Jack Abramoff: The lobbyist's playbook

Things began to unravel for Abramoff when the Washington Post published a largely unflattering portrait of him in 2004, reporting that he charged his clients 10 times more than any other lobbyist in town.

Abramoff: My first response was, "What's the big deal? I don't understand what this is about. This is what lobbyists do.

What he didn't understand was the part that said he and a former aide to Tom Delay had overbilled four of his Indian casino clients by $45 million.

In the end, he was brought up on federal charges of tax evasion and ripping off Indian tribes. On the day he went to court and pled guilty, Abramoff looked grim. The judge sentenced him to four years.

Stahl: I really think what you were doing was-- was subverting the essence of our system.

Abramoff: Yes. Absolutely right. But our system is flawed and has to be fixed. Human beings populate our system. Human beings are weak.

Stahl: And you preyed on that?

Abramoff: I did. I was one of many who did. I did. And I'm ashamed of that fact.

He was sent to a medium security facility in Cumberland, Maryland. When he was released last June, he began working as an accountant at a kosher pizza parlor. Turns out Jack Abramoff was broke, partly because he is paying off nearly $24 million in restitution to the Indian tribes. Today he lives in his old house in Maryland with his wife, five children and the two doberman pinschers Mrs. Abramoff bought to protect the family while he was away.

After the scandal, Congress instituted a package of reforms, making what Abramoff did - like plying members of Congress with free expensive meals - illegal. But he doesn't see the new reforms as being very effective.

Abramoff: The reform efforts continually are these faux-reform efforts where they'll change, they'll tweak the system. They'll say, "You can have a meal with a congressman if they're standing up, not sitting down."

Stahl: Is that serious? Or are you joking?

Abramoff: Oh no, I'm not joking at all.

Stahl: So, it's okay if you pay for lunch as long as you stand up?

Abramoff: Well, it's actually worse than that. You can't take a congressman to lunch for $25 and buy him a hamburger or a steak of something like that. But you can take him to a fundraising lunch and not only buy him that steak, but give him $25,000 extra and call it a fundraiser. And have all the same access and all the same interaction with that congressman. So the people who make the reforms are the people in the system.

Stahl: Could you do the same thing today? I'm asking you whether you think the system's been cleaned up?

Abramoff: Could do the same thing that I? Yeah. No, the system hasn't been cleaned up at all.

Stahl: At all.

Abramoff: There's an arrogance on the part of lobbyists, and certainly there was on the part of me and my team, that no matter what they come up we, we're smarter than they are and we'll overcome it. We'll just find another way through. That's all.

He says the most important thing that needs to be done is to prohibit members of Congress and their staff from ever becoming lobbyists in Washington.

Abramoff: If you make the choice to serve the public, public service, then serve the public, not yourself. When you're done, go home. Washington's a dangerous place. Don't hang around.

Former Congressman Bob Ney now works part-time as a radio host.

His former chief of staff Neil Volz is currently working as a night janitor at a Florida restaurant.

And Jack Abramoff has written a memoir called "Capitol Punishment."

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[flashthought]

This is not about which party is the most corruptible. This is not about JA being the only corrupt lobbyist. This is about the PROBLEM IN WASHINGTON. He who has the gold, rules.

[tommyjimjim]

Question......In this Morning Joe video Interview with the 60 minutes guy that talks about Pelosi and her husband being approached by a Wells Fargo person that influenced them on Financial reform Legislation and to invest in a Wells Fargo Visa IPO , isn't this the same kind of bribing that Jack Abramoff got sent to prison for ???
Morning Joe Video
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/vp=45337068&#45337068

[patscls]

Now we here the truth about how CONGRESS is run in CONGRESS on both sides too . LETS CUT THEIR BENIFIT NOW .OH YES THEY CONTROL THE STRINGS ON HOW THE MONEY IS SPEND . now thats what you call supper crooks .

[medicalquack]

It is actually worse than this with deception and I have been writing about the use of algorithmic math for quite a while and am picking up some additional fans and readers over this. 2012 will be the year of cleaning up formulas and math. I used to write code and know the mechanics and am surprised more like me don't speak up. When you create software, in the words of Bill Gates, it is nothing more than a group of algorithms. Here's part 4 with back links to 1-3. It's funny as I had one of the protesters write to me to help understand it, and in same week a writer for Forbes asked me similar questions...so both ends of the spectrum.

http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/11/attack-of-killer-algorithms-occupy-wall.html

The Occupy Group is frustrated as you can't see them, touch them, speak to them or have any real effect and our Congress is so digitally illiterate that they are lead around by the nose by those on Wall Street and other places with the reports and studies that are created, gullible and naive. We all are until someone tells us differently.

Michael Moore has done a great job at awareness but where do the people go to fight the battles? Nothing happens until the parameters of an algorithm get changed. We have bad math and when you layer it you now get to writing the unreadable. I reference one NYU professor who I now exchange occasional tweets with who's right on the money too with this has written books and I recommend one of his books all the time, Proofiness, the Dark Side of Mathematical Deception. It's funny going back in time but in August of 2009 I made a post about the US needing a Department of Algorithms to certify accuracy as so many today are marketed and written for desired results for profit.

Beleive me this is the problem with deception at the worst possible level and I talk a lot about it and the flawed data we have out there and we need leaders with just a touch of IT experience. Look at the side show of HHS having a Facebook contest for a program for disasters? Geeks all laugh at it, and would riots be considered a disaster? Not recommended there and where the laughter comes in. We could easily license and tax those folks who sell our personal data for sure. Congress still thinks they can make laws in this area and they can't. It is over their heads. I have a ton of posts that talk about the digital illiteracy of our Congress and it's a shame as they default to abortion talk when things get complicated.

http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2011/06/privacy-wantedso-lets-require-those-who.html

Algorithms when executed have teeth and they are biting all of us when not used properly and deceptive and math for profit enters the picture. By the way, I wrote on my blog too about Congress and insider trading a few months back too, so keep it going.

[ConnieChapman]

Solyndra, SunPower, etc. What about Obama giving close to a trillion dollars to people who gave him campaign "contributions" aka bribes? Lobbyists, the Unions, corporations, they are not on par with the govt. Politicians take campaign "contributions" aka bribes, then make policies that favor the unions, corporations and friends that gave them the "contributions" and to hell with the people they are paid and elected to serve. I would like to see Leslie Stahl do a story on Mr. Hope and Change and all the money he has squandered and policies he has made to cater to the people who gave him "contributions".

[ducksducks]

All of a sudden it all makes sense The Grover Norquist Pledge signers no longer care if they are voted in for another term I 'm sure they hope they are not. It should be very obvious there all going to a better Job with three times the pay, if Jack Abramoff was telling the truth. There existing term is simply an initiation to show there loyalty to the people who are buying them.

[martinserrot]

rwassel, are blind to the cronys from other stripes? Perhaps you haven't yet figured them out. My apologies.

[martinserrot]

Very well said bschomburg1!!! Is anyone out there awake yet? Oh, I forgot these folks ate the cheese.

[martinserrot]

I watched the interview and think that rats like these deserve all they get. The question I have is, why do rats of red stripes go down so quickly, where as RATS of blue stripes are so hard to take down? Is the media complicit in their cronyism?

[LauraOregon]

Unbelievable story. Kudos to the interviewer for being real and shocked as much as the rest of us. These are the stories we need to hear to stop this type of nonsense. What kind of greedy people do we have in office, they don't read the bills, they sign off on big spenditures without full knowledge, what has our Government become? A playground it sounds like, not watching out for us that voted them in.