WASHINGTON (AP) -
A luxury skybox for sports fans in Congress. A dinner party that raises thousands of dollars for a political candidate. Helpful suggestions on how the guest of honor might phrase a letter to the president or a Cabinet secretary.
Alone and even in modest combinations, all are examples of business as usual in Washington's billion-dollar world of government, lobbying and campaign finance.
What makes it work is discretion.
What's blown the lid on it now is lobbyist Jack Abramoff's excesses.
It's the unwritten rules as much as the written ones that Abramoff broke: Don't gloat, don't be too greedy, don't say out loud what you're doing, and don't ever, ever, put in writing what you don't have to.
There is one other clear difference between Abramoff's actions and those of other lobbyists.
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