Is the end near for Ney?
Mounting evidence of the Republican congressman's unseemly dealings in the Abramoff corruption scandal bodes ill for the "mayor of Capitol Hill."
By Michael Scherer
Nov. 22, 2005 | To hear his spokesman tell it, Rep. Bob Ney is a dupe, but not a criminal. The Ohio Republican did favors for disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his business partner Michael Scanlon, but they were nothing more than "official actions" taken in the course of a "normal, appropriate government process" involving no "improper influence."
"Any allegation that Representative Ney did anything illegal or improper is false," announced Ney's spokesman, Brian Walsh, on Monday, in one of the many recent releases to reporters. "It appears, unfortunately, that Representative Ney was one of the many people defrauded."
That's the cover story, at least. A quick look at the Congressional Record, however, suggests the truth is a bit more damning. In fact, the betting money in Washington sees Ney, who is known by colleagues as "the mayor of Capitol Hill," as a pol whose days are now numbered. He may not be the only Republican in Congress to lose his job as a result of the Abramoff investigation, but he is likely to be first in line if congressional indictments come down. "If Bob Ney is not nailed to the wall here, given everything we know right now, it will be quite a surprise," says Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
In recent days, the Justice Department claimed a "Representative #1," later identified as Ney, was a major player in a conspiracy of political corruption. According to court filings, Abramoff and Scanlon provided Ney with "a stream of things of value," including "a lavish trip to Scotland to play golf on world famous courses, tickets to sporting events and other entertainment, regular meals at
upscale restaurant, and campaign contributions." Ney or his staff also received tickets to the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., frequent golf expenses for greens around Washington, D.C., and a 2000 trip to the Northern Mariana Islands, an American territory in the Pacific that had hired Abramoff as a lobbyist. In an apparent exchange, prosecutors claim that Ney agreed "to perform a series of official acts" like placing statements in the Congressional Record, meeting with Abramoff's clients and trying to arrange a cellphone business deal for one of the lobbyist's clients.
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http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/11/22/ney/
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