Rep. Bob Ney Pleads Guilty to Bribery Charges

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2006 — -- Republican Bob Ney, a six-term congressman from Ohio, pleaded guilty today in Federal District Court to taking bribes in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal.

Standing before Judge Ellen S. Huvelle, Ney pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements. He acknowledged taking money, gifts and favors in return for official actions on behalf of Abramoff and his clients.

Ney became the first lawmaker to confess to crimes in the election-year scandal that has stained the Republican-controlled Congress and the Bush administration.

In a statement, Ney said he would resign from Congress in "the next few weeks." Some Republican and Democratic leaders vowed to expel him unless he stepped down right away. The White house today called for Ney to resign immediately.

Three former House GOP aides have already pleaded guilty to corruption charges involving Abramoff, a once powerful lobbyist with especially close ties to top Republicans. Abramoff pleaded guilty on fraud and conspiracy charges, and will soon enter federal prison.

For two weeks, Republicans have tried to move the national conversation away from disgraced former congressman Mark Foley. And that is just what happened when North Korea claimed it had tested a nuclear bomb.

At President Bush's news conference this week, North Korea and other national security issues dominated the questioning. Only one question about the Foley sex scandal emerged. Now the conversation could veer back to honesty and ethics, areas in which the Democrats already lead in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

The Abramoff fallout has now spread wider, with a Senate Finance Committee report maintaining that five conservative nonprofit groups may have illegally helped the once powerful lobbyist.

Most notable are the charges aimed at Americans for Tax Reform, headed by Grover Norquist, an influential adviser to Republicans with close ties to President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove. The organizations cited in the report deny any wrongdoing.