More Corruption On Capital Hill

A new big scandal today in Washington DC. Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to charges of corruption dealing with Indian Casino money and his lobbying firm.

Former Lobbyist Will Name Names in Capitol Hill Corruption Probe -- 01/04/2006: "Specifically, Abramoff pled guilty to three felony offenses -- conspiracy, mail fraud, and tax evasion.

According to the Justice Department, 'Abramoff gave things of value to public officials, including foreign and domestic trips, campaign contributions, excessive meals and entertainment and other things of value -- all with the intent, and at times with the understanding, that the public official would act to benefit Abramoff or his clients.'

Among other things, Abramoff gave goverment officials all-expense-paid golf trips to Scotland; tickets and travel to the Super Bowl in Florida in 2001; tickets for concerts and other events in Washington; repeated and regular meals at the upscale restaurant he owned; and campaign contributions."

Now you are going to hear a lot of buzz about this in the press because %64 of the money he and swag he dealt out went to Republicans. Expect a lot more democrats to jump on to the "culture of corruption" bandwagon, and expect a lot of parroting of that meme from the MSM.

But the real reason that Senators are scared out of their Armani's is the legal precedent that has just been set. Make no mistake this stuff happens all the time up on the Hill. Interest groups have always lobbied Congress in this way. Good, bad, ugly, or however you want to see it, it's still going on. But now that the precedent has been set who knows what will surface or what will turn out to be illegal. That's why congressmen on both sides of the aisle are scared. This isn't a Republican or Democratic issue, it has to do with the way business is done in DC.

Hopefully some good will come from this. I dare say that I'd be happier if this scared both Dems and Repubs enough that they would start paying more attention to their base and less to the lobbyists and activists.

John Hawkins at Right Wing News thinks that we should be looking at for better conservatives to fill the seats of congressmen who might resign. I think it's a great idea.

Linked to Don Surber.