The Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan has hired a new lobbying firm after having ended its relationship with controversial Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The tribe hired Chesapeake Enterprises, The Hill reports. The firm was founded by Scott Reed, the campaign manager for the failed 1996 presidential campaign of former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.).

According to OpenSecrets.Org, Chesapeake Enterprises has had at least three tribal clients since 1997. From 1997 through 2000, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut paid the firm $100,000, the newly recognized Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut paid $20,000 and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota paid $20,000.

Reed once lobbied for one faction of the Buena Vista Miwuk Rancheria in California, a tribe at the center of a casino and leadership battle in 2002. According to former Bureau of Indian Affairs aide Wayne Smith, Reed threatened to blackmail him with letters from his former business partner, a charge Reed denied.

But within weeks, Smith was fired for alleging the White House was trying to influence a BIA decision in favor of Reed, described by The Los Angeles Times as a close friend of White House aide Jennifer Farley.

Get the Story:
Indian tribe signs new contract with lobbying firm (The Hill 3/9)

Relevant Links:
Greenberg Traurig - http://www.gtlaw.com

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