But "not a penny" of the money given by Native American tribes to the congressman came from the disgraced lobbyist, an aide says.

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, January 4, 2006

BY JOHN E. MULLIGAN
Journal Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy is one of the leading recipients of campaign contributions from Indian tribes represented by -- and in some cases defrauded by -- Jack Abramoff, the well-connected Washington lobbyist who pleaded guilty yesterday to corruption-related crimes.

From 1999 through last year, Kennedy and his political action committee accepted $42,500 in campaign contributions from a half-dozen tribes that figured in Abramoff's rise and fall as a top Republican lobbyist. Kennedy's chief of staff said "not a penny" of the tribal contributions to the congressman had anything to do with Abramoff.

One Washington watchdog group ranked Kennedy eighth among congressional beneficiaries of Abramoff, his tribal clients or his gambling company. Kennedy ranked first among congressional Democrats in this listing by the Center for Responsive Politics.

But Kennedy chief of staff Sean Richardson, while acknowledging the Rhode Island Democrat's status as a prominent beneficiary of tribes that run gambling businesses, said all of Kennedy's contributions from Abramoff's clients are solely "based on his relationships with the tribes."

"None of this -- not a single penny of it -- had anything to do with Jack Abramoff," Richardson said. Kennedy "has no relationship with Jack Abramoff. We don't believe he has ever met Jack Abramoff. Jack Abramoff has never lobbied us on anything," Richardson said. Kennedy is not listed by the Federal Election Commission as a recipient of any contributions from Abramoff.

Kennedy will not return any of his contributions from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians or other tribes among Abramoff's clients. Some elected officials have chosen to return contributions from Abramoff and his associates since Abramoff's indictment last year.

"These people just have the misfortune of being represented by Jack Abramoff," Richardson said. He referred to the fact that Abramoff's plea agreement portrays the Choctaws and three other tribes as victims of the lobbyist's frauds. Specifically, the papers describe how Abramoff and his associates generated fraudulent legal fees from the tribes and turned much of the money into kickbacks.

Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics and a former FEC general counsel, predicted that some lawmakers would return tribal contributions because "they are really worried politically" about the fallout from the Abramoff scandal.

"Indian tribes are very big givers and they plan to keep giving," Noble said. "They are very worried about being frozen out of the process. I think they see themselves to a very large extent as victims in this."

Kennedy has been a leading recipient of Indian gambling-related campaign contributions for much of his congressional career. He was also a founder of the Native American Caucus in the House and has portrayed himself as a champion of Indian rights. Richardson said Kennedy has visited about a dozen tribes in their reservations and other settlements around the country and has received contributions from 110 tribes.

Kennedy has often noted that his family -- particularly his late uncle, Robert F. Kennedy -- has long been identified with Indian rights.

Kennedy's support for Indian gambling, in the case of the Narragansett tribe, is more ambiguous. During his first term in Congress -- which began in 1995 -- Kennedy became an outspoken supporter of the Narragansetts' effort to seek a high-stakes gambling hall in Rhode Island. He was the only member of the state's congressional delegation to do so.

But Kennedy said he was concerned mainly with the Indians' rights under law and was personally opposed to gambling as an economic-development tool for the tribe.

For several years during the 1990s, Kennedy championed the repeal of a law, written by the late Sen. John H. Chafee, that had the effect of limiting the Narragansetts' gambling rights. After several years of failure, however, Kennedy dropped that cause.

But he has remained a major recipient of campaign money from tribes that have used gambling revenues to raise their profile in Washington.

When he was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in 1999 and 2000, Kennedy also helped the party and its House candidates to raise money from Indian tribes.

jmulligan@belo-dc.com / 202-661-8423

With reports from Michelle Mittelstadt of The Dallas Morning News.