Jack in a Box

05 January 2006 |permalink | email article

Itís not a happy new year for the Washington establishment. In the biggest federal corruption scandal to hit Congress in a generation, superlobbyist Jack Abramoff has pleaded guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials.

The longtime Republican operative has agreed to spill the beans about powerful congressmen, aides and lobbyists with whom he has done business to reduce a long prison sentence. Emerging from federal court dressed in a black trench coat and matching fedora and looking like a Mafia Don in a remake of “The Godfather,” he represented an extreme outreach of power in trading influence from the time the GOP took control of the House in 1994.

Whatís worrisome to members of Congress about the bribery case is that many of its elements include solicitation transactions that routinely occur daily in Washington. But the flamboyant Abramoff set a new standard for ethical impropriety and government for sale by providing lawmakers with exotic trips, free meals and lavish entertainment.

Nothing better illustrates the uneasy relationship between government and money than the unbelievable reaction of California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. He represents some coastal cities in southern Los Angeles and Orange counties, has been a pal of Abramoff for two decades and provided a loan reference for his purchase of the SunCruz casino fleet in 2000.

ìI think heís been dealt a bad hand and the worst, rawest deal Iíve ever seen in my life. Words like bribery are being used to describe things that happened every day in Washington and are not bribes.î The feds disagree. 

Rohrabacher, a freebie at Signatures, Abramoffís posh former power restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue ñ and whose name had a FOO (Friend of Owner) Comp designation next to it - dined once or twice a month there and said the meals fell under the friendship designation in House rules. He told the New York Times that he tried to take Abramoff out regularly, paying for the lobbyistsí meals in return.

Although some powerful Democrats received money from Abramoffís clients, Republicans may have more to worry about in the November 2006 midterm elections. Key players in the Abramoff network included indicted former majority leader Tom DeLay; Ohio Rep. Bob Ney; and the conservative lobbyists Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist. House Speaker Dennis Hastert hastened this week to give $60 grand he received to charity.

This scandal raises comparisons with the Teapot Dome bribery scandal in the 1920s that ruined the reputation of Republican President Warren G. Harding and lingered for a decade afterwards. Teapot Dome never reached Harding personally. But it ruined his administrationís reputation. One wonders how far this investigation will extend, how effective Abramoff’s testimony will be and how close it may come to the Bush White House.

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