Feeling the Heat

Feeling the Heat

May 9, 2006

Neil Volz, who worked for former House Administration Committee chairman Rep. Bob Ney in different capacities from 1995 to 2002 before working closely with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff as a lobbyist pled guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to a corruption conspiracy charge and to violating the one-year ban on lobbying former associates in Congress. While Volz's plea was the fourth to implicate Ney, it was the first plea to go outside of Tom DeLay's inner circle. Federal prosecutors are focusing in on Ney, and last week said they will "pursue a wide range of allegations about dealings" between Ney and Abramoff, "rather than bringing a narrowly focused bribery case against the congressman." The growing Abramoff scandal underscores the need for lobby reform.

• Rep. Ney was indicated accepting a golf trip and money for votes. According to yesterday's plea, Abramoff worked with Volz in March 2002 to get his former boss to agree to sponsor an amendment to the Help America Vote Act that would have lifted a gambling ban that had shuttered a Tiguas casino. In return, Abramoff directed tribal officials to make three contributions totaling $32,000 to Ney's campaign and political action committees. In August 2002, Abramoff coordinated with the Tiguas to have a $50,000 check sent from a different tribe to his non-profit (the Capital Athletic Foundation). The money helped "fund the golf trip to Scotland" that same month, and less than a week after the money was transferred, Ney expressed his support for the Tiguas gambling amendment.
  
  
• Ney’s defense that he was not involved in a bribe rings hollow given new evidence. Ney’s spokesman, Brian Walsh, said yesterday that "this is not a bribery case." But the evidence implies otherwise. Volz's plea deal alleges the purpose of the conspiracy was to use "a stream of things of value with the intent to influence and reward official acts and attempting to influence Members of Congress in violation of the law." Ney received golf trips, free food and drink from Abramoff’s restaurants and use of luxury suites at sporting events. In exchange, the plea states, Ney "agreed to take favorable official action and render other assistance on behalf of the clients of Abramoff and defendant Volz.
  
  
• Congress has yet to take any real action on ethics reform. The latest revelations in the Ney and Abramoff cases underscore the need for real congressional reform. However, the bill that made it out of the house lacked any real bite or reform. Common Cause notes that nearly 50 percent of lawmakers go onto lucrative lobbying jobs, often lobbying their former colleagues. A companion piece of legislation to today's lobbying bill would require administration officials to wait at least two years after they leave office before becoming lobbyists. But unfortunately, there is no legislation to create a similar two-year waiting period for lawmakers. If Congress truly wants to clean up its act, it should start with slowing down the revolving door between ex-Congressmen and K Street.