January 6, 2006
Abramoff Is Not the Problem
By Froma Harrop

No, the scandal did not spring full-blown from the head of Jack Abramoff. It was also the product of a pairing: The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act meets the K Street Project.

That said, we retain full confidence in lobbyist Abramoff's creative talent. He could cook up a dozen larcenies alone in a jail cell, and probably will. But the casino law, merged with the Republican takeover of the Washington lobbying industry, was a gift from Zeus.

Americans trying to follow this scandal will have trouble distinguishing legal behavior from the illegal kind. And that's the point. The Republican leadership's success in mating their fortunes with those of private interests (while confusing the public) is the basic problem.

Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988 to reduce the conflicts between states and tribes over gambling on Indian lands. It was supposed to leave nearly all regulation in the hands of the states, but that's not how it worked out. The law opened the door for tribes to sue states in federal court. And it gave Washington a big role in granting the tribes the right to open Vegas-style casinos -- basically, a license to print money.

The K Street Project was a Republican plan to get the lobbyists to work for the party, especially its more influential members. (Lobbying firms congregate around K Street.) The message to business was elegantly simple: If you want to get anything done in Washington, you have to hire Republican loyalists and fill GOP campaign coffers. Sen. Rick Santorum, the Pennsylvania Republican, actually summoned lobbyists to Capitol Hill and helped them pick people for the top jobs at their trade associations. Many such jobs went to the former staff members of then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and other powerful Republicans.

"Pay to play" is not a nice kind of government, but the Republican leaders established it in the open and without blushing. Indeed, the bravado enhanced their desired image as invincible strongmen who could force anything through Washington. The leaders also made clear that they were unafraid to spend the taxpayers' money. Collaborate with the party, they intimated, and we will keep you in diamonds and furs.

The Medicare prescription drug benefit showcased the K Street Project in all its glory. During the Clinton years, the pharmaceutical industry contributed roughly equal amounts to Democrats and Republicans. By 2003, the drug makers were giving 80 percent of their campaign cash to Republicans -- as the K Street Project planned.

Rep. Billy Tauzin, a Louisiana Republican, guided the writing of the Medicare drug bill. It forbade the government to negotiate drug prices, per the industry's request. And it cut private insurers into the deal by giving them the job of running the program.

One month after President Bush signed the bill, Tauzin left Congress and went to work for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association of America, where he now makes an estimated $2 million a year. Thomas Scully, Bush's point man on the bill, had beaten him through the revolving door. Scully had already joined a law firm and registered as a lobbyist for the drug companies.

All this happened to be legal, which makes you wonder why a Republican insider like Abramoff felt he had to commit fraud to make big money in Washington. He may have enjoyed cheating. But, in any case, government ethics have been so distorted that it's hard to tell the perverted legal activities from the obscene criminal ones. And if you have prominent friends like Tom DeLay, you can get away with it -- at least for a long time.

As noted, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act left the federal government holding certain keys to the casino. The tribes figured: The Republicans run Washington, and Jack Abramoff runs the Republicans, so it makes sense to fork over millions to the supreme lobbyist.

Given the daily orgy of legal K Street payoffs, the unlawful pocketing of some tribal loot by Abramoff and friends shouldn't seem so shocking. It's like getting nabbed for necking in a brothel.

The president, DeLay and others are now unloading their Abramoff money, while denouncing him before the TV cameras. The problem, remember, is not Abramoff. He's just a clever crook. The problem is a political culture that denounces the players who get caught but not the game.

Copyright 2005 Creators Syndicate

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Commentary/com-1_6_06_FH.html