Tales of the Young Jack Abramoff

Posted on January 9, 2006

The new issue of Time magazine leads with a story about how Jack Abramoff came to power, defrauded just about everyone he came into contact with then turned them all over to the feds when he got caught. The cover story is called "The Man Who Bought Washington."

It appears that Jack Abramoff's character was formed very early in life, as is evidenced by this vignette from little Jack's first foray into elemetary school politics.

Jack Abramoff's first venture into politics was probably a clue that the future superlobbyist had a rather flexible view of the rules: he was disqualified in his 1972 race for president of his Beverly Hills elementary school, after a teacher discovered he had violated the school's campaign spending limits by serving hot dogs at an election party. But Abramoff persisted, running again for student-body president in high school and failing. He later recalled those days in an interview with the Beverly Hills Weekly as "probably the last time I've really been involved in totally fair campaigns."

I can just picture it now. The stress of the elementary school political campaign was getting to Jack -- he needed a way to ensure a win. "Hey kid -- vote for me and it's free hot dogs after recess...just promise you'll vote for me. That's Abramoff with an "A." It makes you wonder what Tom DeLay was like as a child. On second thought, perhaps it's best not to know.