Ney's Chief of Staff Wore Wire, Was Key To Boss's Conviction

[unhappycamper]

Alternative headline: The Gift That Keeps On Giving



Then-Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), left, and chief of staff Will Heaton were part of a golfing party to Scotland organized in 2002 by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. (U.s. District Court Via Associated Press)

Ney's Chief of Staff Wore Wire, Was Key To Boss's Conviction
By James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 13, 2007; Page A01


When Will Heaton went to work for Rep. Robert W. Ney in 2001, he was 23 years old and still in awe of the members of Congress he had come to know years earlier as a congressional page. Within six months, the Ohio Republican promoted the fresh-faced neophyte to be the youngest chief of staff in Congress.

For the next five years, Heaton stuck by Ney, even as the House Administration Committee chairman accepted free meals at super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff's downtown restaurant, sports tickets in his arena skyboxes and luxurious junkets around the world. Heaton accompanied Ney on a golf junket to Scotland with Abramoff, and he helped Ney return the favors to Abramoff.

But as Ney's political career disintegrated amid revelations of his ties to Abramoff, Heaton became disillusioned and began secretly helping an FBI task force investigating Abramoff. At first, through his attorney, Heaton handed over internal documents from Ney's office to the FBI. Then he recorded colleagues in Ney's office.

Last summer, Heaton began secretly recording his conversations with the six-term congressman, according to documents filed in court last week by the government and Heaton's lawyers. Heaton taped numerous phone calls and wore a hidden wire to a 2 1/2 -hour, face-to-face meeting with Ney that provided "exceptionally important" help to the FBI's investigation of Abramoff.

Heaton's cooperation was crucial because of constitutional obstacles involved in prosecuting a member of Congress, according to a memo by Justice Department attorney Mary Butler.

A congressional aide choosing to wear a wire on his boss is a Washington rarity, according to legal experts -- especially for an aide such as Heaton, whose entire career was spent working in Congress, mostly for Ney.


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[annabanana]

1. This is delicious.. . . .n/t

[tanyev]

2. "whose entire career was spent working in Congress"

Well, if you consider 5 years in your first job straight out of college an entire career, I guess.

[mod mom]

3. Read this on Ney's connection to Iran:

Published on Sunday, February 18, 2007 by Inter Press Service
Rove Said to Have Received 2003 Iranian Proposal
by Gareth Porter
 
WASHINGTON - Karl Rove, then White House deputy chief of staff for President George W. Bush, received a copy of the secret Iranian proposal for negotiations with the United States from former Republican Congressman Bob Ney in early May 2003, according to an Iranian-American scholar who was then on his Congressional staff.Karl Rove, then White House deputy chief of staff for President George W. Bush, received a copy of the secret Iranian proposal for negotiations with the United States from former Republican Congressman Bob Ney in early May 2003, according to an Iranian-American scholar who was then on his Congressional staff.

-snip

Parsi is now a specialist on Iranian national security policy and president of the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), a non-partisan organisation that supports a negotiated settlement of the conflict between Iran and the United States.

Parsi revealed that the document was delivered specifically to Rove, in an exclusive interview with IPS. Within two hours of the delivery of the document, according to Parsi, Ney received a phone call from Rove confirming his receipt of the document. Parsi said the proposal was delivered to Rove the same week that the State Department received it by fax, which was on or about May 4, 2003, according to the cover letter accompanying it.
-snip

The Iranian proposal for negotiations, which suggested that Iran was willing to consider far-reaching compromises on its nuclear programme, relations with Hezbollah and Hamas and support for a Palestinian peace agreement with Israel as part of a larger peace agreement with the United States, has become a contentious issue between the Bush administration and its critics in and out of Congress.

The identification of Rove as a recipient of the secret Iranian proposal throws new light on the question of who in the Bush administration was aware of the Iranian proposal at the time. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denied in Congressional testimony last week that she had seen the Iranian offer in 2003 and even chastised former State Department, National Security Council and Central Intelligence Agency official Flynt Leverett for having failed to bring it to her attention at the time.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0218-06.htm


Involvement in U.S. sanctions on arms sales to Iran
In the late 1970s, Ney went to Iran to teach English. Since then, he has maintained an active interest in Iranian affairs and was the only member of Congress fluent in Persian.<43>
In January 2006, Newsweek reported that Ney's lawyer confirmed that federal prosecutors have subpoenaed records on an expenses paid February 2003 trip to London that Ney and a top aide took. The trip was paid for by "Nigel Winfield, a thrice-convicted felon who ran a company in Cyprus called FN Aviation. Winfield was seeking to sell U.S.-made airplane spare parts to the Iranian government — a deal that would have needed special permits because of U.S. sanctions against Tehran", and that "Ney personally lobbied the then Secretary of State Colin Powell to relax U.S. sanctions on Iran."<44>

Ney’s London Gambling Trip and the Appearance of Impropriety According to a recent NBC News investigation, 15 in February 2003, Ney took a three-day trip to London. As revealed in disclosure reports filed by Ney’s office, the trip reportedly cost $2,707 and was paid for by FN Aviation. 16 (This may have been a violation of House rules, which requires that travel paid for by corporate interests cover only “necessary expenses” and that the trip be “in connection with official duties.”) FN Aviation’s director, Nigel Winfield, is “a three-time convicted felon who spent more than six years in prison ... cheated on his taxes and was involved in a deal to swindle Elvis Presley.” Winfield reportedly held discussions with Ney about a business venture to sell airplanes in the Middle East. Later on, Ney convened a meeting at a London casino with another FN Aviation director, “a Syrian-born businessman who happens to be ‘one of London’s biggest gamblers.’” That same year, Ney reported that he won $34,000 off a $100 bet from the very same London casino. In 2002, Ney had reported at least $30,000 in credit card debt. In 2003, the debt had disappeared. Ney’s lawyer maintains that he won that money gambling on a separate trip to London, not the one involving FN Aviation. Ney’s lawyer refused to discuss the details of Ney’s trip abroad with NBC News because of “national security implications.”

15 Lisa Meyers, “Congressman’s Trip Raises Ethical Flags,” NBC News, available on the web at http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7833922/ May 12, 2005.

www.citizen.org/documents/Ney_Rap_Sheet.pdf

JUST SAYING...MORE TO THE STORY THAN MEETS THE EYE.