Another member of jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s team has been indicted as part of the Justice Department’s continuing probe of the corruption scandal that traumatized Washington and helped Republicans lose control of Congress in 2006.
Kevin Ring, 37, a onetime aide to California Rep. John Doolittle, pleaded not guilty yesterday to 10 charges of conspiracy, fraud and obstruction of justice in an alleged scheme to lavish gifts on lawmakers and government officials in exchange for favors to his clients, many of them Indian tribes.
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Ring allegedly proffered such favors as all-expense-paid domestic and international travel, fund-raising assistance, meals, drinks, golf, tickets to professional sporting events and concerts, and jobs for spouses and staff, the indictment said.
His co-conspirators are listed as convicted former U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican recently released from jail, employees of two other unidentified lawmakers and unidentified officials of the U.S. Departments of Justice and Interior.
On Capitol Hill, Ring had once been a rising star, working as an aide to Republican Rep. John Doolittle of California from 1993 to 1998. In 1998, he got a job with the Senate Judiciary subcommittee and in 1999 was executive director of a Republican caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives before joining Abramoff as a lobbyist.
In 2002, he as named “Top Rainmaker” in a ranking of lobbyists by The Hill newspaper.
Prosecutors said yesterday that the corruption investigation is continuing and others may still be charged.
Tpmmuckraker points out that Ring’s indictment makes over 100 references to “Representative 5′ – apparently Doolittle, the California Republican and member of the Appropriations Committee, for whom Ring once worked.
According to the papers, Ring expensed at least one suite for a sports event, eight concert tickets (including for the Dixie Chicks and Faith Hill), and five meals totaling more than $2,000 for Doolittle. He also bought 29 sports tickets, four concert tickets, nine meals, and one gift from Macy’s for Doolittle’s staff, particularly his legislative director, the indictment charges.
In return for those gifts, the indictment says that Doolittle proved himself “a good soldier” by chairing a hearing on the Puerto Rico statehood issue for an Abramoff client and holding up his opposition to an anti-gambling bill, among other favors.
Doolittle announced in January that he would not seek re-election. His attorneys complained in a statement yesterday that “portions of the Kevin Ring indictment were designed to make gratuitous references to the Congressman and his wife. This appears to have been done to titillate the public, with the foreseeable and therefore intended consequence of attempting to embarrass and pressure the Congressman.”
Tpmmuckraker also identifies Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico as another lawmaker believed to be in prosecutors’ sights.
The Abramoff investigation has ensnared only one congressman to date – Ney, who was released from prison last month after serving 17 months of a 30-month jail sentence.
But besides the conviction of Abramoff, prosecutors have also won the convictions of a number of lobbyists, aides to lawmakers and government officials, according to a Department of Justice press release, including:
- Former lobbyist Michael Scanlon, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services fraud.
- Former lobbyist and congressional aide Tony C. Rudy who pleaded guilty to honest services fraud, mail and wire fraud.
- Mark D. Zachares, a former high-ranking aide to the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and wire fraud.
- John C. Albaugh, a former chief of staff to ex-Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK) who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud.
- Robert Coughlin, a former Department of Justice employee, who pleaded guilty to a conflict of interest.
- Italia Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstruction of the U.S. Senate’s investigation into the Abramoff scandal.