Rooting for Washington’s most reviled ex-lobbyist.
Can you explain the rules?” I ask Jack Abramoff outside the racquetball court at a Washington, D.C., YMCA. He flashes a big grin. “So here they are,” he says, “as I see them.” “The rules according to Jack!” clarifies Jason Hickox, a former employee and friend who is now Abramoff’s racquetball opponent most weekday mornings. Abramoff proceeds to explain who serves when, which lines the ball can and cannot cross, and so on. In his own life, he has a new perspective on the crossing of lines. After serving 43 months in prison for his role in one of the worst corruption scandals in political history, Abramoff has reinvented himself as a government reformer.