Bob Ney: The Crack-up Begins?

If you’re wondering how Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) is holding up under the pressure of a federal investigation into his dealings with Jack Abramoff — and the media scrutiny it has invited — I think we have an answer: Not well.

Paul Krawzak is a DC reporter for the Copley newspaper chain, which has a number of papers in Ohio. Krawzak has been covering the Safavian trial, which is where I met him. Apparently, his reporting — particularly about the details of Ney’s time in Scotland with Abramoff — got under the troubled lawmaker’s skin, according to a piece written by Krawzak’s boss, George E. Condon Jr., Copley’s D.C. bureau chief. So much so, in fact, that Ney sent Krawzak angry emails, and dared him to print them.

Thankfully, Copley took Ney up on the challenge:

“Let me tell you paul-last week you did not call us for comment ‘you were under deadline,’” began Ney, who then reflected his belief that his critics just keep recycling the same story about the golf trip. “Print the same story-change it to reprint the same story-people in new philly – d’s and r’s call it ‘elk’s politics.’”

He concluded his message with “Go for it – harass my wife and daughter a little bit more big man – maybe I will take out an add talking about your ethics.” The reference to his wife and daughter reflected his continuing anger that earlier this year another Copley News Service reporter, based in Ohio, interviewed his neighbors and knocked on his door seeking comment from his wife.

Lest there be any doubt about either his anger or his desire to vent that anger, the congressman sent a separate note from his Blackberry later in the day. “Please-please-print this paul-you don’t care about ohio-i am sick of your crap. You are a d c person who couldn’t find ohio unless we gave you a map. You don’t give two shoots about our people.”

(Ney’s poor capitalization is not a sign of instability, but more likely due to his using a BlackBerry, according to Copley.)

Now, this raises some interesting questions. For instance, how does Ney think the people of Ohio benefited from him inserting glowing testimony into the Congressional Record about the shady Abramoff-linked gambling outfit, SunCruz Casinos? How did he think they would benefit from relaxing sanctions against Iran, which he pushed former Secretary of State Colin Powell to do at the behest of a convicted felon? And how did Ohioans benefit from his efforts to force the reopening of an indian tribal casino in Texas after the tribe — an Abramoff client, natch — gave him $32,000?