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It takes a thief…

Last week we learned that Jack Abramoff keeps busy between visits with prosecutors by hitting the beach – well, now it seems that his buddy Michael Scanlon has found his own way to keep busy when he’s not dishing on Members of Congress.

From Roll Call:

In the irony-on-steroids category, guess who was defending his graduate thesis on Congressional ethics Monday? Cover your eyes and guess, then sit down for the answer.

It was Michael Scanlon. Yes, that Michael Scanlon, the one who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. His topic, as Scanlon himself confirmed, was an “evaluative history of the House ethics process.”….

Our source says Scanlon got up and gave a roughly one-sentence introduction of his thesis before taking questions from the four faculty members and nine other students in the room. He says Scanlon talked about the House ethics committee and argued that the “system now is not broken, but functioning in the same manner it has since its creation.”

Scanlon essentially argued that the House ethics process is “political in nature” and that Members were never expected to do a very good job at policing each other, the source says.

Asked why he was now getting his master’s degree at such a precarious moment in his life (precarious being an understatement), [Scanlon] said he actually finished classes at [Johns Hopkins University] six years ago but never got around to arguing his thesis.

“It was just a loose end in my life,” he said.

In Other Muck

Ney Ekes Out a Win
Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) won his primary, despite pendulous ethical problems plaguing his candidacy. A sign of his weakness as a candidate: his challenger, an unknown who spent no money and didn’t campaign, won 32 percent of the vote. (CQ Politics, The Hotline, Columbus Dispatch)

Congress: Grounded – For Now

Amid lobbying scandals involving questionable trips to Scotland and elsewhere, Congressional travel has dropped from 146 trips in March 2005 to just 29 in March 2006. (USA Today)

In NM, Brewing Scandals May Affect Election
Two separate scandals threaten to undermine a Democratic effort to unseat an incumbent Republican House member. (Roll Call)

Ney Raises $40,000 for Legal Defense
Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) has spent over $230,000 on his legal defense, mostly from his campaign war chest, records show. Fundraising for his legal defense fund has been anemic, relying mostly on a single company. (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Senators Vote To Keep Earmarks in Iraq Spending Bill
Try as they might, the Senate simply cannot trim down the Iraq/Katrina emergency spending bill. It’s now at $108 billion, far more than the $92.2 billion that Bush says he wants. He’s threatened a veto. It’s looking like he’ll have to use it. (AP)

Former Santorum Staffers Run Afoul of FEC Laws
Several top staffers of Sen. Rick Sentorum (R-PA) founded a lobby firm and PAC, which appears to be violating FEC rules left and right. (Roll Call)

Lawmakers Address Voter Anger over Pork
Is the appropriations Honeymoon over? There’s been a prolonged backlash against earmarks, especially in relation to the current Iraq/Katrina emergency spending bill, which was larded down with billions in special projects. (AP)

Libby Wants Media Records
In a lengthy filing, Scooter Libby asked the judge to allow him to see e-mails, drafts of news articles and reporters’ notes of various reporters that he says will exonerate him. (AP)

Reform Bill Seems Headed to Passage
House Republican leaders say they have enough votes to push their enfeebled reform bill through. (Roll Call)

Earmark Reform Might Cause Problems with Reform Bill
According to this inside baseball take on the reform legislation, the House and Senate are far from agreement on how to proceed on the stickiest point – earmark reform. (The Hill)

Club for Growth Angry about 527 Reform
And they’re likely to punish GOPers who vote for the measure, affecting their rating on their vote scorecard. This might be one more reason that the House reform bill will fail tomorrow. (The Hill)

Senator Writes Goss about Damage from Plame Leak
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) wants to know how much damage was done to the CIA’s attempts to track Iran’s nuclear program when Valerie Plame’s identity was revealed. (Raw Story)

DHS Press Aide to Appear Before Judge Thursday on Sex Charges
Brian Doyle faces 23 felony charges for preying on a minor. (AP)

The Best on K Street
The Hill gives their picks on the most effective heavy hitters on K Street. (The Hill)

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