Abramoff in Seattle

A detail I had missed in the massive Abramoff scandal was the fact that he was a lobbyist for Preston, Gates, and Ellis in Seattle ( and of course Anchorage. ) Preston, Gates, and Ellis received a lot of money for their work through Abramoff, how else to put it, developing the sweat shop industry in Saipan, where American citizens receive the limitless benefits of unregulated capitalism. (I speak with a note of bitter sarcasm here.) The relationship started in 1994 and went until 2001, when Abramoff suddenly bailed.

There is also the sordid tale of Abramoff's buddyship with local Seattle far right-radio rabbi Lapin, in bed with a litany of liars, cheats, and self-aggrandizers on behalf of God from Falwell to Gary Bauer.

Noted with only coincidental alarm is that among the 400 attorneys at PGE is our old high school fellow Phil, currently a partner at that firm here in Seattle, specializing in constitutional law and government litigation. (In the interests of full disclosure, I once worked at PGE for three weeks in 1987, putting documents next to other documents and leaving a huge pile of oil shipping reports in front of the Arco building in Ankak before speeding off in my diesel Peugeot.)