Despite all of Ney's protestation to the contrary, it looks like he was corrupt.

A former top aide to Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio, pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiring with the lobbyist Jack Abramoff to corrupt public officials and said gifts had been "corruptly offered to and accepted by" Mr. Ney.

In court papers, the former aide, Neil G. Volz, said the gifts included a 2002 trip to Scotland by private jet that included rounds of golf at the fabled course at St. Andrews.
...
But lawyers for Mr. Ney acknowledged that he was the House member identified in the plea agreement as "Representative No. 1." He is accused with other members of his staff of accepting gifts from Mr. Abramoff's lobbying firm, including the trip to Scotland and trips to New Orleans and the 2003 Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., as well as free meals and drinks at Washington restaurants and use of Mr. Abramoff's box suites at the MCI Center in Washington and Camden Yards stadium, home of the Baltimore Orioles.

The plea agreement charged that "Representative No. 1 and others performed official acts at the behest of Abramoff and others, which were motivated in part by the things of value received," suggesting bribery.

The court papers offered a long list of actions taken by Mr. Ney to help Mr. Abramoff, including meeting with his Indian tribe clients and promising to introduce legislation to benefit their gambling operations.

Mr. Volz acknowledged in the plea agreement that he began accepting illegal gifts from Mr. Abramoff while he was working in the House and that as a result he did several official favors for the lobbyist, including having Mr. Ney place statements into The Congressional Record that were helpful to Mr. Abramoff in pursuing his purchase of a fleet of casino boats in Florida.

If I ever get invited to St. Andrews on a junkett I'll be sure to consult a lawyer first. Sheesh. Showing up there is like going to a KKK charity pancake breakfast. Everyone who goes is just implicated as being a crook.

Anyway, does it amaze anyone else that all these Republicans are going down, at all levels and in all branches of government over corruption? Everything from ordinary bureaucrats like Safavian, to congressional aides like Rudy and Scanlon, to Congressmen like Delay, Dukester, and Ney, to White House bigwigs like Scooter and Claude Allen to heads and deputies of agencies like Goss and Foggo. It's stunning. At all levels and functions of government these guys are corrupt or incompetent and I'm beginning to think the ordinary citizens of this country are starting to taste the shit sandwich they bit into when they voted these jackasses into power.