Todd A. Boulanger

Todd A. Boulanger "handles as many as eight client accounts" at Cassidy & Associates Inc., including Jack Abramoff's "former client, the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana," James V. Grimaldi wrote in the June 26, 2005, Washington Post.

Boulanger was a member of "Team Abramoff", the "more than a dozen lobbyists who were members of ... the tight-knit group who worked under Abramoff when he was at the lobbying helm of the Washington office of Greenberg Traurig LLP and, before that, Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP," Grimaldi said.

On Background
"His credentials are solid," Jonathan E. Kaplan wrote March 15, 2005, in The Hill. "He worked for several years for ex-Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) and is close to earning a master’s degree in economics from Johns Hopkins."

"Boulanger also served in the 368th Engineer Battalion of the Army Reserve, which he joined during his freshman year at the University of New Hampshire.

"After volunteering for presidential candidate (later senator) Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) in 1995 and interning on Capitol Hill, he joined Smith’s staff as a legislative aide working on transportation, budget, small business, and tax issues," Kaplan wrote.

"And he’s well-connected. Tony Rudy, a former aide to Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), introduced Boulanger to his future wife, Jessica Incitto, a former Syracuse cheerleader who has worked for DeLay and GOP Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce (Ohio). The two met in Broward County, Fla., during the 2000 presidential election recount. ... She is now Majority Whip Roy Blunt’s (R-Mo.) press secretary, and the couple live in a basement apartment with a bamboo plant," Kaplan wrote.

More on the DeLay-Abramoff Connection
"Take Todd Boulanger for instance. You may remember Boulanger as the 'Team Abramoff' lobbyist who drafted an unprecedented letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton on behalf of the client Louisiana Coushatta tribe --a letter ultimately signed by Speaker [Dennis] Hastert, Republican Leader Tom Delay, and Republican Whip Roy Blunt. Abramoff, with Boulanger's help, took the Coushattas for about $32 million," Jeff Mazur wrote October 5, 2005, in Fired Up Missouri.

"As it turns out, Boulanger was not only able to get Blunt to put pen to paper on behalf of Abramoff's client, but there were far more personal ties as well. You see, Abramoff deputy Boulanger is married to Jessica Incitto, a former Delay staffer who happens to be Press Secretary to--you guessed it--Roy Blunt.

"And in case you're thinking that perhaps Boulanger's connection with Abramoff was only fleeting," Mazur wrote, "consider this blurb from a 2005 profile in [the March 15, 2005,] The Hill newspaper:


 * "In 1999, [Boulanger] joined Preston Gates & Ellis, an emerging GOP lobbying firm that was founded by Bill Gates, Sr.


 * "Jack Abramoff, the GOP superlobbyist, also worked at Preston Gates.


 * "'I started working on his business because he had all of it,' Boulanger said, and in 2001 he followed Abramoff to Greenberg Traurig. Boulanger joined Cassidy & Associates last year."

"The blurb implies but fails to mention that Boulanger joined Cassidy in 2004 after the firm had already brought Jack Abramoff aboard. Given their strikingly identical work histories, it would appear that either Jack Abramoff and Todd Boulanger were joined at the hip, or that Boulanger was a loyal Abramoff acolyte. But coincidence is out. (Indeed, two different accounts list Boulanger, along with Jim Hirni, Kevin Ring, Neil Volz, Duane Gibson, Pat Wilson, Shawn Vasell, former Delay CoS Tony Rudy, and Stephanie Leger Short as Abramoff lieutenants at either Greenberg, Preston Gates, or both.)," Mazur wrote.

"Removing any doubt about just how close the mentor-protege relationship between Abramoff and both Boulanger and Hirni was, consider the way that the men came to be employed together at Cassidy & Associates. Abramoff came on board with Cassidy on March 23, 2004 according to Roll Call. The very next day, March 24, Cassidy & Associates issued a press release which 'announced that the firm would be welcoming several new hires over the next few weeks'. Among those listed as new hires on the release--Todd Boulanger and Jim Hirni. Turns out that Abramoff was not hired alone at Cassidy, but was part of a package deal that mandated the hire of his right and left-hand men as well," Jeff Mazur wrote November 13, 2005.

In a March 24, 2004, news release, Cassidy & Associates said


 * "Todd Boulanger as Senior Vice President. Todd was a Legislative Aide in the office of Senator Bob Smith (R-NH) for three years prior to joining the firm Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds. Most recently Todd was Director of Government Affairs at Greenberg Traurig. He is a 1995 graduate of the University of New Hampshire."

2000 Florida Recount
"Four of Abramoff’s colleagues—all of whom have left Greenberg in the wake of investigations surrounding Abramoff’s activities—were foot soldiers in the Florida recount. Two of them bragged of their recount work on their official online Greenberg biographies, which have since been removed," John Byrne reported in the May 5, 2005, Raw Story.

"Shawn Vasell noted that he was a 'team leader' in Broward and Duval counties in his bio; Duane Gibson was photographed in the acclaimed Brooks Brothers riot of Republican operatives outside the Miami-Dade County polling headquarters; Todd Boulanger boasted of being on the Broward and Duval recount team in his profile. Also on the ground was former DeLay deputy chief of staff Tony Rudy.

"Boulanger drafted a letter DeLay signed urging the Interior Department to favor Abramoff’s client in June 2003—a letter cosigned by the House Republican leadership, including Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO)," Byrne wrote.

Fundraising with Abramoff
On June 3, 2003, Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert’s political action committee held "a $1,500-a-plate lunch at [Abramoff's restaurant] Signatures at which Hastert [was] the featured speaker. Abramoff and two other members of his staff may have been in attendance, as Hastert’s PAC records contributions of $6,250 from the lobbyist and six other members of his firm"--Boulanger, Gibson, Ring, Vasell, Neil G. Volz and Wilson--"shortly thereafter–including a $500 contribution from Boulanger," John Byrne reported in The Raw Story, March 29, 2005.

SourceWatch Resources

 * Abramoff-Reed Indian Gambling Scandal
 * Republican 'culture of corruption'

Profiles

 * Biography: Todd Boulanger, Senior Vice President, Cassidy & Associates.

Articles & Commentary

 * "Comings and Goings," The Buzz, March 28, 2001.
 * John Byrne, "Stacking the deck: How GOP lawmakers teamed with a top lobbyist to crush a rival’s casino bid, raking in donations in the process," The Raw Story (Beware of This page catch), March 29, 2005.
 * John Byrne, "New ties link House GOP leadership with lobbyist Abramoff," The Raw Story (Beware of This page catch), March 29, 2005.
 * "Coushatta Tribe sues Abramoff, Scanlon in state court," Indianz.com, April 22, 2005.
 * John Byrne, "Bush Florida 2000 recount committee still owes lobbyist's former firm $314k. White House directs queries to RNC," The Raw Story, May 5, 2005.
 * James V. Grimaldi, "Lobbyists, Clients Undeterred by Scandal. Alumni of Abramoff's 'Team' Still Collecting Fees, Trying to Influence Government," Washington Post, June 26, 2005.
 * Jeff Mazur, "Jack of Clubs: Inner Circle of Abramoff, Delay, Blunt and the Boys," Fired Up Missouri, October 5, 2005.
 * Roy Temple, "Federal Abramoff Probe Inches Closer To Roy Blunt," Fired Up Missouri, November 10, 2005.
 * Jeff Mazur, "State Lobbying Contract Tied to Abramoff; Who Pressured Highway Commission to Hire Jack?" Fired Up Missouri, November 13, 2005.
 * "Who Is Team Abramoff?" Washington Post, December 12, 2005.