NYT: Lobbyist's Role in Hiring Aides Is Investigated

[Pirate Smile]

Lobbyist's Role in Hiring Aides Is Investigated

By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Published: December 2, 2005

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 - With a federal corruption case intensifying, prosecutors investigating Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist, are examining whether he brokered lucrative jobs for Congressional aides at powerful lobbying firms in exchange for legislative favors, people involved in the case have said.

The attention paid to how the aides obtained jobs occurs as Mr. Abramoff is under mounting pressure to cooperate with prosecutors as they consider a case against lawmakers. Participants in the case, who insisted on anonymity because the investigation is secret, said he could try to reach a deal in the next six weeks.

Many forces are bearing down on Mr. Abramoff. Last week, his closest business partner, Michael Scanlon, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in exchange for cooperating in the inquiry, being run by an interagency group, into whether money and gifts were used in an influence-peddling scandal that involved lawmakers.

Despite charging Indian tribes that were clients tens of millions of dollars in lobbying fees, Mr. Abramoff has told friends that he is running out of money. In a new approach that could contribute to the pressures, prosecutors are sifting through evidence related to the hiring of several former Congressional aides by a lobbying firm, Greenberg Traurig, where Mr. Abramoff worked from 2000 to last year, according to people who know about the inquiry. That course could impel a new set of Mr. Abramoff's former associates to cooperate to avoid prosecution.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/02/politics/02abramoff.html?hp&ex=1133499600&en=bd9c5ab4058dc00f&ei=5094&partner=homepage

They are trying to get Abramoff to flip and rat on Congress.

:evilgrin:

[bleever]

1. First nomination.

This isn't a revolving door, it's a big soupy mess.

[aquart]

2. Jack was just into every little thing, wasn't he?

Oh, that illegal quid pro quo.

[Pirate Smile]

3. more details:

"Investigators are said to be especially interested in how Tony C. Rudy, a former deputy chief of staff to Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, and Neil G. Volz, a former chief of staff to Representative Robert W. Ney of Ohio, obtained lobbying positions with big firms on K Street.

-snip-
Prosecutors are trying to establish that "it's not just a ticket to a ballgame, it's major jobs" that exchanged hands, the participant in the case said. Also under examination are payments to lobbyists and lawmakers' wives, including Mr. Rudy's wife, Lisa Rudy, whose firm, Liberty Consulting, worked in consultation with Mr. Abramoff, people involved in case said.

What began as an inquiry into Mr. Scanlon and Mr. Abramoff's lobbying has widened to a corruption investigation centering mainly on Republican lawmakers who came to power as part of the conservative revolution of the 1990's. At least six members of Congress are in the scope of the inquiry, with an additional 12 or so former aides being examined to determine whether they gave Mr. Abramoff legislative help in exchange for campaign donations, lavish trips and gifts."

-snip-
It may be difficult for prosecutors to translate certain elements of the case into indictments. Bribery, corruption and conspiracy cases are notoriously difficult to prove. But the potential dimensions are enormous, and the investigation, at a time of turmoil for the Bush administration, threatens to add a new knot of problems for the party heading into the elections next year."


They believe Abramoff will try to get his deal before his trial date of January 9th.

[punpirate]

4. Let's not forget that this also leads to Rove...

... through his executive assistant, Susan Ralston, who, before Dubya's installation in the WH, was Ambramoff's executive assistant.... This intra-party cronyism goes up and down the line.

[OKthatsIT]

5. Well damn..I just posted this weeks GOP SCORECARD update

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2286333

[alfredo]

6. this could get really good.

Kick and nominate.

[texpatriot2004]

7. 5th Recommendation nm

[The Roux Comes First]

8. Unmediated Scandal

As noted above, bribery, corruption, and conspiracy are reportedly tough to turn into criminal convictions. But all of this is at a minimum scandalous behavior. Having just finished reading Dean's "Worse Than Watergate," I was reminded of his workup on scandalry, informed by John Thompson's book "Political Scandal."

Besides the existence of behavior serious enough to be disapproved of by others, Dean notes that the genesis of a scandal requires that:

The media must also express their disapproval of the misconduct, doing so in a scornful, contemptuous, and criticdal fashion that "reproaches and rebukes" or "scolds and condemns," not to mention often shaming or stigmatizing those involved. If the media learn of a transgression and fail to so react, there is no scandal.

It seems mighty obvious once the words are in print in front of me, but I've never been much of a student of scandal.

The take-home lesson is that this is yet another critical area where the passive, or worse, sycophantic major, increasingly corporate-owned and power-serving media have failed us. We've been living with a metastasizing cancer of criminal behavior perpetrated by the powermongering revulsians that, while perhaps tough in many cases to make a legal case over, could perhaps often be thwarted by a return to proper journalism.

The sort found these days much more commonly on-line than in print. Keep up the good work, DU!

Action item: more letters to editor, all.

[Rose Siding]

9. Each one of those aides could be a goldmine for the prosecutors

:popcorn:

[CantGetFooledAgain]

10. Is there any way that this vast array of crimes and

criminals will not at some point include election fraud?

These seem like exactly the folks who would have the audacity to do it, and to think that they could get away with it.

[UpInArms]

11. The RICO Statute

[rodeodance]

12. c-span is talking of this right now.

[rodeodance]

13. "the practice has become so standard in an era of Republican dominance"

....Hiring patterns offer a rich and complicated field for investigators. Congressional staff members routinely leave for the private work, with the sole prohibition a one-year ban on lobbying their former supervisors. Mr. DeLay is so renowned for funneling his skilled staff members into lobbying firms across Washington that his political network is known as "DeLay Inc."

Although Mr. DeLay was reprimanded by the House Ethics Committee in the late 90's for pressuring a lobbying firm to hire a Republican, the practice has become so standard in an era of Republican dominance that partisans have given it a name, the K Street Project.

What investigators seek is evidence of a quid pro quo between Mr. Abramoff and the lobbyists he helped hire, lawyers and others involved in the case said. They are especially interested in evidence that Mr. Abramoff discussed hiring Mr. Rudy, Mr. Volz or other staff members before they left the government or around the time they or their bosses were doing favors for Mr. Abramoff's clients.

[UpInArms]

14. thanks for that - these criminals should all be imprisoned

and we do have laws - unfortunately we have lawmakers that are more interested in breaking them or neutering them than enforcing them.

[AnneD]

15. Ok....As a Dem

I admit our guys indulge in chasing some skirt (and I think it is their business as long as they are of age) and some money....but WHAT is it with the GOP and children....maybe it should be called "No Child's Behind Left".....REALLY!