Corruption Digest - January 3, 2006

As my new book Hostile Takeover prepares to be released in the Spring, here is your January 3, 2006 briefing on how America's political system is being sold to the highest bidders. To sign up to receive the Corruption Digest in your email box, just go to www.davidsirota.com and enter your email address on the righthand side.

CONGRESSIONAL CORRUPTION
Washington, D.C. is abuzz this week with speculation that indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff is going to cut a deal with prosecutors and become a key witness against scores of lawmakers who he bought votes from. The Houston Chronicle reports that "Barring a last-minute snag, the terms of Abramoff's plea bargain were expected to be announced in Washington as early as today or Wednesday." The Boston Globe notes that "Members of Congress who once counted on Abramoff to help finance their campaigns have begun returning the cash they got from him and his clients," signaling a growing worry that corruption is going to be a major campaign theme in 2006. And those fears seem to be justified, as the Abramoff scandal is hitting lawmakers' local papers. The latest example of this comes from the Auburn Journal, which reported on Rep. John Doolittle's (R-CA) connections to the fiasco, including how Doolittle's wife used to do fundraising work for Abramoff, while also being paid $136,000 fundraising for her husband...The Washington Post reports that "the U.S. Family Network, a public advocacy group that operated in the 1990s with close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and claimed to be a nationwide grass-roots organization, was funded almost entirely by corporations linked to embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff." $1 million of the group's revenue came in a single 1998 check from a now-defunct London law firm whose former partners would not identify the money's origins. Two former associates of DeLay's former chief of staff, Edwin Buckham, said Buckham "told them the funds came from Russian oil and gas executives." The story revives an earlier racketeering suit the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee brought against DeLay for his involvement in the group, and raises questions about whether DeLay broke major federal laws against foreign agents donating money to American political activities. A spokesman for DeLay said it was "absurd" to believe that DeLay changed his votes based on the huge amounts of cash given to him by Abramoff's clients. That same spokesman, Kevin Madden, was recently caught lying to the press about DeLay's money laundering trial..The Washington Post reports that "more than 80 lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides are listed as having accepted entertainment from lobbyists for BellSouth Corp. at levels that appear to exceed congressional gift limits." The story "sheds light on one of the capital's worst-kept secrets: Congressional gift restrictions are frequently ignored." Rep. George Miller (D-CA) has introduced a bill to crackdown on lobbyists' gifts to lawmakers, but the bill has been blocked by the House GOP leadership...The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne said that beyond all the individual corruption scandals plaguing Congress, the recent budget debate shows how corruption has become totally pervasive. The budget, which cuts programs for low-income citizens while enacting billions more in new tax cuts for the superwealthy "shows that when choices have to be made, the interests of the poor and the middle class fall before the wishes of interest groups with powerful lobbies and awesome piles of campaign money to distribute."

STATE CORRUPTION
The Athens Banner-Herald has a long expose on how lobbyists helped make an insurance industry-backed tort reform bill reality in the Georgia legislature. "Entertainment and dinners officially tied to tort reform was lavished upon House members," the newspaper noted. But, hilariously, the paper also noted that "lobbyists and lawmakers both scoff at the idea" that a legislator's vote could be bought...The Tallahassee Democrat reports that while Florida recently passed a lobbyist gift ban, the ties that bind corrupt politicians and Big Business together are alive and well. "Florida still allows lawmakers to control political fund-raising committees that are supported through donations that come almost exclusively from lobbyists and their clients, with no limits on how much money they can contribute," the paper reports. So, for instance, "In Florida in 2006, a lobbyist cannot buy a legislator a stick of gum, but it's still legal for a lobbyist to give $10,000 to a fund controlled by a legislator." And legislators can use "the money as political slush funds for expenses such as meals, plane tickets, rental cars, computers, furniture and cell phones."...The Missoulian reports that Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer "will be promoting a proposed ethics initiative for the 2006 ballot" after the 2005 legislature rejected his lobbying/ethics reform proposals. Schweitzer "has been highly critical of the influence of lobbyists on state government and vowed to impose some restrictions." He has also "refused to appoint any lobbyists to state boards and commissions." His proposal "is expected to impose at least a two-year waiting period to temporarily close the 'revolving door' in which elected officials, particularly legislators, become lobbyists as soon as their terms expire." It is also expected "to impose stiffer reporting and disclosure requirements on lobbyists and perhaps add other restrictions."

THE CORRUPTION INDUSTRY
The Arizona Republic reports that with Congress almost completely bought-off by Big Business, local and state governments no longer can rely on their congressional delegations to advocate seriously for municipal priorities, meaning they have to hire professional lobbyists. "The activity has grown so pervasive since the late 1990s that many lobbying firms now specialize in municipal advocacy," the paper noted. "But the practice also is stirring debate as new Beltway lobbying scandals, larger tax-paid lobbying tabs and conflicts among state, regional and local funding priorities put a spotlight on the subject." In some cases, such as in Montana, Members of Congress have actually gotten municipalities to use taxpayer cash to pay for Abramoff-connected lobbyists.

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