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A sordid tale

Jack Abramoff's agreement to cooperate with an investigation into public corruption could turn into the biggest political scandal in decades.

Jack Abramoff committed the ultimate crime in Washington when he pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe members of Congress. He got caught.

Some of the most powerful politicians in the land, once buddies of the flamboyant lobbyist, couldn't move fast enough to return his gifts and express surprise (make that shock!) at his behavior. But it may not be that easy for the sleaze to wash out.

Abramoff's guilty plea to conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion is likely the first act in a longer drama. Once the highest-paid influence peddler in town, the amoral Abramoff has agreed to cooperate with a Justice Department investigation into public corruption that could end up as the biggest political scandal in decades. As many as a dozen members of Congress have reason to be afraid now that Abramoff has agreed to tell his sordid tale.

Among Abramoff's friends and recipients of his largesse were Rep. Tom DeLay, the embattled former House majority leader, and Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who admits he is "Representative No. 1" in investigative documents that allege he accepted golf trips, meals and even Super Bowl tickets in exchange for official acts that helped Abramoff's clients. DeLay, who faces his own corruption trial in Texas, had a variety of personal connections to Abramoff and took a now infamous golfing trip to Scotland with him at the lobbyist's expense. In one instance, DeLay invoked an arcane House rule to block an Internet-gambling bill Abramoff didn't like - shortly after the wife of a DeLay aide received $50,000 from a charitable organization that fronted for Abramoff.

Most of Abramoff's loot - an astonishing $60-million or more - came from Indian tribes, whom he pitted against each other and referred to disparagingly as "troglodytes" and worse. Details of those schemes expose rules of the game that Abramoff violated only by degree. He persuaded a Texas Indian tribe to pay him $4.2-million to help reopen its casino, failing to mention that a Louisiana tribe had already paid him millions of dollars to oppose the measure.

Abramoff found eager accomplices to such despicable schemes, such as former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed, currently a candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor. Although Reed has not been charged with a crime, he accepted millions from Abramoff to run a religious-based antigambling campaign, with the money coming from other gambling interests looking to eliminate the competition. In Reed's cynical world, religion and family values are merely commodities to be bartered for profit.

Now that Abramoff has put a face (in comical black fedora) on public corruption, politicians don't recognize him. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., quickly sent $69,000 in Abramoff contributions to charity. President Bush also is scrambling to return the lobbyist's donations. Democrats hoping to use the growing scandal to attack Republicans on their ethics have found themselves with a problem. While most of Abramoff's self-serving generosity benefitted Republicans, he bestowed gifts on Democrats when necessary. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota received contributions after signing letters that backed Abramoff on a gambling issue.

So this isn't about partisan pratfalls; it's about peeling the bandages off a wound that is already gangrenous. Now once-resistant lawmakers line up eagerly to support lobbying reform, but real change won't come that easily. As Congress and the Florida Legislature demonstrate over and over, laws aimed at taking the corrupting influence of money out of politics are often merely a challenge to lawmakers and lobbyists to be more clever.

Abramoff was certainly clever, and he found easy access to power. Only by following his well-marked trail - and maybe by sending a few prominent lawmakers to prison - will the Justice Department make an impression on the Washington establishment. One need feel no pity for Abramoff, who would probably sell out his grandmother to avoid a longer prison sentence, or for the greedy clients he represented. They are merely the tainted fruit of a poisoned tree.

[Last modified January 5, 2006, 01:18:19]