Mr. Ney was brought down in large part because Neil Volz, his former chief of staff who later went to work for Mr. Abramoff, cooperated with prosecutors in building their case. The Sacramento Bee reports that Kevin Ring, a former Doolittle aide who also later worked in Mr. Abramoff's office, also "sought help from the congressman on behalf of [Abramoff] clients and now is believed to be talking to federal prosecutors." Mr. Ring resigned from his position at a Washington law firm on the very day Mr. Doolittle's home was raided by the FBI.

Fiscal conservatives will shed few tears over Mr. Doolittle's likely departure from Congress. Ever since he joined the Appropriations Committee in 2001, he has been preoccupied with shoveling pork back to his district, telling one reporter he had adapted his small-government principles to the system Congress had created to spend money: "You work with what you've got." In conversations with me, he would marvel at how well Democrats and Republicans got along on the Appropriations Committee because "we so often have the same priorities"--namely spending other people's money.

Mr. Doolittle's near-death experience at the polls last November did not prompt a return to his ideological roots. He had already angered voters in Roseville, the largest city in his district, by opposing their ultimately successful efforts to repeal a utility tax through a ballot measure. Then this month, the former antitax champion appeared before the Sacramento Bee's editorial board and delighted them with his apparent surrender on a proposed half-cent sales-tax increase to pay for local transportation projects in the Roseville area.

"My feeling is the people, if they know what the money is going for, are OK with it," he said of the proposed tax hike. "They want better roads and transportation. . . . I don't find any inconsistency between conservative political philosophy and recognizing that we have government there to meet certain needs." This after two decades of Mr. Doolittle assuring audiences in his district that local development was beneficial in part because "it paid for itself" and wouldn't require higher taxes.

Mr. Doolittle's fall from grace will no doubt be used as evidence for how the Republican Congress lost its way during its 12 years in power. And it's true that the onetime reformer has morphed into a symbol of much of what he used to fight against. But Mr. Doolittle started to become seduced by power even before 1994, while he was still in the minority and plotting schemes for new perks with liberal Democrats.

I called Mr. Doolittle's office early Friday to ask for his side of the story. Over the years, I have always found it very easy to talk with him, our conversations invariably beginning with my parents, who are his constituents. But this time was different. I never heard back from anyone. To me that's an ominous sign.

A couple of his House colleagues think so too. One said that the former term-limits opponent had himself "become a walking advertisement for them." Another remarked on the changes he had seen in the man. "John isn't the ideological conservative he used to be. He talks more and more like a lawyer making the best case for whatever he's doing right now."

Sadly, regarding Mr. Doolittle's efforts to remain in Congress I fear he has a weak case and a bad client.