Corruption probe fells third GOP House member

WASHINGTON — Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio, the subject of a federal corruption investigation involving convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, yielded to pressure from Republican leaders and announced Monday that he would not seek election to a seventh House term this November.

House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, met with Ney last week to urge him to step aside, reminding him that with a son in college and a daughter nearing college age, Ney will need money. If he lost his House seat for the party, Boehner cautioned, Ney should not expect a lucrative career lobbying on K Street to pay those tuition bills, along with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees piling up, according to several congressional Republican aides.

"Ultimately this decision came down to my family. I must think of them first, and I can no longer put them through this ordeal," Ney said in a statement.

Ney, 52, became the third House Republican to fall before the wide-ranging federal investigations into influence-peddling and bribery in Congress.

Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., pleaded guilty to accepting more than $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, resigned from the House in June after two former aides pleaded guilty to corruption charges. And Ney has been implicated in four successive guilty pleas by lobbyists who told prosecutors they had lavished gifts on the former House Administration Committee chairman in exchange for official favors.

With a critical midterm election just 92 days away, GOP leaders are moving aggressively to cut the party off from scandal-plagued candidates and hoping the taint does not spread. But Democrats and their allies are working just as hard to tar Republicans broadly with what they have labeled a "culture of corruption."

No other congressional Republican was in as much legal jeopardy as Ney, who was labeled "Representative No. 1" in the guilty pleas of Abramoff and three co-conspirators, including longtime Ney chief of staff Neil Volz.

Court documents say Ney helped secure government contracts, pressed the gambling interests of Indian tribes and helped stave off minimum-wage legislation for a garment maker in the Northern Mariana Islands, all at Abramoff's behest. In exchange, Abramoff and his associates lavished Ney with a golf vacation to Scotland, a trip to the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., restaurant meals and entertainment.

Ney has not been charged with any crime.

State Sen. Joy Padgett said she was prepared to run in a Republican primary to replace Ney. She said Ney called her Saturday and asked her to run in his place.

Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett said Padgett would be a formidable opponent to Democratic candidate Zack Space.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report