Ethics Scandal: Will Jack Sing?

29 December 2005 |permalink | email article

The new year starts with high anxiety in the Capitol. Will the indictment of Republican superlobbyist Jack Abramoff for fraud in Florida in a corruption scandal taint members of Congress who must face voters in 2006?

Anxiety, from the White House down, is fueled by published reports that Abramoff is close to a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. A deal could jell in early January. The negotiations are complicated because they involve prosecutors, in both Miami and Washington where the once powerful lobbyist is the subject of a federal influence-peddling investigation.

While plea negotiations continue in that case, prosecutors believe there is evidence of a corruption scheme involving more than a dozen lawmakers and former staffers, who worked closely with Abramoff and accepted gifts and favors in return. If he becomes a star witness in the biggest congressional ethics scandal since 1992, when it was disclosed that 350 House members were allowed to bounce checks with impunity at the House bank, will the domino theory be in play?

Abramoff ís influence was astonishing on Capitol Hill: 210 current members of Congress received contributions from him or his clients. But 25 lawmakers received $25,500 or more ñ 20 were Republicans and five were Democrats but, as the Los Angeles Times reported, none of the Democrats got money directly from Abramoff. Democrats say the GOP has brought a ìculture of corruption and cronyismî to the capital.

In California, the Sacramento Bee on Dec. 11 identified eight members of the California GOP delegation who have documented ties, through campaign finance or lobbyist disclosure forms, to companies and individuals under scrutiny in the Randy “Duke”îCunningham defense-industry bribery case and others, including Abramoff and his dealings with Indian tribal clients. Republicans say the scandal is bipartisan, noting 40 of 45 Senate Democrats got money from Abramoff clients.

Jesse Unruh, the late Democratic Speaker of the California Assembly, famously coined the phrase, ìmoney is the motherís milk of politics.î The color of lobbyistsí money is what now nourishes political corruption in Washington.

As 2005 fades to yesterday, the fear among lawmakers is a replay of the 1992 ethical backlash which drove dozens of members from Congress ñ not Tom DeLayís association with Abramoff ñ and what happens if Jack spills the beans.

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