◆ SpookStack

AS L July 12, 1982 ) Director Federal Bureau of Investigation Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. Dear Sir, I would like to comment upon the recent criticism of the Bureau over the conduct of ABSCAM. It seems as though political corruption is so deeply ingrained in the fabric of our society that our legislators and our judiciary can find only sympathy and compassion for their colleagues - -who have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, / Rather than to condemn these thieves for stealing, they a¢ Ye the Bureau of chicanery. Perhaps it is because they arge/so ; vulnerable themselves and so susceptible to graft/that they empathize with their colleagues who have been snagged by.’a brilliant investigative tactic. These greedy criminals are not poor people stealing to buy bread for their family. They are prominent and success- ful attorneys, affluent in comparison to their constituents, who feel in some way that payoffs are a fringe benefit that comes with their protection. They have betrayed the trust and confidence of those people who put them in office, and they are totally deserving of whatever shame, disgrace, and hment th befall . c ; a) punishment that befalls them é yo J 7 Lo fon Lo I cannot manage to work up any sympathy for a corrupt politician who cries "foul" at the Bureau because he was approached while he was having financial difficulties. I raised five kids while working as a cop, and when I was in "financial trouble", I went out on my day off and laid brick, salvaged junk, refereed athletic events - whatever it took to Oursipg Source make ends meet. It was not beneath my dignity to get my hands dirty-to o Aed my kids and to pay my bills. Better to dirty > ain honest work than with tainted, MONEY pasccon