WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 - Until recently, Representative Bob Ney was little more than an obscure, sometimes eccentric, lawmaker from Ohio.
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Even more than Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, Mr. Ney has become the most visible elected target of the broad Justice Department inquiry into corruption and influence-peddling in Washington.
He is under increasing attack from Democrats over allegations that he assisted Mr. Abramoff in exchange for gifts and travel. Over the weekend, Mr. Ney relinquished his chairmanship of the administration committee temporarily, acknowledging that his association with Mr. Abramoff was becoming a distraction for the Republican Party. As chairman of that committee, he would also be at the center of efforts to revise Congressional ethics rules, which members of both parties are proposing.
Mr. Ney's legal problems may loom even larger than his political ones because he is in serious jeopardy of being indicted, people directly involved in the legal case have said. As a result, Mr. Ney is working intensely to convince Justice Department prosecutors that he was tricked by Mr. Abramoff into doing favors for the lobbyist's clients. ...
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