Ney Pleads Guilty
Over Abramoff Bribes
By PHILIP SHENON and
DAVID STOUT, NYTimes on the Web, October 13, 2006
WASHINGTON, -- Representative
Bob Ney of Ohio pleaded guilty to corruption charges today in connection with
the scandal swirling around the lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He said he was
ready to take his punishment for selling his integrity and his office.
In a calm and clear voice, Mr. Ney admitted before Judge Ellen S. Huvelle in
Federal District Court that he had indeed engaged in a wide-ranging criminal
conspiracy and made false statements about gifts he accepted while representing
the people of Ohio’s 18th District.
“I accept responsibility for my actions, and I am prepared to face the
consequences of what I have done,” Mr. Ney, a Republican, declared in a
statement distributed to reporters after the court session.
The main consequence will be a term of up to 27 months in prison when Judge
Huvelle pronounces sentence on Jan. 19, assuming that she follows the
recommendation of federal prosecutors. The congressman’s crimes could
bring him a term of up to 10 years and up to $500,000 in fines, although the
judge gave no indication that she would depart from the prosecutor’s
recommendation.
Despite his disgrace, Mr. Ney is still a member of Congress, drawing his
$165,000-a-year salary, although his lawyer, Mark Tuohey, told the judge that
Mr. Ney will resign his seat “in the next few weeks.” Mr. Ney has said he
wants to help his employees find new jobs before he quits.
But by this afternoon, House Republican leaders were calling for him to leave at
once and said that, unless he does, they would move to expel him “as our first
order of business” when Congress reconvenes in November. “He betrayed his
oath of office and violated the trust of those he represented,” Speaker J.
Dennis Hastert and other members of the leadership declared in a joint
statement. “There is no place for him in this Congress.”
The White House also said he should go quickly. “What Congressman Ney did
is not a reflection of the Republican Party, it’s a reflection of Congressman
Ney, and he ought to step down,” said Tony Snow, the White House spokesman.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ney’s Web site features a sadly outdated, now poignant picture of
the smiling congressman against a farm background. “It is an honor to
represent you in the United States Congress,” Mr. Ney declares in his welcome
message.
Mr. Ney’s formal admission that he betrayed that honor came in a courthouse not
many blocks from the Capitol, where in his sixth term in office he had seemed
poised to rise high in the House leadership.
Then came the Abramoff scandal and, eventually, Mr. Ney’s admission that he had
accepted illegal gifts — including lavish overseas trips, thousands of dollars
of gambling chips from London casinos and other enticements — in return for
official actions on behalf of Mr. Abramoff and his clients.
Mr. Ney is the first member of Congress to acknowledge criminal acts so far in
the investigation of Mr. Abramoff, once a leading Republican fund-raiser and a
man of great wealth and power. Mr. Abramoff pleaded guilty last January to
conspiring to corrupt public officials, including Mr. Ney.
The Abramoff affair is viewed on Capitol Hill as one reason that Representative
Tom DeLay of Texas, the former Republican majority leader who was once a good
friend of Mr. Abramoff, decided to retire from politics this year.
The affair threatens to ensare other Republican lawmakers, and it has caused
discomfort for the White House as well. Last June, a former White House
aide, David H. Safavian, was convicted of lying to investigators about his ties
to Mr. Abramoff. Mr. Safavian was on Mr. Abramoff’s staff before joining the
Bush administration.
Mr. Ney, 52, has said that a dependence on alcohol was a factor in his loss of a
moral compass. In response to Judge Huvelle’s questions on what problems
he is being treated for, Mr. Ney replied, “Right now, alcohol, last 30 days.”
He said he had not had a drink in that time.
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