Are you on the list? Have you hit the links at St. Andrews, sunbathed in Saipan or watched the Super Bowl from a private box?

Trading a lifetime in prison for a decade, Jack Abramoff has agreed to sing, not sotto voce but fortissimo. Abramoff’s connections in Congress and the administration, his hiring of congressional staff and spouses, and his intricate network of shady subsidiaries may make this the largest congressional scandal in memory.

How does “Abramoffgate” compare to recent congressional scandals? In the past 25 years, we have seen scandals involving individuals, a few involving leaders, and a handful involving a group of members. Individual members of Congress have been censured, expelled and even incarcerated for taking bribes, using public money for personal use and taking illegal campaign contributions.

On this list are Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.), who recently pleaded guilty to taking illegal gifts. Jim Traficant (D-Ohio) was convicted of multiple felonies, including bribery and misuse of funds. (He then became only the fifth member of the House to be expelled and is currently serving his sentence in federal prison.) Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) served 18 months in jail for laundering money through postage stamps. The list is unfortunately much longer than this.

As for leadership scandals, the most notable was in 1989 when Speaker Jim Wright (D-Texas) resigned after the ethics committee found that he had violated limits on speaking fees by having supportive unions buy bulk copies of his book. That same month, Tony Coelho (D-Calif.) resigned his post as majority whip under accusations that he had received favorable treatment in buying junk bonds. In 1997, the ethics committee reprimanded Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) for using tax-deductible funds for political purposes.

Scandals involving groups of members include Abscam, the Keating Five and the House check-bouncing scandal. In the 1980 Abscam case, as part of an FBI sting, six members of Congress were convicted of taking bribes and other crimes when many of them were caught on tape taking money in exchange for political favors. In the Keating Five scandal, the Senate Ethics Committee reprimanded five senators, with its strongest language reserved for Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) for aiding savings-and-loan operator Charles Keating before regulatory agencies. The check-bouncing scandal led to a number of members’ defeats and to others’ not seeking reelection.

What is striking about the current scandal is that individual members, leaders and groups of members will be implicated. The reason the scandal will be so widespread is that Abramoff sat at the center of a far-ranging web of people and activities, while most congressional scandals have involved an unsavory outsider trying to influence a particular member. As Abramoff is the ultimate insider, this is an insider scandal.

The scope of Abramoff’s activities means many members and staffers will be affected. A large number will be tainted by their modest association with Abramoff.

But the group that will be most seriously damaged will be those members who took lavish trips, whose staffers or spouses were hired by Abramoff, or who carried his water by circulation letters and lobbying federal agencies to benefit his clients.

This scandal will hit both parties, but Republicans will bear by far the largest burden. With new leadership elections on the horizon and reform proposals in the air, it is hard to know if it will have a significant electoral impact in November. What is almost certain is that some members will go to jail and others will not return in the 110th, and they will rue the day they met Jack Abramoff.

Fortier is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.