A lobbyist’s end

Monday, Sept. 8, 2008 | 2:08 a.m.

Longtime Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the most recent face of corruption in politics, was sentenced Thursday by a federal judge to four years in prison for bribing public officials.

It is a huge fall for Abramoff, who not long ago was an influential lobbyist and bestowed lavish gifts and trips on members of Congress and decision-makers in the Bush administration.

On Thursday prosecutors asked Judge Ellen Huvelle to give Abramoff leniency. The prosecutors said he had helped with the convictions of 10 public officials, including Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio. The prosecutors wanted to send a message to defendants who had cooperated in other cases.

Abramoff, who has served about two years in prison on an unrelated fraud charge, told the judge he was a “broken man,” adding that he was no longer the man who “happily and arrogantly engaged in a lifestyle of political and business corruption.”

Huvelle said Abramoff’s behavior showed “a consistent course of corrupt conduct.” He was a premier Republican lobbyist for a decade and during that time defrauded Indian tribes out of millions of dollars and bought favor from political leaders. He ran a sophisticated operation that had little regard for the law. He regularly bought access to politicians and officials, spiriting them off in a private jet for expensive junkets. He undermined any sense of fairness in the political system.

For that, there should be no leniency. The judge gave Abramoff a longer sentence than the prosecution had asked for, but it was far short of the 11 years she could have given him. His sentences will run consecutively and Abramoff is expected to serve six years in prison for his crimes. The question is whether that will be enough to send a clear message to others who would follow in his footsteps.

We hope the message is clear: Such actions are an offense to American democracy and will not be treated

lightly.