanlon's firm would then only perform part of the campaign services billed for, and would split the excess money received with Abramoff in a scheme known to the two as "Gimme Five".
Private communications revealed as a result of the Congressional enquiry into Scanlon and Abramoff's consulting business demonstrate a contemptuous attitude to both clients and supporters. Indian Clients were referred to as "troglodyte
s" and "monkeys", while Christian Conservatives
were called gullible "wackos" who could be manipulated to vote on demand:
Scanlon also emailed colleagues, saying:
, Scanlon was charged with conspiring with another lobbyist, who was identified only as "Lobbyist A," and believed to be Abramoff. That same day Scanlon agreed to testify against Abramoff in any future criminal case involving his ex-partner.
On November 21, 2005, in proceedings before Federal District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle
, Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a member of Congress and other public officials. Under the plea agreement, Scanlon will repay $19.6 million to his former Indian tribe lobbying clients.
in the 2010 film Casino Jack.
Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
, lobbyist, and public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
executive who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges related to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. He is currently assisting in the investigation of his former partners Abramoff, Grover Norquist
Grover Norquist
Grover Glenn Norquist is an American lobbyist, conservative activist, and founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform...
and Ralph Reed
Ralph E. Reed, Jr.
Ralph Eugene Reed, Jr., is a conservative American political activist, best known as the first executive director of the Christian Coalition during the early 1990s. He sought the Republican nomination for the office of Lieutenant Governor of Georgia but lost the primary election on July 18, 2006,...
by separate state and federal grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
investigations related to the defrauding of American Indian tribes and corruption of public officials. In addition to the allegation of dishonest dealing arising from the consulting contracts themselves, Abramoff and Scanlon are accused of illegally giving favors to senior Republicans Tom DeLay
Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
, Conrad Burns
Conrad Burns
Conrad Ray Burns is a former United States Senator from Montana. He is only the second Republican to represent Montana in the Senate since the passage in 1913 of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and is the longest-serving Republican senator in Montana history.While in...
, John Doolittle
John Doolittle
John Taylor Doolittle , American politician, was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2009, representing . In the 109th Congress, he held a leadership role as the Deputy Whip for the Republican party in the House...
and Bob Ney
Bob Ney
Robert William Ney is an American politician from the U.S. state of Ohio. A Republican, Ney represented Ohio's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 until November 3, 2006, when he resigned...
. In 2005 Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a member of Congress and other public officials. On February 11, 2011, he was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison and 300 hours of community service.
Early career
In 1994, Scanlon worked as press secretary for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ross Pierpont of MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. Pierpont failed to gain the party's nomination.
Scanlon later acted as a press secretary to Michael Patrick Flanagan
Michael Patrick Flanagan
Michael Patrick Flanagan is an American politician from Illinois, and a Republican. He served one term in the United States House of Representatives....
(R-IL
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
), who was elected to the former congressional seat of Dan Rostenkowski
Dan Rostenkowski
Daniel David "Dan" Rostenkowski was a United States Representative from Illinois, serving from 1959 to 1995. Raised in a blue-collar neighborhood on the Northwest Side of Chicago, Rostenkowski rose to become one of the most powerful legislators in Washington. He was a member of the Democratic Party...
in 1994, Fred Heineman
Fred Heineman
Frederick K. "Fred" Heineman was a Republican U.S. Congressman from North Carolina, serving between 1995 and 1997....
(R-NC
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
) in 1996, and then Bob Riley
Bob Riley
Bob Riley may refer to:* Bob Riley, 52nd Governor of Alabama* Bob C. Riley, acting Governor of Arkansas for 11 days in 1975* Bob Riley , sports car designer and founder of Riley Technologies...
(R-AL
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
), who later became Governor of Alabama.
He later became an aide to congressman Tom DeLay
Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
(R-TX
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
), and rose in the ranks to become the Majority Whip's communication director.
Scanlon leaves Capitol Hill
Michael Scanlon resigned his position as communication director for Tom DeLay in March 2000, while DeLay was being lobbied by Abramoff to vote against the Internet Gambling Prohibition ActInternet Gambling Prohibition Act
The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act was a 1999 bill in the US Senate to ban Internet gambling. Passage of the bill was defeated, in large part, by the lobbying efforts of Jack Abramoff...
. Shortly thereafter, Scanlon was hired by the Washington law firm of Preston Gates Ellis and Rouvelas Meeds, and joined Abramoff's lobbying team.
Scanlon, Abramoff and SunCruz Casinos
In February 2000, Abramoff became involved in the purchase of SunCruz CasinosSunCruz Casinos
SunCruz Casinos was one of many cruise lines that offered offshore "cruises to nowhere", legally transporting passengers into international waters beyond the reach of federal and state gambling laws...
, a Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
-based cruise line which ran "cruises to nowhere" into international waters, where gambling was allowed onboard. Scanlon was not a partner in the deal but assisted in the purchase, by contacting Neil G. Volz, an old friend from his time on Capitol Hill and Chief of Staff to Rep. Bob Ney
Bob Ney
Robert William Ney is an American politician from the U.S. state of Ohio. A Republican, Ney represented Ohio's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 until November 3, 2006, when he resigned...
(R-OH
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
). Volz aided Scanlon in getting Ney to place comments in the Congressional Record
Congressional Record
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when the United States Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks...
to aid Abramoff in purchasing the business. Abramoff was accused and later pleaded guilty in 2005 to charges of wire fraud
Wire fraud
Mail and wire fraud is a federal crime in the United States. Together, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, and 1346 reach any fraudulent scheme or artifice to intentionally deprive another of property or honest services with a nexus to mail or wire communication....
, stemming from a forged wire transfer showing a non-existent down payment used to obtain financing for the purchase.
Scanlon and Tribal lobbying
As of September 11, 2000, Scanlon was one of the lobbyists assigned to Abramoff's team lobbying on behalf of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan. After Abramoff left Preston Gates and went to Greenberg Traurig in January 2001, Scanlon formed his own public relations firm, Capitol Campaign StrategiesCapitol Campaign Strategies
Capitol Campaign Strategies was a public relations firm run by Michael Scanlon, Tom DeLay's former press secretary, which Scanlon used in coordination with Jack Abramoff to redirect about $40 million in lobbying contributions from Indian tribes to Scanlon, Abramoff, and their associates, as well as...
(along with the dummy organizations American International Center
American International Center
The American International Center LLC was a front organization established in 2001 by Michael Scanlon as part of his conspiracy with Jack Abramoff to receive and redistribute funds given by their clients for personal and political gain...
, Atlantic Research Analysis, and Scanlon Gould Public Affairs). Abramoff and Scanlon used the firm to bilk tribal clients for millions of dollars in fees. Abramoff directed clients to use Scanlon's firm for political campaign services, without disclosing his own relationship with Scanlon. Scanlon's firm would then only perform part of the campaign services billed for, and would split the excess money received with Abramoff in a scheme known to the two as "Gimme Five".
Private communications revealed as a result of the Congressional enquiry into Scanlon and Abramoff's consulting business demonstrate a contemptuous attitude to both clients and supporters. Indian Clients were referred to as "troglodyte
Caveman
A caveman or troglodyte is a stock character based upon widespread concepts of the way in which early prehistoric humans may have looked and behaved...
s" and "monkeys", while Christian Conservatives
Christian right
Christian right is a term used predominantly in the United States to describe "right-wing" Christian political groups that are characterized by their strong support of socially conservative policies...
were called gullible "wackos" who could be manipulated to vote on demand:
Scanlon also emailed colleagues, saying:
Criminal charges
On November 18, 2005, in a one-count criminal information filed by the US Justice DepartmentUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
, Scanlon was charged with conspiring with another lobbyist, who was identified only as "Lobbyist A," and believed to be Abramoff. That same day Scanlon agreed to testify against Abramoff in any future criminal case involving his ex-partner.
On November 21, 2005, in proceedings before Federal District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle
Ellen Segal Huvelle
Ellen Segal Huvelle is a federal judge sitting in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She has overseen several significant cases...
, Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a member of Congress and other public officials. Under the plea agreement, Scanlon will repay $19.6 million to his former Indian tribe lobbying clients.
Fictional portrayals
Scanlon was portrayed by Barry PepperBarry Pepper
Barry Robert Pepper is a Canadian actor. He is best known for playing roles like Sergeant Michael Strank in the Clint Eastwood film, Flags of Our Fathers, Private Daniel Jackson in Saving Private Ryan, Roger Maris in 61*, Ned Pepper in True Grit and for his recent role as Robert F...
in the 2010 film Casino Jack.