Doesn't 10 years seem like a very light maximum term given the extent of the corruption? I wonder if that suggests prosecutors expect a lot more from him, or is corruption so in-grained in our system that massive corruption only earns what will probably amount to a year in prison?

My first reaction is that I'm reading a lot of divergent versions of exactly how much time Abramoff is looking at.  I'm assuming based on the totality of what I'm seeing that he'll get less than eight years but will still have to do significant time, over four years. 

 If that's the case, I would assume that at least some of the people he's rolling over on will be looking at more time than that, which is strange to think about.  Could we really see congressmen going to jail for serious, multi-decade stretches?  Seems hard to imagine.

He is admitting to one side of the corruption equation. The prosecutors provided a laundry list of methods that Abramoff used to influence votes.

If I were to come up with a method of choosing lawmakers to go after, I would put checks under each item on the list with respect to each lawmaker. Maybe some checks are worth more than others. Once this is done, draw a line and everyone above a certain score gets indicted. Otherwise there isn't any way for prosectors to handle defense lawyers who might say "Well, didn't you do this for 'so-n-so' and not expect anything in return?" They will need to characterize everything that Abramoff did as an attempt to influence votes, one that lawmakers and their staff surely understood and took advantage of.

Although it is true that this is a case soaked in politics, prosecuting lawmakers is going to have to have a rational basis. There will need to be enough facts presented to make it difficult for a defense lawyer to explain them all away.

Whatever JA has copped to in the plea, and whoever he has agreed to take down with him, it's nothing (Club Fed time) compared to the (Hard Time)  risk on the conspiracy to commit murder rap he was probably being threatened with in the SunCoast probe......

perhaps Jack will detail the K St. project as an enormous, long-standing far-ranging conspiracy, and thus bring down not only a dozen congressmen but also the entire lobbying industry (including, dare I hope, some major league megacorp CEO).

A girl can dream.

The tack taken by the US attorney provides him with the flexibility to pursue this case where it leads.  However, it also serves to address the political "need" to delay, as long as possible in this election year, formally making other tainted Republicans a part of this investigation.  Similarly, the timing of any move to go after Republican persons of interest may be paired with moves against vulnerable Democrats in order to give a bi-partisan flavor to the problem.

The Bush administration has been nothing if not expert in maintaining control and discipline behind the scenes. Can you imagine Karl Rove's Justice Department rounding up Republican congressmen and sending them to jail? I can't. Also Abramoff is a smart guy - he isn't going to take down politically connected friends in order to shave a couple of years off his sentence. He's better off taking the bullet and hoping they can come to his aid after the dust has settled.

I'm not optimistic that we will see serious prosecution and sentencing as a result of any of this.   Abu Gonzales is running the DOJ, for christ's sake. 

This could go any number of ways.  It's too early to tell yet how much will come out here.  I keep seeing Harry Reid and Dorgan's name on lists that I am sure they do not belong on, so I am expecting a big push by Republicans to make this look like Abramoff was in leaguw with both parties. 

 
The Chris Matthews quote above about this not being about Republican corruption is what I expect to hear from the rightwing noise machine.  There were Republicans caught up in corruption when they made their contract with America in 1994, and they still managed to hand the corruption around the necks of Democrats.  We can do the same to them if we push the Republican corruption angle hard enough. 

 
And we all need to study up on K Street because it is the iceberg below the surface and Abramoff and DeLay are just the top of the corruption iceberg.  We have to connect the votes on legislation with the special interests that legislation was written by and draw the electorate a simple little map, showing how special interests, as long as they paid to play, were allowed by the Republican controlled congress to have a louder voice than the taxpayers.

Notrol, I agree that fear of what could come of the alleged connection to the murder conspiracy is probably what got A. to cop a plea.  And I think the prosecuters expect something substantial from him.

Well, we can wish for anything we want, but I don't think your wish is likely to come true.  That would be huge, too huge.  It won't happen.

My point is that this should be a completely seperate issue than the GWOT and Iraq and serve as a flanking manuever on Bush himself.

I think Dems should run some polls before making hay of this.

You see, if we come out too strong against Abramoff, some voters in the center may be offended by that.

So, just like Iraq, a measured, careful poll-tested message is really the best way to proceed.

cscs, that's right; we can't be too careful here.  Dems might be accused of the politics of personal destruction or something.  We can't have that, can we?

Corruption is not money spent for causes.  Corruption is money paid to politicians to buy votes.  Of course they will say that is not what the money was for, but we don't have to be blind.

Soros bought TV ads; Abramoff bought legislation. Almost the same thing, really. How silly of us to not see the similarity.

...

Can DOJ pursue all this to the very fullest even if it means the collapse of the current government?

Well, we surely have all learned by now just how strongly Bush feels about government folks who violate laws. And, we probably all remember who heads the Justice Department. Hmmmmm. Now, could it be that this plea bargain involves getting this off the front page rapidly, with no additional names being mentioned? Nah! Our president did swear to uphold the Constitution, so I have to be certain that........oopsie

I would tend to agree with you if you were responding to "Theway2k."  However, if you were responding to "wendynyc" I would not, as I believe "wendynyc" may have been engaging in sarcasism.  wendynyc please correct me if I am wrong.

Actually, you can get fired unless you, four times- stoop & exclaim 

I hate Bush
I hate Republicans
I hate Muslims
I hate myself 

RG-

True, one sometimes forgets that Leavenworth and Alcatraz are Federal prisons.  I was thinking for someone that would be a major asset in a wide corruption probe, Allenwood is closer to the mark, probably with a sales job for UNICOR- maybe even an expense account    ;<) 

Notrol 

Thanks to 'leveymg' for his longish impolite post detailing a lot of dirty Republican deals to do with Jack and Grover.

It reminds one of the halcyon Reagan days, when Ronnie banned the sale of  military spare parts to Iran. Then Rummy and Ronnie helped Saddam attack Iran. Iran needed missiles and spare parts so Reagan et. al. sold them some at inflated prices thru our friends in Israel. The extra money was then used to kill nuns and others in El Salvador.

The Jack/Grover Islamic Bank deal sounds similar.  The Mafia in NYC used to do the same thing-pay us and we will take care of the police (law). GILMORE -bone up on the mouse scroll thingy if you think long posts should be 'filtered' (isn't that what the NSA is doing?) Nothing will come of all Abramoff stuffs unless the price of gasoline goes up too, Americans no longer care about much else.

I personally don't think "democrats" should dance around according to poll numbers.  I dont think anyone should.  Isnt that the problem?

Yes, we're joking. And yes, you've hit it -- too many Dems are way too timid. Their strategy is to not offend their voters, lest they lose their job.

That's a big reason why we're in the minority.

His history is obvious. He started out within the religious right. He carried on through Ollie North, Reagan and Iran Contra and now hes buddies with Delay. Hes a true republican whose history is there for anyone who cares to read up on .

Josh just posted a reference to former Delay staffer, Tony Rudy that was contained in Abramoff;s new plea deal. It has to do with Rudy being a "key staffer" at Ed Buckham's Alexander Strategy Group

 I don't want to take up space with documentation here, so I placed it on my blog: Abramoff Connection to Delay via Buckham's ASG

 If Abramoff is potentially as important a witness against the most politically powerful people in the U.S.; and if he is a man who knows as much information that could send twenty politicians to jail as many of us think that he does, why is he still alive?

Since he is still alive, if Abramoff is at the center of an investigation and prosecution that has been conducted with full independence and integrity, why is he allowed to come and go as described above?

The prosecutors must know at least as much as I've gathered here, namely that Abramoff and Tom Delay's former staffer, are at the center of a criminal political conspiracy that controls much of the funding of a successful takeover of both houses of congress and  possibly the executive branch, too.

It looks to me that because the Abramoff prosecution is not part of a larger RICO investigation, and because Abramoff is alive and not surrounded by heavy security, the intent is to make a DOJ window dressing and a republican "rackets" protection "Op", look like an exhaustive and aggressive probe against political corruption.

Remember that what I'm going to outline here is just one facet of the much larger picture of Abramoff financed, republican organized crime. Consider my earlier blog about the MSM failure to even report on Abramoff's family background; his uncle was coincidentally doing business with a Toronto mobster in the late 1970's and Abramoff's father, Frank was closely involved with his brother Bernard's business dealings in New Jersey. The coincidence is that Abramoff may have been induced to plead guilty because of his connection to the murder of another mysterious Toronto native with reported mob ties, Gus Boulis.

A legitimate prosecution of what has happened here should not be blunted by concerns of "upsetting" the political status quo. It is obvious that the current balance of power owes it's existance to a successful series of organized conspiracies and the resulting crimes that financed it into supremacy through the selling out of the peoples' trust and government to the highest and best connected bidders, or the threat of the use of the republican legislative apparatus against those who did not pay amountst Abramoff, Scanlon, or Markham suggested.[2]

We can only expect a limited, sham prosecution. The republican controlled executive branch controls the DOJ.

We must make use of what we have. Repeated emphasis on Susan Ralston's connections to Abramoff and her subsequent close proximity to Rove and Bush is an example of a tactic that make it harder for the white house to distance itself from Abramoff.

It may be helpful to maintain a steady message that the briber of Randy Cunningham, Brent Wilkes, paid large fees to Ed Markham's ASG, [7] and the common thread of ASG.... Alexander Strategy Group,[2] with Brian Darling,[1] the author of the Schiavo memo that was intially blamed on democrats, that ASG paid $115,000 to Delay's wife Christine[5], the reports that Abramoff's connection to Delay was via Edwin Markham, that Markham is Delay's pastor,[4] and that Markham's ASG was connected with Enron's strategy to corner the energy market,[3] and shared office quarters with a "dummy" money laundering, Delay controlled non-profit.[5] Of course, Delay's ties to his former staffer, and Abramoff lobbying partner, prosecution witness Michael Scanlon, is icing on the cake.

The DOJ is not going to give us back representative government via aggressive prosecution of Abramoff and twenty members of congress and some of their staff members, and of some members of the executive branch. Re-gaining accountable, ethical government will come from one legislative campaign, at a time, district by district, and state by state.