Tuesday, January 03, 2006

A Political Capital Correction

Jack Abramoff As part of a plea agreement, the Justice Department today filed documents in U.S. District Court that contain criminal allegations against Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In their description of the purported criminal conspiracy carried out by Abramoff, Justice Department prosecutors made these comments [pdf]:

Defendant ABRAMOFF and others would offer and provide things of value to public officials, including trips, campaign contributions, meals and entertainment in exchange for agreements that the public officials would use their official positions and influence to benefit defendant ABRAMOFF’s clients and defendant.

I’m shocked. A well-heeled Washington lobbyist provides money and gifts to public officials in exchange for the lawmakers’ support! Say it isn’t so.

Okay, enough with feigning astonishment. Aren’t the activities behind the charges to which Abramoff is pleading guilty business-as-usual inside the Beltway? Yes. But one might argue that a contribution to a political campaign or a gift to a public official is not a bribe if a quid pro quo cannot be demonstrated. Washington prosecutors, however, must have adopted an extremely narrow definition of quid pro quo because all you need to do is follow the money to see how members of Congress vote and spend our tax dollars.

(Too bad the Bush administration and other presidents don’t follow such a strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution when it comes to usurping power from Congress and assuming authoritarian rule.)

But perhaps Abramoff’s transgressions were so egregious, the political class felt it was time to crack down on him for appearance’s sake. If it’s shown that the feds are willing to go after a select group of “bad guy” lobbyists and lawmakers, then every Beltway power player who has not been investigated, indicted or convicted can return to Washington’s political kabuki with a clean record.

After the Enron and WorldCom scandals, Washington power players wanted to do something to restore investor confidence. Hence, Sarbanes-Oxley was quickly passed. The result: Wall Street breathed a sigh of relief and corporate net income has returned to pre-Enron meltdown levels.

The political class will find other ways to engage in Abramoff-style shenanigans once the dust settles from the current round of investigations and indictments.

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