As the ex-chief of staff to ex-Rep. Bob Ney awaits his sentencing for his role in the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal, details emerge about his cooperation with the FBI to bring down his boss. Will Heaton, who was Ney's chief of staff for five years, wore a wire during key conversations with Ney, and his cooperation proved pivotal in the prosecution of the lawmaker.

The article notes that Ney hired Heaton because of his relative inexperience and deferential position to the congressman. Now Heaton awaits sentencing for his own actions over the five years he stood alongside Ney at the junkets, dinners etc. that Abramoff paid for. He's hoping for leniency given his cooperation -- and no doubt grateful for the glimmer of conscience and loss of naivete that compelled him to cooperate with the investigation.

Now, again, the article notes that a staff person willing to wear a wire against his or her boss is an unusual find, but might this article be giving a few folks on the Hill second thoughts about who they talk to when they're bending the rules?