Abramoff scandal sends waves across Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lobbyist Jack Abramoff's guilty plea in a U.S. corruption probe sent shock waves across Washington on Wednesday as top Republicans sought to avoid being tainted by the scandal and Democrats pressed the issue.

President George W. Bush, House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois and House Majority Leader Roy Blunt were among Republicans who donated to charities the campaign contributions they had received from Abramoff. Democrats said the issue would loom large in November's congressional elections.

Others said the investigation would bring needed discipline to a lobbying industry that has enjoyed a freewheeling culture and record earnings.

"A lot of the relationships around lobbying have been awfully loose and enforcement of existing laws has been fairly lax," said Doug Pinkham, president of the Public Affairs Council, a lobbying-industry trade group.

Officials with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an influential business organization, said the scandal could encourage lobbying-reform legislation and spur lawmakers to work harder to pass substantive legislation this year.

Abramoff pleaded guilty on Wednesday to wire-fraud charges for falsifying loan documents in the purchase of a Florida gambling-ship fleet, one day after he pleaded guilty to a separate set of charges in Washington.

As part of both deals, he will help Justice Department investigators probing whether members of Congress gave Abramoff and his clients favorable treatment in return for campaign contributions, sports tickets and other gifts.

Abramoff's cooperation makes the Justice Department's case much easier, a former prosecutor said.

"The real issue is intent -- what was the intent with which an official committed an act?" said Roma Theus, a Florida lawyer who prosecuted corruption cases with the Justice Department. "Testimony of an insider is critical, because it shows what the actual mind-set was, the thought process was."

'DIFFICULT CASES'

However, a Justice Department official cautioned against speculation that the corruption probe might lead to a large number of indictments against lawmakers.

"These are very difficult cases to make," the official said. "We will take the evidence where it goes."

Investigators are examining Abramoff's links to at least four congressional Republicans, including former House Republican Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio. Abramoff admitted on Tuesday to providing golf trips, sports tickets and other gifts to lawmakers in return for special treatment.

Ney and DeLay have said that they have done nothing illegal.

The Republican National Committee said Bush will return $6,000 that Abramoff, his wife and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian tribe, an Abramoff client, gave to Bush's 2004 re-election campaign. But the campaign doesn't plan to return more than $100,000 that Abramoff raised from friends and associates, spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said.

"We are following the investigation closely and will take appropriate action should the situation warrant it," Schmitt said in an e-mail.

Though Abramoff personally only gave money to Republicans his Indian-tribe clients contributed to Democrats as well, campaign-finance records show.

Several senators who oversee Indian affairs, including Montana Republican Conrad Burns and North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan, have returned donations from Abramoff or his clients.

National Republican campaign groups received $1.24 million from sources linked to Abramoff since 1999, while Democratic groups took in $844,000 during that period, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in politics.

Republicans said that proves that Democrats are equally involved in the scandal, but Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Karen Finney said that wasn't the case.

"Jack Abramoff used his Republican contacts to create an extensive pay-to-play system with Republican members of Congress where political money was used for policy outcomes," she said. "I do not think the evidence has shown such on the other side."

Finney said Democrats would highlight the issue in November's congressional elections. A Republican campaign official said voters won't blame their Republican representatives if a member of the same party is found guilty of corruption.

"I don't know of anyone who lost a race because of something another member did or didn't do," said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Carl Forti.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said politicians will try to pin the scandal on lobbyists but they are to blame as well.

"You can't have a corrupt lobbyist unless you also have a corrupt member and corrupt staff," Gingrich said at the Rotary Club of Washington. "This was a team effort."

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Susan Cornwell, Deborah Charles, Alan Elsner and Rick Cowan)