"MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News.

But first, to many people the career of our next guest symbolizes everything that's wrong with the ethics in government, former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He's been called scum, a creep, a blood-sucking bogeyman and the most evil lobbyist ever to be operating in Washington. And that's just on the back of his own book.

MARTIN: What are you trying to accomplish with the book? Are you settling scores here?

ABRAMOFF: No, no. Two things, people wanted me to write a tell-all about all the intricate bad things going on individuals in Washington and I'm less interested in that. What I'm more interested and the reason I'm writing the book, I guess there are two reasons.

First, I have gone through an epiphany. I have fallen from the perch I was on, whether I should have been there or not we'll discuss shortly, I'm sure. But I was knocked off and knocked onto the ground and fell and landed with a thud in federal prison eventually. And in the course of that fall and certainly by the time I landed, I started rethinking my life and rethinking what I was and what I was involved in and came to the conclusion that I'm pretty ashamed about it and it was pretty bad.

And eventually I came to the conclusion that instead of running into a hole hiding and getting out of the public eye, which frankly I prefer - has not been a pleasant time with the media or with anyone else - that maybe I had something to give back. Some way to make some recompense for what I was by telling what is going on in Washington from the point of view of somebody who rose very high in that industry and what goes on behind those doors and how horrible it really is."

Get the Story:
Jack Abramoff Calls D.C. Politics Dirty As Ever (NPR 11/18)
Casino Jack On Ridding Money's Political Influence (NPR 11/18)

Also Today:
Dan Morain: Jack Abramoff offers his version of the truth -- well, some of it (The Sacrameno Bee 11/20)
The Ticket: Jack Abramoff asks Democratic group for rights to website domain bearing his name (Yahoo! News 11/18)

Related Stories:
HillTube: Abramoff discusses lobbying business in Washington (11/18)
TPM: Jack Abramoff goes back to the DC scene to promote book (11/17)
WND: Abramoff claims ex-Sen. Dorgan took $75K in donations (11/11)
60 Minutes: Transcript of Jack Abramoff's lobbyist playbook (11/07)
Abramoff claims Sen. Inouye forced ouster at lobbying firm (11/02)
Federal Eye: Court orders Abramoff book profits to go to tribes (10/17)
In The Loop: Jack Abramoff working on his tell-all lobbying book (10/07)