Campaigns & Elections' Politics - February 2008 - (Page 29) I Was a I did other people’s dirty work, chasing down rumors and uncovering scandals. Here’s a glimpse of my life in the shadows. Political Hitman I By Stephen Marks t was midday on Jan. 3, 2006, and the tune “Miss Misery” by Elliott Smith was floating through my headphones. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my TV screen flash, News Alert! Then those words were replaced with a headline: “Republican Lobbyist Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy Charges.” Video footage showed a man being led by federal agents to a big black car. “I hope it’s not someone I know,” I thought. The man was wearing a fedora that flopped around in the wind, making him look like a goon from an old Edward G. Robinson movie. Then I went numb as the man’s name appeared on the screen: Jack Abramoff. My mind immediately went back to 2001, when I did a very sensitive job for a client hired by Abramoff ’s partner, Michael Scanlon, who later pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. The assignment wasn’t surprising since I’d already done a lot of opposition research, particularly this sort of “field research” (meaning traveling to wherever I had to go to dig up dirt on someone). And it wasn’t my first job involving Scanlon, either. The job was to “research” Gus Boulis, a Greek immigrant who made millions with his restaurant chain, Miami Subs, and subsequently made even more millions with SunCruz, the Florida casino boat chain. Boulis sold SunCruz to Scanlon’s partner, Abramoff, and Republican businessman Adam Kidan, but the deal quickly soured when Boulis tried to back out. This is when I was brought in. Scanlon’s PR firm, Capitol Campaign Strategies, was hoping to find dirt on Boulis. Criss-crossing Florida in January 2001, I had to analyze Boulis’ courthouse records in areas where he and SunCruz had done business—Tallahassee, Tampa, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and the Florida Keys. Not exactly the GETTY IMAGES February 2008 Politics 29
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