Lifeguard to exec in a day

27 Jun 2005 // With black jeans, long sideburns and sun-bleached tousled hair, David Grosh seemed an unlikely character to take centre stage in Congress.

In a city where political moments are scripted and everyone is determined to stay on message, Mr Grosh, 36, variously a lifeguard, construction worker and barman, was a breath of fresh air during his appearance last week.

Mellow - extremely mellow - before a number of high-powered senators, Mr Grosh was testifying to the Indian affairs Senate committee about the activities of prominent Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Mr Abramoff has close links with Republican powerbroker Tom DeLay, the Republican leader of the House of Representatives and a man some regard as being as powerful as President George W.Bush on the US domestic political landscape.

The Indian affairs committee is investigating a startling conspiracy in which Mr Abramoff is alleged to have defrauded several Indian tribes of $US80million ($104million) in fees and expenses between 2001 and last year.Big casinos have become a feature of the reservations run by native Americans since the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and Mr Abramoff was hired to help promote the tribes' casino interests in Washington.

His modus operandi included establishing bogus organisations, and that's where Mr Grosh came in. Back in 2001, Mr Abramoff's Washington business partner, Michael Scanlon, telephoned Mr Grosh, an old school friend, at his rented beach house at Rehoboth beach in Delaware, on the Atlantic coast, with an offer too good to refuse.

"Want to be head of an international corporation?" Mr Grosh said Mr Scanlon asked him. Mr Grosh, struggling to pay the bills, was working as a lifeguard.

"I was like, sure," Mr Grosh told the Senate committee hearing last week. "It was a hard one to turn down. I asked him what I had to do, and he said 'Nothing'. So that sounded pretty good to me."

At that point, the suppressed giggles in the Senate hearing room gave way to outright belly laughs.

Mr Grosh took up the position of director for the grandly titled "American International Centre". The co-head was another friend, yoga instructor Brian Mann. Mr Mann has refused to testify, but Mr Grosh had no such problems, endearingly arriving at Congress alone, without the lawyers who are de rigueur for this kind of appearance, and giving no thought to invoking the fifth amendment, a constitutional protection against self-incriminating evidence.

Mr Grosh told the senators that for agreeing to Mr Scanlan's request he picked up $US2500 and some tickets to an ice hockey game.

The American International Centre was promoted as "bringing great minds together from all over the globe" under the "high-power directorship" of Mr Mann and Mr Grosh.

"I was not really taking it seriously," said Mr Grosh.

"Did you have any board meetings?" asked Senator John McCain, chairman of the committee.

"Um, I recall one," Mr Grosh replied.

"How long did that last?" asked Senator McCain.

"Fifteen minutes," Mr Grosh said, with the same kind of slightly surprised expression he wore all day.

Senator McCain: "Do you recall any business that was discussed at these meetings?"

Mr Grosh: "Off the top of my head? No. I'm sure we discussed something."

Mr Grosh said he quit after about six months when he realised the operation involved the "federal Government, Indian tribes and gambling".

"I knew it was headed down the wrong way," he said.

The inquiry has heard the American International Centre was just one of several non-profit groups used by Mr Abramoff and Mr Scanlon to channel money from the tribes to themselves and their favoured projects.

In 2001, the Choctaw Indians paid $US7.7 million to Mr Abramoff and Mr Scanlon for lobbying work. But the evidence suggested the pair spent just $US1.2 million on the designated projects, keeping the remaining $US6.5million for a program called "gimme five" - money for themselves.

"Mr Abramoff betrayed a longstanding client, betrayed his colleagues, betrayed his friend," Senator McCain said.

Even by Washington graft standards, some senators have noted, this was a breathtaking ruse.

And Mr Grosh did go to the trouble for his day on Capitol Hill to prepare a two-sentence statement that prefaced his exchange at the hearing: "I'm embarrassed and disgusted to be a part of this whole thing. The Lakota Indians have a word, wasichu, which aptly describes all of us right now."

He did not elaborate, but wasichu means "he who steals the fat".

All up, it was a stunning effort from Mr Grosh, and judging by the media clamour after he finished his testimony, he may yet make some real money out of the scandal.

For his part, Mr Abramoff has some long days ahead as the Senate inquiry and a separate Justice Department probe rolls on. It will likely cause more headaches for Mr DeLay, too.