Crooked congressman says farewell

"Corruption"

02/28/2007

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, expresses remorse and quotes singer/songwriter Garth Brooks in an e-mail sent to friends Wednesday, a day before he is to enter federal prison after pleading guilty to corruption charges.

Ney will report Thursday to a minimum security prison in Morgantown, W.Va., to begin serving his 30-month sentence after his guilty plea in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

The former congressman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud, deprive his constituents of honest service and violate his former chief of staff's one-year lobbying ban; and a count of making false statements to the House. All of the allegations stemmed from the long-running probe into actions by disgraced lobbyist Abramoff.

Ney was sentenced on January 19.