Continuing on from these posts about Jack Abramoff reporting to prison Wednesday, and ABC News' report (apparently now pulled, cached version here) that Abramoff is cooperating against Karl Rove, I located these items:

• The House Government Reform Committee's Abramoff Investigation Page with the actual e-mails Abramoff sent and received -- with bate stamp numbers

• The House Government Reform Committee's Abramoff Report of 9/26/06.

If you go to page 32 of the report, it details the e-mails from Abramoff to Rove, some of which involve Susan Ralston, Rove's assistant who recently resigned and who used to work for Abramoff. From the report:

Just before dawn and setting off for the federal prison camp at Cumberland, MD, Jack Abramoff sent a final e-mail to his friends. Shorter version: Stay tuned, there's more to come.

"This nightmare has gone on for almost three years so far and I expect we are not even half way through," Abramoff wrote.

Abramoff will continue his cooperation from the prison camp. Which means, we can expect more indictments. The grand jury is still sitting in Washingon.

Susan Ralston resigned, what will happen with her? Immunity or a deal for information about her other boss, Karl Rove?

Or will he target Democrats now? Jane at Firedoglake writes about his probable attempt to smear Sen. Harry Reid.

I think the glare of the headlights will return to Rove, as I'll be explaining in future posts.

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff reports to prison Wednesday.

The feds wanted him to stay out longer, because as part of his cooperaton bargain, he is still providing dirt on others.

Abramoff has been meeting almost daily in secret locations around Washington with Justice Department investigators who are examining thousands of e-mails and documents, according to sources close to the investigation.

Abramoff will report to FCI Cumberland, in Maryland, where he will be close enough to prosecutors to continue his cooperation.

As to who he's cooperating against now, ABC reports Karl Rove is on the list.

The sources say Abramoff was about to provide information about Bush administration officials, including Karl Rove, "accepting things of value" from Abramoff.

To be continued....

Americans who welcome a change of government have reason to be thankful for Tom Noe. At least, they have reason to be thankful that the corrupt coin dealer's trial focused the attention of Ohio voters on Republican corruption. The jury returned a verdict yesterday.

Jurors convicted Noe, 52, a former county chairman who helped raise more than $100,000 in 2004 for the Bush-Cheney ticket, of 29 of 40 counts, including theft, corruption and forgery. He faces at least 10 years in prison for stealing from the state workers' compensation fund and trying to hide his actions. ... Along the way, the investigation touched Gov. Bob Taft ®, who pleaded no contest in August 2005 to accepting secret gifts from Noe and others.

Don Hazen makes the credible argument that Republican corruption was the tipping point in last week's elections.

David Safavian, a Bush administration official who enjoyed golfing with Jack Abramoff in Scotland on Abramoff's dime, will be taking an 18 month break from the links. In June, Safavian was convicted of making false statements to government agents and of obstructing the Abramoff investigation. At yesterday's sentencing, Judge Paul Friedman vented his frustration with the culture of corruption in Washington, but resisted the government's pitch for a three year sentence.

The 18-month sentence fell halfway between the defense's recommendation that he serve between zero and 12 months, and a Justice Department recommendation for 30 to 37 months.

The government wanted Judge Friedman to enhance Safavian's sentence for perjury it believes he committed during his trial. Judge Friedman made a generous finding that Safavian might actually have believed his false testimony to be true, saving Safavian from a longer sentence. Safavian's refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing convinced the judge that Safavian deserved a short stint in federal custody.

Colorado Congressman Bob Beauprez is in a heated battle with former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter in the Colorado Governor's race. As I have been writing over at 5280.com, the campaign of Republican Congressman Bob Beauprez is in trouble now that the FBI agreed to join the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in investigating how the Beauprez campaign got confidential criminal records regarding a defendant prosecuted during Ritter’s tenure as District Attorney that were later used in an ad attacking Ritter.

Beauprez continued to refuse to disclose how he got the information. He referred to his source as an “informant” and tried to hide behind a kind of journalist’s privilege, which of course, is ridiculous.

Yesterday I wondered "which law enforcement officer or state or federal employee is going to be out of a job. The possibilities are numerous."

Not any more. the CBI said today they got their culprit and it was someone in federal law enforcement.

Let the sparks fly. Beauprez' tag line has been "I'm Accountable." I hope Colorado voters take him at his word. His tv ads attacks on Ritter have been straight out of the Willie Horton mold. It's time to pay the piper.

There goes another one. Lester Crawford, who was Bush's FDA director in 2005, has been charged with lying about stock ownership in companies regulated by the FDA. He will plead guilty tomorrow in federal court to the Information filed today.

The court papers also say that Crawford chaired FDA's Obesity Working Group at a time when he and his wife owned stock in soft drink and snack food manufacturer Pepsico Inc., based in Purchase, N.Y., and food product manufacturer Sysco Corp., based in Houston.

The panel Crawford was chairing was making decisions affecting food and soft drink manufacturers. Crawford, a veterinarian, abruptly resigned from the FDA job in September 2005 but gave no reason for his decision to step down. He had held the top position for just two months but had been acting head of the regulatory agency for more than a year.

Patrick Fitzgerald, true to his modus operandi, has turned some more defendants in the Illiniois corruption probe, and now, three weeks prior to election day, has indicted the top aide to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko was charged with operating a fraud scheme in which he, millionaire political contributor Stuart Levine and other insiders used Levine's position as a member of two state boards to pressure companies to pay kickbacks in exchange for state business. Levine is among those previously charged in the case.

Rezko's lawyer Joseph Duffy says:

The indictment unsealed Wednesday "appears to be the creation of Stuart Levine, a twice-indicted individual desperate to curry favor with the government to avoid being held accountable for his many years of corruption," Duffy said.

by TChris

Tom DeLay may not be off the hook on a charge that he conspired to violate the Texas election code. The charge was dismissed last year, leaving DeLay to face a money laundering charge. An intermediate appellate court affirmed the dismissal, but the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has agreed to review that decision.

[B]y accepting the case for review, the high court likely pushed any trial in DeLay's case off until next year. No date for oral arguments has been set.

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens' son, Ben Stevens, was one of the state legislators whose office was searched by the FBI Thursday looking for evidence of improper links between the legislators and VECO Corp., an oil field services company and

Federal agents raided the offices of at least six Alaska lawmakers Thursday in a search for any ties between the legislators and a large oil field services company, officials said.

Tam Cook, the Legislature's top attorney, said the company named in the search warrant was VECO Corp., an Anchorage-based oil field services and construction company whose executives are major contributors to political campaigns. Two legislative aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal from federal agents who told them not to talk to reporters, said FBI agents were looking for any ties including financial information and gifts.

Here's who got searched:

by TChris

In the judgment of his former local supporters,Tom DeLay has made a mess of things.

[Republicans] are in such disarray now that the hope of backing a single write-in candidate has essentially vanished. There are three declared write-ins, and one top state Republican, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, is urging Republicans to consider voting for the Libertarian candidate, who does have a spot on the ballot.

Citing the divisions and the $3 million that Democratic nominee Nick Lampson has raised, two leading political analysts -- Charlie Cook and Larry Sabato -- changed their ratings of the seat this week to "leans Democrat." It had been "leans Republican" only a few days ago.

Nick Lampson has a chance to clean up DeLay's mess. Reading the linked article about none-too-happy-with-DeLay Republicans, you might particularly enjoy the timeline entitled "The Rise and Fall of Tom DeLay."

by TChris

For awhile, Republicans speculated that the indicted Tom DeLay might campaign for his old seat, given court decisions that require his name, as the primary winner, to remain on the ballot. DeLay dashed the hopes of his supporters -- yes, they inexplicably exist -- by reaffirming his intent not to campaign. DeLay no doubt wants to spend his campaign money on his legal fees. What good is another term in Congress, after all, if he has to serve it from a jail cell?

A couple of potential Republican candidates are considering write-in campaigns, while other Republicans are searching for a way to manipulate DeLay's name off the ballot. One idea: appoint the indicted DeLay to a nice government job.