Yesterday, one of the central figures in the corruption scandal that rocked Washington was sentenced.   Jack Abramoff, who is already in prison, got a lighter sentence in the corruption case, because of his cooperation with federal authorities.  Sounds like federal authorities aren't finished with this investigation:

Jack Abramoff, the powerhouse Washington lobbyist who admitted running a wide-ranging corruption scheme that ensnared lawmakers, Capitol Hill aides and government officials, yesterday received a reduced sentence of four years in prison because of his cooperation with federal investigators.

Abramoff, 49, already has served nearly two years for his conviction in a related Florida fraud case. The sentence yesterday by U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle means that the former Republican lobbyist will likely remain in prison until 2012.

More than a dozen people, including an Ohio congressman and a deputy secretary of the interior, have been convicted in the Abramoff lobbying scandal, and Justice Department officials said the investigation is continuing. Still under scrutiny are former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and retiring Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.).

 

Former Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH) got out of jail today, well, actually a halfway house.  Either way, it's a far cry from his powerful perch on Capitol Hill:

Former Ohio Rep. Bob Ney has been released from a federal halfway house in Cincinnati. A manager for the facility confirmed Ney was released Friday, having completed a 17-month sentence.

VIDEO: Scott MacFarlane Reports - Bob Ney Released from Custody

 

Ney resigned his office and pleaded guilty to a felony bribery charge in 2006, in connection with the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal in Washington. A federal judge sentenced the longtime Republican leader to 30 months in prison. Having reportedly completed a substance abuse, Ney was able to secure an early release.

A leading ethics group in Washington said it's satisfied with Ney's punishment, despite the reduction.Melanie Sloan, of Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington said, "I think Mr. Ney's situation serves as a cautionary tale for other members of Congress who are thinking of engaging in corrupt activities. They too can see that they can find themselves in jail without any real career prospects."

Another notorious alumnus from CREW's Beyond DeLay is former Congressman Bob Ney:

Former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, convicted in a corruption probe tied to former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has been released from a minimum security federal prison in Morgantown, W.Va., and transferred to a halfway house.

Officials said Wednesday he will serve out his 30-month sentence at a halfway house at an undisclosed location.

Ney, a former chairman of the House Administration Committee, resigned from the House Nov. 3, 2006, after pleading guilty Oct. 13, 2006, to making false statements and conspiracy to commit fraud. The charges arose from his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is also in federal prison. Ney admitted receiving lavish gifts from Abramoff in return for political favors.

Neil Volz received one of the more lenient punishments to date in the series of convictions stemming from Jack Abramoff.   Ney's former to staffer got a lighter sentence than prosecutors recommended.  Ney is, of course, in jail -- as is Abramoff: 

Neil Volz, the former chief of staff to ex-Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), walked out of court Wednesday without as much as an ankle bracelet.

Volz, who last year pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud for his role in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, received only probation as punishment, a reward for cooperating with the government and serving as the lynchpin in prosecuting others.

For his help in bringing down Ney and others, prosecutors had recommended home confinement, but U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle was more lenient, granting Volz two years of probation, 100 hours of community service and a $2,000 fine.  Volz faced a maximum of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines for his guilty plea.

Another sentencing is approaching in the progeny of Abramoff related scandals.  This time it's Neil Volz who served as an aide to Rep. Bob Ney and Jack Abramoff (both of whom are currently in prison).  Volz wants leniency for cooperating with prosecutors.  Plus, Ney was really mean to him:

A one-time top aide to a jailed former congressman from Ohio deserves house arrest, not prison, because he cooperated with a federal influence-peddling probe involving his ex-boss and endured the congressman's wrath, federal prosecutors argued in court documents.

Neil Volz, 37, former chief of staff for Bob Ney, "endured harsh criticism, including abusive phone calls" from Ney when the congressman suspected he was assisting investigators, according to documents filed Thursday.

Volz faces a maximum of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines when he is sentenced next week on conspiracy charges.

Ney, a six-term Republican, is serving 2½ years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and making false statements, admitting he traded his influence for golf trips, campaign donations and other gifts arranged by once-influential lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his associates.

Volz took fewer gifts than other Ney aides while serving on Ney's staff, government attorneys argued. Among the gifts were tickets to sporting events and a 2000 trip to the Northern Mariana Islands, during which Volz did attend some meetings, the filing said.

More and more revelations keep trickling out from the Abramoff-related cases.  One interesting tidbit we learned was from the case involving Bob Ney's former Chief of Staff, Will Heaton.  Apparently,  Mr. Heaton wore a wire for the FBI to help build the case against his boss.  Mr. Heaton, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, gets sentenced on Thursday:

While former Rep. Bob Ney was trading political access for campaign donations and lavish gifts, his young chief of staff was secretly wearing a wire and shuttling incriminating documents to the FBI, according to court documents.

Will Heaton let FBI agents record his telephone calls and taped a 2 1/2-hour meeting with Ney. He leaked documents and worked late into the night and on weekends to avoid arousing suspicion that he was working with the government.

"The moment I walked into my first meeting with the Justice Department, a huge weight was lifted off my chest," Heaton wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. "For the first time in years I felt at peace with myself and I knew I was finally making the right choice."

After helping send the Ohio Republican to prison for corruption, Heaton pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy. He admitted accepting a golf trip to Scotland, expensive meals, and tickets to sporting events between 2002 and 2004 as payoffs for helping clients of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Heaton, 29, worked for Ney from September 2001 to July 2006, becoming in 2002 the youngest chief of staff on Capitol Hill. Heaton's lawyers said in court documents that Ney preferred to hire inexperienced staffers because they had not received extensive ethics training and lacked the maturity to question him.

 

Yesterday, House MInority Leader John Boehner demonstrated the new-found outrage of his caucus on the issue of ethics.  Boehner really wants an ethics investigation of Rep. Jefferson.  Now, keep in mind, there were no ethics investigations of former GOP Representatives Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Bob Ney.  But Boehner wants more -- now:

The Republican resolution called for the ethics committee to investigate Jefferson, who was indicted Monday on 16 counts of bribery and corruption. The resolution, which specifically called on the committee to look into whether Jefferson should be expelled, passed 373-26. Also, 13 members, including members of the ethics committee, voted “present.”

Republicans stressed that Democrats had not renewed the ethics subcommittee investigating Jefferson since taking power five months ago. They noted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) prevented the subcommittee from being named because she did not select potential members for investigative subcommittees until Tuesday – after Jefferson was indicted.

“It’s somewhat of a sad state of affairs that this committee wasn’t formed until today and it took this indictment to get this subcommittee named,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).

It's somewhat of a sad state of affairs that the Ethics Committee hasn't done anything for years.  Therein lies the bigger problem.  And, even now, it takes an indictment for the Ethics Committee to launch an investigation.   

In the wake of the announcement that Steve Griles was going to plead guilty to an Abramoff-related case, the Associated Press provided this handy guide to all the parties who have convictions relating to Abramoff -- including Jack himself:

Lawmakers, lobbyists and Bush administration officials caught up in the Jack Abramoff public corruption probe, besides former Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles:

Former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, sentenced in January to 2 1/2 years in prison, acknowledged taking bribes from Abramoff. Ney was in the traveling party on the Abramoff-sponsored golfing trip to Scotland that was at the heart of the case against former White House official David Safavian.

Jack Abramoff is serving six years in prison on a criminal case out of Florida, where he pleaded guilty in January 2006 to charges of conspiracy, honest services fraud and tax evasion. He has not yet been sentenced on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion stemming from the influence-peddling scandal in Washington. Abramoff is cooperating in a bribery investigation involving lawmakers, their aides and members of the Bush administration.

Tony Rudy, lobbyist and onetime aide to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, pleaded guilty in March 2006 to conspiring with Abramoff. He is cooperating with investigators.

David Safavian, the Bush administration's former top procurement official and a former chief of staff for the General Services Administration, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in October after he was found guilty of covering up his dealings with Abramoff. Safavian is appealing his June 2006 conviction.

Michael Scanlon, a former Abramoff business partner and DeLay aide, pleaded guilty in November 2005 to conspiring to bribe public officials in connection with his lobbying work on behalf of Indian tribes and casino issues. He is cooperating with investigators.

William Heaton, former chief of staff for Ney, pleaded guilty Monday to a federal conspiracy charge involving a golf trip to Scotland, expensive meals, and tickets to sporting events between 2002 and 2004 as payoffs for helping Abramoff's clients.

Neil Volz, a former chief of staff to Ney who left government to work for Abramoff, pleaded guilty in May 2006 to conspiring to corrupt Ney and others with trips and other aid.

Roger Stillwell, a former Interior Department official, was sentenced to two years on probation in January after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge for not reporting hundreds of dollars worth of sports and concert tickets he received from Abramoff.

That's quite a family tree of crime.

From The Hill, we learn that convicted Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH) sent one last e-mail before he heads to federal prison today. Here it is:

hello,

i will not have access to e mail so this will be my last for awhile. i wanted to drop you a short e mail to give you my address:

i also wanted to thank you for all you have done for me and my family. your kind words, thoughts, and prayers throughout the last six months have helped all of us quite a lot.

someone asked me the other day, if i wish i had never ran for office. i answered that i am glad that i did. nothing can erase the wonderful memories, thoughts, constituents, and changes that we, working together with the republicans and democrats, have been able to do. working to bring jobs to the district, helping constituents with issues, and trying to change law to help people has been the greatest memory ever.

would i change things if i could, sure. am i sorry for things that happened, absolutely, and i will pay the price. but, i am grateful for many good people in our office that helped the district and grateful for a free nation, the men and women that protect it, and a wonderful constituency in the district that i used to serve.

my family and i have lost everything on an economical basis, house, health care, possesions, but so have other people, people in the district, many, have lost all. and yes , that is painful for anyone that has gone through it, but, i am so fortunate to have my wife and children, we are so rich with family, friends like you, loved ones that are there for us, and full of hope for a good future.

the darkest days are not ahead, i have gained a higher power, the god of my understanding, is with all of us and that allows me to view tomorrow, although as a day of loss of freedom, as a day of enlightenment and of life to come.

as garth brooks said in his song the dance:

and now i'm glad i didn't know
the way it all would end, the way it all would go
our lives are better left to chance,
i could have missed the pain,
but i'd have had to miss, the dance

my family and my life is starting new, thanks for being part of it.

god bless,

bob ney

New details via the case against Ney's Chief of Staff, Wiilliam Heaton.  The former Congressman, now serving time in federal prison, had a secret stash of cash in his Capitol Hill office:

Former Rep. Bob Ney kept thousands of dollars from a foreign businessman stashed in a safe hidden in his congressional office, and he often made cash withdrawals, according to Ney’s former chief of staff.

The secret fund was made public in an agreement filed in federal court yesterday between federal prosecutors and the former aide, William Heaton. Heaton, 28, pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of conspiracy and faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

The "ready cash" originated with gambling chips Ney received from Syrian businessman Fouad Al-Zayat.