The Prince, the Crook, and the Exterminator

The recent storm of events engulfing the Republican leadership is a fitting case of hubris followed by a fall, though it remains to be seen if the criminal actions of men such as Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney and the president himself will result in true punishment for the culpable.  In examining the roles of just a few of the primary Republican players, the degree of corruption and mendacity is remarkable, and the fact that these men are likely just the “tip of the iceberg” is a sobering thought.

Karl Rove has been a Republican star, and specifically a guiding light for the Bush clan, since the early eighties.  As the architect of several Republican victories, he has been notable for the viciousness and shamelessness of his tactics, which typically involve playing to the lowest fears and prejudices of the electorate.  He has mentioned Machiavelli’s “The Prince” as one of the works that has influenced him the most, and one might surmise this just by looking at his record of smearing, spinning, lying, and attempting to destroy opponents without regard for even a hint of decency or truthfulness.  In the 1992 George H.W. Bush run for president, Rove was ousted after he apparently leaked information damaging to a fellow campaign staffer.  In the George W. Bush 1994 gubernatorial campaign, Rove was linked to smears related to Governor Anne Richard’s sexuality.  Rove was also linked to the Willie Horton scandal  that assisted George H.W. Bush in his 1988 defeat of Michael Dukakis.  Several ex-members of the Bush administration have complained of the elimination of policy in favor of politics under Bush, and it is no mystery who the architect of this shift has been, for Rove is nothing if not an artful political operative.  It is not hard to imagine a frightened Bush extending a pardon to his crony in the event the special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald eventually hands down a felony indictment for Rove’s role in the Valerie Plame affair.

Jack Abramoff, though not an appointed member of the administration, has nonetheless been a powerful political force for the Republican party.  With his extensive network of financial and governmental contacts, he was a Republican expediter eager to negotiate favors and obtain influence for those willing to pay his fees as lobbyist at the firm Greenberg Traurig.  The lobbying industry itself is an ugly underside of American democracy, yet Abramoff surpassed his peers in his amoral dealings within the power elite of Washington DC.  In 2000, Abramoff was involved in a shady deal to buy the SunCruz Casinos operation in Florida, and now stands indicted of having forged documents that led to a defrauding of the bank involved in financing the purchase with a $60 million loan.  The seller of the business, Gus Boulis, remained involved in SunCruz as a partner and was later gunned down by criminal elements that have been linked back to Abramoff and his business partner Adam Kidan.  Abramoff now stands to be eventually indicted in relation to charging millions of dollars in fees to Indian tribes for his services, with much of the money having been billed to a firm owned by an associate, Michael Scanlon, who apparently then transferred funds to Abramoff in violation of federal lobbying rules.  Abramoff has also been linked to ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, not only through efforts DeLay made on behalf of the SunCruz partnership, but also through mutual golfing trips paid for by the lobbyist that apparently violated federal lobbying rules.  Abramoff’s web of dealings with the White House, members of the Senate, and members of the House of Representatives has yet to be untangled, but more than a few in Congress must be nervous.