CAPITOL HILL: Mr. Abramoff's 'B-List' Movie Career

ACCORDING TO THE CONGRESSIONAL SCANDAL FORECAST in Sunday's New York Times, it seems like in the coming year, corruption investigations could "end up costing several lawmakers their careers, if not their freedom." The Justice Department has signaled recently that the Jack Abramoff corruption inquiry could very well turn in the direction of specific members of Congress.

When I was at Roll Call, there were plenty of articles written over the past few years that shed light on various aspects of Mr. Abramoff, the now-scorned Republican lobbyist and fundraiser, and his sphere of influence on K Street and on Capitol Hill. In the past year, additional investigations by the media, Congress and federal prosecutors have been filling in more details and connecting more dots.

While I knew that Mr. Abramoff was a jack-of-all trades (lobbyist, restaurateur, deli owner, Jewish philanthropist), I never knew that Mr. Abramoff had a brief stint in Hollywood, writing and producing a pair of movies.

According to IMDB, Mr. Abramoff wrote and produced "Red Scorpion" (1989), which has the description:

He's a human killing machine. Taught to stalk. Trained to kill. Programmed to destroy. He's played by their rules... Until now."

Apparently it involves a Russian KGB agent who's sent to Africa to kill an anti-Communist black revolutionary. The guy has a "change of heart when he sees how the Russians and their Cuban allies are killing and repressing the locals, so he switches sides and helps the rebels."

But wait, there's more. Mr. Abramoff was the executive producer of "Red Scorpion 2."

From IMDB:

An elite group of "soldiers" are assigned the job of infultrating a right-wing militia group. ... The right wingers have a heavily guarded camp, and are about to launch a nationwide campaign of violent action.

Maybe I'll be able to rent those two movies when I'm home for Thanksgiving.

>> "Corruption Inquiry Threatens to Ensnare Lawmakers" [The New York Times]
>> Jack Abramoff [Wikipedia]
>> "Red Scorpion" [IMDB]
>> "Red Scorpion 2" [IMDB]