Another Father’s Day comes to a close. I spent a lot of mine in traffic between New York and Baltimore with a justifiably bored five-year old.
The delays cause me to miss the Yearly Kos Fundraiser in Washington DC that I had registered to attend.
As traffic finally began to move and my daughter decided to take a nap, it became clear that I would never get back on time. Still, I was blessed. I was with my family and it was good. Fathers are important and I’m glad to be one.
As the drive dragged on, my thoughts turned to all the Fathers who are not with their children today. There are many reasons why—some good, some bad. Some of these fellows were good fathers. Others were not. Most (like me) have their pluses and minuses and we hope that our children will come to think of us as Good Fathers—whether we are always there or not.
I found myself thinking about one Father in particular, a fellow named Jack Abramoff.
Jack is many things. One of them is a Good Father.
To the jump...
To say that Jack Amramoff is a Good Father must strike many folks as an idea straight out of the Crazy Store.
After all, this is Jack Abramoff I’m talking about. The photos of him in his black Fedora have morphed him into a pop icon, the public face of corruption and an easy pejorative for our political discourse. And all of that is justified. Jack did very bad things. For twenty-five years he was a Bagman for the GOP. He moved the off-the-books money to fund an effort to install one-Party rule in the USA.
As those who have been following my Diaries know, I have been writing about the Republican Culture of Corruption and the Jack Abramoff Scandal for some time now.
His specialty was finding off-the-books financing to fund the effort to establish One-Party-Rule in America. In the eighties he converted the College Republicans into a farm club and training camp for Conservative shock troops. Then he had a hand in Iran-Contra and other shadow efforts to fund and support the covert Wars of the Reagan era. That effort took him to South Africa where he worked to protect Apartheid and create bonds with networks of "anti-communists" working across the globe.
By the early 1990s his "cover" was a Hollywood producer, his job was to raise money for the cause. In 1994, he helped collect over $700,000 for GOP candidates. The money was passed through DeLay, who then won over Gingrich’s candidate for GOP Whip. From the beginning of the Gingrich revolution Jack was there and he was a key player.
From 1994 to 2007 there was a GOP crime wave (it is still going on). An incurious national media would often report on the crimes being committed, but never follow-up on the links to the Congressional Leadership. Every now and then a story would start to get traction, but the well organized, funded and unopposed Right Wind Noise Machine could always shut it down or distract the press.
The Bush years will be remembered as an Era of 24/7 graft, corruption and vote rigging.
At the center of these crimes were Jack Abramoff and a network of other GOP money launderers. These were the mules that moved the cash and kept the crimes of the Republican Party and the players hidden from view.
Jack knows where and how many, many of these crimes were committed. And he is talking.
Jack became the poster boy for the Culture of Corruption when the Washington Post started their Abramoff coverage in early 2004. That story was initiated by Conservative Republican Lobbyists who dropped a dime on Jack and ratted him out to the WP.
Why they would do that has always been one of the more interesting aspects of the Abramoff story. After all, Jack had always been a great earner for the GOP.
I think the reason this scandal ever came to light is because Jack Abramoff was a Good Father. When I say that, I am talking about how Jack’s family views him and how Jack viewed his role in his Family.
I’m a Liberal. I see the shades of gray and the human frailties that inform us all. I see the tragedies that evolved out of the best intentions. I want justice, truth and accountability—and peace, love and understanding. I know that each of us has our contradictions and that we can be done in by them.
Jack was done in by his contradictions. He was done in by an honest impulse—love.
For years Jack was a loyal foot soldier in the One-Party Rule Gang. He was (as they say in the Mob) a top earner. From 1978 through 2000, Jack did not make waves. He was not overly greedy (especially when compared to some other Republicans).
By 2002 to 2004, all of that had changed. Jack was suddenly very greedy. He needed more and more money. He entered into wild schemes with Micael Scanlon and others. He became reckless.
Why was there a change in Abramoff’s level of greed? That is a question I have been wondering about for some time.
The pop culture image and current GOP talking point is simply that Jack was a Bad Apple. This view was re-enforced by the John McCain led Senate Indian Affairs Committee investigation Cover-Up. According to this version, this view, greed was Jack’s only motivation. He did not care about anybody or anything. He only cared about the money.
I never bought that story line. It is a myth.
First, Jack was part of a much larger money laundering system, so he was not an isolated Bad Apple. He was one of many. And most are still working in Washington.
And second, Jack cared about his family. He cared about his kids. That, and not greed was the root of his motivation.
It was that impulse to love his children, along with a healthy dose of the GOP sense on invincibility after 9-11, that led Jack to his fall.
In 2002 Jack started his own school, the Eshkol Academy. It was very expensive to run and Jack needed tons of extra cash to keep the lights on. The school was a labor of love for Jack. And he was doing it for his kids. The money chase to try and keep Eshkol open led to reckless behavior and to Jack’s downfall.
Now before Jack decided to open his own school, he was on the Board of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington. In 1999 and 2000 it seemed that this school would be where Jack’s sons would get their education. Then something went wrong.
In one of the most bizarre twists of the Abramoff saga, the Washington Post reported last year how Abramoff’s pals on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) gave $20,000 to Democrat Doug Duncan to fund his re-election as County Executive in Montgomery County, Maryland. Jack and the Yeshiva of Greater Washington were trying to get the County to sell the Yeshiva a school building for a planned expansion. This deal did not work out. Here is the reporting on it:
It was an odd story. Sometime after 2000, there was some sort of falling out between Jack and the rest of the Board of Yeshiva of Greater Washington. I am not sure exactly what happened, but I suspect it may have happened sometime in early 2001. I think that Jack wanted more organized sports for the kids at the Yeshiva and was over-ruled.
After 9-11, it seemed that nothing would stop the dream of one-Party Rule. I can imagine how Abramoff would have felt invincible as a key player in the Party. I think he let that sense of entitled arrogance inform his reaction to his disagreement with his son’s school.
Now all parents have that moment when your child’s school does something you find objectionable. Sometimes it is a small thing. Sometimes it is a big deal. The usual reaction is to complain and seek a resolution to the issue. If that fails and the disagreement is irresolvable you might even move your child to another school—or take up home schooling.
Not Jack.
He decided to start his own school—for his kids and others.
It was an idea straight out of the Crazy Store.
It was doomed from the beginning, but Jack was blind to that reality. Part of his blindness was the sense that 9-11 had accelerated One-Party Rule and that now they could get away with anything, but a larger motivation for Abramoff was love—love of his kids. I think he put everything in jeopardy for that, including the effort to establish One-Party Rule.
I think that the entire Culture of Corruption story and Abramoff Scandal broke because Jack put the love of his kids above the Republican Party.
In return for his reckless love, I think Jack’s kids see him as a Good Father.
I see him as a Good Father in serious need of atonement.
I hope he follows that path. I honor his impulse to love and sacrifice for his children, but the way you show that love matters. The ends do not justify the means.
Tonight Jack is in prison. He is away from the family he loves. He is responsible for that and for the crimes he committed. He can do something about his crimes and he can work towards making things right. He can show his children and the world just who he really is. He can earn his atonement.
The news reports are that Jack is talking:
"He's talking so much he doesn't have time to eat," one lawyer involved in the matter quipped, insisting upon anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. "Everybody who had business dealings with the guy should be nervous."
Happy Father’s Day Jack.
Remember, the Truth shall set you free.
Cheers.
ps: Sure I missed the Yearly Kos Fundraiser, but I will be at the Take Back America Conference this week and hope to see some of the folks I missed there. The nonprofit I work for, Co-op America will have a table there, so drop by and say hello.