The sordid Mark Foley controversy has diverted public attention from another major Washington ethics scandal - the influence peddling involving the disgraced former superlobbyist Jack Abramoff. That's good news for the Bush administration, given freshly heightened suspicion that its dealings with Mr. Abramoff and his sleazy K Street operation were far cozier than it is willing to admit.

The White House has consistently played down the ties key officials like Karl Rove had with Mr. Abramoff, who pleaded guilty last January to conspiring to bribe public officials. But the administration has declined to publicly provide detailed answers or grant full access to relevant documents needed to establish the truth.

A newly released report, prepared with unusual bipartisan backing by the House Government Reform Committee, paints a different reality. It reveals that between January 2001 and March 2004, Mr. Abramoff and members of his staff had some 485 contacts with key White House officials, including at least 10 direct contacts between Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Rove. Billing records and e-mail messages unearthed by the committee indicate that Mr. Abramoff and his colleagues spent nearly $25,000 on meals and tickets for White House officials.

The report belies Mr. Rove's description of Mr. Abramoff as merely a "casual acquaintance." An assistant to Mr. Rove, Susan Ralston, who resigned on Friday, had formerly worked for Mr. Abramoff. The report suggests that she sought Mr. Abramoff's help to obtain seats for Mr. Rove and his aides at popular sporting events, and often acted as a conduit, passing messages between the lobbyist and top White House officials, including Mr. Rove and Ken Mehlman, the current chairman of the Republican National Committee who was then a senior White House political strategist.

Indeed, it appears that Mr. Rove sat with Mr. Abramoff in the lobbyist's box seats for an N.C.A.A. basketball playoff game in 2002, an occasion Mr. Abramoff memorialized in an e-mail message to a colleague. "Told me anytime we need something just let him know through Susan."

It is plain that Mr. Abramoff had unusual access. As for his effectiveness, Mr. Abramoff rated the results as "mixed." But he scored some important victories. In 2002, for example, the administration made the unusual decision to release $16.3 million to a Mississippi tribe Mr. Abramoff represented, notwithstanding the Justice Department's opposition to the project. The role campaign gifts and contacts between Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Mehlman may have played in this action is a matter warranting close scrutiny by prosecutors, and further digging by the committee.

As Tom Davis of Virginia, the Republican chairman of the committee, and Henry Waxman of California, the ranking Democrat, take pains to note, their report is based on documents that were provided under subpoena by Mr. Abramoff's firm and, for the most part, tell just one side of the story. The White House spin is that Mr. Abramoff had a well-known affinity for exaggerating the impact of his lobbying efforts. If so, full disclosure of relevant records by the White House could help support that claim. Meanwhile, the idea that Mr. Abramoff exerted no influence with the administration seems about as believable as Mark Foley's early claim that his only interest in 16-year-old pages was "mentoring."

A top aide to White House strategist Karl Rove resigned yesterday after disclosures that she accepted gifts from and passed information to now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, becoming the first official in the West Wing to lose a job in the influence-peddling scandal.

Susan B. Ralston submitted her resignation to avoid causing political damage to President Bush a month before the midterm elections, officials said. "She did not want to be a distraction to the White House at this important time," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

A congressional report showed last week that Ralston accepted sometimes-pricey tickets to nine sports and entertainment events from Abramoff while she provided him with inside White House information. The bipartisan report said there is no evidence that Rove knew of or approved of Ralston's actions, and sources said yesterday that the White House was surprised by the report's revelations.

The White House counsel's office conducted a review of the report, but with Ralston's departure it closed its inquiry yesterday. "Nothing more will come from the report, no further fallout from the report," Perino said.

A senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the counsel's office reached no conclusion about whether Ralston violated gift limits because her resignation made the point moot. But the official said there were "mitigating circumstances" in her case because she had a preexisting relationship with Abramoff, for whom she worked before joining the White House. The official said the White House made no criminal referral in her case. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

The sprawling Abramoff investigations have triggered prosecutions on Capitol Hill and on K Street, but Ralston's resignation brought the scandal into the White House proper. The only other White House official caught up in the probe has been David H. Safavian, the procurement chief for the Office of Management and Budget, who was convicted in June of lying about his ties to Abramoff.

As right hand to the president's most important adviser, Ralston was closer to the center of the Bush operation. She was a key organizer of presidential events, coordinating with White House political, scheduling, advance and public liaison offices. "She will be missed because she solves problems, and finding people in government who solve problems" is rare, a colleague said.

Ralston, who earned $122,000 a year, had been a minor player in the scandal for more than a year, but it was not until her e-mails with the lobbyist were released by the House Government Reform Committee last week that her role became known.

The information supplied by Ralston to Abramoff often involved procedural matters, social events and possible administration appointments, the committee said.

Rules ban White House officials from accepting gifts worth more than $20 from anyone doing business with the government. Exceptions can be made for preexisting relationships, although ethics officers generally advise officials to avoid anything that might be misinterpreted.

Rove has been out of town all week and declined to comment yesterday. A colleague said that neither Rove nor anyone else at the White House pushed Ralston to leave. Ralston did not respond to telephone or e-mail messages yesterday, and her attorney, Bradford A. Berenson, declined to comment.

In a letter to the president dated Thursday, Ralston wrote: "It has been a tremendous privilege to work at the White House and now after almost six years the time has come for me to pursue other opportunities." The White House did not announce the resignation until Friday afternoon, timing that is often used to minimize bad news.

"She leaves without any animosity from us," said White House counselor Dan Bartlett. "She's been a tireless worker for the president, and we will be sad to see her leave."

As a former Abramoff assistant, Ralston played intermediary between the lobbyist and Rove. The congressional report found 66 Abramoff contacts with the White House, more than half of them with Ralston. In addition, Abramoff's lobbying colleagues contacted Ralston 69 times.

On Oct. 21, 2001, Ralston e-mailed Abramoff that Rove had read an Abramoff memo about a political endorsement in the Mariana Islands governor's race, a little-noticed election but one important to Abramoff because he had lucrative clients there. Ralston reported to Abramoff that Rove had agreed, writing the next day: "You win ."

More often, Abramoff fell short at the White House. Abramoff contacted Ralston to get Rove to place a close ally, Mark Zachares, as head of the Interior Department's Office of Insular Affairs. Ralston rebuffed a meeting with Rove for Zachares, saying it was unnecessary because Rove was on their side. But Zachares did not get the position.

In November and December 2003, Abramoff e-mailed Ralston about Iraqi bonds apparently issued by one of his clients, American Bondholders Foundation, the House committee said. In response, Ralston indicated that the National Security Council had not "gotten back to me yet." Six days later, she had an answer. "The NSC is very suspect of this proposal," she wrote. "The White House will not support it."

Ralston helped Rove get tickets from Abramoff for a game in the NCAA basketball tournament but told Abramoff that "Karl has to pay for his tickets." The White House said last week that Rove paid for his tickets. But Ralston apparently did not pay for tickets she accepted to Bruce Springsteen and Andrea Bocelli concerts and Washington Capitals, Washington Wizards and Baltimore Orioles games.

"Are floor seats available," Ralston asked in December 2001 for four Wizards tickets worth a combined $1,300, the report said.

"For you? Anything!" Abramoff replied. "How many do you need?"

Ralston: "4"

"You got 'em," Abramoff said. "I'll organize."

Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff intends to load up his criminal trial with information about nine national security matters, the names of foreign leaders and details about various terrorist groups, according to court filings in the Valerie Plame leak case.

The papers filed this week hint at what has been taking place behind closed doors as Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald tries to limit the amount of classified data that I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby is permitted to use at his trial, scheduled for January.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton is asking whether classified evidence would overlap with what Libby is likely to say in his testimony. Libby’s attorneys have said he will take the witness stand to deny lying to the FBI in its investigation of the disclosure of Plame’s identity to the media.

Even if prosecutors agreed ahead of time about the importance of the “nine national security matters” he wants to disclose, Libby would be entitled to introduce additional evidence, the lawyers wrote.

In court documents, prosecutors argued that it would be “unnecessarily wasteful of time” to allow Libby to present “names of foreign leaders or government officials of other countries, or the names and histories of various terrorist groups.”

The danger for prosecutors is that the sheer volume and sensitivity of the classified information Libby wants to introduce could scuttle the trial. Once the judge identifies classified information Libby is entitled to present, U.S. intelligence agencies must rule on whether the secrets can be declassified. The trial would collapse if the intelligence agencies refuse to declassify the information.

Libby is charged with five felony counts of perjury, obstruction and making false statements to the FBI. He is accused of lying about how he learned of Plame’s CIA employment and what he told reporters about her when her husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, was accusing the Bush administration of twisting prewar intelligence to help sell the public on waging war against Iraq.

Libby plans to use what his attorneys call “a memory defense” and must be allowed to demonstrate how busy he was, the lawyers say.

It seems increasingly clear that the GOP congressional leadership, eager for every safe incumbent in the House to run for re-election, looked the other way as evidence accumulated that Mark Foley had a thing for pages. Holding onto his seat became more important than confronting him over his extracurricular activities.

But there's more to the story of why Foley stood for re-election this year. Yesterday, a source close to Foley explained to THE NEW REPUBLIC that in early 2006 the congressman had all but decided to retire from the House and set up shop on K Street. "Mark's a friend of mine," says this source. "He told me, 'I'm thinking about getting out of it and becoming a lobbyist.'"

But when Foley's friend saw the Congressman again this spring, something had changed. To the source's surprise, Foley told him he would indeed be standing for re-election. What happened? Karl Rove intervened.

According to the source, Foley said he was being pressured by "the White House and Rove gang," who insisted that Foley run. If he didn't, Foley was told, it might impact his lobbying career.

"He said, 'The White House made it very clear I have to run,'" explains Foley's friend, adding that Foley told him that the White House promised that if Foley served for two more years it would "enhance his success" as a lobbyist. "I said, 'I thought you wanted out of this?' And he said, 'I do, but they're scared of losing the House and the thought of two years of Congressional hearings, so I have two more years of duty.'"

The White House declined a request for comment on the matter, but obviously the plan hasn't worked out quite as Rove hoped it would.

Washington - Lawyers sought leniency Friday for a former Bush administration official convicted in a lobbying scandal. But the judge suggested he would be moved only if David Safavian expressed remorse.

"Get up here and tell me, 'I agree I concealed. I agree I obstructed justice,'" U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman said during the sentencing hearing. "I don't believe he's done that."

Safavian was expected to address the judge Friday afternoon before a sentence was handed down.

In the first jury conviction out of the Jack Abramoff lobbying probe, Safavian was convicted in June of lying to investigators about his relationship with the lobbyist while Safavian was chief of staff in the General Services Administration.

As the hearing began Friedman said he was leaning toward a prison term of 15 to 21 months but had not made up his mind.

Safavian's attorneys said he accepted responsibility for his behavior. Friedman repeatedly criticized that claim, saying Safavian has denied committing any crimes and even now has not shown remorse.

Prosecutors wanted a three-year sentence, arguing that Safavian lied on the stand.

Abramoff is cooperating with an FBI corruption investigation. He has admitted using gifts to influence lawmakers.

The investigation snared its first congressman this month when Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, pleaded guilty to covering up expensive gifts and trips from Abramoff. He admitted taking trips, tickets, meals and campaign donations from Abramoff in return for official actions on behalf of his clients.

Two former aides to Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, have also pleaded guilty, as has Ney's former chief of staff.

Additionally, Roger Stillwell, a former Interior Department official, pleaded guilty in August to a misdemeanor charge for not reporting tickets he received from Abramoff.

GOP Strategist: without free sushi, staffers "would have starved to death." (Ed: Fat Pigs!!)

Washington - Staffers for Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., ate so much free sushi at disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's Washington restaurant that people joked that they would have "starved to death" without the lobbyist's free meals, a Republican consultant says.

"Frankly, it was widely viewed in D.C. that Mr. Abramoff effectively exerted implicit control over Mr. Burns whenever he and his team needed to get something accomplished," the consultant - Monty Warner, who says he's still a friend of Abramoff's - writes in a letter to the editor of the Whitefish Pilot, a weekly newspaper, which was obtained by NBC News.

"Mr. Burns' staff - and perhaps Mr. Burns - were known to eat free sushi/meals often at Mr. Abramoff's D.C. restaurant, Signatures, and the joke was if they didn't, they would have starved to death," says the letter, which Editor Richard Hanners said would run in the paper's Thursday edition.

Warner told NBC News that he wrote the letter only "after seeing Burns make the claim that he had only taken $5,000 from Jack Abramoff." He added, "I immediately thought '$5,000 worth of sushi,' as sushi was something that Signatures specialized in and often had ordered or sent to Hill offices."

Warner said he ate at the restaurant gratis himself and saw Burns' staffers do the same.

"Common Knowledge"

"It was common knowledge that Burns' staff (and others) spent considerable time in Signatures chowing down on free meals, and I personally witnessed this a number of times. They also took advantage of Jack's skyboxes at MCI Center and Redskins games whenever these were available to them," he said.

Warner said he ate free only when Abramoff "invited me socially or to meet people, and I sat at his table -40 - otherwise I paid for everything myself and my friends as well and often tried to pay Jack's tab. For Jack, there was no tab."

Erik Iverson, a spokesman for Burns in Montana, called Warner "an East Coast Jack Abramoff apologist" and said the letter was "a last gasp" to link Abramoff with Burns, who is in a closely watched re-election race with Democratic challenger Jon Tester.

Burns has said that he didn't know Abramoff well and that he didn't play a role in Abramoff's wrongdoing. But Burns received $150,000 from Abramoff, his tribal clients and associates - more than any other lawmaker, according to campaign finance records. And Burns had trouble handing control of $111,000 of Abramoff-related campaign contributions back to their original donors - four Indian tribes.

Burns tried to give the campaign contributions to the Montana Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council, but the council voted to reject the money, saying it was "tainted."

Burns finally returned the money to tribes in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Michigan. The tribes had contributed to a now-defunct Burns campaign account.

Hot Spot in a Scandal

Signatures has played a prominent role in the three-year influence peddling investigation. David Safavian, a former top White House procurement official and onetime chief of staff at the General Services Administration who was sentenced last month to 18 months in federal prison for lying about his dealings with Abramoff, said Signatures was one of his favorite watering holes in Washington and a frequent place to meet with Abramoff.

The House Government Reform Committee released a 93-page report that said "Team Abramoff" had 485 contacts with the White House from 2001 through early 2004 and that Abramoff and his associates apparently spent close to $25,000 for meals and drinks for White House friends.

Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who is expected to serve 27 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements, was also a frequent guest at Signatures.

Prosecutors allege that a former Ney staffer, Neil Volz, treated Ney and his staff to $6,400 worth of meals and drinks at Signatures over seven months beginning in March 2002 - during which time Ney was advocating in behalf of two Abramoff tribal casino clients to insert language in an election reform bill that would benefit them.

In his guilty plea, Ney admitted that he had frequently accepted free meals and drinks at Signatures and took free tickets to concerts and sporting events using Abramoff's skyboxes at MCI Center, where the Washington Wizards play; FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins; and Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

Abramoff is scheduled to report to prison in Cumberland, Md., on Nov. 15 to begin serving a 70-month sentence for his role in the SunCruz gambling casino scandal in Florida. Abramoff has yet to be sentenced for the Washington corruption scandal; he will serve both sentences concurrently.