WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 — Representative Bob Ney is headed to prison early next year after pleading guilty to charges of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in illegal gifts from lobbyists. Until then, Mr. Ney, a six-term Republican from Ohio, has a comfortable place to bide his time.

His Congressional office — the one that he has effectively acknowledged selling to the highest bidder — is open for business.

"The office of Congressman Bob Ney," his telephone receptionist said in a cheery voice Tuesday morning, as if nothing had happened to her boss, the first member of Congress to confess to crimes involving the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Mr. Ney's brass nameplate still hangs on the wall next to the heavy wooden doors of Room 2438 in the Rayburn House office building, just across the street from the Capitol, and it is likely to remain there for at least a few more weeks.

On Wednesday, much of his staff in Washington apparently worked a half-day, typical for Congressional offices during the pre-election recess. Mr. Ney's lawyers said the locked doors this afternoon did not mean the office was closed permanently.

The day before, the lawmaker's aides could be seen wandering in and out of his offices with regularity, all barred from commenting on Mr. Ney's whereabouts or how he is spending his time. "We're not allowed to talk with you," said a young female staff member, clutching a stack of what appeared to be constituent mail.

In his guilty plea last week, Mr. Ney admitted to taking many gifts from Mr. Abramoff, including a 2002 golfing trip to Scotland by private jet, and then lying about them in his financial disclosure forms.

To the dismay of House colleagues eager to remove him as a symbol of the corruption scandals that are tarring several Republican candidates in next month's Congressional elections, Mr. Ney, defying House leaders, has refused to step down for now, insisting that he owes his staff and his constituents a few more weeks of his time.

Until the House reconvenes after the elections, there is no way under Congressional rules to force him out. Republican House leaders have vowed to make Mr. Ney's expulsion their first order of business when they return to Washington next month.

The last House member who faced expulsion, James Traficant Jr., a Democrat and a fellow Ohioan, was ousted from his seat in July 2002, four months after his conviction on bribery charges. But unlike Mr. Traficant, who continues to proclaim his innocence from prison, Mr. Ney is holding on to his job even after confessing to crimes.

One of Mr. Ney's lawyers, William E. Lawler III, said in an interview that the lawmaker wanted to deal with the "odds and ends" of ending an 11-year career in Congress.

"There's a lot of mechanical stuff that needs to be done — storage, archiving," Mr. Lawler said.

In entering a guilty plea last week, Mr. Ney said in a statement that he would resign within a "few weeks" but wanted to remain in Congress for now "to make sure my staff members are O.K. and that any open constituent matters and obligations" are dealt with.

Mr. Lawler was critical of skeptics who question whether Mr. Ney, whose most recent disclosure forms suggest that his only major asset is a second home in Greece worth $100,000 to $250,000, is holding on in Congress mostly because he wants to cash his final paychecks.

"I don't know why people don't accept his explanation at face value," the lawyer said.

The refusal to resign means that Mr. Ney can continue to draw on his $165,200-a-year salary, equivalent to $3,176 for each week he remains in the House, and his Congressional expense account, and to make use of a suite of offices on Capitol Hill, as well as four offices in his district in southeastern Ohio.

His Congressional staff — 16 people, according to the latest House staff directories — is still in place, with salaries totaling more than $70,000 a month. There appears to be a vacancy in the job of press secretary, however; reporters seeking comment from Mr. Ney are routinely referred to his chief of staff, David Popp, who has not returned several calls in recent weeks.

Mr. Ney's official House Web site is still on line, although his Web master has fallen far behind in updating the site. There is no mention of Mr. Ney's legal problems or his guilty plea, and the most recent online news release dates from August. Mr. Ney also retains an open invitation to the House gym.

One of his Congressional perks, free travel, has been curtailed, but not by his House colleagues. The federal judge who accepted Mr. Ney's guilty plea, Ellen Segal Huvelle, ordered him to turn over his passport and barred him from traveling outside the United States until his sentencing hearing, now scheduled for Jan. 19. Under the plea agreement, Mr. Ney could face up to 10 years in prison, but prosecutors are recommending 27 months.

Mr. Ney, despite a criminal record, will be able to begin collecting a Congressional pension of about $30,000 a year in a decade, when he turns 62.

Mr. Lawler, Mr. Ney's lawyer, said he was unsure if the lawmaker was working out of his Capitol Hill offices this week or if he was back in Ohio. Staff members working for other House members in the Rayburn building say they have not seen Mr. Ney for weeks.

"He's in and out," Mr. Lawler said. "I just don't have a lot of information for you."

Commentary: