Tribe links key Democrat, lobbyist in probe

from Boston.com

WASHINGTON -- New evidence is emerging that the top Democrat on the Senate committee investigating Jack Abramoff got political money arranged by the lobbyist in 2002, shortly after the lawmaker took action favorable to Abramoff's tribal clients.

A lawyer for the Louisiana Coushatta Indians said Abramoff instructed the tribe to send $5,000 to Senator Byron Dorgan's political group just three weeks after the North Dakota Democrat urged fellow senators to fund a tribal school program for Abramoff's clients.

The check was one of about five dozen the Coushattas listed in a tribal ledger as being issued on March 6, 2002, to various lawmakers' campaigns and political causes at the instruction of Abramoff, tribal lawyer Jimmy Faircloth said.

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