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Mr. Volz Goes to Washington (And Narrowly Avoids Jail)
Neil Volz, who recently was sentenced to probation for accepting bribes while a staffer with ex-Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) and giving bribes while working with Jack Abramoff, explained to The Columbus Dispatch this weekend how it all fell apart. The short version: moral scruples are no match for sweet court-side tickets:
"I came to Washington this total idealist," Volz told The Dispatch last week in his first public comments since he began working with federal prosecutors in 2005. "But it's kind of like I took on this mind-set that there was a machine at work and I was just a cog in the machine. And, therefore, I need to get mine."It was a world of trying to justify accepting gifts that he knew were wrong, in exchange for legislative favors that he knew never should have been granted.
"It is a lot easier to rationalize something away when you are in the front row watching Michael Jordan play basketball," Volz said. "That's sad to say, but if I can kind of spend the next many years at least being honest about what's happened … hopefully, whatever does come about, for my life, I can live with that."
An interesting entry in the TPMmuckraker Where Are They Now file: evidently trying to erase his moral deficit, Volz now works at U.S. Vets, a nonprofit group that helps homeless veterans.
Comments (20)
Helena Montana wrote on October 8, 2007 10:35 AM:Oh, well, at least he's trying. It's easy enough, I imagine, to get caught up in the corruption that is all-pervasive on the Hill.
bobh wrote on October 8, 2007 10:45 AM:there is no mercy for traitors to the constitution...burn this man at the stake along with abramoff
blondie wrote on October 8, 2007 11:16 AM:bobh- never spit at efforts of redemption, they are the only thing that gives hope that this country might regain some moral balance. I say good for him that he's trying to do good now. I hope that he sticks with it.
Mangifirek wrote on October 8, 2007 11:24 AM:I applaud Mr. Volz' efforts at self-redemption.
But that he says that corruption was easier because of those court side seats suggests that he might want to revisit the notion of the nature of the idealism that brought him first to Washington.
Ken in MN wrote on October 8, 2007 12:05 PM:Wait a minute! I thought, according to Republicans, that there is no such thing as "rehabilitation", and that the only solution to crime was to lock up the criminals and throw away the key...
jimbo92107 wrote on October 8, 2007 12:17 PM:If it was really as simple and easy as he says to corrupt him, then how deep were Neil Voltz's ethical roots to begin with? Should a man that is so morally weak have any job more complicated than shucking corn?
Either he's a complete intellectual lightweight, or he's lying through his teeth, or both. Not much of a choice for these ex-Bushies.
magster wrote on October 8, 2007 12:25 PM:He turned state's evidence and is helping to dismantle the machine. Probably not what he had in mind when he went into Washington wanting to change the world.
The redemption and forgiveness plan works for me if this guy doesn't stray again.
barrelhse wrote on October 8, 2007 12:31 PM:After fucking up our once wonderful country he's now over that stage. Too bad the rest of us will never stop suffering from the damage these pigs have done since 2000.
heh wrote on October 8, 2007 12:49 PM:He should be in jail.
the judge went light on him because he was so young and impressionable. The very reason Ney hired him to easily manipulate him.
Peter Principle wrote on October 8, 2007 1:04 PM:"I need to get mine"
The new national motto.
Oh well. It's a lot more accurate than E Pluribus Unum.
Ry Cooder wrote on October 8, 2007 1:12 PM:If I see the police before he sees me
Carolyn wrote on October 8, 2007 1:28 PM:I'm gonna run, run, run
I'm the leader of society
Since I got mine.
Does he look young to anyone? I know looks can be deceiving but he looks over the 30 mark to me. Most folks are pretty set in stone by the mid twenties.
Anonymous wrote on October 8, 2007 1:39 PM:I'm glad he's singing but I'm not feeling real generous about his lack of jailtime. The money, the money...return all of it and stop white collar crime.
It's a GOOD thing... and righteous.
I mean... once someone gets caught committing a crime and is offerred a get out of jail card... isn't it a righteous act to change, become a good guy and help put the bad guys away?
Folks who REALLY grow up idealists are in fact idealists. they do not throw it away when situations occur which might test the ideals.
A person is an idealist BECAUSE of the situations which present themselves. Moral codes and interity occur DURING situations.
On the other hand... opportunists are able to adapt to anything, as long as it serves a goal.
Voltz, as well as most these crooks, never learned ideals as children. They learned to use situations as opportunities to succeed in their goals.
Putting this guy in the same catagory as anyone REALLY living with ideals and ethics is just demeaning to the REAL good guys...
What have we become, folks?
OleHippieChick wrote on October 8, 2007 2:13 PM:Jayzis, what's with the Rovian, Good German, "I was just a cog" meme? Handy, eh?
Jane wrote on October 8, 2007 2:19 PM:The Wapoo just had an article on the now deposed, soulless bu$hler criminals about how they're all gonna sleep at night, now that they're out of the loop.
It's a good thing that he has turned state's evidence -- there should be some reward for that.
But if he is really interested in undoing the harm that he did he would go back home to Ohio and then -- going from highschool class to highschool class if necessary -- explaining what the people who thought they were voting for Republicans actually got when they voted for reThugs.
judy wrote on October 8, 2007 2:20 PM:he started with Ney when he was about 20. remember what it was like to be 20 and see the older folks behaving like it was all "OK."? i can see falling into the trap before you have even grown a beard. give the guy a break.
sam wrote on October 8, 2007 2:21 PM:he started with Ney when he was about 20. remember what it was like to be 20 and see the older folks behaving like it was all "OK."? i can see falling into the trap before you have even grown a beard. give the guy a break.
ca04voter wrote on October 8, 2007 3:02 PM:Self redemption it to be respected after payment for the deed done has been exacted. Without jail time it is hollow an felony is a felony.
i b joshin wrote on October 8, 2007 10:18 PM:I must be missing part of the picture here. Volz sells out his country, betrays the Constitution, gets caught with both hands in the cookie jar and to save his own ass he rats out his employers and friends rather than take his lumps with the rest of them, and now he has a job with a non-profit. Where is the redemption in any of that?
Jane is right: "if he is really interested in undoing the harm that he did he would go back home to Ohio and then -- going from highschool class to highschool class if necessary -- explaining what the people who thought they were voting for Republicans actually got when they voted for reThugs."
He was young? If you look closely at his picture, you will see the same look about him as that of the pervert Robert Philip Hanssen.
dgar wrote on October 8, 2007 10:40 PM:Traitor. Hard time. No sympathy at all - NONE AT ALL- for these assholes.