Republican ideals

Brad DeLong opens the TimesSelect archive and comes across an expose of Jack Abramoff, written by recently murdered Times reporter David Rosenbaum, nearly four years ago [-]*

Mr. Abramoff's recent success and importance in Republican circles is a reminder that even as much of official Washington has been focused on the war in Afghanistan, efforts to beef up national security after Sept. 11 and the crisis in the Middle East, the business of lobbying has been humming along quite nicely, more out of the spotlight than usual but more profitable than ever for those with the right connections. Unlike many lobbyists who take almost any client who is willing to pay their fee, Mr. Abramoff says he represents only those who stand for conservative principles. They include three Indian tribes with big casinos and, until recently, the Northern Mariana Islands.

''All of my political work,'' he said, ''is driven by philosophical interests, not by a desire to gain wealth.'' Mr. Abramoff argues that Indian reservations and the island territory, which is exempt from United States labor laws, are ''just what conservatives have always wanted, which is enterprise zones -- tax-free, regulation-free zones where with the right motivation, great industry could take place and spill out into the general communities.'' His success in making this case to Republicans in the House has paid off handsomely. At the beginning of last year, Mr. Abramoff left Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, the law firm where he had worked since he became a lobbyist in 1995, and joined the Washington office of Greenberg Traurig, a firm based in Miami. Mostly as a consequence, Greenberg Traurig, which received only $1.7 million in lobbying fees during the first half of 2000, had $8.7 million in the first half of 2001, fifth most of any firm in Washington, according to rankings by National Journal. Preston Gates, which had been ranked fifth, saw its lobbying fees cut in half and fell out of the magazine's top 10.

And we're still waiting for a correction from Post ombudsman Deborah Howell.

*If anyone has an idea how to use the permalinks for Professor DeLong's posts, please fill me in, 'cause I can't figure it out. Clicking on the permalink button only brings up the main URL in the address line, and trying to type out the "delong.typepad" address that appears when you scroll over the "permalink" button doesn't seem to work either. Argh.

UPDATE: Thanks to a commentor suspiciously named "Brad," links have been fixed and future links to the good professor will work perfectly.