[This is by no means an exhaustive overview of Congressional scandals, merely a sampling of some of the largest scandals to hit Congress in the past 30 years.]
With word that uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff may reach a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, here's a look at scandals past and a short look at the scandal to come.
First off is another scandal regarding influence peddling and lobbying:
1976 - Koreagate, a scandal involving South Korea seeking to influence members of Congress. 115 members of Congress were implicated. The key lobbyist figure, Tongsun Park, fled the US shortly after the scandal broke (recently Park was arrested for being part of the oil-for-food scandal). The charges were later dropped and Park (also known as the 'Asian Great Gatsby') returned to testify to the House about his practices. One of the other main players were Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Movement and founder of the Washington Times. Only one representative, Richard Hanna (D-CA), was convicted.
More in extended.
1980 - Abdul Enterprises, Ltd. was created by the FBI in 1978 as a Middle Eastern front company. Dubbed Abscam, the FBI ran a sting operation leading to the arrest of members of Congress for bribery. Arguably the most serious Congressional scandal to date, Abscam led to bribery charges against one senator (Harrison Williams, a Democrat from NJ) and five House representatives (John Jenrette [D-SC], Richard Kelly [R-FL], Raymond Lederer [D-PA], Michael 'Ozzie' Myers [D-PA], and Frank Thompson [D-NJ]). Kelly's charges were later overturned due to FBI entrapment. Another representative, John M. Murphy [D-NY], was convicted of conspiracy, conflict of interest, and accepting an illegal gratuity.
1989 - The Keating Five investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee, stemming from activities by the Lincoln Savings & Loan Association in Irving, CA. Charles H. Keating, Jr., Lincoln's chairman, was under investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. Several Senators approached the chief of the FHLBB and requested he halt his investigation of Keating. These five Senators, Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn, Jr. (D-OH), John McCain (R-AZ) and Donald Riegle, Jr. (D-MI), received $1.3 million in contributions from Keating. Cranston, whom the committee recommended to be censured, had already decided to retire and did so in 1992. No Congressional convictions ever resulted from the scandal.
1992 - The Housing Banking scandal. Large numbers of House representatives overdrew on the House bank. The House Ethics Committee revealed 350 former and current House members had written bad checks. 53 representatives resigned as a result.
The scandal is largely believed to be the one of the last straws that brought about the 1994 Republican revolution in the House.
Howard Dean writes of the scandal in You Have the Power:
In 1991 we saw the House banking scandal and post office scandals. The bank scandal, which showed that members had been habitually overdrawn on their congressional bank accounts and were bouncing checks with impunity, implicated Democrats and Republicans alike, but the Republicans, campaigning against the Democratic-controlled Congress, were able to frame both scandals generally as the work of the "corrupt Democratic machine."
Democrats framing the Abramoff scandal would be wise to make similar comparisons to the inherent mechanics of the K Street Project. As the Abramoff scandal looks to reach another significant development tomorrow with Abramoff's plea, it would be wise for our Democratic leaders to speak to this issue similarly. To do so, they must say more than simply, 'culture of corruption.' Sorry, but the American people are looking for narratives not catch phrases. But I disgress...
2006 - The Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. We don't know half of the details quite yet. We do know:
- Abramoff defrauded $82 million from various tribal clients during the late 90's to 2004
- Abramoff was indicted for wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy in Florida for his part in 'buying' SunCruz casinos
- Abramoff has a long history as a GOP initiate. Starting from his days as head of the College RNC, Abramoff sought to further the Republican agenda along with the help of friends Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed in establishing the K Street Project.
- Abramoff is a long-time lobbyist. Jack didn't just show up and decide to defraud some tribes. He was a long-time lobbyist for issues that were on the legislative fringes. Middle East banks, the Pakistani government, Russian executives, the Marianas sweatshops, Tyco, Guam...the list goes on and on.
Abramoff was a truly global representative seeking to influence the US Congress by hire, and funnel the proceeds to the GOP power structure and his various pet projects. There is a much larger backstory to Abramoff's history that is only partially detailed in the press reporting to date. If he does indeed cooperate with federal prosecutors, the gory details are bound to come out. Those details will likely take down a substantial amount of members of the House (which were in the majority and a bit closer to the K Street Project) and maybe even a Senator or two. That a Democrat or two is taken down along the way doesn't obscure the fact that the vast majority will be from the majority party, the Republicans. Abramoff was a loyal GOP member. His personal contributions, his lavish Congressional trips to Scotland, his numerous DC skyboxes, and his various money laundering charities all show a contempt for any shred of an ethical standard. It was pay-to-play all the way. Now it's Abramoff who will be doing the paying. Next, members of Congress will pay the resulting price. One only hopes there are Dem. leaders able to step back, see the Abramoff scandal in its rightful context of special-interest legislative influence and seek the path to reform. It won't come from sound bytes, but from truly grasping the deep structural problems in our legislative process as it currently functions. Abramoff, more than anything, is the natural progression of the K Street Project, it's values and it's way of life.
Stan Brand, former House counsel, recently told Bloomberg:
"When this is all over, this will be bigger than any (government scandal) in the last 50 years, both in the amount of people involved and the breadth to it. It will include high-ranking members of Congress and executive branch officials."