Abramoff Scandal Figure To Plead Guilty

Investigations Into Lobbying Scandal Are Gaining More Momentum

(CBS)  By CBS News Justice Department producer Stephanie Lambidakis

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Mark Zachares, one of the more minor figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, has agreed to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge at a plea hearing Tuesday.

According to one source, the investigations have been picking up speed because Abramoff, who is in jail, has been "spilling his guts" in continued debriefings with federal prosecutors. The source noted wryly that while the Justice Department was once dubious of Abramoff's credibility, prosecutors are embracing much of what he's telling them.

Tuesday's plea indicates that the investigations have new momentum and are likely to lead to additional charges.

The criminal information cites Zachares' "extensive contact" with Abramoff going back to the mid-1990s. Zachares worked for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, then took key staff positions on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee while Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, was the chairman. Abramoff tried and failed to get Zachares a job with the Office of Insular Affairs at the Interior Department.

The headline in the plea is the cryptic reference to "Representative #3." We're told this is a member of Congress who has not been publicly named before in the Abramoff investigation.

Zachares went on the $160,000 golf trip in August of 2003 with Abramoff and six others, including a member of the House identified as "Representative #3. That lawmaker is not identified, but Rep. Tom Feeney acknowledged the golf trip on his financial disclosure forms but claimed it was paid by the National Center for Public Policy Research, not Jack Abramoff.

Earlier this year, the House Ethics Committee ordered Feeney to repay $5,643 and Feeney did so. With their reference to "representative #3," prosecutors are signalling that Rep. Feeney could be their next target.

Zachares got more than $30,000 in sports tickets from Abramoff. There are a few interesting details: Zachares tried to get a non-public Department of Justice Threat Assessment Report about Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands for Abramoff. He also tried to procure reorganization plans for the Department of Homeland Security.

Abramoff had told Zachares that his activities on the Hill would serve as "credits" that would translate into dollars when and if Zachares went to work for Abramoff.

[eddred33]

PLEASE, WE HAVE TO STOP THESE INVESTIGATIONS FOR THE SAKE OF DEMOCRACY. IF WE CONTINUE IM AFRAID WERE GOING TO RUN OUT OF REPUBLICANS (MOST IN JAIL) THEN WHAT ARE GOING TO DO?

[colbinistafl]

And additionally, from http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2007/01/minimum-wage-debate-payback-for.html ,
article by Steve Pizzo of alternet.org:

[Jack Abramoff] said that efforts to regulate the islands' garment factories by some members of Congress like Miller were nothing less than immoral. "These are immoral laws designed to destroy the economic lives of a people," Abramoff said. He went on to compare the proposed laws with the Nuremberg laws that restricted German Jews under the Nazis. The Marianas became a pedal-to-the-metal cause for DeLay and another cash cow for Abramoff. Abramoff and his team, which now included DeLay's former chief of staff Bill Jarrell, swung into action. They arranged junkets to the islands for scores of Republicans on The Hill. DeLay himself spent New Years Day 1998 in the Marianas with his wife and daughter and his then Chief of Staff, Ed Buckham. Another of Abramoff's Mariana lobbyists was Patrick Pizzella who, believe it or not, is now serving in the Bush Administration as assistant secretary of Labor. It was Pizzella's job to organize Abramoff's political junkets to the islands.

[colbinistafl]

..What incredible serendipity.. I was just thinking today, "Whatever HAPPENED to that festering sore in the Republican ranks?.."

JUST TO REMIND EVERYONE what we're TALKING ABOUT, essentially, here with Abramoff's horrific hypocrisy and human rights abuses:

from http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/marianasupdate.html

This is back in November, 2005. I think he should be SENTENCED to COMMUNITY SERVICE, in the Mariana islands:


%u201CLet%u2019s remember what they paid for: a protection racket that sheltered a sweatshop industry that systematically exploited tens of thousands of impoverished foreign workers -- mostly Asian women -- who were little better than indentured servants; a sweatshop industry that earned some of the heaviest fines in U.S. history for violating labor laws; an industry repeatedly cited by the Departments of Justice, Interior and other federal agencies. They were defending a corrupt immigration system that regularly approved visas for non-existent jobs, resulting in hundreds of women being forced into the *** trade, including prostitution.

thanks
watch the show.. agent 2197 of the colbert nation

God Bless Factiness

[randalds]

Nail the minor players and get them to roll over on the higher ups in exchange for deals. Classic prosecutorial methods of investigation. Here's hoping they clean the whole House (and Senate) out of all of the sleezebags, Republican OR Democrat. Here's hoping the investigation leads right to the Veep's door.

[starleo146]

Why hasn't Tom De Lay been tried yet is Alberto Gonzales preventing that from happening?

[macusweil]

GOP - Greed Over Principle

[huskerarmy]

"Hasn't taken us long to figure out what our fathers knew. Greed and Corruption is a necessary standard for the Republican's."
GOPers are the tool party of the American plutocracy. Fortunately, we haven't had to pay the price that our fathers paid... the "Great Depression."

[skyk-2009]

The Republican Party was given a chance by the American People to lead for the first time in a very long time. They were handed BOTH houses of Congress and the White House. Hasn't taken us long to figure out what our fathers knew. Greed and Corruption is a necessary standard for the Republican's.

[ne_patriot7]

I also believe Representative #3 is going to lead to Representative #4, and 5, and 6 and 7....

By the time 2008 rolls around, dems may be running unapposed... LOL.

[shingles1]

I believe that Representative #3 is U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, Rep. of FL.