Abramoff Opens His Playbook

Notorious ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff reveals the tricks of the trade in an interview with 60 Minutes,
in which he discusses how he was able to exert so much influence over
lawmakers and the title of the book he would like to write, “The Idiot’s
Guide to Buying a Congressman.”

On how to seal the deal:
“When we would become friendly with an office and they were important to
us, and the chief of staff was a competent person, I would say or my
staff would say to him or her at some point, ‘You know, when you’re done
working on the Hill, we’d very much like you to consider coming to work
for us.’ Now the moment I said that to them or any of our staff said
that to ’em, that was it. We owned them.”

On whether subsequent reforms have helped: “The system hasn’t been cleaned up at all.”