ABRAMOFF SCANDAL
Case Bringing New Scrutiny
To a System and a Profession

From the Washington Post courtesy of Eschaton:

Jack Abramoff represented the most flamboyant and extreme example of a brand of influence trading that flourished after the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives 11 years ago. Now, some GOP strategists fear that the fallout from his case could affect the party's efforts to keep control in the November midterm elections.

Abramoff was among the lobbyists most closely associated with the K Street Project, which was initiated by his friend Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), now the former House majority leader, once the GOP vaulted to power. It was an aggressive program designed to force corporations and trade associations to hire more GOP-connected lobbyists in what at times became an almost seamless relationship between Capitol Hill lawmakers and some firms that sought to influence them.

Now Abramoff has become a symbol of a system out of control. His agreement to plead guilty to three criminal counts and cooperate with prosecutors threatens to ensnare other lawmakers or their aides -- Republicans and possibly some Democrats. At a minimum, yesterday's developments put both sides of the lawmaker-lobbyist relationship on notice that some of the wilder customs of recent years -- lubricated with money, entertainment and access -- carry higher risks. In the post-Abramoff era, what once was accepted as business as usual may be seen as questionable or worse.

And

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who with Weber's help effectively used issues of corruption to wrest control of the House from the Democrats in 1994, said the Abramoff scandal should trigger a broader review in Congress of the way politicians finance campaigns and deal with lobbyists.

"I'm going to talk at length about the need for us to rethink not just lobbying but the whole process of elections, incumbency protection and the way in which the system has evolved," he said. "Which is very different from the way the American system is supposed to be like. I think Abramoff is just part of a large pattern that has got to be rethought."

Click here for the rest.

What this article shows, and it's an article not an op-ed essay, which brings it much closer to fact, is that the US political system is rotten to the core--even Newt Gingrich thinks so. The successful GOP drive to take control of corporate lobbyists, "the K Street Project," essentially amounts to a mutually beneficial bribery machine. Couple that with the corporate money just hemorrhaging into political campaigns and it becomes absolutely clear that actual voting, the voice of the people, is now simply a formality: corporations choose the candidates and then bribe them into passing preferential legislation. More than anything else, Jack Abramoff symbolizes the end of American democracy.

One more thing. This article, like many other mainstream news media articles about this Abramoff scandal, observes that some Democrats are likely to get caught up in the storm. The implication, of course, is that this is a bipartisan scandal--well, okay, if "bipartisan" means a ratio of like 20 to 1, which it doesn't. This is a Republican scandal, and any Democrats stupid enough to be involved should get what they deserve.

Let's put all the criminals in jail.

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