The First Shoe to Drop
Ah well, what we’ve come to know and wait for is the first guilty plea. Smaller fish trade prison for bigger fish, it's the way of the oceans. Michael Scanlon, partner to lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty yesterday, the first shoe to drop in what I think will become a major congressional scandal. How major? Biggest in decades is my guess and that’s why everyone on Capitol Hill is so quiet. They’re all running scared. Mike is a very knowledgeable fish.
Scanlon pleaded to 'conspiring to bribe a congressman and other public officials' but the plea-deal has become the wedge with which most conspiratorial timber is split.
Mike agreed to pay back his share of a kickback from Jack Abramoff, some $19 million that came from him and Jack playing both sides of various Indian casino issues. He’s got five possible years in the clinker hanging over his head as well as a possible quarter-million dollar fine. The quarter mil is chump-change for a high roller, but prison time is another matter and y…