Lobbyist pleads guilty in scandal

WASHINGTON — Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist who spawned a congressional corruption scandal, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three felonies and pledged to cooperate in a criminal probe believed to be focusing on as many as 20 members of Congress and aides.

Since 2000, Abramoff helped funnel more than $1.5 million in campaign donations to hundreds of elected officials, more than half of them Republicans and one of them Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, according to analyses of his work.

"I plead guilty, your honor," Abramoff said in flat, unemotional tones, accepting a plea bargain that said he had provided lavish trips, golf outings, meals and more to public officials "in exchange for a series of official acts."

In one case, he reported payments totaling $50,000 to the wife of a congressional aide to help block legislation for a client. The aide worked for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Public corruption aside, Abramoff admitted defrauding four Indian tribes and other clients, taking millions in kickbacks from a one-time business partner, misusing a charity he had established and failing to pay income taxes on millions of ill-gotten gains.

Utah's Cannon is one of about 250 members of Congress who accepted campaign contributions from Abramoff and his Indian clients, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which lists $10,000 in such donations to Cannon.

Cannon's name has not been mentioned as a target of prosecutors investigating allegations of bribery and corruption, even though there is more than money linking him to Abramoff.

David Safavian, before going to work as Cannon's chief of staff in 2001, worked alongside Abramoff when they worked on K Street in Washington, D.C., as rising-star lobbyists representing the gaming industry.

Safavian, who later became the Bush administration's top procurement official, was charged in September with making false statements and obstructing the federal investigation into his dealings with Abramoff. He has pleaded innocent.

At the time, Cannon called the charges "disturbing and sad" and said he hoped the charges would be proven untrue. But "at the same time, government officials should be held to a high standard of law and conduct, and David Safavian is not an exception," he said.