Corruption Inquiry Threatens to Ensnare
Lawmakers
NY Times
By PHILIP SHENON
Published: November 20, 2005
WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 - The Justice Department has signaled for the first time
in recent weeks that prominent members of Congress could be swept up in the
corruption investigation of Jack Abramoff, the former Republican superlobbyist
who diverted some of his tens of millions of dollars in fees to provide lavish
travel, meals and campaign contributions to the lawmakers whose help he needed
most.
The investigation by a federal grand jury, which began more than a year ago,
has created alarm on Capitol Hill, especially with the announcement Friday of
criminal charges against Michael Scanlon, Mr. Abramoff's former lobbying
partner and a former top House aide to Representative Tom DeLay.
The charges against Mr. Scanlon identified no lawmakers by name, but a
summary of the case released by the Justice Department accused him of being
part of a broad conspiracy to provide "things of value, including money, meals,
trips and entertainment to federal public officials in return for agreements to
perform official acts" - an attempt at bribery, in other words, or something
close to it.
Mr. Abramoff, who is under indictment in a separate bank-fraud case in
Florida, has not been charged by the federal grand jury here. But Mr. Scanlon's
lawyer says he has agreed to plead guilty and cooperate in the investigation,
suggesting that Mr. Abramoff's day in court in Washington is only a matter of
time.
Scholars who specialize in the history and operations of Congress say that
given the brazenness of Mr. Abramoff's lobbying efforts, as measured by the
huge fees he charged clients and the extravagant gifts he showered on friends
on Capitol Hill, almost all of them Republicans, the investigation could end up
costing several lawmakers their careers, if not their freedom.
The investigation threatens to ensnarl many outside Congress as well,
including Interior Department officials and others in the Bush administration
who were courted by Mr. Abramoff on behalf of the Indian tribe casinos that
were his most lucrative clients.
The inquiry has already reached into the White House; a White House budget
official, David H. Safavian, resigned only days before his arrest in September
on charges of lying to investigators about his business ties to Mr. Abramoff, a
former lobbying partner.
"I think this has the potential to be the biggest scandal in Congress in
over a century," said Thomas E. Mann, a Congressional specialist at the
Brookings Institution. "I've been around Washington for 35 years, watching
Congress, and I've never seen anything approaching Abramoff for cynicism and
chutzpah in proposing quid pro quos to members of Congress."
Even by the gold-plated standards of Washington lobbying firms, the fees
paid to Mr. Abramoff were extraordinary. A former president of the College
Republicans who turned to lobbying after a short-lived career as a B-movie
producer, Mr. Abramoff, with his lobbying team, collected more than $80 million
from the Indian tribes and their gambling operations; he was known by lobbying
rivals as "Casino Jack."
Mr. Abramoff's lobbying work was not limited to the casinos, though. Newly
disclosed documents from his files show that he asked for $9 million in 2003
from the president of Gabon, in West Africa, to set up a White House meeting
with President Bush; there was an Oval Office meeting last year, although there
is no evidence in the public record to show that Mr. Abramoff had a role in the
arrangements.
Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21, an ethics watchdog group that has called
for tighter lobbying rules, said it was too early to say whether the Abramoff
investigation would produce anything like the convulsion in Congress during the
Abscam investigations of the 1980's, when one senator and five House members
were convicted on bribery and other charges after an F.B.I. sting involving a
phony Arab sheik.
"But this clearly has the potential," Mr. Wertheimer said.
So far, one member of Congress, Representative Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican
who is chairman of the House Administration Committee, has acknowledged
receiving a subpoena from the grand jury investigating Mr. Abramoff. Another,
Representative John T. Doolittle, Republican of California, has acknowledged
that his wife, who helped Mr. Abramoff organize fund-raisers, was
subpoenaed.
The Justice Department signaled last month that Mr. DeLay had come under
scrutiny in the investigation, over a trip that Mr. Abramoff arranged for Mr.
DeLay and his wife to Britain in 2000 that included rounds of golf at the
fabled course at St. Andrews in Scotland.
The department revealed its interest in Mr. DeLay, who is under indictment
in Texas in an unrelated investigation involving violations of state election
laws, in an extraordinary request to the British government that police there
interview former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher about the circumstances of a
meeting in London with Mr. DeLay during the trip five years ago.
London newspapers quoted a document prepared by the British Home Office that
outlined the Justice Department's investigation and said that "it is alleged
that Abramoff arranged for his clients to pay for the trips to the U.K. on the
basis that Congressman DeLay would support favorable legislation."
Richard Cullen, a lawyer for Mr. DeLay, said in an interview Friday that he
was "glad that the Justice Department is looking into all aspects of the trip
because I think that a thorough investigation will show that the trip was
substantive and transparent."
Mr. Cullen said that shortly after he was hired several months ago, he
contacted the Justice Department "to let them know that Mr. DeLay is available
to cooperate in any way."
The lawyer said he was "convinced that when the Justice Department completes
its investigation of Abramoff and Scanlon, that it will be clear Tom DeLay has
acted ethically and has conducted himself consistent with all laws and House
standards of conduct." He said he had not heard from federal prosecutors since
the initial contacts.
The situation could be more serious for Mr. Ney, a five-term lawmaker whose
position as chairman of the House Administration Committee gives him power over
the operations of the Capitol building and allows him to divide up
Congressional perks like office space and parking.
Mr. Ney's ties to Mr. Abramoff have been revealed slowly over the last year,
largely through testimony before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which has
held a series of hearings into accusations that Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon
defrauded their Indian tribe clients.
Mr. Ney was not identified by name in the documents filed against Mr.
Scanlon on Friday. But the Ohio lawmaker's lawyers acknowledged that Mr. Ney
was the lawmaker identified as "Representative #1" in the Justice Department
papers, which charged Mr. Scanlon with conspiring to provide "Representative
#1" with a golfing trip to Scotland, meals at Mr. Abramoff's Washington
restaurant and campaign contributions.
Mr. Ney took part in a golf trip to Scotland in 2002 with Mr. Abramoff,
where they played at St. Andrews, as Mr. DeLay had done two years earlier.
Documents and testimony to Congress showed that Mr. Abramoff had asked an
Indian tribe in Texas to sponsor the trip and that Mr. Ney was then asked for
his help in trying to reopen a casino owned by the tribe that had been
shuttered by state officials.
Mr. Ney was also a regular at Signatures, the expensive Washington
restaurant that Mr. Abramoff owned and used to entertain clients, colleagues
and lawmakers. Former Signatures employees have said that Mr. Ney frequently
ate and drank at the restaurant without paying. Mr. Ney has acknowledged the
gifts but said they were within limits set by Congressional ethics rules.
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