Lies. Corruption. Thievery. Influence peddling. All of these words describe the growing scandal sweeping Congress and the Bush administration. This scandal threatens to expose for millions how deals between big business interests and the capitalist government are made.
At the center of this scandal is right-wing lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a major player in Washington politics. Abramoff cut a deal in early January to cooperate with federal prosecutors who were investigating his finances and dealings. He pled guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials in return for a nine to 11-year prison sentence.
Abramoff is in trouble for ripping off his clients. In his guilty plea, he admitted stealing tens of millions of dollars from four Native American nations—the Louisiana Coushattas, Mississippi Choctaws, Saginaw Chippewas of Michigan and Tigua of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo in Texas.
These nations operate gambling casinos. They hired Abramoff to represent their interests in Washington. Instead, he encouraged his clients to hire his friend Michael Scanlon—a former aide of indicted former House majority leader Tom DeLay—as their publicist. Abramoff did not disclose that Scanlon was his business partner or that he represented other clients whose interests were directly opposed to his Native American clients’ interests.
The fallout from Abramoff’s plea bargain is expected to grow. The bourgeois media is estimating that a number of congresspersons, congressional aides and Bush administration officials might be implicated in the web of bribery and fraud. Democrats are using the scandal as ammunition against Republicans in the lead-up to mid-term elections this coming fall. Most politicians who took money from Abramoff or his clients are giving some of it back. All sides are trumpeting the need for reform.
But regardless of whether those linked to Abramoff get indicted or what small reforms result, the scandal is significant because it touches on the criminal essence of U.S. capitalist politics and the bankruptcy of the system itself.
Servant of U.S. imperialism
Abramoff is among the most egregious and decadent of the many corporate lobbyists. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign contributions, Abramoff has directed more than $4.4 million over the past six years to various candidates and campaign committees.
Although he contributed exclusively to Republicans, most of the funds provided by clients went to Democrats and Republicans alike. The vast majority of Republican congresspersons received significant campaign contributions from Abramoff’s clients. He directly raised more than $100,000 in contributions for George Bush’s reelection campaign. In addition, over 100 Democratic House of Representative members and 45 Senators took substantial sums from Abramoff’s clients, including House minority leader Harry Reid.
Now that Abramoff has admitted guilt for a few of his crimes, he is being dismissed by many politicians, including former allies, simply as a “corrupt” lobbyist. But he is more than just a lobbyist. He is a long-time agent of the capitalist political establishment and U.S. imperialism.
For more than two decades, Abramoff has been closely connected to extreme right-wing movements and neo-fascism, both within the United States and abroad. He raised millions to fight communist and progressive movements. All of this served the needs and goals of U.S. imperialism.
In the early 1980s, Abramoff headed “Citizens for America,” for which he organized a “conference” of anti-communist guerrillas from Laos, Nicaraguan contras, Afghan Mujahedeen and Angolan UNITA forces, headed by CIA asset and mass murderer Jonas Savimbi. The conference was held at Savimbi’s headquarters.
Later, Abramoff began working under contract for the South African apartheid regime, which paid $1.5 million per year to his “International Freedom Foundation,” a nonprofit group he ran from his own home. The IFF was really part of an elaborate South African military intelligence operation established to counter growing demands for sanctions against the apartheid regime and to demonize the African National Congress, the national liberation movement headed by Nelson Mandela. (Prensa Latina, Feb. 2)
After the end of the so-called Cold War, Abramoff moved back into the arena of domestic politics, becoming a full-time lobbyist. He befriended up-and-coming politicians like Tom DeLay. In turn, he was able to secure high-paying clients to grease the wheels of government for them.
But Abramoff never gave up his international exploits in the service of imperialism. According to Newsweek, Abramoff recently used money from a charity that was supposed to benefit inner-city youth to provide sniper scopes and lessons, camouflage suits and night-vision binoculars for Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Lobbying and capitalism
Every day, lobbyists like Abramoff lie to and steal from their corporate clients. Most of the time, this does not bother corporations or government politicians. So, why was Abramoff’s stealing treated differently?
In the United States, the entire political system functions to enrich the wealthiest sector of the population—the owning class of bankers and corporate big shots. Corporate lobbyists play an essential role as liaisons between their clients and the government, getting millions of dollars to influence legislation to meet their clients’ needs. They routinely buy and sell members of congress and other government officials by promising massive campaign donations, lavish parties and dinners, gifts, favors and more.
Lobbying has been a lucrative profession for decades. But only in the past 15 years has it grown into a massive, multi-billion dollar machine. More than 20,000 lobbyists operate in Washington, D.C., alone. The starting salary for lobbyists is around $300,000 per year. Lobbying fees have doubled or tripled over the past few years. Abramoff, along with his allies and friends, have contributed to the evolution of corporate lobbying.
Abramoff had learned how to work for and within the system. But his true crime, in the eyes of the bourgeoisie, was that he overstepped his bounds with the sheer amount of fraud he committed in recent years. He was too careless and his excesses were too outrageous for the system to handle without sacrificing him to keep the public—that has already turned against the war on Iraq and rejected much of the Bush administration’s domestic program—at bay.
In the case of Abramoff, a portion of the bourgeoisie is not only upset at his excesses, they seek to push down the costs of doing business in Washington. These capitalist bosses want to send a message to corporate lobbyists that they do not like the ever-skyrocketing operating costs. Massive lobbying fees are cutting into their corporate profits. Lobbyists like Abramoff are increasingly expensive middlemen between the bourgeoisie and their political representatives.
Politicians representing these sectors also wanted to see Abramoff toppled. Arizona representative John McCain, who oversees the House Committee on Indian Affairs, is using the Abramoff scandal to forward his career while also appeasing his corporate masters. McCain has led the fight in Congress for campaign finance reform—under the guise of fighting “corruption” but really as a way to decrease campaign costs for corporations.
Most of the Democrats also were happy to see Abramoff fall. Since the Republicans gained the majority in Congress in 1995, the Democrats lost control of the lobbying apparatus that helps line their pockets and gets them elected. Both parties vie to control Congress to enrich themselves and their corporate friends. Although many Democrats are complicit with Abramoff, the Democratic leadership is using the scandal against the Republicans in hopes of retaking the House and Senate in 2006.
Tip of the iceberg
Abramoff may be a special case with an exceptionally odious pedigree, but he is only the tip of the iceberg. He went down to ensure the viability of how things work in Washington.
Regardless of their immediate interests, the capitalists and both of their political parties ultimately seek to manage a scandal like this before it grows larger and gets out of hand. They do not want the full extent of corruption inherent to capitalist politics revealed to the general public. They do not want people to start believing that the problem is not simply a couple of “corrupt” lobbyists or politicians but the system itself.
This is why the Democrats and Republicans are calling for comprehensive lobbying “reform” as a way to stem the tide of corruption. Many liberal and radical groups are also mistakenly pointing to reform as the answer. But no amount of lobbying or campaign finance reform will clean up politics under capitalism.
As long as profits can be ensured by buying off politicians, politics will be dirty and corrupt. This is a fundamental feature of government under capitalism. It is necessary to go beyond the confines of the bourgeois discourse about the Abramoff scandal and use it to expose the rotten nature of capitalism.
To get rid of people like Jack Abramoff and everyone he was able to buy and sell throughout his career, a new system is needed—one where no profit motive or ultra-rich ruling class exists.
Jack Abramoff
Photo: Tom Williams
Behind individual lobbyists loom the country’s biggest banks and corporations.
Photo: Richard B. Levine
