Here's an interesting piece in Slate comparing the three scandals of Abramoff, Pellicano, and Jared Paul Stern and how they each reflect on their respective city. Of course, here in Washington we could care less about wiretapped Hollywood stars or bribery on Page Six. But we do care about influence being bought and sold:

Washington's scandal is about influence, a commodity bought and sold there as it is nowhere else. ... Much as his former colleagues may try to deny it, Abramoff's practices were not a departure from the way Washington ordinarily does business, but rather a too-brazen expression of it. Nearly all lobbyists-for-hire brandish their connections at the White House and on Capitol Hill to impress their clients. They grease the skids with campaign donations, favors, and fancy entertainment. Stylistically, they tend to echo Abramoff's ostentatious religious piety, his humorless self-regard, his regrettable wardrobe choices. Though a horrible cartoon, Abramoff also represents the reality of Bush's Washington. His distinguishing, fatal error was to draw too much attention to himself while doing on a grander scale what thousands do there every day.

Hilarious article by Buster Gunning on the empty luxury suites at Washington Nationals games since "king of lobbyists" Jack Abramoff's fall from grace. Here's a key graph:

Washington Nationals' officials are scrambling to figure out a way to fill the expensive suites. One idea that saw marginal success was the “Adopt a Politician for a Day” campaign where various politicians in need of kickbacks lined up outside of the stadium in hopes of being auctioned off to the highest bidder who would then purchase one of the many lavish suites available.

Prior to Jack Abramoff's recent sentencing in Florida his friends and acquaintances sent the judge a stream of risible letters pleading for leniency. Abramoff would lend his friends and neighbors money, save a little girl's hamster, and use stolen money from Indian tribes to donate to your campaign committee... oh wait, forget about that last one. See, Abramoff was a good guy with a big heart who got caught up in the corrupt world of Washington. There's just something in the air here that makes you want to steal tens of millions of dollars. Unfortunately, there is a mound of evidence that shows that Abramoff was in fact of dubious character. Ken Silverstein at Harpers.org shovels some more onto that pile: