Jack Abramoff

On March 29th, one of the most nefarious men in recent political news was convicted in what has quickly become one of the most highly publicized scandals in recent memory. Jack Abramoff, highly committed Republican lobbyist, fundraiser, activist and all around scumbag was an active member/founder of well-known conservative think tanks and rightwing religious organizations. He was sentenced to five years, ten months in prison after pleading guilty to three federal counts of tax invasion, conspiracy and fraud. The crimes were related to the defrauding of Native American casinos to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, and bribing public officials. Abramoff’s political bedfellows include recently resigned House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), and Repesentative Bob Ney (R-OH). Numerous other Republicans in Congress have ties to Abramoff’s campaign contributions, dubious “business trips”, and unscrupulous lobbying schemes and bribery. Governor Howard Dean, DNC chairman stated on CNN, “There are no Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff… Every person named in this scandal is a Republican.. we’ve looked through all of those FEC reports to make sure that’s true.”

The sentence of just under six years was the lowest possible for crimes of such a nature and involved a plea-bargain arrangement on the condition that Abramoff testify in further upcoming investigations pertaining to similar corruption trials. In addition to the offenses he has already been convicted of, Abramoff is believed to have played a part in a laundry list of other criminal activities ranging from scandals involving a multimillion dollar Homeland Security contract to conspiring to control the supreme courts in the US territory of Guam via illegal means in 2002. In an interesting side note, the Guam investigation was conveniently and quietly put to an end when President Bush had the prosecuting US attorney in Guam, Frederick Black, removed from office. Mr. Black had been the US attorney to Guam since 1991.

President Bush, in an attempt to remain as detached from further scandal, denies ever having meet Abramoff, although he received 6,000 dollars donated directly from Abramoff’s pocket, and another 100,000 dollars that was raised by Abramoff for the President’s reelection campaign in 2004. Also making the story unlikely, The Texas Observer and Time Magazine reported a series of photographs of the President with Abramoff and his family.

Abramoff proved how easy (and often times cheap) it can be to purchase power and influence in Washington. Though there are most likely individuals on both sides of the isle guilty of corruption, the strong majority of the recent unethical practices rests firmly on the shoulders of the Republican party as they continue to demonstrate questionable leadership during a time in which dishonest leadership is damning to the country as a whole. With war costs steadily approaching 300 billion dollars, nearly 2,400 US military personal dead and a national deficit that would make a spend-happy democrat nervous, corrupt lobbyists and politicians are about as helpful as another Presidential vacation in Crawford.

As the Abramoff scandal joins the ranks of countless other major scandals during the Bush Administration (the Plame Affair, wiretapping, Abu Ghraib, Iraq War intelligence, Gitmo, Libby…) at least the American people can rest peacefully at night knowing that our wise leaders are prepared to take the necessary steps in combating the true evils of the 21st century- flag burning, abortion and the rights of homosexuals. God Bless the priorities, principles and ethics of the new religious right.