The Jack Abramoff corruption business may seem so last year, so Bush-league, but spin-off cases continue to be heard.
Now, a U.S. District Court judge has declined to dismiss Abramoff-related charges against former congressional staffer Kevin Ring. Mr. Ring is former legislative director to former Rep. John Doolittle of California, as well as a former lobbyist with the Washington, D.C. firm Greenberg Traurig.
In a 41-page opinion issued late-ish Thursday, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle rejected Mr. Ring's request to dismiss a 10-count indictment against him. Prosecutors charge the former lobbyist with providing "things of value" -- in the form of meals, sporting event tickets, golf outings, travel etc. -- to then-Rep. Robert " Freedom Fries " Ney and two other lawmakers. During the same time period, three congressmen allegedly took actions benefiting Ring and Abramoff's tribal clients.
Time check: Ney has already been released from prison after serving 17 months for his involvement in the mess.
In his request to dismiss the complaints, Mr. Ring in part attempted a wholesale attack on the very notion that a lobbyist could be charged with violating an "honest services" wire fraud statute. The statute prohibits using a "wire communication" to enter into a scheme designed to "deprive another of the intangible right of honest services." Typically, this has been used against public officials -- the guys and gals who are obliged to provide constituents with honest service.
Ring's argument, an interesting one, is that as a private citizen he had no duty to the public and therefore cannot be prosecuted for depriving the public of his honest service. But Judge Segal Huvelle, in an opinion worth perusing, countered that the service at issue in this case is that of the public officials with whom Ring was allegedly entangled.
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