The Republican party was on Tuesday facing a fast-growing corruption scandal with potentially serious implications for next year's elections after a well-connected Washington lobbyist pleaded guilty to bribing a congressman and other public officials.
The plea by Michael Scanlon is a breakthrough in an investigation of influence-peddling in Congress that could reach top levels of the party. It comes at a time when the Republicans are already nervous about next November's congressional elections, with support for the Iraq war falling away and the White House under the cloud of an intelligence leak investigation.
"The potential is huge," said Thomas Mann, a political analyst at the Brookings Institution. "We've never seen an example as egregious as this with these sums of money, the bilking, the cynicism and linkages ... I think you're going to see a string of indictments."
Scanlon is expected to give evidence against public officials alleged to have accepted bribes, including free golfing trips to Scotland, restaurant meals and sports tickets, in return for pushing legislation favorable to clients of Scanlon and his boss, Jack Abramoff, a Washington super-lobbyist who is also under investigation.
The congressman named in the Scanlon plea agreement is Robert Ney, a powerful Republican insider known as the "mayor of Capitol Hill" because of his influential role at the head of the House administration committee. He received a free golfing trip to Scotland, US$14,000 in campaign contributions and regular free meals at Abramoff's Washington restaurant, Signatures.
In return, court documents allege, he backed legislation and attempted to influence administration officials on the lobbyists' behalf. He is also alleged to have put his political weight behind Abramoff's attempt to buy a fleet of Florida casino ships. The man who sold it to him was killed in a mafia-style execution in 2001.
Also reported to be under investigation are half a dozen other members of Congress, including Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader who was forced to step down in September after being charged in a separate scandal over political money-laundering.
Attorneys for DeLay sought the immediate dismissal of conspiracy and money laundering charges against him on Tuesday, but a Texas judge said he would not rule for two weeks in the case.
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