Goodbye for now, sweet prince.

Jack Abramoff corrupted our political system. He owes every single American an apology. Now, he’ll have plenty of time to think about his actions when he’s sitting in a jail cell for the next six years. He deserved more, but we’ll take what we can get.

Abramoff reports to prison today.

Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist known for lavishing politicians with football tickets or whisking them away on exotic golf junkets, will start life Wednesday with a new identity: federal inmate No. 27593-112.

Abramoff is to report to federal prison to begin serving a nearly six-year prison sentence for a fraudulent deal to buy a fleet of casino ships in Florida. He also is awaiting sentencing for corrupting government officials and their staff members.

If it were up to the Justice Department, Abramoff wouldn’t be heading to prison — at least not yet. He could hold the key to a sweeping corruption case involving Congress, members of the Bush administration and their aides — and prosecutors said putting their star witness behind bars would impede the investigation.

But a Miami federal judge refused to delay the sentence, meaning Abramoff’s cooperation will have to continue from prison. Abramoff’s lawyers had no comment.

Abramoff was originally assigned to a federal prison in Pennsylvania about four hours away from Washington. Prosecutors wanted him assigned to a prison in Cumberland, Maryland, about two hours away.

The Justice Department said the issue has been resolved and, though the Bureau of Prisons will not comment on where Abramoff will report, prison officials began making preparations for a crush of reporters outside the Cumberland prison.

Abramoff enjoyed access and influence across Capitol Hill, from his close ties to congressmen, to his hundreds of contacts with White House officials. He kept his powerful friends flush with campaign cash, gifts and trips such as a $92,000 chartered jet to Scotland for a golf outing with Rep. Bob Ney, Bush administration official David Safavian and congressional aides.

Day 16
12:31 PM ET.

Greetings from Clevleand, OH. I apologize for the slow blogging day yesterday, we were held up in a basement working our tails off on production and booking. Also, the internet connection here is not great, so we’ve been in and out of service.

I love Ohio. I am looking forward to driving the whole state over the next couple days. We’re headed south tonight to interview Zack Space, who is running to replace disgraced Congressman Bob Ney (OH-18).

Josh will put up the pictures from our day of production in a few minutes. In the meantime, check out our new episode from the beautiful state of Rhode Island.

More later.

-Peter

Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), a powerful and VERY crooked Congressman, who is waiting any day to be indicted by the Department of Justice has just announced that he will NOT seek re-election in the fall. Rep. Ney is being out-fundraised and out-campaigned by Democrat Zack Space and the heat of this campaign and the pressure of the law has finally caught up with him.

From the Associated Press:

U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, dogged by an influence peddling probe in Washington, will not seek re-election, state Sen. Joy Padgett said early Monday.

Ney called Padgett on Saturday and asked the fellow Republican to run in his place, saying that defending himself has been a strain on his family, she said.

“It’s a very sad time,” Padgett said of Ney’s decision, first reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on its Web site.

She said Ney told her, “that there’s only so much he can take. He said, ‘I have to do this.’”

Padgett told The Associated Press she would run for Ney’s seat.

Calls to Ney’s office and staff were not immediately returned. He has not been charged and has denied wrongdoing.

Padgett said Ney told her he intends to serve the remainder of his term.

The six-term congressman from Heath in central Ohio had insisted he would not resign even if indicted over his dealings with now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. In his first primary test in a decade, Ney won 68 percent of the vote May 2 against a little-known opponent.

However, he faced a tough challenge in November from Democrat Zack Space, who had made the Justice Department’s investigation into Ney a focus of his campaign.

For the first three months of 2006, Ney’s campaign spent more than it raised, a deficit he blamed on mounting legal costs. In the past three months, it was unusually intense campaigning in his expansive rural district that caused the incumbent to spend $52,675 more than donors gave him, he said.

“I’m embattled and attacked; I understand that,” Ney told The AP last month after Space raised about $190,000 more than Ney for the quarter.

Ney, 52, told the Tribune-Review that his family had not asked him to drop out, but he wanted to spare them anyway.

Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) is also going down. Rep. Ney is one of the key players in the Jack Abramoff/Tom DeLay corruption scandal. He should resign from Congress today.

Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) is caught in the eye of the Abramoff storm. His excuse…From Think Progress:

Ney Blames Legal Troubles On Media, Liberal Groups, And Overzealous Justice Department

(C) Neybramoff DR 2006

Another GOP perp walk…

Politics1 does a good wrap up of today’s primary action in Ohio.

The Fix, The Washington Post Blog also breaks down the Ohio primary.

HIGHLIGHT: Ohio CD-18 – Politics1 election forecast:

Congressman Bob Ney (R) will win renomination — even though everyone, including his own lawyer, openly expect Ney to soon be indicted on bribery and corruption charges related to the Abramoff lobbying scandal. If GOP little-known GOP challenger James Harris breaks the 30% mark, it could be a bad omen for Ney in November. Three of the four Dems running against Ney are viable candidates, but the primary winner will be either Chillicothe Mayor Joe Sulzer or Dover Law Director Zach Space.