Pubdate: Thu, 11 May 2006
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2006 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: David Johnston

F.B.I.'S FOCUS ON PUBLIC CORRUPTION INCLUDES 2,000 INVESTIGATIONS

WASHINGTON -- A post-9/11 effort by the F.B.I. to concentrate on 
public corruption now includes more than 2,000 investigations under 
way, highlighted by the Jack Abramoff lobbying inquiry, the 
racketeering and fraud conviction of former Gov. George Ryan of 
Illinois, and the multipronged corruption probes after the guilty 
plea by Randy Cunningham, a former Republican House member from San 
Diego, bureau officials said.

As one of the Bush administration's least known anticrime efforts, 
the F.B.I. initiative has yielded an unexpectedly rich array of 
cases. The results suggest that wrongdoing by public officials at all 
levels of government is deeply rooted and widespread. Several of the 
highest profile cases in which the F.B.I. played an active role 
involve Republicans.

Bureau officials believe that the investment in corruption cases is 
easily worth the cost. In 2004 and 2005, more than 1,060 government 
employees were convicted of corrupt activities, including 177 federal 
officials, 158 state officials, 360 local officials and 365 police 
officers, according to F.B.I. statistics. The number of convictions 
rose 27 percent from 2004 to 2005.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday, the F.B.I. director, Robert S. 
Mueller III, said the bureau was uniquely positioned to investigate 
corruption. Recalling his days as a prosecutor in Boston, he said: 
"Having prosecuted public corruption cases, you come to realize first 
of all that public corruption tears the fabric of a democratic 
society. You lose faith in public officials, it leads to cynicism, it 
leads to distrust in government."

The bureau's corruption effort has forced it to shift agents from 
other criminal programs. Violent street gangs, organized crime and 
large-scale narcotics trafficking organizations remain high 
priorities. But bureau officials like Chris Swecker, the top criminal 
enforcement official, acknowledged that the F.B.I. had reduced its 
investigation of single-victim fraud cases; smaller, localized drug 
rings; and nonviolent bank robberies. "We've had to make some very 
difficult choices," Mr. Swecker said.

Mr. Mueller is giving his first speech on the bureau's corruption 
effort on Thursday in San Diego, which Mr. Cunningham represented in 
Congress before he resigned and pleaded guilty to accepting more than 
$2 million for steering military contracts to friends and supporters.

In the interview, Mr. Mueller said the F.B.I. paid no attention to 
whether a public official was a Republican or a Democrat. "We have 
traditionally had the independence to investigate corruption 
regardless of political affiliation and no matter how powerful the 
official is," he said, adding: "Over the years it has not made any 
difference to the F.B.I. People from both parties have been investigated."

The F.B.I. is starting a Web site, reportcorruption.fbi.gov, through 
which people can send tips on corruption, although not anonymously, 
to be reviewed by agents at the bureau's headquarters.

Perhaps the most far-reaching of the cases is the one involving Mr. 
Abramoff, the former lobbyist at the center of a sweeping federal 
investigation into whether he improperly influenced decisions in 
Congress. He pleaded guilty to corruption related charges in 
Washington and Florida earlier this year.

In Illinois, Mr. Ryan was convicted last month of 18 counts of 
helping to award state business to supporters and misusing state 
resources for political benefit.

Not all high-profile cases involve Republicans. Last week, a 
Louisville businessman pleaded guilty in federal court in Virginia to 
bribing Representative William J. Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana, 
with more than $400,000 in payments, stock in his high-tech company 
and a share of the profits to promote the firm's high-tech business 
ventures in Africa. Mr. Jefferson has denied ever accepting payments 
in return for government service.

Much of the public corruption caseload involves state and local 
officials. The F.B.I. has reach into government operations throughout 
the United States, with names like Lively Green, an investigation 
into corruption along the southwest border; Wrinkled Robe, a bribery 
inquiry that led to several arrests, including two state judges in 
Louisiana; Tennessee Waltz, a sting operation that led to the arrest 
of several Tennessee state lawmakers; and Midas Touch, an 
investigation of the New Mexico state treasurer's office.

The agency has long prosecuted public corruption, but in the 1980's 
and 1990's, street gangs, drugs and violent crime had a higher 
priority. "In the field offices, corruption wasn't always the highest 
priority," Mr. Swecker said. He said top officials in the bureau's 56 
field offices largely set their own priorities.

"The director recognized the need for greater clarity and 
priorities," Mr. Swecker said. "I don't think anybody recognized the 
number and quality of cases we would generate."

In the restructuring of the F.B.I. after the Sept. 11 attacks, as 
hundreds of agents were shifted from criminal work to 
counterterrorism, bureau officials moved more than 200 agents to 
corruption as an area in which the F.B.I. had almost exclusive 
responsibility and in which Mr. Mueller and his aides believed the 
bureau could have the greatest impact.

"We looked at what we really needed to do that nobody else does," 
said James W. Burrus Jr., a senior official in the criminal division 
and an architect of the anticorruption program. "This is 100 percent ours."

Almost every one of the F.B.I.'s cases has been the subject of 
widespread news reports by local news organizations, and Time 
magazine has reported on the national scope of the effort. In some 
instances, for example in the cases of Mr. Cunningham and Mr. 
Abramoff, reporters appear to have been the first to uncover some 
aspects of possible wrongdoing. Agents regard such articles as tips 
for which they can claim success if they succeed in bringing a case.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman