Jewish Leaders Debate Abramoff Sentencing Letters

The Washington Jewish Week yesterday carried a long article discussing the ambivalence in the Jewish community about the fact that six rabbis and the president of the Greater Washington Jewish Federation were among the 260 people writing letters to Florida federal district Judge Paul Huck urging leniency in sentencing of lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Many of the letters were quoted in a memorandum in aid of sentencing filed with the court by Abramoff's lawyers. Their memo pointed out that Abramoff "often gave more than 80 percent of his income to charitable and community projects and to individuals outside his family." Another article on the topic is in this week's Forward. Abramoff received the minimum sentence permissible under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, --five years and 10 months-- after prosecutors told the judge that Abramoff was cooperating in their ongoing investigation and had expressed remorse for his actions. (Washington Post).