April 23 (Bloomberg) -- A former U.S. congressional aide was charged with using his position to help disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in exchange for food, tickets to sporting events, a golf trip to Scotland and the promise of future employment.

Mark Zachares, 49, was charged with conspiracy in a criminal information filed in federal court, which indicates the defendant has agreed to plead guilty. The Justice Department said in a statement today that a plea hearing is scheduled for tomorrow in Washington.

Court documents said Zachares used his post as staff director of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Coast Guard and Maritime subcommittee to help Abramoff land clients and obtain favorable congressional action. Zachares agreed to use his committee position to retaliate against companies that hired other lobbyists, the document said.

Abramoff, once one of the Republican Party's best-connected and most powerful lobbyists, is in jail for fraud after pleading guilty in two separate cases.

Edward B. MacMahon Jr., a lawyer for Zachares, declined to comment. Steve Hansen, a spokesman for Representative Don Young, an Alaska Republican who was chairman of the House Transportation committee when Zachares worked for the panel, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Zachares is the 10th person charged in the Abramoff investigation and the fifth former congressional aide. He worked for the House Transportation subcommittee from mid-2002 through November 2004, according to the criminal information.

Golf Trip

In August 2003, Zachares was a guest on a golfing trip to Scotland organized by Abramoff and almost entirely funded by the lobbyist and his clients, the criminal information said. He also took free meals and drinks from Abramoff, as well as about $30,000 worth of tickets to sporting and entertainment events, the information said.

Also on the Scotland trip, besides Zachares and Abramoff, were six other people, including a federal lawmaker identified only as ``Representative #3,'' the document said. The dates coincide with a Scotland trip taken by Representative Tom Feeney, a Florida Republican. The House ethics committee in January said the trip did not comply with House rules, and Feeney agreed to pay $5,643 to the U.S. Treasury.

Feeney spokeswoman Pepper Pennington said the Justice Department has contacted the lawmaker as part of its Abramoff investigation.

Feeney Statement

``Representative Feeney anticipates voluntarily cooperating with the Justice Department in any further investigation of this trip and looks forward to promptly resolving this matter,'' she said in an e-mailed statement.

Abramoff promised to hire Zachares as a lobbyist with a high salary based on business he referred to Abramoff while a congressional employee, the information said.

Zachares and Abramoff met during the 1990s when Abramoff was lobbying for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, and Zachares worked for the commonwealth. Abramoff lobbied against Democratic efforts to force employers in the commonwealth to pay the U.S. minimum wage.

Abramoff, a member of President George W. Bush's Interior transition team, later unsuccessfully tried to get Zachares named head of the U.S. Interior Department's Office of Insular Affairs, which oversaw the commonwealth, according to e-mails released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

``This appears to give us yet another piece of evidence as to why the Republican Congress refused to address the Abramoff- Marianas scandal,'' said House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, a California Democrat who sought to force employers in the commonwealth to pay minimum wage. ``It also shows how deeply Abramoff was able to penetrate the Republican power structure in Washington.''

The House in January passed a minimum-wage increase that would apply the wage for the first time to the Mariana Islands. The measure has been blocked in the Senate by a Republican filibuster.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net; Cary O'Reilly in Washington at caryoreilly@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 23, 2007 18:25 EDT