MIAMI (AP) - Federal prosecutors took the first steps toward reducing the prison sentence of former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, currently scheduled for release in 2011 for a Florida fraud conviction.
Documents filed in federal court say Abramoff has provided “substantial assistance” in a separate Washington corruption scandal investigation and continues to work with investigators from his prison cell in Cumberland, Md.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul F. Schwartz did not recommend how much Abramoff’s sentence should be cut.

In the court papers filed Wednesday, Schwartz said prosecutors would recommend a reduction in his sentence and would file further documents describing the “nature, extent and value” of his cooperation.

Abramoff, once a powerful Washington lobbyist, and ex-partner Adam Kidan were sentenced in Florida last March to nearly six years in prison for concocting a fake $20 million wire transfer during their 2000 purchase of the Fort Lauderdale-based SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet.

Source: USAToday

Bush Abramoff picture

Hope he enjoys his stay.

Associated Press
Posted November 15 2006, 7:50 AM EST

CUMBERLAND, Md.– Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, convicted of federal charges after using expensive gifts, campaign donations and exotic trips to win access to the powerful in Washington, reported to prison Wednesday.

Abramoff arrived at about 6:30 a.m. at a relatively secluded prison facility in western Maryland and began to serve a nearly six-year prison sentence for a fraudulent deal to buy fleet of Dania-Beach-based fleet of SunCruz casino ships in 2000.

Abramoff was delivered out of sight of waiting reporters and camera crews and his arrival was announced in a two-paragraph statement by a prison representative.

Read more at the Sun Sentinel

Thought this was appropriate!

By Thomas Ferraro
Reuters
Friday, November 3, 2006; 7:50 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Bob Ney of Ohio resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, three weeks after pleading guilty in the Jack Abramoff political corruption scandal.

Ney submitted a letter of resignation, effective immediately, to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican who along with other lawmakers had urged him to step down immediately.

Ney had said in August he would not seek re-election to a seventh two-year term in the November 7 elections.

More here

CONRAD’S GOTTA GO…….

WASHINGTON - Staffers for Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., ate so much free sushi at disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s Washington restaurant that people joked that they would have “starved to death” without the lobbyist’s free meals, a Republican consultant says.

“Frankly, it was widely viewed in D.C. that Mr. Abramoff effectively exerted implicit control over Mr. Burns whenever he and his team needed to get something accomplished,” the consultant - Monty Warner, who says he’s still a friend of Abramoff’s - writes in a letter to the editor of the Whitefish Pilot, a weekly newspaper, which was obtained by NBC News.

More at MSNBC

Mr. Ney, despite a criminal record, will be able to begin collecting a Congressional pension of about $30,000 a year in a decade, when he turns 62.
This has always bugged me. Ney and others convicted of crimes while holding office are still able to collect a pension. I say there needs to be some kind of legislation passed to stop this. They deserve NOTHING.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 - Representative Bob Ney is headed to prison early next year after pleading guilty to charges of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in illegal gifts from lobbyists. Until then, Mr. Ney, a six-term Republican from Ohio, has a comfortable place to bide his time.

Mr. Ney’s brass nameplate remained Wednesday on the wall outside his office in the Rayburn building just across the street from the Capitol.
His Congressional office - the one that he has effectively acknowledged selling to the highest bidder - is open for business.

“The office of Congressman Bob Ney,” his telephone receptionist said in a cheery voice Tuesday morning, as if nothing had happened to her boss, the first member of Congress to confess to crimes involving the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Mr. Ney’s brass nameplate still hangs on the wall next to the heavy wooden doors of Room 2438 in the Rayburn House office building, just across the street from the Capitol, and it is likely to remain there for at least a few more weeks.

Full article here

Jon Stewart tackles Bob Ney’s guilty plea, and other facets of the Abramoff scandal