James F. Hirni is a lobbyist who was convicted for bribing Senate Staff aides in return for favorable amendments to federal legislation. A former aide to Sen. Tim Hutchinson

Tim Hutchinson

Young Timothy Hutchinson, known as Tim Hutchinson is a Republican politician and former senator from the state of Arkansas.Hutchinson was born in Bentonville, Arkansas, and he graduated from Bob Jones University...

 (R-Ark.), he joined the lobbying firm Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, and then became a member of "Team Abramoff

Team Abramoff

"Team Abramoff" is the team of lobbyists assembled by Jack Abramoff when he worked at Greenberg Traurig, primarily of former aides to prominent Congressional politicians...

" at Greenberg Traurig

Greenberg Traurig

Greenberg Traurig LLP and Greenberg Traurig PA is an international law firm based in Miami, Florida.The firm has approximately 1,800 attorneys and governmental professionals in 32 locations in the United States, Europe and Asia. Its founding office is in Miami, Florida with its largest office in...

. He was a lobbyist for Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

 from 2004 until 2008, joining Wal-Mart full time in 2007 as its executive director of Republican outreach from lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates

Cassidy & Associates

Cassidy & Associates is a government-relations firm based in Washington, D.C., known for pioneering the use of congressional earmarks as a method of obtaining grants for university clients. It was founded in 1975 as Schlossberg-Cassidy Associates by Gerald Cassidy and Kenneth Schlossberg, both...

. On December 12, 2008, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud. The guilty conduct occurred just a few weeks before Hirni left Sonnenschein to work with Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig.

Court documents filed November 21, 2008, charged Hirni with one count of "conspiracy to commit honest services

Honest services fraud

Honest services fraud refers to a 28-word sentence of , added by the United States Congress in 1988, which states: "For the purposes of this chapter, the term, scheme or artifice to defraud includes a scheme or artifice to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services."The statute...

 wire fraud" for giving Blackann and a Fraser Verrusio

Fraser Verrusio

Fraser Verrusio, was a high-level committee aide to Alaska Rep. Don Young and a policy director for the House Transportation Committee while Young was chairman of the panel...

, a staffer to Alaska Rep. Don Young

Don Young

Donald Edwin "Don" Young is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1973. He is a member of the Republican Party.Young is the 6th most senior U.S. Representative and the 2nd most senior Republican Representative, as well as the 2nd most senior Republican in Congress as a whole...

 an all-expenses paid trip to the World Series in exchange for favorable amendments to the Federal Highway Bill that benefited Hirni and Boulanger's client, United Rentals

United Rentals

Founded in 1997 by Bradley S. Jacobs and seven others, United Rentals, Inc. is the largest equipment rental company in the world, with more than 600 rental locations throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Their diverse customer base includes construction and industrial companies,...

.

The equipment rental conspiracy alleged in the scheme also resulted in guilty pleas from another Abramoff associate -- Todd Boulanger

Todd Boulanger

Todd Boulanger is an American lobbyist. He was senior vice president of Cassidy & Associates and was a figure in the Jack Abramoff scandal.-Background:...

 -- and a Senate aide, Trevor Blackann

Trevor Blackann

Trevor Blackann is a former American lobbyist who pleaded guilty in the Jack Abramoff scandal.Blackann began his political career as a staffer for Roy Blunt, and subsequently Kit Bond....

, who at the time worked for Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 Senator Christopher Bond

Kit Bond

Christopher Samuel "Kit" Bond is a former United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, he defeated Democrat Harriett Woods by a margin of 53%-47%. He was re-elected in 1992, 1998, and 2004...

,. On March 6, 2009, Verrusio was indicted for receiving that trip in return for inserting the legislative amendments.

Hirni also worked as a lobbyist at Rhoads Group, the National Federation of Independent Business

National Federation of Independent Business

The National Federation of Independent Business is a lobbying organization with its headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee and offices in Washington, D.C. USA, and in all 50 state capitals...

, and Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, and as a legislative assistant to Sen. Bill Frist

Bill Frist

William Harrison "Bill" Frist, Sr. is an American physician, businessman, and politician. He began his career as an heir and major stockholder to the for-profit hospital chain of Hospital Corporation of America. Frist later served two terms as a Republican United States Senator representing...

 and Sen. Jeff Sessions

Jeff Sessions

Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III is the junior United States Senator from Alabama. First elected in 1996, Sessions is a member of the Republican Party...

.

In his spare time, Hirni enjoys camping, hiking, and sitting around the campfire in the great outdoors.