Jack Abramoff is back up for sentencing today.  After serving part of a six-year sentence on a Florida casino fraud, he's now going to be sentenced for what he's best known for: bribing lawmakers with gifts, trips, and campaign cash and defrauding Indian tribes.

It's a sad but important reminder that in a private-money-driven political system, we'll continue to see bad actors and bad decisions made in a bad system.

We could go down a different road, which is what our Voters First Pledge campaign is all about -- getting candidates for Congress committed now, while they're running for election or reelection, to sign on in support of comprehensive public financing.

We're asking folks to send a No More Abramoffs message to Congress, to ask friends and family to do the same, and to take the message directly to the candidates by downloading and using this downloadable "Abramoff flyer" to communicate back to our future elected officials to take the Voters First Pledge.

UPDATE: Abramoff was sentenced to four years in prison.

First of all, I had to hear the news from a British newspaper before I saw it in the American media (not cool, dudes, but thanks, Guardian!).  Second of all, the news itself:

The what?  I mean, it's cool that Abramoff is cooperating with federal corruption investigators, but if "substantial assistance" turns into a "substantial sentence reduction," then I'm going to be one unhappy reformer.  Perhaps my worries will be eased once we hear exactly what kind of sentence reduction we're talking about here...

There is good news, though:

Chew on that, Jack.

Well, the Abramoff circus isn't quite over; in fact, it appears to have a lot of life left in it.  The latest name to surface is Will Heaton, Bob Ney's former chief of staff, who just agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud.

Heaton was involved in the scandal, according to The Hill, from August 2002 through August 2004.

Follow me inside for what this may mean for other members of Congress and their staffers...

After years of multimillion-dollar deals and living the gilded life of a well-connected Washington lobbyist, Jack Abramoff's next job will pay far less: 12 cents an hour.

The Associated Press reports that the former lobbyist at the center of an influence-peddling scandal in Washington entered a minimum-security prison in Cumberland, Md., this morning.

Abramoff arrived at the prison about 6:30 a.m. today. He's expected to serve nearly six years after being convicted in Florida earlier this year on charges stemming from a fraudulent, multimillion dollar deal to buy casino ships.

He's awaiting sentencing in Washington for corrupting government officials and their staff members. The charges arose from years of work on Capitol Hill in which Abramoff gave out tickets to sporting events, meals and trips. He's also under investigation for bilking Indian tribes he represented out of  $82 million.

Score one for the good guys.

A federal judge has ordered the White House to release two years' worth of visitor logs outlining visitors to Vice President Dick Cheney's office and residence.

The order, by District Judge Ricardo Urbina, orders the Secret Service to give up the records by Oct. 27 or identify them and justify why they should not be released.

This comes three months after The Washington Post asked the White House for visitor logs covering people visiting Cheney, his legal counsel, chief spokesman and other aides. The Secret Service refused to handle the request, and attorneys representing the federal government called it "a fishing expedition into the most sensitive details of the vice presidency."

"Fishing expedition?" That old dog won't hunt.

(Whoops. I probably shouldn't write the words "hunt" and "Dick Cheney" in the same blog post! Somebody might get ideas.)

Tuesday, June 27th, is the long-awaited National Clean Money Day - an opportunity to reflect on the frequently malevolent role that money and special interests play in our hijacked political system.  To celebrate, a coalition of groups, including Common Cause, will host hundreds of house parties across the United States.  Parties will feature a screening of the new film "The Big Buy: Tom Delay's Stolen Congress," a documentary that investigates corporate power, dirty money, and corruption during the tenure of former House Majority Leader Tom Delay.  Delay's close political ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff are also explored by this film.

After the screening, the house parties will be linked by a conference call with Common Cause President Chellie Pingree, radio commentator and public speaker Jim Hightower, film director Robert Greenwald, and other reform leaders.  The conference call will present a plan to curtail the prevalence of dirty money and corruption through Clean Money reforms at the federal level.

Go here to register for a party in your area.  House parties are great way to discuss and find solutions to pressing political issues with similarly engaged members of your community.  Please consider attending a party on Tuesday, and afterwards use the Comments section to let us know how your party went.

The first trial in the whole Abramoff scandal is nearing its end, with both the prosecution and the defense making closing arguments on Monday.  The prosecution reiterated its contention that David Safavian lied about and covered up his association with Jack Abramoff:

The Safavian trial is just the beginning of the legal portion of the Abramoff scandal, but it surely won't be the last.  After the jury verdict in this case, much more justice remains to be handed down.

As Safavian's legal case progresses, many papers have been covering the story; today's Washington Post reports: