Boomtown rats: Matthew Continetti says that crooked lobbyists are what you get when Republicans embrace big government and go on a spending spree.

Publication: Spectator

Publication Date: 21-JAN-06

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COPYRIGHT 2006 The Spectator Ltd. (UK)

Washington

Observers of American politics would do well to learn how to pronounce the name of a former Republican lobbyist, Jack Abramoff. The first syllable should be enunciated not, as is common, like the stomach muscle, but rather like the nickname of the 16th American president, Honest Abe. Of course, Abramoff was dishonest. And this has landed him--and the party of Lincoln--in a lot of trouble.

In early January, in a Washington DC courtroom, Abramoff pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion, mail fraud and conspiracy. Looking like Al Capone in a black fedora and matching trenchcoat as he left the courthouse, Abramoff travelled to Miami the next day, where he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy (again). The pleas were the result of a federal investigation into Abramoffs business practices that has lasted almost two years and ranges from California to Michigan to Louisiana to Florida. He and his partner, Michael Scanlon, the former press secretary to the former House majority leader Tom DeLay of Texas, have admitted that they bilked six Indian tribes out of close to $90 million, bribing congressmen and...

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