Jon provided some background on the highest-ranking former Bushite convicted so far in the Abramoff scandals.

But while Jack is implicating others for doing the crime, it looks like he himself won’t be doing much more time.

Federal prosecutors took the first steps toward reducing the prison sentence of former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, currently scheduled for release in 2011 for a Florida fraud conviction.

Documents filed in federal court say Abramoff has provided “substantial assistance” in a separate Washington corruption scandal investigation and continues to work with investigators from his prison cell in Cumberland, Md.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul F. Schwartz did not recommend how much Abramoff’s sentence should be cut.

We’re guessing a whole bunch.

Abramoff, in case you forgot, was sentenced to six years for his role in defrauding the owner of the SunCruz Casinos gambling boats and other investors of $20 million, which was leveraged into a staggering $60 million in financing.

Unlike Jack, the fleet’s former owner could not provide incriminating evidence against Abramoff or his partners in crime because of an unfortunate hail of bullets delivered by a mob hit man.

“Federal prosecutors,” as we all know, means the ones who are designated “the United States” anytime it’s “The United States versus, say, Jack Abramoff or Some Other Lowlife Criminal.” So that’s you and me, folks. We evidently decided to let federal inmate No. 27593-112 out of jail early.

I don’t know about you but I must have missed the meeting where we agreed to do that. Had I been there, I would have voted to throw away the key.