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Abramoff Scandal
Writer paid to praise Choctaws, Abramoff clients


Ed. Note: The Cato Institute has removed the Choctaw article from its website. The link to the Choctaw article is to the cached version kept by Google. After the Abramoff scandal broke, Doug Bandow wrote a negative column about tribes: Opinion: Time to reconsider status of Indians.

A syndicated columnist was paid by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to write columns that praised Abramoff's clients, including the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, BusinessWeek Online reports.

Doug Bandow, a columnist for Copley News Service, accepted money from Abramoff to write between 12 and 24 articles. One article from May 11, 1998, called the Choctaws "a model for other tribes" [Native American Success Stories].

Bandow has since resigned his position as senior fellow at the Cato Institute. His columns noted his position at the libertarian think tank but not the Abramoff payments.

Peter Ferrara, a senior policy adviser at the conservative Institute for Policy Innovation, also took money from Abramoff and the Choctaws directly. He was paid by the tribe to write a 1998 book called 'The Choctaw Revolution: Lessons for Federal Indian Policy" and had a column published in The Washington Times that praised the Choctaws.

Get the Story:
Op-Eds for Sale (Business Week Online 12/16)
Bandow, Syndicated Columnist, Admits Taking Money from Abramoff (Editor and Publisher 12/16)

Relevant Links:
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians - http://www.choctaw.org

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