As tribes have become wealthy due to gaming and other enterprises, they are being lured into the Washington money game, says retired Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colorado).

"Where the hell were you when we were poor?" Campbell asks in a USA Today interview.

As former chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Campbell led hearings last year into the Jack Abramoff/Michael Scanlon lobbying scandal. "You're the problem, buddy, with what is happening to American Indians," he told Abramoff at the end of one hearing.

Current committee chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) is getting ready to resume hearings on the matter. One will presumably focus on the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, whose leaders spent $32 million on Abramoff and Scanlon, $24 million of which came from a fund meant for health care, education and other services.

The tribe gave $3.7 million to the American International Center, a "think tank" set up by Scanlon. But, according to USA Today, $2 million of that amount was funneled to Christian Republican activist Ralph Reed in order to fight tribes in Texas and Louisiana.

The money was authorized by tribal chairman Lovelin Poncho, vice chairman William Worfel and council member Leonard Battise without the knowledge of other tribal officials. They even gave Scanlon more than a half a million to "spy" on their political rivals within the tribe.

Get the Story:
Unfolding scandal tears at tribe with leading role (USA Today 4/12)

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