Abramoff About To Spill The Beans

The NY Times reports that Jack Abramoff, the Washington lobbyist (already a synonym for scumbag) has finalized a plea agreement with Federal prosecutors and has been fully cooperating in providing information for two years. The Times reports that, "Now, after more than two years of investigations, prosecutors have developed a list of at least a dozen lawmakers, congressional aides and lobbyists whose work appears suspect and who are now at the core of the case."

The bartenders around K Street must me raking in the money and antidepressants must be flying off the shelves of local pharmacies. Although the times reports that only two Federal cases involving Abramoff are in play, I bet, and hope, that enough billable hours are being spent in lawyers offices in pre-indictment consultation to significantly increase the income tax coffers of the District in 2006.

Of course the cynic in me recalls the pronouncement of, I think, C. Wright Mills the sociologist and guide to the Power Elite, who noted that public scandals and handwringing are a routine part of the process that allows the general public to feel that things are now fine, while allowing the real players to resume business as usual once the public's interest wanes.