Ed Buckham
Ed Buckham ran Alexander Strategy Group, a lobby shop known for its access to Tom DeLay. He also worked closely with Jack Abramoff.
Buckham was named in Tony Rudy's March 31, 2006 guilty plea as "Lobbyist B." The plea also names Buckham as having benefitted from Rudy's effort to round up aides for a trip to the Northern Mariana Islands.
Ed Buckham started working for DeLay in 1995 after staff positions with several other Republicans and a run as executive director of the Republican Study Committee. He served as both a pastor and chief of staff for the congressman.
Buckham organized the US Family Network, an astroturf organization that served as a conduit for cash to various DeLay projects, in 1996. He also founded the Alexander Strategy Group (ASG), a lobbying firm that was one of the flagship operations of DeLay's K Street project and a key gatekeeper to DeLay's influence until it closed its doors in January 2006.
See Buckham's Grand Ole Docket entry for ongoing court dates.
Key points:
Buckham's ASG channeled money from Abramoff clients to DeLay through the U.S. Family Network.
A CNMI textile company, the Choctaw Indians and the Russian oil interests each donated large sums of money to the USFN, allegedly in exchange for support from Tom DeLay. USFN paid ASG hundreds of thousands of dollars, and ASG paid Christine DeLay $3,200/month, though she did not work in their offices on Capitol Hill.
Buckham arranged DeLay's first trip to the Mississippi Choctaws.
Buckham, along with Tony Rudy, was the first DeLay staffer to visit with the Choctaws, an Abramoff client. The trip, taken in 1997, lasted 3 days and cost the Choctaw $3,000. The following year, Buckham arranged a trip for DeLay to the Choctaw Casino and golf resort. The day after DeLay left the resort, the Choctaws made an initial $150,000 payment to the USFN. The Choctaws were Abramoff clients.
DeLay's Scotland trip was partially billed to Buckham.
When DeLay traveled to Scotland to play at an exclusive golf resort in 2000, parts of the trip were billed to Buckham's credit card, a violation of House ethics rules since Buckham was, by that time, a registered lobbyist. Other parts of the trip were charged to Abramoff's credit card.
Buckham represented Brent Wilkes' Group W Advisors.
Group W Advisors, a lobby shop operated by Brent Wilkes, who has been implicated in the Cunningham bribery investigation, hired ASG in 2002 to lobby DeLay on defense contracts. ASG has earned $620,000 on the contracts to date. Buckham represented Group W for ASG along with Rudy and several other ASG lobbyists.
Buckham's concorde flight caught the press's attention.
On the Buckam-DeLay trip to Russia in 1997, which was financed by Russian oil interests, Buckam took a $5,000 flight home on the Concorde. Questioned by the press, he claimed the ticket was financed by the NCPPR.
Research by Ryan Chiachiere
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