The Republican Governors Association will donate $500,000 it received from confessed felon Michael Scanlon.

Scanlon's Capital Campaign Strategies gave the money in October 2002. It is not clear where Scanlon got it but an October 1, 2005, report in The Boston Globe suggested that it came from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, a client of Jack Abramoff's.

Shortly after Scanlon gave the money to the RGA, the RGA gave $600,000 to Bob Riley, the Republican candidate for governor of Alabama. Riley, opposes the expansion of gaming in the state, where the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, a rival to the Choctaws, is based. Riley won the election and has balked at the tribe's gaming plans.

The RGA is giving the $500,000 to American Red Cross chapters to help hurricane victims.

Get the Story:
GOP Group to Donate Abramoff-Related Funds (AP 1/11)
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Relevant Links:
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians - http://www.choctaw.org

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