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Ney Aide Wore A Wire to Nail His Boss

Another wrinkle in the story of ex-Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), who's currently a guest of the Bureau of Prisons in rustic West Virginia. Ney, of course, pleaded guilty last year to accepting bribes from Jack Abramoff.

It turns out that investigators built their case with the help of Ney's very young chief of staff, Will Heaton, who recorded phone conversations with Ney, even wearing a wire during a 2 1/2-hour meeting. The revelation came in a court filing earlier this week. Heaton, who's pleaded guilty to corruption charges, will be sentenced next month, and prosecutors are arguing for a lenient sentence for the staffer, given the help he was in bringing down his boss.


Comments (20)

Brianm0122 wrote on August 10, 2007 6:09 PM:

Like most crooks, they will turn on each other at the slightest prodding.

bibimimi wrote on August 10, 2007 6:19 PM:

I think Heaton was they same guy who knew Ney had a safe full of cash that he'd dole out to favored staffers, but mostly he'd be happy to keep for himself.

Ney was at the center of keeping Ohio out of the recount business in 2004. He's dirt, and there's plenty more to dig. He was, like Cunningham, just way too 'eff you' obvious about it.

party-of-one wrote on August 10, 2007 6:29 PM:

Hmmm. Will Heaton has integrity and courage and should dye his hair and move to Mongolia immediately.

1970cs wrote on August 10, 2007 6:53 PM:

Even crooks can see beyond the politics and vote for what's best for the country.

Ney was one of 2 Republicans who voted against the Patriot Act and against CAFTA. I'll give him that much. I understand greed alot better than handing dictitorial power to a lunatic for the sake of party over country.

Jake D. wrote on August 11, 2007 1:26 AM:

You have a point, 1970cs. The Democrats have corrupt members too, but leaders like Pelosi and Reid hand Bush FISA changes and take impeachment OFF the table?

RUN, CINDY, RUN!!!

Bobby C wrote on August 11, 2007 2:08 AM:

RUN, CINDY, RUN!!!

I'd pick Marsha or Jan before Cindy..in just about any contest.

Jake D. wrote on August 11, 2007 2:28 AM:

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha ; )

www.cindyforcongress.org

anon wrote on August 11, 2007 2:38 AM:

I didn't realize that Ney voted against the Patriot Act. What reasons did he give? He certainly acted like a team player.

Someone should offer Ms. Rice a nice wire kit in exchange for sentencing considerations at the Hague.

Johnsnottoodistracted wrote on August 11, 2007 2:47 AM:

All these guys hang out together.You know they all know what's up with each other.
Funny how they pretend this doesn't look bad for the whole sewer.Stuff floats to the top all the time.

anon wrote on August 11, 2007 3:28 AM:

Surely, Ney must have know for some time that Heaton wore a wire, right?

Nelly Bly wrote on August 11, 2007 10:11 AM:

Judge Huvelle has been tough on corrupt politicians and rightly so but I hope she listens to the prosecutors in this case. Will Heaton did everything he could do to repay his debt to society. Home detention works for me!


Nelly Bly wrote on August 11, 2007 12:46 PM:

Reading through PACER records, it appears that Neil Volz's time is up and he is no longer useful to the Feds. Volz was Ney's chief of staff before Will Heaton.

On the other hand, Tony Rudy will be cooperating with the Feds for the foreseeable future and sentencing has been postponed until at least November. Tony Rudy is Tom Delay's former chief of staff.

According to an anonymous source in a recent NY Times story, Delay is still under investigation. Rudy's continuing cooperation with the Feds appears to confirm this.

acf wrote on August 11, 2007 3:19 PM:

Leniency? In something like the Republicans' own words, 'Oh no, rule of law, rule of law. If you do the crime, you must do the time', and forget about judicial discretion, it should be time according to the letter of the law. Now let's listen to the collective moan, as laws for mandatory sentencing that they fought for when in the majority, now kick in, and bite them in the ass.

Carol Lam wrote on August 12, 2007 1:04 AM:

Thank you for helping us to dodge the catapulted propaganda. Huxley wrote that if propaganda analysis were taught in grade school we could avoid another hitler. We should have taken his advice but the kind people on the toobz give us great tools against the catapulter and his lies.

Congresswoman Schrakowsky has a new blog with space for comments similiar to Rep. Conyers blog. She made some great statements against bushler's PR for 10 more years of war at ThinkProgress.

http://www.janschakowsky.org/

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4004240

Carol Lam wrote on August 12, 2007 1:05 AM:

Thank you for helping us to dodge the catapulted propaganda. Huxley wrote that if propaganda analysis were taught in grade school we could avoid another hitler. We should have taken his advice but the kind people on the toobz give us great tools against the catapulter and his lies.

Congresswoman Schakowsky has a new blog with space for comments similiar to Rep. Conyers blog. She made some great statements against bushler's PR for 10 more years of war at ThinkProgress.

http://www.janschakowsky.org/

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/10/schakowsky-iraq/#comment-4004240

Bill wrote on August 12, 2007 10:49 AM:

Let's review which GOP'ers have actually been investigated and prosecuted. Except for Cunningham, all of them seem to have run afoul of the Justice Department at some point.


Duke Cunningham: A "Loyal Bushie" - the US Attorney bringing prosecution was forced to resign. The San Diego FBI Special Agent in Charge unexpectedly retired after criticizing her forced resignation.

Bob Ney - One of 3 Republicans to vote "no" on the Patriot Act

Curt Weldon - Highly critical of the FBI and Bush Administration's 9/11 failures.

Ted Stevens - Critical of Bush'a appointment of the US Attorney for Alaska.

Do you see a pattern?

heh wrote on August 13, 2007 2:45 AM:

Ney was also in the HAVA committee helping to bring e-voting to Americans. He trusted the vendors to put efficient software and now we know how secure our votes were with those machines with Ney's help. I wonder how much cash he got from Diebold, et al.

I won't forget this thug: Mr. I was duped. Yeah right you were duped into thinking you'd never get jail time.

KestrelBrighteyes wrote on August 13, 2007 10:58 AM:

Hmmmm..wonder if Karl Rove's resignation is in any way tied with this?

It's always nice to spend time with your family before you're indicted.

Call me an optimist.

Anonymous wrote on August 13, 2007 10:14 PM:

Will Heaton, at age 25, bought a $500k house on DC's Capitol Hill. Suspicious?

gaming wrote on December 20, 2007 1:58 PM:

icmurukn267be6 gaming gaming

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