Abramoff adds to pressure for clean-up in Washington
Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, once called Washington "the most corrupt capital in the world". "We have created a culture in which there's no distinction between what is illegal and what is unethical," he said in 2002.
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The guilty pleas this week by Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist who faces 10 years in prison for bribery, tax evasion and fraud, may begin to draw that line. Yesterday Mr Abramoff pleaded guilty to further charges relating to conspiracy and wire fraud stemming from a 2000 Florida casino ship deal.
Politicians are scrambling to distance themselves from Mr Abramoff, who bilked his clients out of millions of dollars and then sprinkled the money around the capital in the form of lavish trips, meals and entertainment aimed at winning special favours from members of Congress and other government officials.
At the least, the Abramoff affair is one of the worst corruption scandals to hit Washington. It follows the resignation last month of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a 15-year Republican congressman who admitted to taking $2.4m in bribes.
As many as a dozen members of Congress and other officials could now be under investigation by the Justice Department. "Government officials and government action are not for sale," warned Alice Fisher, the assistant attorney-general leading the investigations. She promised that the department "will aggressively investigate and prosecute these types of cases, which have a devastating impact on the public's trust of government".
But it could also trigger a broader backlash against what nearly 90 per cent of Americans say is a serious or very serious problem of political corruption in Washington, according to an AP-Ipsos poll last month.
Lee Hamilton, a Democrat who served 34 years in the Congress and helped lead the commission that investigated the September 11 attacks, said "there is no doubt in my mind" that corruption was more widespread than when he came to Washington in 1965.
"I just think the whole process is shot through and through with the pervasive influence of money," he said. "It weakens representative democracy and gives disproportionate influence to those with money."
He said there had been a "sea change" in constituents' attitudes. "It has shifted from getting the government off their back to getting help from government: How can I get a subsidy? How can I get a tax break? How can I get some competitive advantage because of government?"
Most of that activity remains entirely legal. James Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, said the Abramoff case should not be seen as a indictment of the whole Washington lobbying culture. "I don't think things are getting worse - I think he was worse."
"There is a core ethical and moral standard that people who last a long time in Washington have, and they're appalled by this," he said.
But the booming business of currying favour from government has, he acknowledged, raised the potential for corruption. According to figures compiled by Mr Thurber, direct expenditures on lobbying rose from $1.4bn in 1998 to $2.1bn in 2004 - a figure that amounts to nearly $5m spent annually to influence the votes of each member of Congress. He said the actual number was probably five times as large.
The Bush administration and the Republican Congress have provided a welcoming environment. Over the past five years, the number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled to nearly 35,000. And since 1998, more than 40 per cent of departing members of Congress have gone to work lobbying former colleagues.
Much as the Enron scandal marked the turning point after an era of corporate excess, the Abramoff scandal may bring a close to an era of political excess. "I think it's time to say to ourselves that money has become too big a factor in the political decisions being made," said Mr Hamilton.
He predicts that reform legislation sponsored by Republican moderates John McCain and Chris Shays is likely to gain traction this year. It would require detailed disclosure of almost all contributions from lobbyists to politicians.
Mr Thurber thinks similar pressures will come to bear on lobbying expenditures. "At these dollar figures, many CEOs feel they're wasting their money in Washington, and they want to clean it up," he said.
华盛顿──腐败之都？
美
国前总统吉米?卡特(Jimmy Carter)国家安全事务顾问布热津斯基(Zbigniew Brzezinski)曾把华盛顿称为“全世界最腐败的首都”。
他在2002年表示：“我们创立了一种文化，在这种文化中，非法和不道德之间没有区别”。
美国共和党游说人士杰克?阿布拉莫夫(Jack Abramoff)本周做出的认罪答辩可能会为此画上一个句号。由于涉嫌贿赂、逃税和欺诈，他将面临10年监禁。
政界人士纷纷与阿布拉莫夫保持距离。此人骗取了客户数百万美元，然后就豪华旅行、用餐和娱乐，在华盛顿大肆挥霍钱财，以期赢得国会议员和其他政府官员的特殊照顾。总统布什(George W. Bush)的连任竞选班底昨日表示，将把阿布拉莫夫及其客户捐助的6000美元捐给慈善机构；多数国会议员也做出类似举动，退还这些赃款。
至少，阿布拉莫夫事件成为打击美国政府最为严重的腐败丑闻之一。此前，在国会任职15年的共和党议员兰迪?康宁汉姆(Randy “Duke” Cunningham)上月辞职，他承认曾收受240万美元的贿赂，以帮助某些公司获得防务合同。
多达12位国会议员和其他官员现在可能会受到司法部的调查。调查团团长、美国司法部助理部长艾丽丝?费舍尔(Alice Fisher)警告称：“政府官员和政府行为是非卖品。”她承诺，司法部“将大力调查并起诉这类事件。它们严重破坏了公众对政府的信任。”
但美联社(AP)与益普索(Ipsos)上月作出的一项民意调查显示，这一事件可能将引发更大范围的对抗情绪，近90%的美国人认为这是华盛顿一个严重或非常严重的政治腐败问题。
民主党人李?汉密尔顿(Lee Hamilton)表示：与1965年他来到华盛顿时相比，现在的腐败现象更为普遍，“我对此毫不怀疑”。他在国会供职34年，曾经协助领导调查委员会调查9?11袭击事件。
“我认为金钱的强大力量正逐渐渗透到整个过程，”他表示，“它将削弱代议民主（representative democracy），并赋予那些有钱人不正当权力。”
他表示，选民的态度发生了“巨大变化”。“他们的态度已经从不让政府成为负担，转变为从政府那里获得帮助：我如何能得到补助？如何能免税？政府怎样才能让我获得一些竞争优势？”
目前多数活动还是完全合法的。美国大学国会和总统研究中心(Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies)主任詹姆斯?瑟伯尔(James Thurber)称，阿布拉莫夫事件不应被视为对华盛顿整个游说文化的控诉。“我认为情况并未变得更加糟糕，他(阿布拉莫夫)个人才是更糟糕的。”
他还表示：“长期以来华盛顿居民都有一个基本的伦理道德标准，他们对这一事件感到震惊。”
但他承认，寻求得到政府支持的活动日益增多，这引发了腐败的可能性。根据瑟伯尔整理的数据，直接游说开支从1998年的14亿美元增至2004年的21亿，这一数据相当于每年支出近500万美元，来影响每位国会议员的投票。他表示，实际数字可能比1998年多5倍。该数字包括用于广告、平民游说和其他获得政治优势努力的开支。
布什政府和共和党国会提供了一个广泛接纳的环境。过去5年里，华盛顿注册游说人士数量增加了一倍多，达3.5万。自1998年以来，超过40%的离职国会议员都从事着游说以前同事的工作。
就像安然(Enron)丑闻成为公司权力过大时代以后的转折点一样，阿布拉莫夫丑闻可能代表着政治权力过大时代的结束。“我认为我们该思考一下：金钱已经成为制定政策的一个过于重要的因素了。” 汉密尔顿表示。
他和其他人预期，共和党温和派成员约翰?麦凯恩(John McCain)和克里斯?谢斯(Chris Shays)支持的改革立法今年可能会有所进展。该项立法规定游说人士给政界人士提供的任何一种捐款细节都必须公布出来，同时将前国会议员游说其同事的限制期延长至2年。
百事公司(PepsiCo)、可口可乐(Coca-Cola)和摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)等大型企业面临着激进股东的压力，最近它们同意公布与竞选相关的捐款。
瑟伯尔认为，公布游说开支也将面临类似的压力。“对于这些数据，许多首席执行官认为他们正在华盛顿浪费金钱，他们希望能清理这些赃款，”他表示。
