Disgraced lobbyist Abramoff in NC: DC unchanged

Disgraced Washington influence-peddler Jack Abramoff told a North Carolina audience Thursday about the Capitol Hill corruption in which he played a role.

The once powerful and notorious lobbyist suggested ways to reform the political system when he spoke at William Peace University in Raleigh. 

Abramoff served more than three years of a six-year prison sentence after his 2006 conviction for bribing public officials and other crimes. He was released from prison in mid-2010. He's recently written a book about corruption in Washington.

Abramoff says the changed federal lobbying laws passed after he and nearly two dozen others were convicted aren't tough enough to keep special-interest power in check.

The event was co-hosted by the North Carolina Center for Voter Education and the Civitas Institute, a conservative Raleigh think tank.