More Coverage of Crooked Lobbying

The new Vanity Fair has a good piece on California Congressman Duke Cunningham, the former Vietnam-era ace pilot who's now headed to jail for trading his influence on the House Appropriations committee for a cushy lifestyle from military contractors for whom he helped arrange Pentagon contracts. You've probably read at least a few scattered newspaper reports on this case, but the beauty of good magazine pieces is that they can connect the dots, and render a complicated story like this one a little more understandable. While it's not online, I suggest you hunt down a copy in your favorite bookstore or library.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post does a nice job here of packaging its extensive, Pulitzer-winning coverage of the hydra-headed investigations growing out of one Jack Abramoff. It would take you some time to read all of this, but it's well worth picking through at least some of it when you have a little time. And today's New York Times contains an update on former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed. Once the squeeky-clean face of a supposedly smarter, more progressive conservative Christianity, a face which once graced the cover of Time Magazine, he's now having trouble winning a race for lieutenant governor of Georgia. Why? Because of his ties to the Jack Abramoff lobbying sleaze.