Jack Abramoff left Washington to serve his prison sentence as a primary perpetrator and beneficiary of its culture of corruption. While his fall from influence prompted many reforms that we were eager to see, there is still a system riddled with loopholes and lacking the transparency we desperately need. Now, he's back. Shilling a book to pay off legal debts and line his pockets, Abramoff now wears the fresh cloak of a reformer who calls to clean the pigsty where he once rolled. We welcome him to the good fight, but honestly, it's hard to believe he's serious.

The master of rhetoric will be speaking at Public Citizen later today - we'll be in the audience and watching online. He frequently boasts he had "100 congressmen in his pocket" yet he has not released the documents or named the names.

After my questioning him on this point, Abramoff responded "Having been to prison personally -- hopefully, Ms. Miller hasn't been to prison and most of your readers haven't been and never will go -- but having been to prison, it's very hard for me to put anybody in harm's way, even people I don't like. And that's besides the point anyway. The point is to change the system." Just five days before his refusal to put anybody in harm's way he told TPM “The only thing I’m doing is trying to make available what I know from my experience so that we can fix this.” Unfortunately we continue to see hollow rhetoric. Instead of waiting until your book stops giving milk, why don't you spill some of those magic beans from the files you still have?

The Sunlight Foundation is committed to lobbying reform and exposure of the full system of influence. That's why we have an outstanding FOIA to see who visited Abramoff in prison, hold public meetings discussing the issue and, of course, encourage public markup of our recommendations for lobbying reform.

Today's event at Public Citizen is an opportunity for Abramoff to convince reformers that he's really serious; helping to fix the system by revealing more substantive information about those who participated in his activities. I don't care whether what he reveals is technically legal or not - decades of exposing K Street continues to prove that it's not always what is illegal that is most troubling, but rather what is completely legal.

Unless Abramoff starts answering these tough questions and open up his treasure trove of information anyone who calls themselves a reformer should be very skeptical of this reformer road show.

Make Abramoff prove himself as a reformer rather than just calling himself one.

Image via C-SPAN.

Today NPR's Planet Money team aired a story about disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s legal lobbying activities (as few of those as there may have been), highlighting how problematic even currently legal lobbying practices are. Also today, the New York Times pointed out some of the huge loopholes in current lobbying law -- Newt Gingrich, for example, isn’t actually a lobbyist, he just spends lots of his time talking to lawmakers about how policy should be made. Y’know, as a historian.

The powerful (and corrupting, as we saw with Abramoff) influence of special interest money in politics can be extremely hard to follow, but better lobbying laws could change that. Lobbying activity is the most tangible means to measure the money and effort that powerful interests are spending to influence lawmakers.

Closing the loopholes that let “historians” like Newt Gingrich act as stealth lobbyists and creating real-time, online disclosure about just who lobbyists are meeting with and what they’re talking about would be a powerful first step to shining a light on who’s actually influencing our lawmakers.

How do we fix it? A good first step, as Daniel wrote the other day, is the Lobbying Disclosure Enhancement Act, introduced by Rep. Quigley. The bill needs your help to get more support in Congress. You can write to your rep right from OpenCongress.org to ask them to co-sponsor the bill. You can also read more about Sunlight’s lobbying recommendations and sign up to get updates on lobbying reform here.

They were the pioneers of a high profile business. Politicians held strategy sessions with them, while the public saw them as the source of all evil in politics. In the last decade lobbying in Washington boomed like no other business. Expenses skyrocketed from $1.5 billion to approximately $3.5 billion by the end of the decade, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Over the course of the past decade forty-three lobbying firms found themselves ranked in the top twenty firms in terms of lobbying revenue. In this expansion some firms maintained their status, some fell from their perch, others rose to prominence, while a few succumbed to some of the most memorable lobbying scandals in recent memory.

In the interactive map below you can track the growth and decline of the top lobbying firms of the last decade (the arrow button at the bottom allows toggling between zoom, select, and pan):

Winners

Patton Boggs has perennially found itself in the upper echelons of Washington lobbying. Since 2003 Patton Boggs led all firms in revenue, topping off at $42.3 million in 2007.

The Podesta Group has seen its revenues grow rapidly since Barack Obama was elected to the White House. Revenues at the Podesta Group have nearly tripled since 2007. It's good to be the most well-connected Democratic lobbyist when the Democrats control all levels of government as they did from 2009-2010.

Brownstein Hyatt broke into the top five in lobbying revenues in 2009 and remained there in 2010. The firm jumped from out of the top twenty in 2005 and built a strong business over those years. A big piece of the firm's lobbying growth has been a multimillion dollar contract with the private equity investment firm Apollo Management.

Losers

PMA Group's close ties to top defense appropriator John Murtha made themgo-to lobbying firm for companies seeking defense earmarks. The firm was in the top twenty every year until it was felled by a major corruption scandal. Numerous congressmen were implicated in a campaign contribution-for-earmark scheme. The firm's head Paul Magliocchetti wound up pleading guilty to three charges of falsifying campaign contributions. The firm closed in 2009 after Magliocchetti's indictment.

Greenberg Traurig rode the lobbying roller coaster like no other lobbying firm in the 2000s. The firm jumped into the top twenty in 2001 after hiring the most famous lobbyist at the time, Jack Abramoff. Abramoff brought a personal lobbying revenue of approximately $6 million with him from Kirkpatrick & Lockhart. Greenberg Traurig's revenue shot up quickly to more than $25 million in 2003. The next year Abramoff came under investigation by the Department of Justice. An internal review led Greenberg Traurig to fire Abramoff. The firm's lobbying revenue dropped rapidly after Abramoff's departure and subsequent guilty plea and imprisonment.

Cassidy & Associates had been at the top of the Washington lobbying game for a long time. While the firm has not fallen out of the top twenty, or even top ten, in lobbying revenue, it has lost its perch at the top of the profession. As Congress enters a period of budget cuts and anti-earmark fervor Cassidy, the firm that literally invented earmarks, may have more to worry about in the current decade.

(Data made available by the Center for Responsive Politics.)

Download the .csv of the data used in the map.

Watch the trailer of Alex Gibney's new documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money. The movie covers the entirety of the Jack Abramoff scandal and should be excellent. Gibney won an Oscar for his documentary Taxi to the Darkside and also directed the best documentary about the Enron collapse (something worth re-watching in light of the financial collapse). His talents should make this already vibrant story truly come to life.

Speaking of vibrant story let's not forget what kind of crazy stuff is in here: gambling trips to Scotland, Angolan warlords, slave labor in Saipan, murder mysteries in Florida, skyboxes and free meals and on and on it goes. I don't think a lot of people are aware of how dysfunctional Congress was in the Abramoff era. This movie should fill them in:

Politico looks at health care lobbyists-turned-staffers on the Senate Finance Committee with the aid of LittleSis. For a look at staffers-turned-health care lobbyists you can see our research here.

Former Abramoff lobbyist Kevin Ring is on trial in, perhaps, the most interesting corruption trial in Washington in quite some time. Neil Volz, another Abramoff crony and former staffer to Rep. Bob Ney, testified the other day and included tons of gory details:

Volz described his lobbying team's practice of giving tickets, meals and drinks to public officials and staffers who were deemed valuable, as well as taking those individuals on trips.

"Really we just wanted to party," Volz said about a trip he took to New Orleans with Ney, former Ney chief of staff Will Heaton, and other lobbyists. He said the group met a client and toured some homes, but those were not the main objectives of the trip, which he described as "part of the corrupt relationship" he had with Ney and his staffers.

...

Volz described a discussion he had with Ring about "getting the joke," a term used for a lobbyist getting a staffer to prioritize an issue because the lobbyist is "taking care of them," after the Abramoff scandal began to surface in 2004.

"We thought, 'Boy, it would be pretty difficult to defend the idea of getting the joke,'" he said of his conversation with Ring.

Over the weekend, the New York Times posted this great visualization of Clean Water Act violations and the lack of enforcement in all 50 states. One of the primary reasons why government data needs to be online and in accessible formats is for news organizations, designers and coders to create visualizations or databases that can concisely explain an issue, or reveal a problem, to the public at large.

David Sirota posted on OpenLeft yesterday on what he called "the reward method of corruption." Sirota writes, "As opposed to the Payoff Method whereby a campaign contribution is made and then a favor is legislated, the Reward Method gives a politician a goodie after a favor is done, sorta like a dog being given a treat for rolling over." This is one of two major issues raised by the revolving door between government and lobbying. (The other issue being the use of access built up over the years.)

While I don't think there is a direct answer, which Sirota was seeking, to how to stop the flow of lawmakers and staffers from government to the lobbying profession--short of greatly increasing their pay--there are some things to mitigate the effects.

First, let's look at the problem. This goes from the somewhat benign, lawmaker goes to work for a nonprofit cause not connected to private enterprise, to the wholly corrupt, the various staffers who did deals for Jack Abramoff and then were hired by his lobbying firm. But for the most part, these things fall in between, a staffer or lawmaker has a particular expertise and flips to make more money doing, essentially, the same thing they were doing in Congress.

Now perhaps the biggest fear is that, in preparation for a future career on K Street, a staffer or lawmaker will do favors, directly or indirectly, having been asked or on their own volition, to protect future hiring opportunities. The biggest example of this is Billy Tauzin, who was in talks to head the pharmaceutical industry's top lobbying shop, PhRMA, while he was writing the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, the largest health care overhaul since the 1960s. Tauzin's tale included many instances of opaque situations: closed conference committees with lobbyists at the table, secret discussions for future employment, unreported meetings with lobbyists. The revelation of all of these things would have aided in providing the public with a view into Tauzin's world preemptively.

What I'm saying is that the preemptive, or real time, disclosure of a variety of items would allow the public to prevent a lawmaker from doing favors for a potential future employer. The following would be most useful:

• Real time lobbying disclosure with increased reporting requirements — We've covered this here, here and here recently. Require lobbyists to disclosure all meetings with covered officials within 24 hours. Require lobbyists to report with whom they meet and the office of the lawmaker when they are meeting with staffers. Also require specific information on positions taken on bills, appropriations, or other topics of discussion.
• Open all conference committees and require time to read conference reports — Require all conference committees to be open to the public (didn't the Democrats promise this back in 2006?) and require all conference reports to be available for 72 hours prior to consideration. (Of course, beyond this, all committees should be open and all bills should be available for 72 hours prior to consideration.)
• Increase reporting requirement for job negotiations — Currently, members of the House and some staffers must report job negotiations to the Clerk of the House, but the information is not publicly available.

As I said earlier, I don't think there is a direct way to limit government officials from leaving for a more lucrative profession outside of increasing their pay. There could be a longer "cooling off" period in the House, where it is only one year, and perhaps an extension to staff making less money than currently meets the threshold for the post-employment lobbying restriction. But that hasn't stopped lawmakers from taking positions as "consultants" and later becoming lobbyists (see: Hastert, Dennis or Daschle, Tom).

Greater transparency and disclosure would, however, be the best solution at present to provide less incentive for lawmakers and staff to act favorably for future employment. With more eyes on their actions there will be fewer Billy Tauzin's, Kevin Ring's, Michael Scanlon's, and Tony Rudy's.

R. Allen Stanford, the titan of Stanford Financial, and now the known as the Texas version of Bernie Madoff, spent a lot of time spreading his money around Capitol Hill. TPM Muckraker has done great work examining the Caribbean junkets organized by a nonprofit that received heavy funding from Standford, the Inter-American Economic Council (IAEC).

One of the congressmen shown to have benefited from Stanford's largess was Rep. Bob Ney. Ney would eventually plead guilty to trading his services for gifts and campaign contributions from Jack Abramoff and his merry band of lobbyists. At the time, Ney held powerful positions as the Chair of the Committee on House Administration and on the House Committee on Financial Services. Stanford's main interest in wooing congressmen was to block any legislation that could close or effect the operations of his Antigua-based bank.

Ney, and his staff (one of whom, Will Heaton, would later plead guilty in the Abramoff case), received $26,177 in travel to Miami, FL and Caribbean islands paid for by the IAEC. Ney also received $26,200 in campaign contributions from Stanford Financial Group employees. More than half of those contributions ($14,200) came after Ney inserted the following into the Congressional Record:

Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker:

Whereas, Allen R. Stanford has been recognized as the 2006 Recipient of the ``Excellence in Leadership Award'' by the Inter-American Economic Council ; and

Whereas, Allen R. Stanford has been acknowledged for his performance and leadership in the areas of finance and investments; and

Whereas, Allen R. Stanford should be commended for his service as the CEO of the Stanford Financial Group based in Houston, Texas.

Therefore, I join with the residents of the entire 18th Congressional District of Ohio in honoring and congratulating Allen R. Stanford for his outstanding accomplishments.

I'm sure that the people of Ohio's 18th Congressional District love to have been included in the congratulations from one criminal to another. More important than that is Ney's prior use of the Congressional Record to do favors for Jack Abramoff and pals. In 2000, Ney twice inserted comments into the Congressional Record in support of Abramoff and Adam Kidan's takeover of SunCruz Casinos, a takeover that would eventually send them both to prison. In exchange for the comments, Abramoff and Kidan contributed $10,000 in Ney's name to the National Republican Congressional Committee. Ney was under extreme pressure to raise money for the NRCC at the time.

It isn't entirely clear whether Ney's use of the Congressional Record to commend Stanford copies the actions he undertook for Jack Abramoff and Adam Kidan. However, after receiving zero contributions for all of 2005, Ney suddenly found himself the recipient of $14,200 in contributions from Stanford and top Stanford Financial Group employees. The majority of the contributions, $10,000,  came on October 28, 2005. Ten days later, Stanford contributed $4,200 to Ney's reelection campaign. One year later, Stanford became a contributor to Ney's legal defense fund.

Last week, another former associate of Jack Abramoff's pled guilty to charges of trying to corrupt a public office. Todd Boulanger, a former staffer in the office former Sen. Bob Smith, worked in Abramoff's lobbying team from 1999 to 2004. (He also hilariously appears in this Daily Show clip as a CNN talking head.) Boulanger's guilty plea provides information on more unnamed congressional staffers coming into investigation. These staffers are now known as "Staffer D," a Transporation and Infrastructure Committee staffer; "Staffer E," a top aide with Sen. Thad Cochran; "Staffer F," an unknown legislative director.

"Staffer E" has been identified as Ann Copland, a former aide to Sen. Cochran now working (Copland is apparently no longer working at MPB, see the comment below) at Mississippi Public Broadcasting. Copland appears in the court documents as receiving a stream of tickets to events (NSYNC, Paul McCartney, Green Day, ice skating, and more) in exchange for using her official position to do the bidding of Abramoff and his lobbying team. She appears in the guilty pleas of both Boulanger and Kevin Ring, another lobbyist indicted in the scandal.

Below is an updated list of all the figures in the Abramoff scandal who have either pleaded guilty, been convicted, indicted, named in court documents, or had their career brought to an abrupt end by being mentioned in the scandal.

Officials and Lobbyists Brought Down in Abramoff Scandal

Jack Abramoff	Lobbyist, Preston Gates, Greenberg Traurig	Convicted; Sentenced to 13 Years 4 Months
Michael Scanlon	Former Comm. Director to Rep. Tom DeLay; Public Relations Executive	Pleaded Guilty
Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH)	House of Representatives; Chair of Committee on House Administration	Pleaded Guilty; Released from prison after serving 17 months
J. Steven Griles	Deputy Secretary of the Interior	Pleaded Guilty; Sentenced to 10 months in prison
Tony Rudy	Deputy Chief of Staff to Rep. Tom DeLay; Lobbyist, Greenberg Traurig	Pleaded Guilty
David Safavian	General Services Administration, Chief of Staff; Office of Management and Budget, Top Procurement Officer	Convicted; Sentenced to 18 months in prison
Neil Volz	Chief of Staff to Rep. Bob Ney	Pleaded Guilty
Italia Federici	President of Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy	Pleaded Guilty
Mark Zachares	Aide to Rep. Don Young	Pleaded Guilty
John Albaugh	Chief of Staff to Rep. Ernie Istook	Pleaded Guilty
Trevor Blackann	Lobbyist and former staffer for Sen. Kit Bond	Pleaded Guilty
Will Heaton	Chief of Staff to Rep. Bob Ney	Pleaded Guilty
Todd Boulanger	Lobbyist and former staffer to Sen. Bob Smith	Pleaded Guilty
Robert Carpenter	Deputy Chief of Staff, Criminal Division, US Department of Justice	Pleaded Guilty
Roger Stillwell	Desk Officer in charge Marianas Islands, Department of Interior	Pleaded Guilty
Adam Kidan	Business Partner, SunCruz Casinos	Pleaded Guilty; Sentenced to 5 years, ten months in prison
James Hirni	Lobbyist and former staffer for Sens. Tim Hutchinson, Bill Frist, and Jeff Sessions	Indicted on one count "conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud"
Kevin Ring	Lobbyist, Greenberg Traurig	Indicted on ten counts
Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX)	House of Representatives; Majority Leader	Named in guilty pleas; Under investigation; Retired after the guilty plea of former staffer Tony Rudy
Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA)	House of Representatives	Named in guilty pleas; Under investigation; Houses raided by FBI; Retired from Congress
Rep. Ernie Istook (R-OK)	House of Representatives	Named in guilty pleas; Under investigation; No longer in Congress
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)	House of Representatives	Named in guilty pleas; Under investigation; Defeated for reelection
Ed Buckham	Chief of Staff to Rep. Tom DeLay; Lobbyist	Named in guilty pleas; Under investigation
Ann Copland	Staffer for Sen. Thad Cochran	Named as "Staffer E" in guilty pleas
Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ)	House of Representatives	Linked to Abramoff scandal; Defeated in 2006 election; Since acknowledged not under investigation
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT)	U.S. Senate	Linked to Abramoff scandal; Defeated in 2006 election; Since acknowledged not under investigation
Ralph Reed	Former head of Christian Coalition; Lobbyist	Named repeatedly in reports of Abramoff's Indian tribe swindles; Lost 2006 Lt. Gov. race; Reputation in tatters
Susan Ralston	Special Assistant to the President; Deputy to Karl Rove	Resigned her job; Sought immunity to testify before House committee; Justice Department still reviewing granting of immunity

Thanks to those guys, Jack Abramoff and pals, lawmakers are taking far fewer privately paid trips overseas. Newly enacted ethics rules ban lawmakers from accepting travel gifts from registered lobbyists or organizations that employ one or more registered lobbyist. Congressional Quarterly reports that privately paid travel is off 43 percent from last year.

Legistorm - which tracks congressional travel - has a neat graphic showing the cost of private travel over time:

(Click through for interactivity.)