Lobbying Plan Was Central to GOP's
Political Strategy
LA Times
By Janet Hook and Mary Curtius
January 4, 2006
WASHINGTON — The corruption investigation surrounding lobbyist Jack
Abramoff shows the significant political risk that Republican leaders took when
they adopted what had once seemed a brilliant strategy for dominating
Washington: turning the K Street lobbying corridor into a cog of the GOP
political machine.
Abramoff thrived in the political climate fostered by GOP leaders, including
Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who have methodically tried to tighten the links
between the party in Congress and business lobbyists, through what has become
known as the "K Street Project."
GOP leaders, seeking to harness the financial and political support of K
Street, urged lobbyists to support their conservative agenda, give heavily to
Republican politicians and hire Republicans for top trade association jobs.
Abramoff obliged on every front, and his tentacles of influence reached deep
into the upper echelons of Congress and the Bush administration.
Now, in the wake of a plea agreement in which Abramoff will cooperate in an
influence-peddling investigation that might target a number of lawmakers, some
Republicans are saying that the party will need to take action to avoid being
tarnished.
"This is going to be a huge black eye for our party," said Rep. Ray LaHood
(R-Ill.), a senior member close to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).
"Denny's going to have to be very tough and really speak out against people who
are indicted. He's going to have to do it quickly and decisively and
frequently."
Hastert moved Tuesday to inoculate himself from the scandal by announcing
that he would give to charity about $60,000 he received from Abramoff and his
clients. He is the latest of several lawmakers who have returned or redirected
money they received from Abramoff-related sources.
One Senate Republican aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
Republicans soon will unveil ethics reform legislation in an effort to blunt
criticism from Democrats that they have fostered a "culture of corruption" in
Washington.
The controversy may also increase the prospect that Republicans will shake
up their leadership after Congress reconvenes at the end of January. House
Republican moderates are calling for new leadership elections to permanently
replace DeLay, who stepped down temporarily as majority leader after he was
indicted in an unrelated case.
"Let's get a permanent leadership and begin moving forward and overcome the
problems that are on the table right now," said Sarah Chamberlain Resnick,
executive director of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a caucus of GOP
moderates in Congress.
Conservatives are worried about possible political fallout for all
Republicans, not just those who might be implicated, once Abramoff starts
cooperating with prosecutors.
"This is the one thing that could result in a change in who controls the
Congress," said Paul Weyrich, a conservative activist.
Abramoff pleaded guilty Tuesday to corruption charges in connection with
allegations that he bilked his Indian tribe clients and conspired to bribe a
member of Congress. He also will plead guilty to charges in a separate case in
Miami, in connection with a deal to buy a floating casino fleet, SunCruz
Casinos.
Although Abramoff admitted Tuesday to illegal conduct in some of his
dealings, much of what he did to influence Congress amounted to
larger-than-life versions of legal practices common among lobbyists.
Abramoff did not just ply lawmakers with meals; he opened a restaurant and
plied them with his meals. He did not simply hand out tickets to sporting
events; he offered access to several luxury skyboxes. He did not arrange
garden-variety golf outings; he brought golfers to the world's most exclusive
courses.
"The connections between Congress, congressional staff and lobbyists have
been a problem for many years," said Dennis Thompson, author of the book
"Ethics in Congress."
"In the last few years it's gotten out of control," Thompson said. "But
Abramoff has taken it to a new level."
For investigators, the question is whether any lawmakers returned Abramoff's
favors by using their offices to benefit him or his clients, which could
violate federal law.
Critics of the campaign finance system say it would be a kind of rough
justice if Republicans were hobbled by their relationships with a lobbyist,
because they worked so hard to increase coordination between their party and K
Street.
Republicans said their efforts were no different than what Democrats did for
years to raise money and organize support from their constituencies, including
labor unions and civil rights advocates. But Democratic critics said the GOP
went much further in linking political money to policy outcomes, and that
Abramoff was a master at maneuvering in a system that required lobbyists to
"pay to play" on Capitol Hill.
"Jack Abramoff is a classic example of the pay-to-play system carried out in
the extreme," said Fred Wertheimer, head of Democracy 21, a campaign-finance
watchdog group.
According to a study by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, 296
members of Congress since 1999 have received contributions from Abramoff, his
Indian tribe clients or SunCruz Casinos. Abramoff and his wife contributed
$204,253 — all of it to Republicans.
In addition, Abramoff also leaned on his Indian clients to give to key
lawmakers. The center found that Abramoff's clients gave almost $4.2 million,
more than half to Republicans.
His most famous golf outings took members, including DeLay and Rep. Bob Ney
(R-Ohio), to the fabled St. Andrews course in Scotland. Such trips are against
House rules if they are paid for by a lobbyist. DeLay and Ney said they
believed the trips were properly paid for by a nonprofit group, but prosecutors
are reportedly looking at whether Abramoff initially picked up some of the
expenses.
Favors done for DeLay and Ney have drawn particular scrutiny because they
took aggressive steps to help Abramoff or his clients on issues that seemed
remote from their own constituents' interests. When Abramoff was trying to buy
the Florida floating casino fleet, Ney inserted a statement in the
Congressional Record critical of Abramoff's rival.
Abramoff had been hired to stall legislation raising the minimum wage for
the U.S.-administered Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and DeLay
was credited with helping him do so. DeLay also was an ally in Abramoff's
effort to fight legislation to allow the taxation of Indian tribe gaming
revenue.
DeLay and Ney, like other lawmakers who helped Abramoff, said they took
action on the merits, not because they received favors from him.
The last time Washington lobbying came under such broad legal scrutiny was
in the Abscam scandal of 1980, when an FBI sting operation led to the
conviction of seven members of Congress on corruption charges.
That episode was widely viewed as a scandal involving isolated individuals,
the proverbial "bad apples."
But some critics of the current campaign finance system say that the
Abramoff scandal could have broader significance if it is seen as an indictment
of a corrupt political system, not just individuals.
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