HUGE Story: Tigani Pleads Guilty to Election Charges
The Delaware Way is beginning to crumble. The indictment and guilty plea of Chris Tigani, all taking place within a matter of hours this afternoon, could well hasten its demolition.
First, read the story, it’s that important. Here’s a key excerpt:
Prosecutors said Tigani, who made headlines for a series of legal battles with his father and others, orchestrated a scheme to make campaign contributions far in excess of federal law to a wide range of candidates for state and federal office “to increase his company’s influence over matters of importance to N.K.S. (huge liquor distributorship) throughout the state of Delaware.” Court papers then specifically mention one matter in particular in Tigani’s efforts to influence elected officials: the so-called sweetheart land deal, facilitated by his friend Ruth Ann Minner when she was governor, to get a 66-year-lease on two parcels of land along Del. 1 in Milford. That land was owned by the Delaware Department of Transportation. That deal was first reported by The News Journal.
The Delaware Way links in the story are many. Contributions from Tigani to Joe Biden, the Democratic State Committee, Ruth Ann Minner. The Governor’s Office directly intervening to give Tigani the sweetheartiest of all sweetheart deals.
The real key is the fact that he pleaded guilty so readily. He must be spilling his guts out to the Feds…or had better be. It must not end with him. The News-Journal excerpt quoted above defines the term quid pro quo. The memo from Minner’s Chief-of-Staff to DELDOT on the proposed sweetheart deal made clear what the quid pro quo was all about. Allow me to quote: “Make it happen.”
When you read the story, you see how Tigani basically got NKS employees to either pony up or, most likely, to put their names on contributions actually coming from Tigani and NKS. While trying to cover up the official source of the contributions, he made sure that those enjoying his largesse knew that he and NKS were the ones letting the money flow. In so doing, he placed each and every NKS employee whose name appears on the contribution lists in legal jeopardy. Classy move by one classy guy.
Here’s what must happen: (1) Beau Biden must immediately recuse himself directly from any ongoing investigations concerning NKS and the other parties involved. He must appoint, or have appointed, a special prosecutor to investigate this mess. While neither he nor Vice President Biden may have personally been sullied by this, his ongoing involvement in this would be perceived correctly as a conflict-of-interest; (2) The Federal Department of Justice must pursue this case wherever it goes. Those in the Minner Administration who put up the ‘For Sale’ sign on government must be punished. Anything short of that makes a mockery of the entire notion of justice; (3) The State Democratic Committee must immediately return or renounce (i. e. donate to charity) the Tigani/NKS contributions.
Folks, as Democrats, and I’m one, we must make sure that one-party rule, if it ever eventuates, does not mean corrupt rule. The Minner Administration, in particular, represents true ethical rot and perhaps criminal corruption. Those responsible must be pursued and brought to justice, and we must insist that they be pursued and brought to justice. Along the way, some people we think of as ‘good’ may get caught up in the net. It’s the price we must pay to ensure that people believe that, at the very least, their government is not for sale to the highest and sleaziest bidders.
Tags: Chris Tigani; Ruth Ann Minner; Joe Biden; Beau Biden;, Steve Tanzer; El Somnambulo
OR everyone could put everything on tigiani. use him as the jesus christ of past political sins. pretend they are going to do better in the future.
Not likely, Phil. The government goes after people who accept bribes, not those who pay them. See Capano, Mario.
This only hurts the employees. Pols are bought and sold several times daily. Now the warehouse workers and the drivers and the salespeople are going to take the biggest hit due to nonsense. Greed is nonsense, vengeance is folly.
Oh YEAH! Take ’em all OUT!!!!!
“5 years in prison for each of the two violation of election law counts, and up to 3 years in prison for each of the two tax violations.”
So the crime is paying, not accepting.
From a business perspective, this is how you take a business that is impossible to break, and break it. NKS didn’t need the sweetheart deals, but making them probably made Chris feel like a big guy. A player.
I wonder if RAM is a target.
From the sound of it every Dem that ran for office in DE got some NKS money. The irony is that none of them really needed it.
Jason: Ruth Ann Minner almost got nipped at the wire by the hapless Bill Lee in 2004. She needed the $$’s, and Tigani got an incredible sweetheart deal from her. Her corrupt administration had BETTER be in the Feds’ crosshairs.
Maybe Tigani should have stopped sleeping with his nanny and employees so much and start focusing on which bar of soap to grab in the community shower room
El Som, do you have evidence of your claim? Thats a pretty precise accusation that Tigani got his sweetheart deal due to his funding at just the right moment.
It is my understanding Tigani was right in there with the Dems at various levels for years, not just at the right moment, playing Godfather to rescue Ruth Ann at just the right moment.
The NJ headline had me thinking about Joe Biden who didn’t need the money.
“Ruth Ann Minner almost got nipped at the wire by the hapless Bill Lee in 2004. She needed the $$’s, and Tigani got an incredible sweetheart deal from her. Her corrupt administration had BETTER be in the Feds’ crosshairs”
YUP and that should definately include PAM SCOTT and her Saul Ewing client Blenheim Homes’ Jay Sonecha who had Ralph Reeb hammer out the infrastructure deal for Bayberry’s southern sewer and 301 beltway back in 2004. Just 10 days after that sweetheart deal was signed by Pam, Jay and Nathan Hayward, Hayward purchased Garrison’s Lake Golf Course from Sonecha with his congested corridor acquisition slush fund (later used on the DuPont/MBNA course at Louviers and the MBNA/BoA building in Wilmo.
Scott’s client Sonecha also donated a mint to Minner for that reelection bid and was one of those who shoveled 20K in cash for her inaugural ball on the Riverfront after she won.
Joe Biden should probably act fast to distance himself from this story. This sounds like the kind of story that could go national right around election time.
And how is this different than pete schwartzkopf’s relationship with schell brothers? take a look at campaign money coming in from schell employees. All the schell billboards magically turn into pete billboards two months before the election, and change back right after the election. pete’s daughter’s household income depends on her husbands job at schell brothers, a job he was extremely unqualified for. schell will need a head of security for their casino. pete runs a casino security firm.
Same thing, well, except that he hasn’t been able to deliver for schell, yet.
And in 2004 the campaign of RAM was being run by Lee Ann Walling, who was deeply involved with both the campaign and land use issues throughout the State. She was rewarded with a sweet heart merit job, also set up by Mark Brainard (who pushed through the NKS – 66 year lease), without a doubt at the insistence of RAM. The corruption runs deep, and the new administration has not steeped up to clean it out. Maybe this investigation will help. If it cleans things up, it will be good for the Dems in the long run.
I see that everyone has got their pet grievances to paste onto this. That’s super.
I’m interested in this:
Anyone know why Oberly would recuse himself from this? The reason may be fairly routine, but a US Attorney recusing himself from a high profile case is pretty rare, I’m thinking.
Oberly did the right thing by handing this off to someone else. He was an elected official in Delaware for quite some time and knew many of the players. I’m sure he saw this as a real or perceived conflict-of-interest and recognized that the public would see it the same way.
A response to SussexAnon: If you’re asking whether the sweetheart deal was SPECIFICALLY in response to cash infusions from Tigani and NKS in the closing days of the 2004 election, no, I don’t claim to have proof of that. You’re correct that the Tigani/NKS connection apparently goes back quite some time. My prose was not well-chosen if it left that impression.
I was responding to my friend Jason’s claim that none of the recipients needed the money, and pointing out that RAM sure as hell did in 2004. I hope that makes things clearer.
“5 years in prison for each of the two violation of election law counts, and up to 3 years in prison for each of the two tax violations.”
So the crime is paying, not accepting.
They are crimes on both sides, but the way the Feds typically operate is to cut a plea deal with the briber for his testimony against the bribee(s).
Geezer is right. That’s how it works on TV anyway.
I don’t know about TV. I’m going by the Mario Capano cases.
How could I leave out LEE ANN WALLING!!!!!!!!!!! Come on Markell, you also were in Woodburn when the Schell reservation payments were set up in the DelDOT Realty office. Clear house!
They all needed, wanted and stood in line to get the money.
Right. Like you’d know.
Um, this is a small state and there are ALWAYS going to be ties. Six Degrees of Separation do not equal conflict-of-interest. Regardless, this belongs on the Open Thread, methinks, and is running pretty far afield of this topic.
So, I’d suggest that you take this stuff over to the Open Thread and you can conspiracy-theorize to your heart’s content.
It’s not as if we don’t give anyone the opportunity to air their own particular Delaware Way grievances. Maybe we should have an ongoing Delaware Way thread.
But we DO try to stay more or less on topic, especially when there’s so much to discuss under this topic. But herding cats has never been my specialty. Have at it.
I hate to agree, but this state is too damn small to be able to eliminate ALL conflicts.
Now if those conflicts decide policy, nail the bastard to the wall. Until then, a billboard? Really? That’s all you got? That and a possible promise of a conflict down the road if the pieces fall together, but so far haven’t because Sussex voters were against it?
Wake me when you have something concrete.. like a SITTING VICE PRESIDENT WHO ACCEPTED ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS.
My question is.. so this Tigiani dude got caught. Who else was using this method to pull this game, and who else received donations? This kind of gimmick isn’t a one time deal operation.
The FBI has been very busy addressing this problem and there is more to come out for Delaware…
http://www.fbi.gov/baltimore/press-releases/2011/guilty-plea-of-prince-george2019s-county-developer-daniel-colton-unsealed-today
Guilty Plea of Prince George’s County Developer Daniel Colton Unsealed Today
Previously Pleaded Guilty Under Seal to Conspiracy to Commit Extortion and to Cause False Statements to the Federal Election Commission
U.S. Attorney’s Office June 02, 2011
District of Maryland (410) 209-4800
GREENBELT, MD—The guilty plea of Prince George’s developer Daniel Colton, age 61, a resident of Annapolis, Maryland and Raleigh, North Carolina, was unsealed today. Colton pleaded guilty under seal on September 13, 2010, to conspiracy to commit extortion and to make false statements to the Federal Election Commission.
The unsealing of the guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Sparkman of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office.
According to his guilty plea, Colton was a prominent developer in Prince George’s County. Colton and other co-conspirators, including developer Patrick Ricker, had an ownership interest in Greenbelt Metropark, which sought to design, develop and build a mixed-use project near the Greenbelt Metro Station, called Greenbelt Station. Colton, Ricker and their co-conspirators also had an interest in Day Homes, which was incorporated to construct single family homes in Maryland, and was involved in several development projects in the County.
According to Colton’s guilty plea, from 1997 through at least September 11, 2008, Colton, Ricker, and other business persons offered things of value, including money, trip expenses, meals, drinks, hotel rooms, airline tickets, rounds of golf, employment, mortgage payments, and monetary and in-kind campaign contributions to state and local government officials.
In exchange for the bribes, state and local officials performed and agreed to perform favorable official actions for Colton, Ricker, and other developers, business owners and their companies. The official acts included obtaining approval letters for the Greenbelt Station Detailed Site Plan; assisting in the acquisition of surplus property and land from the County for development by Day Homes; providing the conspirators with non-public County information; obtaining necessary state and local approvals and permits for Greenbelt Station and other developments and businesses in the County; voting in favor of legislation favorable to their development projects; and, ensuring that a certain developer would obtain a contract to purchase certain buildings for the County.
According to Colton’s plea agreement, state and local officials concealed items they received from Colton and his co-conspirators by failing to report them or by misrepresenting their nature and value. Further, Colton and his co-conspirators concealed campaign contributions to the state and local officials that were above state and federal legal limits by using conduits and in-kind contributions. Specifically, Colton and his co-conspirators recruited “straw donors,” including family members and employees, to make state and federal campaign contributions with funds provided by or reimbursed by Colton and his co-conspirators. Colton and his co-conspirators also provided in-kind contributions to conceal the actual amount of their campaign contributions, such as campaign signs, food, alcohol, and the administrative services of their employees and family members.
According to his plea agreement, including illicit campaign contributions and property provided by Colton and his co-conspirators, the value of things obtained by public officials and others acting with a public official attributable to Colton is between $400,000 and $1 million in connection with the scheme.
Colton faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy to commit extortion, and false statements to the Federal Election Commission. Co-conspirator Patrick Q. Ricker, age 52, of Bowie, Maryland, pleaded guilty on December 30, 2009 to conspiring to commit honest services fraud and to make false statements to the Federal Election Commission; and to tax evasion. His plea was also entered under seal and was unsealed on May 17, 2011. Ricker faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on each of those counts. No sentencing dates have been scheduled for Daniel Colton and Patrick Ricker.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the FBI and IRS-CI for their work in the investigation and thanked the Prince George’s County Police Department for its assistance. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys James A. Crowell IV, A. David Copperthite and Sujit Raman, who are prosecuting these cases.
And that has what to do with Delaware?
gee – I thought all ofthe above was just called – LOBBYING..
maybe Im Naive…….or Im just jaded-either way- is anyone surprised? really?
Plus in Delaware-if you are elected – it would be virtually impossible to recuse yourself from evey vote or bill that impacted a friend or collegue or family member or your spouses family, friend or collegue
My God – one would not be able to have a say on anything – seeing as we are all “country cousins”
It is the “delaware way” dont mean I like it or defend it – but I do understand the difficulties with a small state and few folks runnin the show.
Stop drwing starw men and marionettes – anyone can invent a scandal r create a whisper and before you know it BAM – its a fact jack (no pun intended Gov)
so lets just all grow up and stop slandering a good man, good husband and good legislator with a whisper campaign
its mean spirited and not nice and can do damage – but hery – if you want o…there is always COD
BTW – she must not be on the treadmill reading paplical encyclicals much anymore – you see that last NJ shot – can you say
FAT COW (now the right will slamm me for that mean comment so Im sorry in advance) this is Sussex so to be technically correct….
Ya’ll see that FAT “HEIFER” (virgin cow) latelythe De Government would grind to a halt…
“so lets just all grow up and stop slandering a good man, good husband and good legislator with a whisper campaign”
What whisper campaign? Schwartzkopf’s support of Del Pointe is hardly a secret. And what slander? The only thing alleged is that he’ll go to work for Del Pointe if it gets built, something I have asked him about and he has denied.
Beyond that, what do I care what kind of man or husband he is? All I care about is what kind of legislator he is. He’s effective, but so was Nancy Cook. We have him to blame for the fact that John Atkins is back in the General Assembly, so strike one. To anyone who doesn’t like Schell, Schwartzkopf’s backing of Del Pointe is apparently strike two; for me, strike two is that yet another state cop is in the General Assembly. That’s not personal, but I dislike the agency’s over-representation in the legislature.
Discussing this does not represent childishness. Indeed, I would suggest you are the one who needs to “grow up” here.
Chris Coons took too much of Rickman money back in his first run at Council President or maybe earlier. The Republicans made a formal complaint but Coons slipped through on some of what seemed to be flimsy excuses by Rickman. The money was from different entities he owned in MD and different family members.
This Rickman issue came to my attention in March of this year:
Maryland Politics Watch: Campaign Finance Loophole Case Study: William Rickman
http://maryland-politics.blogspot.com/2009/03/campaign-finance-loophole-case
but the link is bad now – don’t know what happened to it.
this story was so huge that a week later it’s a completely dead topic.
There is a Repuk Congressman from Florida who owns sever car dealerships who has done the same thing. So the Big question here is when is Eric Holder going to get off his ass and start inforcing the law????? This also goes for those Bankers and Wall street crooks.
“this story was so huge that a week later it’s a completely dead topic.”
If you understood the media you’d know why. The FBI leaked what it did for a purpose. My read on it is that they hit a dead end and thought they had more to gain by going public than keeping it quiet. Other than track the campaign contributions, there isn’t much the media can do on its own.
When the FBI is your source on a story, you’re going to get exactly what they FBI wants the public to know, and no more.
A friend of mine met with an FBI connection recently to talk about some county stuff and when I asked how it went, I was told – it is alwasys a one way conversation with the FBI. I told them what I knew and that was that.