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The Washington Post, unsurprisingly, has the best follow-up to Neil Volz’s guilty plea yesterday.

Volz was the fourth and probably final plea to implicate Ney, but is Volz joining the chorus of his fellow dealers dishing on other lawmakers? Yes, says the Post:

Volz, who has been talking to prosecutors for three months, is providing information on other lawmakers and staff, according to a source close to the ongoing investigation.

And in case some of you didn’t get the message from Ney’s statement following the plea yesterday, Ney’s lawyer has a message for you: everyone who has implicated Ney – Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Tony Rudy, and now Neil Volz – is just looking for a “Get Out Of Jail Free” card.

“The enormity of the crimes they committed has created a situation where they are singing for their supper,” he said. “They are making it up. They are flat making it up.”

But Ney himself balked at another chance for tough talk when he shrank back from a prior pledge that he’d continue his run for re-election even if he’s indicted:

In an interview on Fox News Channel yesterday, Ney was asked whether he would resign if indicted. “I’m not going to comment on hypotheticals,” he replied. “I don’t believe I’m going to be indicted.”

But for how long a hypothetical?

In Other Muck

GOP to Pelosi: Pull Mollohan
Republicans wrote a letter to top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) demanding she tell Mollohan to step down. Pelosi’s response, via a flack: “I look forward to reading their letter to Speaker Hastert on CongressmanDeLay, Congressman Ney, Congressman Doolittle and Congressman Pombo. . . I must have missed their letter on incarcerated Congressman Cunningham.” (The Hill)

Master of Corruption, Scanlon Now Master of Congressional Ethics
Michael Scanlon, one of the most egregiously corrupt lobbyists involved in the Abramoff scandal, successfully defended his master’s thesis at Johns Hopkins University. Topic: The House Ethics process. (Roll Call)

$80 in Tickets Awaits Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI)
Police have prepared three tickets — for speeding, failure to stay in the proper lane, and failure to pay attention — but are waiting to award them until their investigation is complete. (Roll Call)

Why Did CIA Chief Goss Resign So Abrubtly?
The resignation is not only the result of a feud with Negroponte but is also at least indirectly connected to potential fallout from the Duke Cunningham scandal. (Harpers)

Hastert Opposes Nomination of Hayden to Lead CIA
Hastert’s opposition to Hayden is not based on any personal reservations about the nominee. Rather, Hastert is concerned that installing a top-ranking military official at the “CIA would give too much influence over the U.S. intelligence community to the Pentagon.” (Roll Call)

Analysis: Bush’s CIA pick latest slammed
Once again, President Bush may have misjudged the extent of GOP resistance to one of his decisions. His nomination of a four-star general to serve as CIA director has drawn complaints from Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike. (AP)

Bush faces fight with CIA pick
Hayden is set to face tough questions in the Senate, although administration officials were confident he would be confirmed. (Reuters)

W.Va. Firms Footed Mollohan Trip
In the latest drip of the drip, drip, drip of Rep. Alan Mollohan’s (D-WV) ethical problems, Roll Call reported that Mollohan took a trip to Spain in June 2004 that was “paid for by a group of government contractors for whom Mollohan steered tens of millions of dollars in earmarked funds.” (Roll Call, Raw Story)

Former Aide to Rep. Ney Pleads Guilty
The AP had a good rundown of Neil Volz’s guilty plea. (AP)

A Review of Neil Volz’s Political Contributions
Compared to his co-conspirators Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon and Tony Rudy, Neil Volz was a small-time political contributor. Volz, who is the latest congressional aide-turned-lobbyist to plead guilty in the unfolding corruption scandal, thinly spread his more limited largesse among nearly 40 Republican members of Congress, including his onetime boss, Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio). (Capital Eye)

Guilty Plea Means More Trouble for Bob Ney
The latest guilty plea to implicate Ney means that his political future is looking even more dismal. (The Fix)

Gov. Bush Doubts Harris Can Win Fla. Seat
Ouch. “I just don’t think she can win,” Jeb Bush said at the Capitol in his strongest statement yet about his fellow Republican’s struggling campaign. (AP)

Rep. Kennedy’s rehab stint may not be career obstacle
Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s decision Friday to return to drug-abuse rehabilitation after a traffic accident appears unlikely to have an impact on his political fortunes, political analysts say. (USA Today)

Vaccine makers helped write Frist-backed shield law
Vaccine industry officials helped shape legislation behind the scenes that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist secretly amended into a bill to shield them from lawsuits, according to e-mails obtained by a public advocacy group. (Tennessean)

In Congress, a GOP face-off over ‘pork’
To avoid a presidential veto, House and Senate negotiators must lop at least $14 billion off the Senate’s version of a $108.9 billion emergency spending bill that critics say is larded with pork. If they fail, President Bush promises to issue the first veto of his presidency. (CSM)

New Lawsuit Seeks White House Visit Logs
Democrats sued the Secret Service on Monday for copies of White House logs to determine how often allies and associates of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff visited the Executive Mansion. (AP)

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