Abramoff's last e-mail to friends before prison: "Unfortunately, things are going to get worse." [View All]

[seafan]

Abramoff goes to prison, e-mails that things 'going to get worse'




BY DAVID DISHNEAU
November 15. 2006

CUMBERLAND, Md. -- Hours before entering federal prison Wednesday, lobbyist Jack Abramoff sent friends an e-mail lamenting "this nightmare" political scandal and predicting things were about to get worse - but still looking optimistically to the future.
Abramoff, who parlayed campaign donations and expensive gifts into political influence from Congress to the White House, reported to a Maryland prison where he will earn no more than 40 cents an hour for assigned jobs.
Shortly before dawn, he sent an e-mail to friends thanking them for standing by him. He then set out for prison, leaving behind a city shaken by his scandal. A congressman has admitted corruption, a Bush administration official was convicted of lying, Republicans were driven from office and several aides have pleaded guilty.

"This nightmare has gone on for almost three years so far and I expect we are not even half way through," Abramoff wrote.

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"Unfortunately, things are going to get worse (starting today no doubt) before they get better, but I am confident that ultimately the turmoil will subside and we will have our lives back," Abramoff wrote.

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"Please bear in mind, though, that I am not permitted to conduct any ongoing business while in prison, and plan to be even stricter on myself than the rules require," he wrote.
He also noted that authorities could - and likely would - read his mail.
Abramoff told friends he would look for spiritual meaning in prison. As an Orthodox Jew, he did not spell out the word "God" in his e-mail.
"I have learned more lessons in the past three years than I have my whole life, and I am hoping that my family and I can see the good in G-Ds plan for us during these times, and gain strength from it," he wrote.

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Abramoff's e-mail did not address the public corruption investigation, which has also ensnared Ney's former chief of staff and two aides to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. The case played a role, along with legal troubles in Texas, in driving DeLay from his leadership role before he ultimately quit Congress.
It also contributed to the Election Day defeat of Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. Safavian was sentenced in October to 18 months in prison for lying to investigators about his ties to Abramoff. He is asking a federal judge to postpone his sentence until he can appeal his conviction.
Burns, who received about $150,000 in Abramoff-related donations and whose aides traveled on the lobbyist's jet to the 2001 Super Bowl, has denied any wrongdoing. Though two of DeLay's aides have pleaded guilty, the former majority leader maintains his innocence and has not been charged.

Also under scrutiny are Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., who accepted campaign money from Abramoff and used the lobbyist's luxury sports box for a fundraiser without initially reporting it, and former Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles, who senators and a former colleague said gave preferential treatment to Abramoff and his Indian tribe clients.

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