The scandal unfolding around Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and American Indian tribes confirms that power corrupts.
We say “Republican lobbyist” because the well-connected Abramoff worked his lobbying magic overwhelmingly on behalf of Republicans in Congress, in large part because Republicans hold majority power. Abramoff probably would have developed the same kind of relationships with Democrats had they been in the majority, although his pedigree as an active Republican goes back to his college years.
Nevertheless, the onus falls on Washington’s powerful in the huge Republican majority. It’s no surprise that top Republicans, including former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, are entangled in Abramoff’s lobbying net. Abramoff cultivated them and they willingly took the goodies he provided.
Abramoff bilked American Indian tribes of some $80 million, for which they got his proven ability to convince key lawmakers to support tribal priorities. He delivered for them, but by most measures not $80 million worth.
Republicans certainly deserve their fair share of the onus in this scandal. There is no excuse for much of their behavior. However, I'd point out that 40 of 45 Senate Democrats received Abramofff money. Abramoff spread plenty of money around Washington, and while a lot of it went to the majority Republicans the Democrats got a decent chunk as well. Consider, for instance, that the Democrat national senatorial committee got 97% of the money that the Republican national senatorial committee got.
So when people like Howard Dean and the Democrat apologists at the Fargo Forum trot out the canard about Abramoff giving all of his money to Republicans remember that they're talking about the tiny fraction of contributions made by Abramoff personally, not the tens of millions in contributions made on his behalf by employees or at his behest by tribal interests. And also remember that while the majority Republicans did get the majority of the money, the minority Democrats got their fair share as well. Trying to spin this off as a "Republican only," or even "Republican mostly" scandal does the issue a grave disservice. Pretending that this corruption is the problem of one party and not the other denies the problems at the heart of the issue.
Our politicians in Washington are corrupt. Its high time we stopped the partisan finger-pointing and addressed root causes.
And I've heard enough about the "innocent" or "naive" Indian tribes who were "taken advantage of" by Abramoff. Please. These tribes weren't representing their people, they were representing their gambling interests. After all, when was the last time you heard of an Indian tribe with tens of millions of dollars to use to bribe politicians? A lot of them were trying to use political influence to block casinos for other tribes to keep away competition. They were no i"nnocent babes in the woods" on this one. Their attempts at bribery are every bit as despicable as the actions of the man they hired to do the bribing and the politicians who accepted the bribes.
This is a sordid business, and there aren't really any good guys in it.
(via The Flickertail Journal)