The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Power Line Gets Scalped: Did Indian Tribe Money Influence Akin Gump Decision?

Posted on | January 31, 2011 | 23 Comments

William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection has the story of how, when Paul Mirengoff criticized the Yaqui Indian prayer offered at the Tucson memorial, his remarks were denounced as “insensitive and wholly inappropriate” by a partner at Mirengoff’s K Street law firm, Akin Gump.

So now Mirengoff’s offensive post has been taken down by Power Line and Mirengoff has stopped blogging there. But there’s a lot more to this story than political correctness run amok.

The lawyer who denounced Mirengoff, James Meggesto, is a member of the Onondago Nation of New York who was hired by Akin Gump in February 2007 – i.e., right after Nancy Pelosi’s Democrats took over Congress. Megesto was one of three lawyers, including Vanessa Ray-Hodge and Madeline Soboleff Levy, hired by the firm at that time as part of an expansion of Akin Gump’s “American Indian law and policy practice” according to a Feb. 23, 2007, press release. Akin Gump’s total haul from lobbying in 2007 was $32 million – an increase of 25% over the previous year.

You may recall that Pelosi and Democrats were elected in 2006 on a promise to clean up the “culture of corruption” in Washington. Exhibit A in the Democrats’ case against the GOP that year? Yeah: “Casino Jack” Abramoff’s shady dealings with Indian tribes.

So in criticizing that Yaqui prayer at the Tucson memorial, Paul Mirengoff wasn’t just being politically incorrect, he was also offending a lucrative segment of Akin Gump’s lobbying clientele, whom the firm had recently hired three lawyers to service. Small wonder that Mirengoff was likely forced to choose: Quit blogging at Power Line or quit working at Akin Gump.

This near-”Dooce” experience calls into question whether a lawyer at a big K Street firm could ever function as an independent conservative voice in the blogosphere. You may recall that Mirengoff was criticized for pushing a bogus Alaska Senate poll which showed Joe Miller in third place in late October. But you may not know that a tribal non-profit, the Alaska Federation of Natives, was the single biggest contributor to a PAC that “reported raising $1.7 million over 38 days in its independent effort to re-elect Sen. Lisa Murkowski.”

While I was unable to Google up any connection between Akin Gump and the Alaska Federation of Natives, I did find a connection between Akin Gump and Lisa Murkowski. (The United Arab Emirates? Hey, not that there’s anything wrong with that . . .) I’ve met Paul Mirengoff and like Paul Mirengoff, and can’t imagine him doing a pay-for-play operation, but you see how being a political blogger could lead to potential conflicts of interest with working for a  K Street law firm that does more than $30 million a year in lobbying business.

The Appearance of Impropriety, so to speak.

UPDATE: Linked by Dan Riehl — thanks! — now a Mememorandum thread and meanwhile, Jeff Goldstein disusses the intentionality angle of Mirengoff’s remarks.

UPDATE II: Linked by Charlie Martin at PJ Tatler. Thanks!

Bookmark and Share
Category: Power Line

Comments

  • Adobe_Walls

    I don’t work for any lobbying firm so you won’t have to take down this comment later. Having a *faux witch* doctor give the blessing at what was supposed to be a memorial service, instead of a religious leader or Chaplin was an affront to human decency.
    * The reason I write “faux witchdoctor” is because after referencing Mexican genocide against his people he stated, in words to this effect, that while he was not an actual shaman he had permission from the Elders to play one on TV.

  • Dxrinc

    McLAME sucks…

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, I remember that bit: “I’m not a tribal medicine man, but . . .”

  • wordygirl

    Paul’s credibility on Powerline was already taking a hit due to the very personal vitriol toward Palin and other tea party candidates (e.g. Miller).

  • Pingback: The PJ Tatler » … in which I get contrary.

  • AmishDude

    It doesn’t sound to me like anybody took offense except for a fellow lawyer who decided to take offense and score some political points.

    We often find out that the Native Americans are more sensible than their advocates — even those who are “official” members of the tribe.

  • http://twitter.com/Politisite Politisite

    Thankfully or sadly there is no law firm that could get us to pull a post because I make millions of dollars on K Street. I wholly agree that the “Pep Rally” prayer should have been associated with the faith of those who died. While I thought The Presidents statements were appropriate to the event, the rest was way out of line. Folks died, It was a Memorial service not a Football game.

  • http://pointofagun.blogspot.com/ Dave C

    If there was an argument for anonymous blogging, this would be it.

  • TR Sterling

    Yeah RSM likes Mr. Mirengoff, just like my boss said, at the cocktail parties everyone is a nice guy. That doesnt really mean much in your day-to-day dealing with some department chairman. “I don’t understand, he seems like such a nice guy…”

  • Mark30339

    The PowerLine folks are too elite to allow comments, and now are too elite to stand by their controversial posts — it is really poor form to delete a post down a rabbit hole. Far better that it remain with whatever apologies or second thoughts provided as introductory or post script remarks. How odd that an employment law expert cowered at the prospect of losing employment.

  • Pingback: Paul Mirengoff Leaves Power Line After Yaqui Indian Post

  • Pingback: Never Yet Melted » PC Shuts Down Major Conservative Blogger

  • Pingback: On Gasoline Prices, Practicing Safe Blogging and CPAC (again) | Goldfish and Clowns. Where God's not dead and neither are we.

  • http://www.lisagraas.com Lisa Graas

    I’ll bet the Native American vote is bigger than the gay vote.

  • Pingback: BlueRidgeForum » Can We Learn From a Major Conservative Blogger’s Exit?

  • Pingback: Indians Claim a Political Scalp After Obama’s Tucson Speech

  • Pingback: Mirengoff Out At Powerline | Around The Sphere

  • Mikejones

    Wow, the authors of this blog are clueless. You all should change the quote on your header to …

    “One should either write ruthlessly what one speculates to be the truth, or is able to google, or else shut up.” — Arthur Koestler

    Maybe this stuff is fun to blog and fun for others to read, but your speculation is sooo loose and your google “research” so weak, you’d being doing us all a favor if you just shut up.

  • Garfreed

    I write a blog about Akin Gump. The firm definitely seems to be hypersensitive about being embarrassed.

    http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2011/02/akin-gump-concern-about-embarrassment.html

  • Michael Jordan

    McLame! You seriously took the time to write this speculative piece? Can’t believe I wasted 2min reading it. Btw, Akin isn’t on K-St. either.

  • tuschkahouma

    firstly, it’s the Onandaga Nation, not Onandago. Secondly, Benjamin
    Franklin freely admitted to being influenced by a leader of this
    nation, Canestago, in the 1750′s, when that leader spoke of the
    democratic rule amongst the Six Nations in that time. Mr. Franklin
    admitted this influence as he authored the US Constitution in the
    late 1780′s. Your country took much land illegally and expects
    the survivors of this action to tolerate political incorrectness.
    If you’re so smart, why do you feel the need to be incorrect?
    My father went to a Dietrich Bonhoeffer meeting in Berlin in 2000
    where the German attendees apologized to the other attendees
    for the actions of the Nazis and Holocaust. Why are they willing
    to be conscientious and you all scream for the right to say stupid
    things? only in a young country like America.

  • Opposed.

    Which branch of Akin Gump do you work for, Tuschkahouma?

  • Pingback: The Wild Hunt » Respecting Native Culture, Goddess Temples, and the HuffPo Deal

Performance Optimization WordPress Plugins by W3 EDGE