Quotes of the Day

After months of defiant protestations of innocence about his role in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, has pleaded guilty to making false statements, conspiracy to commit fraud and violating post-employment restrictions for former congressional aides. But the probe into the lobbying scandal is far from wrapped up.

A source close to the investigation told TIME that scores of US prosecutors and FBI agents continue to examine the activities of other sitting members of Congress and prominent individuals who could face prosecution, though not necessarily before the November 7 election. The source confirmed previous public reports that particular scrutiny is being paid to Sen. Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican who faces a tough campaign for reelection.

"A lot of the conduct to which Ney has pleaded guilty is similar to the alleged conduct of Senator Conrad Burns and his staff," points out Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a non-profit watchdog group. "Abramoff has said that Burns and his staff used Signatures [Abramoff's restaurant] like their cafeteria. And Burns took a number of legislative actions on Abramoff's behalf, even as members of his staff went on trip to the 2001 Super Bowl on private jet and visited Sun Cruise gambling ships, which were partly owned by Abramoff. "Abramoff himself said in an interview earlier this year, "Every appropriation we wanted [from Burns's committee] we got. Our staffs were as close as they could be. They practically used Signatures as their cafeteria. I mean, it's a little difficult for him to run from that record."

But Erik Iverson, a senior advisor to Sen. Burns campaign in Montana told TIME, "There is no federal investigation. Certainly no one has ever told us there is, or contacted us. And there is absolutely no similarity between what's happening to Mr. Ney and Mr. Burns. That is all just politics." As a matter of policy, the Justice Dept. does not comment on possible targets of its investigations.

Ney, 52, is the first member of Congress to admit wrongdoing in the federal probe. Prosecutors are likely to insist that he spend as much as 27 months in prison, although a judge could impose up to 10 years, though that stiff a sentence is considered unlikely. His plea agreement lacks language that would require him to testify or to cooperate in other federal prosecutions — in contrast to earlier plea agreements of Ney's longtime chief of staff, Neil Volz, as well as Abramoff himself. The absence of such language suggests that Ney was able to provide little information beyond the scope of his own activity.

By the same token, some observers had predicted prosecutors would insist that Ney plead guilty to bribery, which carries a possible 15-year sentence, in part because Abramoff and another defendant admitted bribing a public official who has been identified as Ney. Right up until his guilty plea, Ney had always denied wrongdoing, even after Volz pleaded guilty in May. Volz confessed to conspiring to corrupt the congressman and others. After leaving the congressional payroll Volz went into business with Abramoff.

Court papers detail Ney's acknowledgment of exchanging official acts for benefits, including an August 2002 golf trip to Scotland, paid for by Abramoff and his clients. The junket, which included a White House procurement official as well as Ney's then chief of staff, cost in excess of $160,000, according to the papers.

Ney also asked for and received trips to Lake George, N.Y., and New Orleans as well food and drink costing thousands of dollars at Abramoff's swanky Washington restaurant, not to mention concert and sports tickets and thousands of dollars more in campaign contributions, the government said.

In return, Ney achnowleded in the plea, he took actions to benefit Abramoff clients. The Congressman also also admitted receiving gambling chips worth thousands of dollars from a foreign businessman.

"Congressman Ney and his co-conspirators engaged in a long-term pattern of defrauding the public of his unbiased, honest services as an elected official," Alice Fisher, assistant attorney general, said in a statement. "Congressman Ney admits that he corruptly solicited and accepted a stream of benefits, valued at tens of thousands of dollars, in exchange for agreement to perform, and performing, a series of official acts. He also admitted deceiving the public and the U.S. House of Representatives about his actions."

Ney occupied a special role as chairman of the committee with jurisdiction over internal workings of the 435-member House of Representatives. But G.O.P. Speaker Dennis Hastert demanded that Ney surrender his chairmanship earlier this year, and Ney then withdrew his candidacy for reelection in his Ohio district. This week, the Congressman's office indicated he had entered residential treatment for alcohol dependence. In a statement, he said, "I have made serious mistakes and am sorry for them. I am very sorry for the pain I have caused to my family, my constituents in Ohio and my colleagues."

FBI Assistant Director Chip Burrus, head of the Criminal Investigative Division, put the Ney plea deal in context, stressing that it is just part of a much wider federal crackdown on corruption. "The FBI is deeply committed to tackling corruption anywhere we find it—this is our promise to the American people, and corruption is the FBI's top criminal priority," he said. "We have more than 600 agents and dozens of analysts working more than 2200 investigations in all 56 field offices right now. Nationwide indictments are up 40 percent. In the past year alone, we have had over 950 arrests, 700 convictions, over 300 million dollars in restitution and over 15 million dollars in fines. The FBI participates in over 30 public corruption task forces and over 100 public corruption working groups." With that kind of tough talk, no one on Capitol Hill remotely linked to Abramoff will be breathing easy for quite some time.

• ADAM ZAGORIN/WASHINGTON
• Former Ohio Congressman Bob Ney has admitted his role in Washington's influence-peddling scandal, but prosecutors still have other politicians in their sights