Abramoff: Congress doesn't know it's bribed

(NJ) — The problem, Jack Abramoff says, is that public officials don’t think they’re being bribed.

If a defendant, at the start of a trial, were to walk up to a judge’s bench and drop off a pair of tickets to the judge’s favorite team, there’d be no question — that’s a bribe, Abramoff told a crowd of more than 300 at the Morris Museum Monday afternoon.

But when lobbyists deal in favors, in tickets, in expensive meals, in golf games and — perhaps most damningly — campaign contributions, Washington insiders tend to think everything’s fine, Abramoff said. They’re mostly good people who don’t see the trade as anything inappropriate, he said.

WND note: Get “Capitol Punishment,” Jack Abramoff’s personally autographed look into the payoffs that plague Congress.