Opinion
Editorial: Maybe Abramoff should be sent to jail


"Here's how to prosper in Washington, as revealed in documents obtained by Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman John McCain.

Use your position as a lobbyist to milk your clients for millions of dollars, spread a little of it around in Congress, divvy up the rest with a cohort, and stash the rest in the Cayman Islands, well-known for bank secrecy laws.

That's what lobbyist Jack Abramoff is accused of doing. Correspondence between Abramoff and others, released by McCain's committee, outlines a plan dubbed "gimme five" used to maximize payments from the casino-rich Mississippi Choctaw tribe while skimming off a major share of the proceeds for themselves.

"I'm just surprised I am not under 'dead, disgraced or in jail,'" Abramoff joked to a colleague in an e-mail exchange. Perhaps he should be in the latter category. One e-mail obtained by the Senate Committee shows that Abramoff and his partner charged the Mississippi tribe $7.7 million for projects in 2001. The two divided $6.5 million in ways that sought to avoid taxes."

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Journal Views: How to prosper in Washington (The Idaho State Journal 6/29)

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