Scanlon Juice Sticks to Congress, K Street and More...

Oh brother, this Scanlon flip is opening up the halls of the Pay to Play. From a detailed WAPO article:

"The 35 to 40 investigators and prosecutors on the Abramoff case are focused on at least half a dozen members of Congress, lawyers and others close to the probe said. The investigators are looking at payments made by Abramoff and his colleagues to the wives of some lawmakers and at actions taken by senior Capitol Hill aides, some of whom went to work for Abramoff at the law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP, lawyers and others familiar with the probe said."

Let's also add the peripheral players to this, shall we? From the American Progress Action Fund:

David Safavian, former head of the powerful White House Office of Management and Budget, has already gone down as a result of the Abramoff scandals, arrested in September on charges of "lying and obstructing a criminal investigation" into Abramoff. Last week, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee heard testimony from Italia Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), about her "unspoken deal" with Abramoff. The lobbyist funneled nearly $500,000 in client money to CREA, and in return, Federici offered him access "to at least two of her close friends, [Secretary of the Interior Gale] Norton and Deputy Secretary J. Steven Griles." Former Christian Coalition director, Ralph Reed, received $10,000 for his campaign to be chair of the Georgia Republican party, paid for Abramoff's tribal clients, unbeknownst to those clients. Additionally, Abramoff actively sought out Reed's guidance "in disguising Indian tribal money sent to anti-gambling campaigns whose leaders were wary of accepting casino cash."

P.S. ANY DEMOCRAT INVOLVED should lose their office. NO exceptions. Corruption on this scale-- and particularly with this pack of liars and thieves-- is intolerable.

[UPDATE 11-25-05] From the WSJ:

Prosecutors in the department's public integrity and fraud divisions -- separate units that report to the assistant attorney general for the criminal division -- are looking into Mr. Abramoff's interactions with former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, Rep. Bob Ney (R., Ohio), Rep. John Doolittle (R., Calif.) and Sen. Conrad Burns (R., Mont.), according to several people close to the investigation. Messrs. DeLay and Ney have retained criminal defense lawyers. Spokespeople for Messrs. Doolittle and Burns said they haven't hired lawyers.