Former Clinton Resident Sentenced To Prison For His Role In Washington Lobbying Scandal

Kevin Ring, 41, who grew up in Clinton and graduated from The Morgan School, was sentenced to 20 months in prison following two trials in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

Ring, who was known for his authorship of a book on Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, was interviewed by Clinton Patch editor Fay Abrahamsson in 2004.  An excerpt of that interview can be found at the end of this article.

Residing outside of Washington, D.C., Ring was arrested in 2008 due to his alleged role in providing substantial perks such as concert tickets, trips and expensive dinners to political influencers.

After two trials, he was found guilty of five felony counts including conspiracy, payment of a gratuity and honest services wire fraud.

For more information, here are links to the story by the Huffington Post, the Washington Post and the ABC News affiliate Channel 7 in Washington, D.C.

An excerpt from the editor's interview and article with Kevin Ring in 2004:

He was always drawn to the written word. As a child growing up on the shoreline, Kevin Ring had a fascination with words.

“There was something I’ve always liked about words,” says Kevin. “A witty turn of a phrase or a word that could take you back in history, held an attraction for me.”

A love of words has come in handy to the Clinton native. Kevin is the author of the new book, “Scalia Dissents: Writings of the Supreme Court's Wittiest, Most Outspoken Justice.” 

Kevin grew up in Clinton, but now resides in the heart of the nation’s political arena: Washington, D.C.

He is an attorney, a lobbyist, and former counsel to the U.S. Senate's Constitution, Federalism, and Property Rights Subcommittee. He worked for Pat Buchanan and John Ashcroft.

Kevin was born at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is the youngest of four children and attended the Abraham Pierson School, Jared Eliot School and The Morgan School. Like a typical youngster in Clinton, he played football for the Touchdown Club and baseball for Little League. He was in the honors English program at Morgan and the gifted and talented program at Eliot.

In fact, Kevin owes a great deal of his current success to his former English teacher at the Morgan School, Patrick McKiernan.

“Mr. McKiernan had an influence on me – he sensed that I was interested in writing,” remembers Kevin.

“You should stick with this – you have an aptitude for the written word,” Kevin remembers his English teacher’s words to him.

Like most kids, Kevin wanted to be out playing football, soccer or baseball.

“Sports were important to our family,” says Kevin. “When I was younger, I didn’t want to read, but when it came to writing, well, that was different.”

Kevin chose the attend Syracuse University, in part for their S.I. Newhouse School of Communications, in which he hoped to graduate with a degree in Journalism. But fate stepped in again, and after a freshman course in American government, Kevin caught the political bug.

With his new Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science, Kevin made his way down to Washington, D.C., where his older brother John resided. John had completed both his undergraduate and law degree at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

“I came to D.C. to visit my brother and stayed,” is how Kevin remembers his foray into politics.

In 1992, Kevin had the opportunity to work for Pat Buchanan’s run for president. As National Advance Manager, Kevin worked night and day traveling the country, scouting out fresh campaign activities, and advising the candidate on the next day’s events.

“It was an incredible opportunity,” says Kevin. “At 22 years of age, I am working on a presidential campaign and have blitzed through 20 states in six months.”

After Buchanan’s unsuccessful run for top office ended, Kevin entered the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University. He attended night school for four years while working full-time on “The Hill,” as Capital Hill is referred to by locals. Kevin was legislative director for Congressman John T. Doolittle of Northern California.

“I would be on The Hill from 8:30am to 5:30pm working, then attend class from 6pm till 9pm, go home and order my Domino’s pizza, and study until 2am,” says Kevin.

After completing his law degree and passing the Maryland Bar, Kevin remained on The Hill and went to work for then Senator John Ashcroft from Missouri. This is when Kevin, as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Constitution, Federalism, and Property Rights Subcommittee, became immersed in the volumes of Supreme Court arguments and decisions.

An idea started to form in the back of Kevin’s mind. Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, appointed to the Supreme Court in 1986, had a reputation for bitingly critical or, relative to one’s opinion, beautifully argumentative dissents, or a justice’s nonconcurrence with the decision of the majority.

Kevin felt a need to assemble a collection of Justice Scalia’s opinions. In mid-2003, he pulled all of the Justice’s opinions, classified them, and highlighted the more interesting ones.

“I read 650 of Scalia’s opinions, all the law reviews, dozens of articles, plus two books,” says Kevin.

When Kevin reached the point of having several completed chapters, he realized he needed an agent and a publisher. Through a friend, Kevin met with Eagle Publishing.

“I had a contract in two hours,” he says.

The timing for Kevin’s book turned out to be yet another piece of fate. Due to Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s illness, rumor on the streets in Washington were all about Justice Scalia becoming the next Chief Justice.

“This is as good as it can be,” says Kevin. “It may not be the DaVinci Code, but the current state of affairs and interest in my book turned out to be incredible.”

The Clinton native has been busy on the national political talk show circuit. In one day he was on Hannity & Colmes, Fox and Friends and Lou Dobbs.

His publisher also arranges for daily radio appearances. Recently he was on WTIC in Hartford.

What does Kevin’s wife Kerrie think of her newly-famous husband?

“She’s great,” says Kevin. “Kerrie is not as interested in politics as I am, and she appreciates our diversity. Some husbands fix up the house, I read court opinions.”